[Blaps rynchopetera combined with cyclophosphamide affects proliferation and apoptosis of lung cancer cells via Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway].

This study aims to investigate the effects of Blaps rynchopetera Fairmaire and/or cyclophosphamide on the proliferation and apoptosis of lung cancer cells and decipher the underlying mechanism. B. rynchopetera and cyclophosphamide-containing serum and blank serum were prepared from SD rats. Cell counting kit-8(CCK-8) assay was employed to examine the proliferation of lung cancer cell lines A549 and Lewis treated with corresponding agents. The Jin's formula method was used to evaluate the combined effect of the two drugs. According to the evaluation results, appropriate drug concentrations and lung cancer cell line were selected for subsequent experiments, which included control, B. rynchopetera, cyclophosphamide, B. rynchopetera + cyclophosphamide, and B. rynchopetera + Wnt/ß-catenin pathway agonist lithium chloride(LiCl) groups. Immunocytochemistry was employed to measure the expression of proliferation-related proteins in Lewis cells after drug interventions. Flow cytometry was employed to determine the cell cycle and apoptosis. The expression levels of proliferating cell nuclear antigen(PCNA), cyclinD1, B-cell lymphoma 2(Bcl-2), Bcl-2-assiocated X protein(Bax), Wnt1, and ß-catenin were determined by Western blot. The results showed that B. rynchopetera and/or cyclophosphamide significantly inhibited the proliferation of A549 and Lewis cells. Compared with B. rynchopetera alone, the combination increased the inhibition rate on cell proliferation. The combination of B. rynchopetera and cyclophosphamide demonstrated a synergistic effect according to Jin's formula-based evaluation. Compared with the control group, the B. rynchopetera, cyclophosphamide, and B. rynchopetera + cyclophosphamide groups showed increased proportion of Lewis cells in G_0/G_1 phase, increased apoptosis rate, up-regulated expression of Bax, and down-regulated expression of PCNA, cyclinD1, Bcl-2, Wnt1, and ß-catenin. Compared with the cyclophosphamide group, the combination group showed increased proportion of cells in G_0/G_1 phase, increased apoptosis rate, up-regulated expression of Bax, and down-regulated expression of PCNA, cyclinD1, Bcl-2, Wnt1, and ß-catenin. Compared with the B. rynchopetera group, the B. rynchopetera + LiCl group had deceased proportion of cells in G_0/G_1 phase, decreased apoptosis rate, down-regulated expression of Bax, and up-regulated expression of PCNA, cyclinD1, Bcl-2, Wnt1, and ß-catenin. The results indicated that B. rynchopetera could inhibit the proliferation, arrest the cell cycle, and induce the apoptosis of lung cancer cells by inhibiting the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway. Moreover, B. rynchopetera had a synergistic effect with cyclophosphamide.

Preparation of S-iron-enriched yeast using siderophores and its effect on iron deficiency anemia in rats.

Efforts to obtain organic trace elements have been made, including yeast enrichment and transformation, but the application of yeast for this purpose is restricted by poor tolerance and low enrichment. Siderophores play an important role in iron transport. Thus, the role of siderophores in iron transport under high-iron conditions and the application of siderophores in the enrichment of elements was explored. The results showed that some siderophores from iron-tolerant strains promoted yeast growth and increased its intracellular iron content. Among them, siderophore TZT-12 (from LK1110) was the best for promoting yeast growth and iron conversion. The siderophore-iron-enriched yeast (S-iron-enriched yeast) effectively restored the iron concentration, and an iron concentration of 59.40 mg/g was obtained by adding TZT-12. Iron deficiency anemia in rats was significantly mitigated with S-iron-enriched yeast compared with ferrous sulfate. These findings provide a new perspective on the preparation of organic trace elements for supplementation or food fortification.

Application of enzyme-assisted extraction of baicalin from Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi.

Endophytes may depend on degrading the plant cell wall with cellulases for their survival. Therefore, cellulase produced by endophytes may be useful in releasing the active ingredient of medicinal plants. Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi is a traditional Chinese medicinal plant widely used in China and baicalin is one of its main active ingredients. In this study, fresh S. baicalensis Georgi was used to isolate endophytes, Congo red staining was used to screen cellulase-producing strains, and HPLC was used to determine the content of baicalin in S. baicalensis Georgi. As a result, a highly active strain of endophyte capable of the extraction of high levels of baicalin was obtained. The strain was named HG-5 and identified as Bacillus sp. Scanning electron microscopy analysis confirmed that the enzyme better promotes the dissolution of plant active ingredients. After optimizing the enzyme production and extraction processes, we found that when compared with the traditional extraction method, the baicalin yield was increased 79.31% after extraction with the HG-5 enzyme. The current study provides a novel approach and method for the use of endophyte cellulase to improve the extraction of compounds from medicinal plants.

