ABSTRACT
Ligusticum chuanxiong is a common traditional edible-medicinal herb that has various pharmacological activities. However, its effects on Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) remains unknown. In this study, we found that water extract of Ligusticum chuanxiong (abbreviated as WEL) exhibited excellent free radical scavenging ability in-vitro. Moreover, WEL treatment could delay the aging of S. cerevisiae, an important food microorganism sensitive to reactive oxygen species (ROS) stress. Biochemical analyses revealed that WEL significantly increased the activity of antioxidant enzymes in S. cerevisiae, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione reductase (GR), as well as their gene expression. As a result, ROS level was significantly decreased and accompanied with the decline of malondialdehyde (MDA), which represented a state of low oxidative stress. The reduction of oxidative stress could elevate S. cerevisiae's ethanol fermentation efficiency. Taken together, WEL plays a protective role against S. cerevisiae aging via improving antioxidant activity.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To explore the change of extracellular-signal regulated protein kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) and their mitogen activated protein kinase kinases(MAPKKs) gene expression in normal skins versus hypertrophic scars underlying their biological significances. METHODS: After total RNAs were isolated from 8 specimens of hypertrophic scars and 8 specimens of normal skins, and then were purified to mRNAs, the gene expression of ERK1/2 and MEK1/2 were examined with reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). RESULTS: In normal skins, the intensity of gene expression of ERK1/2 and MEK1/2 were weak. In hypertrophic scar, the expression intensities of these 4 genes were 1.1 times, 1.2 times, 2.2 times and 2.5 times of normal skins, respectively. The expression of these 4 genes was significantly elevated in comparison with normal skins. CONCLUSION: The activation of MEK1/2, ERK1/2 gene expression in hypertrophic scars versus in normal skins might be one of the mechanisms controlling the formation of hypertrophic scars.