Thermodynamics Driving Phytochemical Self-assembly Morphological Change and Antibacterial Enhancement Originated from Traditional Chinese Medicine

Improving the clinical efficacy of the existing drugs by self-assembled strategy is the focus of current research. Herbal formula granule is a kind of modern dosage form of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) which has sprung up in recent decades. However, whether it is equivalent to the TCM decoction that has been used for thousands of years has always been a controversial issue. In this paper, taking the herb pair of Coptidis Rhizoma - Scutellariae Radix and its main component berberine - baicalin as examples, the differences and mechanisms of self-assemblies originated from the co-decoction and physical mixture were studied, respectively. Moreover, combining multi technologies, the relationship between the morphology and antibacterial effects of self-assemblies was illuminated. Our study revealed that the physical mixture’s morphology of both the herb pair and the phytochemicals was nanofibers (NFs), while their co-decoction’s morphology was nanospheres (NPs). And driven by thermal energy, the antibacterial activity also enhanced with the change of self-assemblies’ morphology. This might be attributed to that NPs could influence amino acid biosynthesis and metabolism in bacteria. Current study provides a basis that co-decoction maybe beneficial to enhance activity and reasonable use of herbal formula granule in clinic.