Reynoutria Japonica from Traditional Chinese Medicine: A Source of Competitive Adenosine Deaminase Inhibitors for Anticancer.

BACKGROUND: Adenosine deaminase (ADA) is an important enzyme in purine metabolism and is known as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of lymphoproliferative disorders and cancer. Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine (TCHM) is widely used alone or in combination with chemotherapy to treat cancer, due to its ability to deliver a broad variety of bioactive secondary metabolites as promising sources of novel organic natural agents. OBJECTIVE: In the present study, 29 varieties of medicinal plants were screened for the presence of ADA inhibitors. RESULTS: Extracts from Reynoutria japonica, Glycyrrhiza uralensis, Lithospermum erythrorhizon, Magnolia officinalis, Gardenia jasminoides, Stephania tetrandra, Commiphora myrrha, Raphanus sativus and Corydalis yanhusuo demonstrated strong ADA inhibition with rates greater than 50%. However, Reynoutria japonica possessed the highest ADA inhibitory activity at 95.26% and so was used in our study for isolating the ADA inhibitor to be further studied. Eight compounds were obtained and their structures were identified. The compound H1 had strong ADA inhibitory activity and was deduced to be emodin by 1H and 13C-NMR spectroscopic analysis with an IC50 of 0.629 mM. The molecular docking data showed that emodin could bind tightly to the active site of ADA. Our results demonstrated that emodin displayed a new biological activity which is ADA inhibitory activity with high cytotoxic activity against K562 leukemia cells. The bioactivity of cordycepin was significantly increased when used in combination with emodin. CONCLUSION: Emodin may represent a good candidate anti-cancer therapy and adenosine protective agent.

A new naphthoquinone and other antibacterial constituents from the roots of Xanthium sibiricum.

Reinvestigating the chemical constituents of the roots of Xanthium sibiricum led to the isolation of a new naphthoquinone (1), together with 13 known compounds (2-14). Their structures were elucidated by using spectroscopic analyses, including HR-ESI-MS, 1D and 2D NMR, and by comparing their NMR data with those of related compounds. Compound 1 showed moderate antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Micrococcus tetragenus and Staphylococcus aureus, while 6 and 12 showed stronger antibacterial activity than the positive control ciprofloxacin against E. coli, with minimum inhibitory concentration values of 0.17 and 0.35 µg/mL, respectively.

[Study on Dendrobium loddigesii Rolfes from different regions and harvest periods by FTIR].

Infrared Spectroscopy (IR) integrated with two dimensional correlation infrared spectroscopy (2DCOS IR) was employed to rapidly discriminate Dendrobium loddigesii Rolfes (DR) from different regions and harvesting periods. The results showed that the IR peaks around 1 035, 1 051, 1 078, 1 156, 1 500, 1 511 and 1 736 cm-1had perceptible differences among DRs from different regions, indicating that different DRs containing remarkable different compositions and contents of polysaccharides, ketones and esters. 2DCOS IR spectra of DRs from Vietnam, Yunnan, Guangxi, Guizhou each had seven, eight, eight, nine auto peaks, respectively; furthermore, DRs from Guagnxi had the strongest peak in 1 220 cm-1, which was distinguish to those of other DRs (980 cm -1). In the IR spectra of DRs from different harvest seasons, the wave number of key peaks in (1 034 approximately1 023)cm- 1, the wave number of minor peaks in (1 6174)cm-1, as well as the presence of peaks in 1 078(1 076, 1 079)cm-1, showed obvious periodic changes with the seasons, which indicated the accumulation of polysaccharides and ketones from DRs displayed an evident periodic variability discipline. The application of FTIR in DRs could facilitate acquiring their growth conditions, composition and content changes, which would be significant in rational exploitations and utilizations of DR

[Research and investigation in medicine of Baima Tibetan in Pingwu Sichuan].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate and collect medicinal resources and methods of prevention and treatment of diseases in Baima Tibetan of Pingwu Sichuan in order to rescue and protect the ethenological medicine. METHOD: Through visiting, field survey in four ethnic townships of Baima Tibetan in Pingwu Sichuan as well as referring literatures to collect information and data analysis of them the investigation was carried out. RESULT: The investigation area showed rich medical resources. Rheumatism, stomach disease, pharyngitis and trauma are local common diseases which caused by local climate, diet and life style and so on. The Baima Tibetan are good at using local herb singly and simply to treat disease, using cold water medicine and powder snuffing are their own characters. CONCLUSION: It is an extremely urgent issue to rescue Baima Tibetan medicine which is disappearing by the influence of the Han nationality culture.