New azaphilones, phomopsones A-C with biological activities from an endophytic fungus Phomopsis sp. CGMCC No.5416.

Three undescribed azaphilones, phomopsones A-C (1-3) and two known azaphilones (4-5) were isolated from the culture of endophytic fungus Phomopsis sp. CGMCC No.5416 from the stems of Achyranthes bidentata. Their structures were determined by spectroscopic analysis (HRESIMS, 1D and 2D NMR), and the absolute configurations were determined by CD spectroscopy. Compounds 2 and 3 showed significant inhibitory activities against HIV-1 with against HIV-1 with IC50 values of 7.6 and 0.5 µmol/L, respectively. Compounds 2 and 3 also displayed moderate cytotoxicity with CC50 values of 3.2-303 µmol/L against A549, MDA-MB-231 and PANC-1 cell lines. Moreover, compound 3 can induce the early apoptosis of PANC-1 cancer cells with the apoptosis rate of 28.54%.

Metabolomic Investigation on Fermentation Products of Achyranthes japonica Nakai by Lactobacillus plantarum.

Fermentation has recently re-emerged as an approach for improved functionality of food products in addition to the traditional roles such as shelf life, taste, and texture. Here, we report dynamic changes in the metabolite profiles of Achyranthes japonica Nakai by Lactobacillus plantarum fermentation, primarily, the significant increases in representative functional ingredients, 20-hydroxyecdysone and 25S-inokosterone. Additionally, untargeted metabolite profiling showed 58% of metabolites underwent significant alteration. The most dynamic change was observed in cellobiose, which showed a 56-fold increase. Others were sugar alcohols and amino acids, while lyxitol and erythritol that were among the most dynamically down-regulated.

Evaluation of nutritional and sub-acute toxicological study of plant based supplement of Achyranthes aspera.

The present study was conducted for the nutritional, microbiological and toxicological evaluation of test compound having main ingredient Achyranthes aspera. Nutritional value assessment, microbiological analysis and toxicological studies were conducted according to the standard reported methods which exhibited that A. aspera contains moisture 4.05%, proteins 20.54%, fats 0.903%, ash 20.25%, carbohydrates 54,26% and energy 294 Kcal. Vitamin profile was found to be B(1) 0.27mg/100g, B(2) 0.28mg/100g, B(3) 0.58mg/100g, B(6) 0.27mg/100g and B(9) 39µg/100g. The content of sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, chloride and phosphorus was found to be 1119.67, 5385.23, 5446.08, 1343.6, 675880.73 and 1447.5mg/kg respectively and trace metals i.e. iron, copper, zinc, manganese and aluminum were detected as 283.05, 8.062, 48.37, 16.12 and 9.853 mg/kg respectively. The microbiological result indicated that the compound qualifies the international standards of microbial limit and was found free from Salmonella species. The toxicological study was conducted to find safe use of Achyranthes aspera compound in human as a nutritive supplement in blood disorders. The toxicity studies exhibited that the test compound has a good effect on general health as an increase in body weights of animals of test group was noticed as compared to that of control group. Blood parameters before and after the study were monitored which confirms our hypothesis by showing an increase in hemoglobin from 9.133 to 10.96, RBC count from 3.11 to 3.6, WBC count from 5.68 to 5.73 and platelets from 245 to 319.

ROS-mediated apoptotic cell death in prostate cancer LNCaP cells induced by biosurfactant stabilized CdS quantum dots.

Cadmium sulfide (CdS) quantum dots (QDs) have raised great attention because of their superior optical properties and wide utilization in biological and biomedical studies. However, little is known about the cell death mechanisms of CdS QDs in human cancer cells. This study was designed to investigate the possible mechanisms of apoptosis induced by biosurfactant stabilized CdS QDs (denoted as "bsCdS QDs") in human prostate cancer LNCaP cells. It was also noteworthy that apoptosis correlated with reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, mitochondrial damage, oxidative stress and chromatin condensation in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Results also showed involvement of caspases, Bcl-2 family proteins, heat shock protein 70, and a cell-cycle checkpoint protein p53 in apoptosis induction by bsCdS QDs in LNCaP cells. Moreover, pro-apoptotic protein Bax was upregulated and the anti-apoptotic proteins, survivin and NF-κB were downregulated in bsCdS QDs exposed cells. Protection of N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) against ROS clearly suggested the implication of ROS in hyper-activation of apoptosis and cell death. It is encouraging to conclude that biologically stabilized CdS QDs bear the potential of its applications in biomedicine, such as tumor therapy specifically by inducing caspase-dependent apoptotic cell death of human prostate cancer LNCaP cells.

Assessment of mineral phosphate-solubilizing properties and molecular characterization of zinc-tolerant bacteria.

Plant growth-promoting bacteria with the ability to tolerate heavy metals have importance both in sustainable agriculture and phytoremediation. The present study reports on the isolation and characterization of mineral phosphate-solubilizing (MPS) bacteria associated with the Achyranthes aspera L. plant (prickly chaff, flower plant). Out of 35 bacterial isolates, 6 isolates, namely RS7, RP23, EPR1, RS5, RP11 and RP19, with high MPS activity were selected and subjected to the assessment of MPS activity under various stress conditions, viz. ZnSO(4) (0.30-1.5 M), NaCl and temperature. MPS activity by the selected isolates was observed at concentrations of as high as >1.2 M ZnSO(4). Significant improvement in plant growth was observed on bacterization of seeds (pearl millet) with all of the six selected isolates. Plant growth was measured in terms of root length, shoot length, fresh weight and % increase in root biomass. The molecular diversity among the phosphate-solubilizing bacteria was studied employing enterobacterial repetitive intergenic sequence-PCR (ERIC-PCR). Representative strains from each ERIC type were identified, on the basis of a partial sequence of the 16S rRNA gene, as members of the genera Pseudomonas, Citrobacter, Acinetobacter, Serratia, and Enterobacter. Among all the isolates, RP19 was the best in terms of phosphate-solubizing activity and its response to various stresses. The ability of RP19 and other isolates to exhibit MPS activity at high ZnSO(4) concentrations suggests their potential as efficient biofertilizer for growing plants in metal (ZnSO(4))-contaminated soil.