Essential oil from leaves of Cinnamomum osmophloeum acts as a xanthine oxidase inhibitor and reduces the serum uric acid levels in oxonate-induced mice.

The xanthine oxidase (XOD) inhibitory activity and anti-hyperuricemia effect in mice of Cinnamomum osmophloeum, which is an endemic tree in Taiwan, were evaluated in this study. The results demonstrated that the essential oil of C. osmophloeum leaves presented the strongest XOD inhibition activity (IC(50)=16.3 µg/ml); however, no significant XOD inhibition activities were found in ethanolic and hot water extracts. Furthermore, among the main compounds of essential oil, the cinnamaldehyde exhibited the potent XOD inhibition activity with an IC(50)=8.4 µg/ml. Besides, the reducing serum uric acid levels in oxonate-induced mice by cinnamaldehyde were further investigated. The hyperuricemic mice were oral administrated cinnamaldehyde at a dosage of 150 mg/kg, the uric acid value in serum was reduced from 5.25±0.63 to 2.10±0.04 mg/dl, the levels of serum uric acid in mice was lowered down by 84.48% as compared to the hyperuricemic control group. Based on the results obtained in this study, cinnamaldehyde may be a potential lead compound for developing the pharmaceutic for anti-hyperuricemia agent.

Antibacterial activity of leaf essential oils and their constituents from Cinnamomum osmophloeum.

The antibacterial activities of the essential oils from leaves of two Cinnamomum osmophloeum clones (A and B) and their chemical constituents were investigated in this study. The nine strains of bacteria, including Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella sp., and Vibrio parahemolyticus, were used in the antibacterial tests. Results from the antibacterial tests demonstrated that the indigenous cinnamon B leaf essential oils had an excellent inhibitory effect. The MICs (minimum inhibitory concentrations) of the B leaf oil were 500 microg/ml against both K. pneumoniae and Salmonella sp. and 250 microg/ml against the other seven strains of bacteria. Cinnamaldehyde possessed the strongest antibacterial activity compared to the other constituents of the essential oils. The MICs of cinnamaldehyde against the E. coli, P. aeruginosa, E. faecalis, S. aureus, S. epidermidis, MRSA, K. pneumoniae, Salmonella sp., and V. parahemolyticus were 500, 1000, 250, 250, 250, 250, 1000, 500, and 250 microg/ml, respectively. These results suggest that C. osmophloeum leaf essential oil and cinnamaldehyde are beneficial to human health, having the potential to be used for medical purposes and to be utilized as anti-bacterial additives in making paper products.

Antitermitic activity of essential oils and components from Taiwania (Taiwania cryptomerioides).

Antitermitic activity of Taiwania (Taiwania cryptomerioides Hayata) against Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki was demonstrated in laboratory tests. Blocks of sapwood and heartwood from T. cryptomerioides exhibited antitermitic activity. Bioassays revealed that heartwood essential oil exhibited the highest antitermitic activity, followed by sapwood essential oil and then the n-C6H14 soluble fraction when tested at 10 mg/g. The order of termite mortality of three compounds purified from n-C6H14 soluble extracts of heartwood was cedrol > alpha-cadinol > ferruginol. The termite resistance of T. cryptomerioides wood can be attributed to the termiticidal activity of cedrol and alpha-cadinol.

Antioxidant activity of extracts from Acacia confusa bark and heartwood.

The antioxidant activity of extracts from bark and heartwood of Acacia confusa was evaluated by various antioxidant assays, including free radical and superoxide radical scavenging assays and lipid peroxidation assay as well as hydroxyl radical-induced DNA strand scission assay. In addition, an ex vivo antioxidant assay using a flow cytometric technique was also employed in this study. The results indicate that both bark and heartwood extracts clearly have strong antioxidant effects. Similar inhibitory activities for each test sample were found for both 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical generation and lipid peroxidation. As for the superoxide radical scavenging activity, the heartwood extract was more effective than the bark extract. Furthermore, the heartwood extract protected PhiX174 supercoiled DNA against strand scission induced by ultraviolet photolysis of H2O2, and it reduced the amounts of intracellular hydrogen peroxide, a reactive oxygen species, when it was co-incubated with human promyelocytic leukemia (HL-60) cells under oxidative stress.

Antimite activity of essential oils and their constituents from Taiwania cryptomerioides.

