Characterization of Bioactive Compounds Having Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Liliaceae Family Flower Petal Extracts.

Beneficial natural products utilized in cosmetics formulation and pharmaceutical applications are of enormous interest. Lily (Lilium) serves as an essential edible and medicinal plant species with wide classification. Here, we have performed the screening of various extracts that were prepared from flower petals grown from the bulbs of eight Lilium varieties, with a viewpoint to their applicability as a viable source of natural anti-inflammatory and antioxidants agent. Interestingly, our findings indicated that all ethanol and water extracts exhibited a substantially differential spectrum of antioxidant as well as anti-inflammatory properties. Specifically, Serrano showed a close similarity among ethanol and water extracts among all tested lily petal extracts. Therefore, to obtain a detailed analysis of chemical compounds, liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy was performed in ethanolic and water extracts of Serrano petals. Together, our preliminary results indicated that lily petals extracts used in this study could serve as a basis to develop a potential new whitening agent with powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties for medicinal, functional food, and cosmetic applications.

Screening of Hibiscus and Cinnamomum Plants and Identification of Major Phytometabolites in Potential Plant Extracts Responsible for Apoptosis Induction in Skin Melanoma and Lung Adenocarcinoma Cells.

Carcinogenesis is a major concern that severely affects the human population. Owing to persistent demand for novel therapies to treat and prohibit this lethal disease, research interest among scientists is drawing its huge focus toward natural products, as they have minimum toxicity comparable with existing treatment methods. The plants produce secondary metabolites, which are known to have the anticancer potential for clinical drug development. Furthermore, the use of nanocarriers could boost the solubility and stability of phytocompounds to obtain site-targeting delivery. The identification of potential phytochemicals in natural compounds would be beneficial for the synthesis of biocompatible nanoemulsions. The present study aimed to investigate the potential cytotoxicity of ethanol extracts of Hibiscus syriacus and Cinnamomum loureirii Nees plant parts on human skin melanoma (G361) and lung adenocarcinoma (A549) cells. Importantly, biochemical analysis results showed the presence of high phenol (50-55 µgGAE/mg) and flavonoids [42-45 µg quercetin equivalents (QE)/mg] contents with good antioxidant activity (40-58%) in C. loureirii Nees plants extracts. This plant possesses potent antiproliferative activity (60-90%) on the malignant G361 and A549 and cell lines correlated with the production of nitric oxide. Especially, C. loureirii plant extracts have major metabolites that exhibit cancer cell death associated with cell cycle arrest. These findings support the potential application of Cinnamomum for the development of therapeutic nanoemulsion in future cancer therapy.

Eleutherococcus sessiliflorus Inhibits Receptor Activator of Nuclear Factor Kappa-B Ligand (RANKL)-Induced Osteoclast Differentiation and Prevents Ovariectomy (OVX)-Induced Bone Loss.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of root bark of Eleutherococcus sessiliflorus (ES) on osteoclast differentiation and function in vitro and in vivo. In vitro, we found that ES significantly inhibited the RANKL-induced formation of TRAP-positive multinucleated osteoclasts and osteoclastic bone resorption without cytotoxic effects. ES markedly downregulated the expression of nuclear factor of activated T cells cytoplasmic 1 (NFATc1); c-Fos; and osteoclast-related marker genes, such as TRAP, osteoclast-associated receptor (OSCAR), matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), calcitonin receptor, cathepsin K, the 38 kDa d2 subunit of the vacuolar H+-transporting lysosomal ATPase (Atp6v0d2), dendritic cell-specific transmembrane protein (DC-STAMP), and osteoclast-stimulatory transmembrane protein (OC-STAMP). These effects were achieved by inhibiting the RANKL-mediated activation of MAPK signaling pathway proteins, including p38, ERK, and JNK. In vivo, ES attenuated OVX-induced decrease in bone volume to tissue volume ratio (BV/TV), trabecular thickness (Tb.Th), trabecular number (Tb.N), and bone mineral density, but increased trabecular separation (Tb.Sp) in the femur. Collectively, our findings showed that ES inhibited RANKL-activated osteoclast differentiation in bone marrow macrophages and prevented OVX-mediated bone loss in rats. These findings suggest that ES has the potential to be used as a therapeutic agent for bone-related diseases, such as osteoporosis.

Cs desorption behavior during hydrothermal treatment of illite with oxalic acid.

The desorption of radioactive cesium (Cs) in soil is influenced by the clay mineral type, adsorption site, and concentration of Cs. In this study, experiments to detect desorption of non-radioactive and radioactive Cs from illite using oxalic acid were performed for 2 days at 70 °C in hydrothermal conditions. The results showed that the 133Cs removal efficiency by oxalic acid and inorganic acid treatment was similar at high concentration (22.86 mmol/kg) of non-radioactive 133Cs. In the radioactive 137Cs experiment, the removal efficiency by oxalic acid was higher than that by inorganic acid at low concentration (0.79 × 10-6 mmol/kg) of radioactive 137Cs. Based on the illite hypothetical frayed edge site (FES) concentration of 0.612 mmol/kg, the results suggested that 137Cs was preferentially adsorbed to FES on illite. The 137Cs at low concentration was difficult to remove because it was irreversible adsorption to FES, while the non-radioactive Cs at high concentration was mainly adsorbed to planar sites, and so was easy to desorb by ion exchange. Based on the results of NMR, FTIR, and XPS analyses, we concluded that the higher efficiency of 137Cs removal at low concentration by oxalic acid treatment than by treatment with inorganic acid was because of chelation effects associated with the complexation of oxalic acid (ligands) and metal ions in irreversible site (FES).