Characterization of Phenolic Compounds and Antiproliferative Effects of and Extracts.

The phenolic compounds of methanolic extracts of and were identified by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Carnosic acid and its metabolite carnosol were the most abundant terpene phenolic compounds of , while they were completely absent in . The main terpene phenolic constituent of was 12--methylcarnosic acid and its mass/mass fragmentation pathway was explained.

Sanguinarine is reduced by NADH through a covalent adduct.

Sanguinarine is a benzo[c]phenanthridine alkaloid with interesting cytotoxic properties, such as induction of oxidative DNA damage and very rapid apoptosis, which is not mediated by p53-dependent signaling. It has been previously documented that sanguinarine is reduced with NADH even in absence of any enzymes while being converted to its dihydro form. We found that the dark blue fluorescent species, observed during sanguinarine reduction with NADH and misinterpreted by Matkar et al.

Identification of key structural characteristics of Schisandra chinensis lignans involved in P-glycoprotein inhibition.

The aim of the present study was to determine the structural requirements for dibenzocyclooctadiene lignans essential for P-glycoprotein inhibition. Altogether 15 structurally related lignans isolated from Schisandra chinensis or prepared by modification of their backbone were investigated, including three pairs of enantiomers. P-Glycoprotein inhibition was quantified using a doxorubicin accumulation assay in human promyelotic leukemia HL60/MDR cells overexpressing P-glycoprotein.

S. pombe genome deletion project: an update.

The fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe is a model organism used widely to study various aspects of eukaryotic biology. A collection of heterozygous diploid strains containing individual deletions in nearly all S. pombe genes has been created using a PCR based strategy.