The Inhibition Activity of Natural Methoxyflavonoid from Inula britannica on Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase and NO Production in RAW264.7 Cells.

Soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) is an enzyme targeted for the treatment of inflammation and cardiovascular diseases. Activated inflammatory cells produce nitric oxide (NO), which induces oxidative stress and exacerbates inflammation. We identify an inhibitor able to suppress sEH and thus NO production. Five flavonoids 1-5 isolated from Inula britannica flowers were evaluated for their abilities to inhibit sEH with IC50 values of 12.1 ± 0.1 to 62.8 ± 1.8 µM and for their effects on enzyme kinetics. A simulation study using computational chemistry was conducted as well. Furthermore, five inhibitors (1-5) were confirmed to suppress NO levels at 10 µM. The results showed that flavonoids 1-5 exhibited inhibitory activity in all tests, with compound 3 exhibiting the most significant efficacy. Thus, in the development of anti-inflammatory inhibitors, compound 3 is a promising natural candidate.

Comparison of Quality, Antioxidant Capacity, and Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Adlay [Coix lacryma-jobi L. var. ma-yuen (Rom. Caill.) Stapf.] Sprout at Several Harvest Time.

Recently, there has been a growing interest in the consumption of plant-based foods such as vegetables and grains for the purpose of disease prevention and treatment. Adlay seeds contain physiologically active substances, including coixol, coixenolide, and lactams. In this study, adlay sprouts were cultivated and harvested at various time points, specifically at 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 days after sowing. The antioxidant activity of the extracts was evaluated using assays such as DPPH radical scavenging, ABTS radical scavenging, reducing power, and total polyphenol contents. The toxicity of the extracts was assessed using cell culture and the WST-1 assay. The aboveground components of the sprouts demonstrated a significant increase in length, ranging from 2.75 cm to 21.87 cm, weight, ranging from 0.05 g to 0.32 g, and biomass, ranging from 161.4 g to 1319.1 g, as the number of days after sowing advanced, reaching its peak coixol content of 39.38 mg/g on the third day after sowing. Notably, the antioxidant enzyme activity was highest between the third and fifth days after sowing. Regarding anti-inflammatory activity, the inhibition of cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) expression was most prominent in samples harvested from the ninth to eleventh days after sowing, corresponding to the later stage of growth. While the overall production mass increased with the number of days after sowing, considering factors such as yield increase index per unit area, turnover rate, and antioxidant activity, harvesting at the early growth stage, specifically between the fifth and seventh days after sowing, was found to be economically advantageous. Thus, the quality, antioxidant capacity, and anti-inflammatory activity of adlay sprouts varied depending on the harvest time, highlighting the importance of determining the appropriate harvest time based on the production objectives. This study demonstrates the changes in the growth and quality of adlay sprouts in relation to the harvest time, emphasizing the potential for developing a market for adlay sprouts as a new food product.

Chemical Profiles and Antiobesity Effect of a Mixture of Astragalus membranaceus and Lithospermum erythrorhizon Extract in High Fat Diet Fed Mice.

The present study aimed to evaluate the antiobesity potential and synergistic effects of ALM16, a mixture of Astragalus membranaceus (AM) and Lithospermum erythrorhizon (LE) extracts, in HFD-induced obese mice. C57BL/6 mice were fed a normal diet (ND), high-fat diet (HFD), HFD + AM, HFD + LE or HFD + ALM16 (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg) daily for 5 weeks. Compared to the ND group, HFD-fed mice showed significant increases in body weight, food efficiency ratio, weights of white adipose tissues, adipocytes size, liver weight, and hepatic steatosis grade. However, ALM16 significantly reduced those increases induced by HFD. Moreover, as compared to the HFD group, the ALM16 group significantly ameliorated serum levels of lipid profiles (TG, TC, HDL, and LDL), adipokines (leptin and adiponectin), and liver damage markers (AST and ALT levels). Notably, ALM16 was more effective than AM or LE alone and had a similar or more potent effect than Garcinia cambogia extracts, as a positive control, at the same dose. These results demonstrate that ALM16 synergistically exerts anti-obesity effects based on complementary interactions between each component. Also, metabolic profiling between each extract and the ALM16 was confirmed by UPLC-QTOF/MS, and the difference was confirmed by relative quantification.

