Modern scientific connotation of a traditional Chinese medicine theory: Rice vinegar extract of Artemisia argyi exhibits excellent antifungal effects against dermatophytes
Objective: Since ancient times, Artemisia argyi is commonly applied by folk to bathe and soak feet to disinfect and relieve itching. Moreover, abundant Chinese medical books recorded that ‘‘decocting A. argyi with bitter wine for treating dermatophytosis with excellence”. This research was designed to explore its scientific connotation. Methods: The antifungal activity against three dermatophytes of eight extracts from A. argyi was assessed in vitro. A three-variable, three-level orthogonal design was conducted to obtain the best extraction procedure of rice vinegar extract (AARV). Subsequently, Trichophyton rubrum (T. rubrum)-induced dermatophytosis mice model was used to determined the efficacy of AARV topical treatment. And then, the widely targeted metabonomic technique was employed to analyze the potential antifungal material basis of AARV. Furthermore, the mechanism of AARV against dermatophytes was explored by physiological detections, transcriptomics and real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Results: AARV was the most potent anti-dermatophytic extract from A. argyi in vitro, and the best extraction procedure of AARV was optimized to the solid–liquid ratio, extraction time and rice vinegar concentration of 1:14 g/mL, 2 h and 100%, respectively. Moreover, topical treatment with AARV could alleviate skin redness, swelling and ulceration in mice, increase the number of hair follicles, and prevent the invasion of dermatophytes in hair follicles. Compared with traditional water extract, 11 unique compoundswere characterized in AARV, including five alkaloids, two flavonoids, two phenols, one sesquiterpene and one triterpene. Further mechanistic studies revealed that AARV destroyed the mycelium morphology of T. rubrum, promoted reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and inhibited antioxidant enzyme activity. In addition, malate dehydrogenase (MDH) and succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) activities also decreased significantly. Transcriptome data, RT-qPCR and the determination of ergosterol content elucidated that AARV suppressed dermatophyte growth by reducing cell membrane integrity through inhibition of ergosterol and cholesterol biosynthesis pathways. And it was attributed to the downregulation of sterol 14a-demethylase (CYP51), D7 -sterol 5- desaturase (ERG3), sterol 22-desaturase (ERG5), sterol 24-C-methyltransferase (ERG6), sterol-4acarboxylate 3-dehydrogenase (ERG26),3-keto steroid reductase (ERG27), cholestenol D-isomerase (EBP) mRNA expression. Conclusion: The present study clarifies the modern scientific connotation of ‘‘decocting A. argyi with bitter wine, excellent for treating dermatophytosis” is that the rice vinegar extract of A. argyi exhibit excellent antifungal effects against dermatophytes. Importantly, it will provide the scientific support for the antidermatophytic scientific utilization of A. argyi.
关键词:
抗真菌活性;皮肤癣菌;麦角甾醇生物合成;正交设计;艾叶米醋提取物;
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Project Supported:
This work was supported by the project for the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (No. 2023AFA032, 2025AFB820), key project of Hubei Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (No. ZY2023Z023), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 32270391), the key project at central government level: The ability establishment of sustainable use for valuable Chinese medicine resources (No. 2060302)
Le Chen a, c,, Wenli Xu a, b,, Chaowei Guo a, b, Jinglin Yang a, b, Xiaoying Hou d, Hongzhi Du a, b,?, Dahui Liu a, b,?. Modern scientific connotation of a traditional Chinese medicine theory: Rice vinegar extract of Artemisia argyi exhibits excellent antifungal effects against dermatophytes[J]. Chinese Herbal Medicines (CHM),2026,18(3):746-757
