Chromatographic separation, determination and identification of ecdysteroids: Focus on Maral root (Rhaponticum carthamoides, Leuzea carthamoides).

The review presents general principles for choosing optimal conditions for ecdysteroid separation, identification, and isolation using HPLC/TLC techniques in RP, NP-HILIC or NP modes. Analytics of ecdyteroids pose a still insufficiently resolved problem. Plant-derived ecdysteroids are a point of interest of pharmaceutical industry and sport medicine due to their postulated adaptogenic and anabolic properties. In insects, ecdysteroids regulate larval transformation. Maral root (Rhaponticum carthamoides, Leuzea carthamoides), traditional Siberian folk-medicine plant used as stimulant to boost overall health and fitness, is a particularly rich source of a wide variety of phytoecdysteroids. The similarity of molecular structures of ecdysteroids present in its extracts together with high content of unrelated compounds of similar chromatographic characteristics makes optimization of separation, identification and isolation of ecdysteroids a difficult analytical task. In that respect, two-dimensional separations, two-dimensional separations, 2D HPLC or 2D TLC, could be of use. For identification, the hyphenated techniques are particularly important. Thus, comprehensive overview of MS spectral parameters of ecdysteroids is provided. Described principles could easily be applied for separation of ecdysteroids in extracts from other sources. They are also useful for development of separation procedures for isolation of ecysteroids in preparative-scale applications.

Effect of L-carnitine supplementation on xenobiotic-metabolizing hepatic enzymes exposed to methanol.

The study aimed to evaluate the effect of L-carnitine on hepatic cytochrome P450-dependent monooxygenases exposed to methanol. Male Spraque-Dawley rats were given methanol (1/4 LD50 and 1/2 LD50) together with L-carnitine (1g/kg body weight). The parameters of microsome electron transport chains I and II and the levels of CYP2E1, CYP2B1/2 and CYP1A2 were measured 8, 12, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h after exposure. L-carnitine did not affect cytochrome P450 but it significantly increased at 72 and 96 h NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase. It stimulated cytochrome b5 at 48 and 96 h and NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase activity at 12, 72 and 96 h. Methanol, especially the lower dose, inhibited cytochrome P450 after 48 h, but the higher methanol dose inhibited NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase activity in this time. L-carnitine, combined with the lower dose of methanol, stimulated NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase after 48 h and cytochrome b5 and NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase over the whole period of observation. L-carnitine stimulated CYP2B1/2 but not CYP2E1 and CYP1A2. Methanol stimulated CYP2E1 at 24 h, but CYP1A2 at 96 h in the studied doses. CYP2B1/2 was induced by the lower dose of methanol at 24 h but by the higher one at 96 h. When given together, L-carnitine and methanol (1/2 LD50) significantly stimulated CYP2E1 up to 170% at 24 h and 145% at 96 h.

Antibacterial and antifungal activity of juniper berry oil and its selected components.

Juniper berry oil is stated to possess a wide spectrum of pharmacological activities and its monographs are included in some National Pharmacopoeias. The antibacterial and antifungal activity of the oil was reported by some authors. In our study we estimated the antibacterial and antifungal activity of three different juniper berry oils and their main components. All the micro-organisms used in this experiment were isolated from patients of Regional Hospital of Gdansk and some of them showed resistance against commonly used antibiotics. Only one of the oils (labelled A) revealed good antimicrobial properties. None of the single oil components was a stronger antibacterial and antifungal inhibitor than the oil A itself. Our data suggest that the antimicrobial activity of juniper oil A is the result of either the specific composition of the oil A (highest concentration of (-)-alpha-pinene, p-cymene and beta-pinene) or activity of a single non-identified compound. The presence of an adulterant in the oil was excluded.