Novel hypnotics of Japanese traditional herbal medicines to caffeine-induced insomnia in Drosophila by using Newly-developed automated sleep and rhythm analysis system (AutoCircaS).

Sleep in Drosophila was defined in the year 2000 by using Drosophila Activity Monitor (DAM) system. But DAM is very small tube space and one fly per tube is very limited to analyze for fly social behavior. To overcome such demerits of DAM system, we developed a novel automated sleep and rhythm analysis system (AutoCircaS) which monitors and records any behaviors like social mating, sleep, and circadian rhythm in flies (Drosophila) and small fishes medaka (Oryzias latipes) in free space using the time-lapse (one frame per 10 sec) imaging. AutoCircaS can detect the caffeine-induced insomnia in flies in light-dark (LD) and constant dark (DD) conditions. Thus, using the AutoCircaS, we discovered that Japanese traditional herbal medicines, KyushinKannouGan-ki (KKG), NouKassei (NK) as well as, and Sansoninto, significantly improved caffeine-induced insomnia in flies. The data suggest that AutoCircaS is useful for sleep analysis of small animals and screening of new sedative-hypnotics from many origins.

Saffron ameliorated motor symptoms, short life span and retinal degeneration in Parkinson's disease fly models.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder with motor symptoms linked to the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the brain. α-Synuclein is an aggregation-prone neural protein that plays a role in the pathogenesis of PD. In our previous paper, we found that saffron; the stigma of Crocus sativus Linné (Iridaceae), and its constituents (crocin and crocetin) suppressed aggregation of α-synuclein and promoted the dissociation of α-synuclein fibrils in vitro. In this study, we investigated the effect of dietary saffron and its constituent, crocetin, in vivo on a fly PD model overexpressing several mutant α-synuclein in a tissue-specific manner. Saffron and crocetin significantly suppressed the decrease of climbing ability in the Drosophila overexpressing A30P (A30P fly PD model) or G51D (G51D fly PD model) mutated α-synuclein in neurons. Saffron and crocetin extended the life span in the G51D fly PD model. Saffron suppressed the rough-eyed phenotype and the dispersion of the size histogram of the ocular long axis in the eye of A30P fly PD model. Saffron had a cytoprotective effect on a human neuronal cell line with α-synuclein fibrils. These data showed that saffron and its constituent crocetin have protective effects on the progression of PD disease in animals in vivo and suggest that saffron and crocetin can be used to treat PD.

Analysis of Lutein in Mugwort (Artemisia princeps Pamp.) Paste and Evaluation of Manufacturing Processes.

Lutein, a type of xanthophyll, possesses antioxidative properties that contribute to the prevention of various diseases. Preliminary screening has shown that Japanese mugwort (Artemisia princeps Pamp.) contains high amounts of lutein. In this study, we evaluated the lutein concentration in a processed mugwort product (mugwort paste). By using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with visible light detection or mass spectrometry, the lutein concentration in mugwort paste was determined as 38 mg/100 g dry weight, which indicates that mugwort is a potentially valuable natural food source of lutein. We also investigated the effects of the manufacturing process and found that the lutein content was significantly increased by the boiling and dehydrating processes during the production of mugwort paste. Mugwort paste that is rich in lutein may therefore serve as an effective nutraceutical.