Progress in Identification of UDP-Glycosyltransferases for Ginsenoside Biosynthesis.

Ginsenosides, the primary pharmacologically active constituents of the Panax genus, have demonstrated a variety of medicinal properties, including anticardiovascular disease, cytotoxic, antiaging, and antidiabetes effects. However, the low concentration of ginsenosides in plants and the challenges associated with their extraction impede the advancement and application of ginsenosides. Heterologous biosynthesis represents a promising strategy for the targeted production of these natural active compounds. As representative triterpenoids, the biosynthetic pathway of the aglycone skeletons of ginsenosides has been successfully decoded. While the sugar moiety is vital for the structural diversity and pharmacological activity of ginsenosides, the mining of uridine diphosphate-dependent glycosyltransferases (UGTs) involved in ginsenoside biosynthesis has attracted a lot of attention and made great progress in recent years. In this paper, we summarize the identification and functional study of UGTs responsible for ginsenoside synthesis in both plants, such as Panax ginseng and Gynostemma pentaphyllum, and microorganisms including Bacillus subtilis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The UGT-related microbial cell factories for large-scale ginsenoside production are also mentioned. Additionally, we delve into strategies for UGT mining, particularly potential rapid screening or identification methods, providing insights and prospects. This review provides insights into the study of other unknown glycosyltransferases as candidate genetic elements for the heterologous biosynthesis of rare ginsenosides.

Cardioprotective Effects of Aconite in Isoproterenol-Induced Myocardial Infarction in Rats.

Background: Myocardial infarction (MI) is a severe clinical condition caused by decreased or complete cessation of blood flow to a portion of the myocardium. Aconite, the lateral roots of Aconitum carmichaelii Debx., is a well-known Chinese medicine for treatment of heart failure and related cardiac diseases. The present study is aimed at investigating the cardioprotective effect of aconite on isoproterenol- (ISO)- induced MI. Methods: The qualitative analysis of aqueous extracts from brained aconite (AEBA) was conducted by HPLC. A rat model of MI induced by ISO was established to examine the effects of AEBA. The cardiac function was assessed by echocardiography. The serum levels of SOD, CK-MB, cTnT, and cTnI were detected to estimate myocardial injury. The pathological changes of heart tissue were evaluated by 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining, hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, and Masson's trichrome staining. The expressions of abnormal vascular remodeling and hypoxia-related components and the levels of inflammation-associated genes and proteins were detected by RT-qPCR, western blotting, and immunofluorescence. Results: The contents of benzoylaconine, benzoylmesaconine, benzoylhypacoitine, and hypaconitine in AEBA were 1.35 µg/g, 37.35 µg/g, 57.10 µg/g, and 2.46 µg/g, respectively. AEBA obviously improved heart function through promoting echocardiographic parameters, radial strain, and circumferential strain. The data of TTC staining, HE staining, and Masson's trichrome staining disclosed that AEBA could significantly reduce infarct size, inhibit inflammatory cell infiltration, and decrease the myocardial fibrosis. Moreover, AEBA distinctly suppressed the serum levels of SOD, MDA, CK-MB, cTnT, and cTnI in ISO-induced rats. The results of RT-qPCR indicated that AEBA inhibited the expressions of hypoxia- and inflammation-related genes, including VEGF, PKM2, GLUT-1, LDHA, TNF-α, IL-1ß, IL-6, and COX2. In addition, the western blotting and immunofluorescence analyses further confirmed the results of RT-qPCR. Conclusion: In summary, our results indicate that the AEBA could improve ISO-induced myocardial infarction by promoting cardiac function, alleviating myocardial hypoxia, and inhibiting inflammatory response and fibrosis in heart tissue.

Protective effect of the extract of Yi-Qi-Fu-Mai preparation on hypoxia-induced heart injury in mice.

Yi-Qi-Fu-Mai (YQFM) is extensively used clinically to treat cardiovascular diseases in China. To explore the anti-hypoxia effect of the extract of YQFM preparation (EYQFM), the EYQFM (1.4, 2.8, and 5.5 g·kg(-1)·d(-1)) was assessed for its heart-protective effect in a chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) animal model (oxygen pressure 7%-8%, 20 min per day) for 28 days of treatment. Betaloc (0.151 6 g·kg(-1)·d(-1)) was used as a positive control. The histopathological analyses of heart in CIH mice were conducted. Several cardiac state parameters, such as left ventricular ejection fractions (EF), stroke volume (SV), expression of creatine kinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured. The results showed that treatment with EYQFM markedly reversed swelling of the endothelial cells and vacuolization in the heart when compared with the model group. Further study demonstrated that EYQFM significantly improved ventricular myocardial contractility by increasing EF and SV. In addition, EYQFM inhibited the activity of CK, LDH, decreased the level of MDA and improved SOD activity. The results demonstrated that EYQFM significantly improved the tolerability of myocardium to hypoxia and ameliorated the cardiac damage in the CIH model.

Determination of Ruscogenin in Ophiopogonis Radix by High-performance Liquid Chromatography-evaporative Light Scattering Detector Coupled with Hierarchical Clustering Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Ophiopogonis Radix is a famous traditional Chinese medicine. It is necessary to establish a suitable quality control methods of Ophiopogonis Radix. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the quality control methods of Ophiopogonis Radix by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A rapid and simple method, HPLC coupled with ELSD, was applied to determinate ruscogenin in 35 batches of Ophiopogenis Radix samples. Orthogonal tests and single factor explorations were used to optimize the extraction condition of ruscogenin. The content of ruscogenin in different origin was further analyzed by hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA). RESULTS: The ruscogenin was successfully determined by HPLC-ELSD with a two-phase solvent system composed of methanol-water (88:12) at a flow rate 1.0 ml/min, column temperature maintained at 25°C, detector draft tube temperature at 42.2°C, nebulizer gas flow rate at 1.4 L/min, and the gain at 8. The result showed the good linearity of ruscogenin in the range of 40.20-804.00 µg/ml (R (2) = 0.9996). Average of recovery was 101.3% (relative standard deviation = 1.59%). A significant difference of ruscogenin content was shown among 35 batches of Ophiopogenis Radix from different origin, varied from 0.0035% to 0.0240%. HCA based on the content of ruscogenin indicated that Ophiopogonis Radix in different origin was mainly divided into two clusters. CONCLUSION: This simple, rapid, low-cost, and reliable HPLC-ELSD method could be suitable for measurement of ruscogenin content rations and quality control of Ophiopogonis Radix. SUMMARY: Ophiopogonis Radix is an important Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to treat and prevent cardiovascular diseases and acute or chronic inflammation for thousands of years. Steroidal saponins were known as the dominant active components for their significant cardiovascular activity, and the most steroid sapogenin of them is ruscogenin. Therefore, ruscogenin was chosen as the marker component for evaluating the quality of Ophiopongonis Radix. This study focused on establishing a stable, low-cost, simple and practical method of HPLC-ELSD to determine the ruscogenin content, and 35 batches of samples of Ophiopogonis Radix were determined. Meanwhile, these results were analyzed by hierarchical clustering analysis and the methodology validation was based on USP34-NF-29 <1225>. Results showed that this analysis method was simple and stable, which would provide an important reference to establish the quality control methodology for other herb preparations and formulas containing Ophiopogonis Radix.