Sleep promoting and omics exploration on probiotics fermented Gastrodia elata Blume.

Fermenting Chinese medicinal herbs could enhance their bioactivities. We hypothesized probiotic-fermented gastrodia elata Blume (GE) with better potential to alleviate insomnia than that of unfermented, thus the changes in chemical composition and the insomnia-alleviating effects and mechanisms of fermented GE on pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced insomnia zebrafish were explored via high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectroscopy-coupled HPLC (HPLC-MS), phenotypic, transcriptomic, and metabolomics analysis. The results demonstrated that probiotic fermented GE performed better than unfermented GE in increasing the content of chemical composition, reducing the displacement, average speed, and number of apoptotic cells in zebrafish with insomnia.

fruit prolongs the lifespan of antioxidation and regulation of purine metabolism.

fruit is a promising commercial fruit with antioxidant activity and is rich in polyphenolic compounds. In this study, the anti-aging activity of fruit extract (CF) on () was evaluated by observing the longevity, stress response, reproduction, oscillation, lipofuscin, and antioxidant enzymes of worms. Moreover, the effects and potential mechanisms of CF on delaying senescence at the mRNA and metabolite levels were investigated.

[Reliability Thermal Design, Simulation and Experimental Verification of Electronic Monitoring Unit for Magnetic Resonance System].

The monitoring unit used in the nuclear magnetic resonance system, as an important unit of the system, faces a high thermal risk during its entire life cycle. This paper ensures the high efficiency and reliability of the thermal design of the product module from the two dimensions of structural design and device derating design. In order to reduce the risk of thermal design of electronic modules and comprehensively verify the effectiveness of thermal design of electronic modules, the design verification is carried out by combining simulation and experiment.

A New Mechanism for Ginsenoside Rb1 to Promote Glucose Uptake, Regulating Riboflavin Metabolism and Redox Homeostasis.

Glucose absorption promoters perform insulin mimic functions to enhance blood glucose transport to skeletal muscle cells and accelerate glucose consumption, thereby reducing blood glucose levels. In our screening exploration of food ingredients for improving glucose transportation and metabolism, we found that the saponins in American ginseng ( L.) showed potential activity to promote glucose uptake, which can be used for stabilizing levels of postprandial blood glucose.

Metabolomics Mechanism and Lignin Response to Laxogenin C, a Natural Regulator of Plants Growth.

Laxogenin C (LGC) is a natural spirostanol deriving from plant hormone which has shown growing regulation similar to those of brassinosteroids. In the present study, LGC showed a promoting effect on tomato seed germination and seedling growth in a dose-dependent manner. We applied LC-MS/MS to investigate metabolome variations in the tomato treated with LGC, which revealed 10 differential metabolites (DMs) related to KEGG metabolites, associated with low and high doses of LGC.

Broad-spectrum antifungal activities and mechanism of drimane sesquiterpenoids.

Eight drimane sesquiterpenoids including (-)-drimenol and (+)-albicanol were synthesized from (+)-sclareolide and evaluated for their antifungal activities. Three compounds, (-)-drimenol, (+)-albicanol, and (1,2,4a,8a)-2-hydroxy-2,5,5,8a-tetramethyl-decahydronaphthalene-1-carbaldehyde (4) showed strong activity against . (-)-Drimenol, the strongest inhibitor of the three, (at concentrations of 8 - 64 µg/ml, causing 100% death of various fungi), acts not only against in a fungicidal manner, but also inhibits other fungi such as and fluconazole resistant strains of and These observations suggest that drimenol is a broad-spectrum antifungal agent.

Silica-Coated Gold-Silver Nanocages as Photothermal Antibacterial Agents for Combined Anti-Infective Therapy.

Because of the abuse of antibiotics and threats of antibiotic resistance, bacterial infection is still one of the most difficult issues to be resolved. Thus, it is of great significance to explore novel antibacterial agents. In this paper, we investigated a type of silica-coated gold-silver nanocages (Au-Ag@SiO NCs) as antibacterial candidates.

