Naringenin suppresses epithelial ovarian cancer by inhibiting proliferation and modulating gut microbiota.

BACKGROUND: Ovarian cancer has the highest mortality among all gynecological malignancies; currently, no effective therapeutics are available for its treatment. Naringenin has been shown to inhibit the progression of various cancers, but its inhibitory effect on ovarian cancer remains unknown. PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the inhibitory effects of naringenin on ovarian cancer and elucidate the underlying mechanisms. METHODS: Cancer cell proliferation was detected by cell counting kit-8 and crystal violet assays, and the migration capability was determined by wound healing and transwell assays. Western blotting and immunohistochemistry assays were employed to determine the expression levels of the epidermal growth factor receptor, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and cyclin D1 in vitro and in vivo, respectively. An ES-2 xenograft nude mouse model was established for the in vivo experiments, and fecal samples were collected for intestinal microbiota analysis by 16S rDNA sequencing. RESULTS: Naringenin suppressed the proliferation and migration of A2780 and ES-2 cancer cell lines and downregulated PI3K in vitro. In animal experiments, naringenin treatment significantly decreased the tumor weight and volume, and oral administration exhibited greater effects than intraperitoneal injection. Additionally, naringenin treatment ameliorated the population composition of the microbiota in animals with ovarian cancer and significantly increased the abundances of Alistipes and Lactobacillus. CONCLUSION: Naringenin suppresses epithelial ovarian cancer by inhibiting PI3K pathway expression and ameliorating the gut microbiota, and the oral route is more effective than parenteral administration.

[Direct quantitative analysis of amino acids in fermented beverage of plant extract using high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry].

A method was established for underivatized amino acid determination in fermented beverage of plant extract. Samples were diluted with methanol for five times, extracted by ultrasonic vibration for 30 min, and high-speed centrifuged for 15 min at 10,000 r/min. The supernatant was separated and detected by, high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). The chromatographic column was Venusil ASB C18 (250 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 µm). The elution was performed at a flow rate of 0.5 mL/min using the mobile phases of methanol-acetic acid-water mixture. The MS detector was set as follows: ion source voltage 3 kV, ion source temperature 150 t, solvent temperature 350 t, gas flow rate 800 L/h. The collision gas was argon with a pressure of 0.17 Pa. The quantitation analysis was carried out with peak area in extracted ion chromatograms. Good linearities were acquired in the range of 0.5-200 µmol/L (r2 > 0.99) for the amino acids. The recoveries were between 86% and 110%. There were 16 amino acids in the fermented beverage of plant extract quantitatively analyzed. The method is simple, rapid, accurate and reliable in quantitative analysis of amino acid samples in the fields of pharmaceutical, food and natural products.