Serum Metabonomic Research of the Anti-Hypertensive Effects of Ogaja on Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats.

Our previous studies have shown that Ogaja Acanthopanax sessiliflorus has an important role in decreasing blood pressure, but its biochemical change characteristic has not been clarified completely at the metabolic level. Therefore, in this study, a combination method of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy-based metabonomics and multivariate statistical analyses was employed to explore the metabolic changes of serum samples from spontaneously hypertensive rats treated with Ogaja extracts. In the results of multivariate statistical analysis, the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) groups treated with Ogaja were separated from the SHR group. The group of SHR treated with 200 mg/kg Ogaja was clustered with the positive control (captopril) group, and the 400 and 600 mg/kg Ogaja treatment SHR groups were clustered together. Quantified metabolites were statistically analyzed to find the metabolites showing the effects of Ogaja. Succinate and betaine had variable importance in projection (VIP) scores over 2.0. Succinate, which is related to renin release, and betaine, which is related to lowering blood pressure, increased dose-dependently.

First Report of Verticillium Wilt Caused by Verticillium dahliae Infection on Chinese Cabbage in Korea.

Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L.) is one of the most important vegetables in Korea due to its role as the main ingredient for the making of Kimchi. In June 2014, disease symptoms of leaves wilt, dry, and drop off on Chinese cabbage were observed in a Chinese cabbage farm located at Taebeak (37°26'50.7"N 128°95'50.0"E), Gangwon province, Korea. This disease was observed on approximately 35% of the plants in the field, causing an almost 10% decrease in total production. At the early stage of infection, the color at the edge of the plant foliage changed from green to yellow. As the disease progressed, infected leaves wilted, dried off, and detached from the plant. Soft rot that occurred at the base of the leaf stem and root tissues caused the infected leaves to dry and fell off the plant. To identify the causal agent, a small piece of infected leaf tissues was sterilized with 1% sodium hypochlorite solution for 1 min and rinsed with sterile water before it was transferred onto potato dextrose agar (PDA) media. The plates were then incubated at 25°C for 10 days in the dark. Fungal colonies grown on PDA media were of white-creamy in color with an abundance of mycelia and later develop into black color due to the formation of microsclerotia embedded in the media. Microscopic examination showed conidiophores and phialides were both appeared in a verticillate arrangement, whereas conidia were hyaline, smooth-walled, and ellipsoidal to oval with average size 5.4×2.5 µm (n=100). Microsclerotia appeared in elongate to an irregularly spherical shape and greatly variable in size. The morphological attributes of the fungal isolate described above were comparable to the characteristics of Verticillium dahliae Kleb. (V. dahliae) described by Hawksworth and Talboys (1970), and V. dahliae isolated from Chinese cabbage in Japan reported in Kishi (1998). Pathogenicity test was performed by soaking twelve individual Chinese cabbage seedlings for 15 min into fungal pathogen conidial suspension (1x106 conidium/ml) before transferred into soil tray. The same number of non-inoculated seedlings on the soil tray was used as a control. Inoculated and control plants were then covered with a plastic bag for 24 hours to maintain high humidity before transferred into the greenhouse (25°C). Seven days post-inoculation (dpi), treated plant leaves turned yellow, and soft rot was observed. At 10-dpi, plant leaf tissues dried off and severe soft rot occurred. Pathogenicity test was repeated three times and consistent results were obtained. The re-isolated fungal pathogen from the inoculated plants showed identical morphological characteristics to the original isolates, thus fulfilling Koch's postulates. For further identification, PCR amplification targeting Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) and RNA polymerase II gene (RPB2) regions were performed (Liu et al., 1999; White et al., 1990). Each PCR product was sequenced and deposited in the GenBank under the accession LC549667 and LC061275, respectively. Sequence analysis using BLAST showed that the nucleotide sequences of ITS and RPB2 DNA fragments are 99-100% identical to the reference strain of V. dahliae available in the NCBI database (MG585719, HE972023, XM_009652520 and DQ522468, respectively). Therefore, based on the results of morphological and molecular analyses, the fungal pathogen isolated from Chinese cabbage in this study was identified as V. dahliae and deposited in the National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science germplasm collection (NIHHS 13-252). Recently, due to high demand and a more competitive price, more Chrysanthemum farmers in Korea switch their crops to Chinese cabbage. Interestingly, the occurrence of V. dahliae infection was also reported to occur in Chrysanthemum plants in Korea (Han et al. 2007), which indicates a serious problem ahead to these farmers. Therefore, in this current study, the identification of V. dahliae pathogenic to Chinese cabbage will provide vital knowledge for the development of disease management strategies to minimize the loss of crop production. To our knowledge, this is the first report that V. dahliae causes Verticillium wilt disease on Chinese cabbage in Korea.