Maternal dietary exposure to selenium nanoparticle led to malformation in offspring.

Selenium (Se) is an essential element and its biological activity is related to its speciation. It is also well-known that in excess it can cause teratogenesis in fish and birds. In this study we compared dietary toxicity of elemental selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) with selenite and selenomethionine (Se-Met).

Constituents from solid-cultured Antrodia camphorata.

Antrodia camphorata is a rare and precious traditional food and medicine for improving health-related conditions in Taiwan. The phytochemical research of the mushroom led to the isolation of a new naphthalenecarboxaldehyde, named as 1-Naphthalenecarboxaldehyde,3,4,4a,5,6,7,8,8a-octahydro-2-(hydroxymethyl)-5,5,8a-trimethyl (1). Meanwhile, seven other known compounds of nerolidol (2), cadinol (3), herbarulide (4), 3β-Hydroxy-5a,8a-epidioxyergosta-6,22-diene (5), ergosta-7,22-diene-3,6-dione (6) 2,3-dimethoxy-5-methyl-p-benzoquinone (7) and β-sitosterol (8) were also obtained from A.

Structure based in silico identification of potentially non-steroidal brassinosteroids mimics.

Brassinosteroids (BRs) are a class of plant steroid hormones that play indispensable roles in cell elongation, division and plant development. To date, the numerous synthesis of BRs analogs and structure-activity relationship investigations have clearly revealed the key substituent groups relevant to the steroidal activity of BRs. However, due to the limited chemical space studied, the efforts for alternative non-steroidal compounds have produced no remarkable results.

Structure-activity relationship of brassinosteroids and their agricultural practical usages.

Brassinosteroids (BRs) control several important agronomic traits, such as strengthening resistance to diverse adversity, improving the quality, and increasing crop yield. Their chemical structures and varieties, specific methods for the evaluation of bioactivities, structure-activity relationships, potential novel compounds, and practical agricultural uses were summarized. The findings allow the examination of brassinosteroids in two important issues: 1) Do the results of different bioevaluation protocols provide similar activities for BRs? and 2) which bioevaluated compounds would proof to have a greater potential for application in agricultural usages?

NIR-Responsive Polycationic Gatekeeper-Cloaked Hetero-Nanoparticles for Multimodal Imaging-Guided Triple-Combination Therapy of Cancer.

Responsive multifunctional organic/inorganic nanohybrids are promising for effective and precise imaging-guided therapy of cancer. In this work, a near-infrared (NIR)-triggered multifunctional nanoplatform comprising Au nanorods (Au NRs), mesoporous silica, quantum dots (QDs), and two-armed ethanolamine-modified poly(glycidyl methacrylate) with cyclodextrin cores (denoted as CD-PGEA) has been successfully fabricated for multimodal imaging-guided triple-combination treatment of cancer. A hierarchical hetero-structure is first constructed via integration of Au NRs with QDs through a mesoporous silica intermediate layer.

Four new furostanol saponins from the rhizomes and roots of Smilax scobinicaulis and their cytotoxicity.

Four new furostanol saponins 1-4, along with two known furostanol saponins 5 and 6 and one known spirostanol saponin 7 were isolated from the rhizomes and roots of Smilax scobinicaulis. The structures of the new saponins were elucidated as 26-O-β-D-glucopyranoside-3β,26-dihydroxy-(25R)-5α-furostan-22-methoxyl-6-one-3-O-α-L-arabinopyranosyl-(1→6)-β-D-glucopyranoside (1), 26-O-β-D-glucopyranoside-3β,26-dihydroxy-(25R)-5α-furostan-22-methoxyl-6-one (2), 26-O-β-D-glucopyranoside-3β,26-dihydroxy-(25R)-5α-furostan-20(22)-en-6-one (3), 26-O-β-D-glucopyranoside-3β,23,26-trihydroxy-(23R, 25R)-5α-furostan-20(22)-en-6-one (4) on the basis of spectroscopic analysis. The isolated saponins were evaluated for cytotoxic activity against two human cancer cell lines including Hela (cervical carcinoma) and SMMC-7221 (hepatocellular carcinoma).