Antimite activity of essential oils and their components obtained from Taiwania cryptomerioides Hayata heartwood against Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Trouessart) and Dermatophagoides farinae Hughes was investigated in this study. Results from antimite tests demonstrated that the essential oil extracted from T. cryptomerioides heartwood had miticidal activity against D. pteronyssinus and D. farinae with a mortality of 67.0 and 36.7% at the dosage of 12.6 microg/cm2 after 48 h. Alpha-cadinol possessed the strongest antimite activity compared with other components of the T. cryptomeioides heartwood essential oil. The rectified mortalities of D. pteronyssinus and D. farinae were 100% for alpha-cadinol at the dosage of 6.3 microg/cm2. The order of antimite activity of four dominant constituents was alpha-cadinol > T-muurolol > ferruginol > T-cadinol. Paired Student's t-tests showed that there were significant differences between the rectified mortality of alpha-cadinol, T-muurolol, ferruginol and that of T-cadinol at the dosage of 6.3 microg/cm2 after 48 h.

Cytotoxicity of extractives from Taiwania cryptomerioides heartwood.

The cytotoxicity of the dominant lignans and sesquiterpenoids from Taiwania (Taiwania cryptomerioides Hayata) was investigated. Three human tumor cells including A-549 lung carcinoma. MCF-7 breast adenocarcinoma and HT-29 colon adenocarcinoma were selected to illustrate the structure-cytotoxicity relationships of Taiwania's dominant compounds. Taiwanin A, taiwanin E and dimethylmatairesinol exhibited significant cytotoxicity against three human tumor cells. Among them, taiwanin A possesses the strongest cytotoxic activity. In addition, the morphology-based evaluation, flow cytometric analysis, and DNA fragmentation assays demonstrated that the tumor cell death induced by taiwanin A was due to apoptosis.

Hypotensive and vasorelaxing activities of a lectin from the edible mushroom Tricholoma mongolicum.

A lectin, which exerted a hypotensive action in rats after intravenous injection via the jugular vein, was isolated from the mycelia of the edible mushroom Tricholoma mongolicum. The lectin possessed a molecular weight of 37 K and its hypotensive activity was dose-dependent. Administration of the lectin at a dose of 10 mg/kg body weight caused a mean arterial blood pressure reduction of 95.3 +/- 7.4 mmHg. The lectin's hypotensive action was not mediated via autonomic ganglion transmission, alpha-adrenoceptors, beta-adrenoceptors, cholinergic receptors, histaminergic receptors, nor the renin-angiotensin system, but it was probably mediated through vasorelaxation via adenosine A2 receptors and/or nitric oxide production.

A polysaccharide-peptide complex from cultured mycelia of the mushroom Tricholoma mongolicum with immunoenhancing and antitumor activities.

A polysaccharide-peptide complex with immunoenhancing and antitumor activities was obtained from the mycelial culture of Tricholoma mongolicum, an edible mushroom found in Northern China. The polysaccharide-peptide complex had a molecular mass of 15.5 kDa, as estimated by gel filtration, and a carbohydrate-protein ratio of about 8:1 and was not adsorbed on DEAE-Sepharose CL-6B. It possessed the activities of activating macrophages, stimulating macrophage antigen-presenting activity, which in turn enhanced proliferation of T-cells, and inhibiting the growth of sarcoma 180 cells that had been implanted in mice.

Hypotensive and renal effects of an extract of the edible mushroom Pleurotus sajor-caju.

An aqueous extract of Pleurotus sajor-caju was found to have a hypotensive effect in rats. Intravenous infusion of the extract into rats caused a decrease of the mean systemic blood pressure in a dose dependent manner. A typical dose of 25 mg of the extract decreased the mean systemic blood pressure from 110 mm Hg to 70 mm Hg. The systolic and diastolic pressure changed proportionally with minimal alteration in heart rate. The hypotensive effect of the extract was not due to its major electrolyte content because a solution reconstituted with the same electrolyte composition had a transient pressor effect rather than lowering the blood pressure. The same extract was also found to affect renal hemodynamics such that it caused a decrease in the glomerular filtration rate by more than 50% after 120 minutes. The effect did not seem to be mediated through changes in systemic blood pressure.

Comparative study of cefoperazone and amikacin.

A comparative study of cefoperazone and amikacin in severe surgical infections was conducted with 60 patients equally allocated to two groups. The daily dosage of cefoperazone ranged from 2 to 4 gm in two equally divided doses, and the daily dosage of amikacin ranged from 900 to 1,000 mg in two equally divided doses. All patients were given antibiotics for five to ten days. With cefoperazone, there were satisfactory clinical responses in 83% (29/35) of the infections; with amikacin, 74% (23/31). Cefoperazone was more effective than amikacin in biliary tract infections. On bacteriological examination, 7.5% of the organisms isolated were resistant to cefoperazone and 10% to amikacin. In mixed infections, cefoperazone and amikacin had failure rates of 29% and 36%, respectively. Further trials are needed to define the role of cefoperazone in anaerobic and in mixed infections.