First Report of Fusarium subglutinans Causing Leaf Spot Disease on Cymbidium Orchids in Korea.

In 2006~2010, leaf spot symptoms, that is, small, yellow spots that turned into dark brown-to-black lesions surrounded by a yellow halo, were observed on Cymbidium spp. in Gongju, Taean, and Gapyeong in Korea. A Fusarium species was continuously isolated from symptomatic leaves; in pathogenicity testing, isolates caused leaf spot symptoms consisting of sunken, dark brown lesions similar to the original ones. The causal pathogen was identified as Fusarium subglutinans based on morphological and translation elongation factor 1-alpha sequence analyses. This is the first report of F. subglutinans as the cause of leaf spot disease in Cymbidium spp. in Korea.

First Report of Myrothecium roridum Causing Leaf and Stem Rot Disease on Peperomia quadrangularis in Korea.

In 2010, symptoms of leaf and stem rot were observed on potted plants (Peperomia quadrangularis) in a greenhouse in Yongin, Korea. The causative pathogen was identified as Myrothecium roridum based on morphological data, internal transcribed spacer sequence analysis, and pathogenicity test. To our knowledge, this is the first report of M. roridum causing leaf and stem rot disease on P. quadrangularis in Korea and elsewhere worldwide.

First Report of Sclerotium Rot on Cymbidium Orchids Caused by Sclerotium rolfsii in Korea.

Sclerotium rot was found on Cymbidium orchids at Seosan-si, Chungcheongnam-do, Korea, in July, 2010. Symptoms occurred on low leaves, which turned yellowish, after which the entire plant wilted. Severely infected plants were blighted and eventually died. White mycelial mats and sclerotia appeared on pseudobulbs. Based on the mycological characteristics and pathogenicity, the causal fungus was identified as Sclerotium rolfsii. This is the first report of new Sclerotium rot on Cymbidium spp. caused by S. rolfsii in Korea.

Identification of the +1 ribosomal frameshifting site of LRV1-4 by mutational analysis.

Leishmania virus (LRV)1-4 has been reported to produce a fusion of ORF2 and ORF3 via a programmed +1 frameshift in the region where ORF2 and ORF3 overlap (Lee et al., 1996). However, the exact frameshift site has not been identified. In this study, we compared the frameshift efficiency of a 259bp (nt. 2565-2823), frameshift region of LRV1-4, and the 71bp (nt. 2605-2678) sub-region where ORF2 and ORF3 overlap. We then predicted the frameshift site using a new computer program (Pseudoviewer), and finally identified the specific region associated with the mechanism of the LRV1-4's +1 frameshift by means of a mutational analysis based on the predicted structure of LRV1-4 RNA. The predicted structure was confirmed by biochemical analysis. In order to measure the frameshift efficiency, constructs that generate luciferase without a frameshift or with a +1 frameshift, were generated and in vitro transcription/translation analysis was performed. Measurements of the luciferase activity generated, showed that the frameshift efficiency was about 1% for both the 259bp (LRV1-4 259FS) and 71bp region (LRV1-4 71FS). Luciferase activity was strongly reduced in a mutant (LRV1-4 NH: nt. 2635-2670) with the entire hairpin deleted and in a mutant (LRV1-4 NUS: nt. 2644-2659) with the upper stem of the hairpin deleted. These results indicate that the frameshift site in LRV1-4's is in the 71bp region where ORF2 and ORF3 overlap, and that nt. 2644-2659 (the upward hairpin stem) play a key role in generating the +1 frameshift.