[Influence of different processing methods and mature stages on 3,29-dibenzoyl rarounitriol of Trichosanthes kirilowii seeds].

Objective: To study the different mature stages and the best processing methods on the quality of Trichosanthes kirilowii seeds.

Methods: The content of 3,29-dibenzoyl rarounitriol in Trichosanthes kirilowii seeds was determined by HPLC. The sample of different mature stages such as immature, near mature and fully mature and processed by different methods were studied.

Synthesis of brassinosteroids analogues from laxogenin and their plant growth promotion.

Four steroid saponins (2-5) and three derivatives (6-8) were synthesised from laxogenin. Four of them were new compounds: (25R)-3β-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-β-D-galactopyranosyloxy)-5α-spirostan-6-one (3), (25R)-3β-(β-D-galactopyranosyloxy)-5α-spirostan-6-one (5), 3β,16-diacetyl-26-hydroxy-5α-cholestan-6,22-dione (6) and 16-acetyl-3β,26-dihydroxy-5α-cholestan-6,22-dione (7). All the compounds showed plant growth-promoting activity in the radish hypocotyl elongation and cotyledon expansion bioassay.

A new flavonoid glycoside from the rhizomes and roots of Smilax scobinicaulis.

A new flavonoid glycoside, hesperetin-7-O-[β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1 → 3)]-β-D-glucopyranosyl (1), was isolated from the n-BuOH extract of Smilax scobinicaulis, together with four known flavonoid glycosides, clematine (2), ononin (3), daidzin (4) and puerarin (5). All of the five compounds were reported from this material for the first time. Their structures were determined on the basis of spectroscopic and spectrometric methods.

[Phenylpropanoids and diphenylethene compounds from roots and rhizomes of Smilax scobinicaulis].

The chemical constituents were separated and purified from the roots and rhizomes of Smilax scobinicaulis by various chromatographic methods including silica gel, Sephadex LH-20. Their structures were obtained and identified as resveratrol-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->3)-beta-D-glucopyranoside (1), resveratrol (2), 8-viniferin (3), ethyl caffeate (4), 1-0-caffeoylglycerol (5), 1-O-p-coumaroylglycerol (6), 1-0-feruloylglycerol (7), grossamide (8), moracin M (9) on the analysis of spectroscopic data. Compound 1 was a new compound and compounds 3-5, 8,9 were separated from this plant for the first time.

A new cytotoxic steroidal saponin from the rhizomes and roots of Smilax scobinicaulis.

A phytochemical investigation of the EtOH extract from the rhizomes and roots of Smilax scobinicaulis resulted in the isolation of a new isospirostanol-type steroidal saponin, namely (25 R)-5α-spirostan-3β,6β-diol 3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1 → 4)-[α-L-arabinopyranosyl-(1 → 6)]-β-D-glucopyranoside (1), along with four known steroidal saponins (2-5). The structures of these compounds were determined by 1D- and 2D-NMR spectroscopic analysis, FABMS and HR-ESI-MS as well as chemical degradation. The isolated saponins were evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxicity against A549, LAC and Hela human cancer cell lines, which demonstrated that only compound 1 possessed significant cytotoxic activity with IC₅₀ values of 3.

Anthraquinones from the roots of Prismatomeris tetrandra.

A new anthraquinone compound, 1,3-dihydroxy-6-methoxy-2-methoxymethyl-9,10-anthraquinone (1), along with four known analogues (2-5) were isolated from the roots of Prismatomeris tetrandra. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analysis. Among these compounds, lucidin omega-methyl ether (4) and lucidin omega-ethyl ether (5) were isolated from this genus for the first time.

[Uptake kinetics of hTERT antisense molecular probe by cells and its biological properities].

Objective: To observe the cell uptake kinetics and specific gene expression effect of hTERT antisense molecular probe in vitro.

Methods: Antisense molecular probes targeting hTERT mRNA were radiolabeled with technetium-99m by the method of bifunctional chelator. HepG2 cells expressing hTERT were cultured.