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• Black wolfberries are excellent sources of nutritional and functional components. • There was great variation of phytochemicals in berries from different regions. • No significance of phytochemicals was found between wild and cultivated berries in same region. • Qinghai berries presented richer components and higher antioxidant activity than other regions. • Phenolics and polysaccharides are the main contributors to antioxidant ability for wolfberry. Black wolfberry (Lycium ruthenicum , LR) is one of edible and medicinal fruits used widely in West China and contains many nutritional and health benefits of bioactive components. In this study, the phytochemical profiles and nutritional constituents in LR berries from seven production regions were systematically investigated and analyzed quantitatively. And the antioxidant activity of LR berry extracts was also measured by several methods, including DPPH, ABTS, FRAP and ORAC assays. Dietary fibers, soluble sugars, organic acids, minerals and vitamin C were rich in LR berries, and low variation of nutritional constituent contents were detected in these regions. Furthermore, the concentration of the functional components (such as polyphenols, phenolic acids, flavonoids and polysaccharides) varied significantly in LR berries from different regions, and there were no significant differences of these components in the wild and cultivated berries from the same region. Generally, these functional components had significantly positive correlations with antioxidant activity, with exception for total flavonoids and total carotenoids. Overall, LR berries from Qaidam Basin of Qinghai, not only represented abundant nutritional constituents and phenolics, polysaccharides and betaine, but possessed significantly higher antioxidant activity than those of the other production regions, indicating that they can conduct as excellent sources of antioxidants used in nutraceutical formulations and functional foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Our previous studies on Asterothamnus centrali-asiaticus Novopokr. (ACN) and Arenaria kansuensis Maxim. (AKM) had led to the isolation of some phytochemical constituents and evaluation of anticonvulsant effect based on their extracts. ACN and AKM have been widely used in traditional Tibetan herbs for neuropsychiatric diseases and cardiopulmonary disorders., Purpose: The purpose is to investigate structure-activity relationships of flavonoids isolated from ACN and AKM, for binding to the benzodiazepine site (BZ-S) of γ-aminobutyric acid type A (GABA A ) receptor complex, and to search for anticonvulsant compounds without undesirable effects such as myorelaxation and sedation., Study Design and Methods: The affinities of these flavonoids for the BZ-S of GABA A receptors were determined by [ 3 H]flunitrazepam binding to mouse cerebellum membranes in vitro. And the anticonvulsant, myorelaxant and sedative effects were determined by pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced seizure and electrogenic seizure protection, rotarod test and locomotor activity test, respectively., Results: Fifteen and thirteen flavonoids were isolated from ACN and AKM, respectively. Structure-activity relationships analysis indicated that 6-and/or 8-OMe flavones exhibited the most potent binding affinity to GABA A receptors. Furthermore, 2',4',5,7-tetrahydroxy-5',6-dimethoxyflavone (DMF, IC 50 value of 0.10 μM), a flavone isolated from ACN, presented high anticonvulsant activity against chemical-induced seizures and electrogenic seizures, without myorelaxation and sedation., Conclusion: This study suggested that these flavones, especially DMF, are new BZ receptor ligands and prospective therapeutic candidates for seizures., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier GmbH.)

Lycium ruthenicum Murr. (LRM, Solanaceae), also called "black wolfberry" in China, is extremely tolerant drought. Although black wolfberry has seeds that are rich in oil, being considered as a potential alternative for edible oil production, little information has been found regarding its characterization. The present study evaluated the fatty acid profile of the seed oil and its phytosterol contents. Moreover, its antioxidant potential and its inhibition activities on pancreatic lipase, and cholesterol esterase (CEase) were also determined. The key fatty acids of studied oil were linoleic (74.58%), oleic (11.82%), γ-linolenic (6.60%), palmitic (4.88%), and stearic (1.40%) acids, which together comprised 99.28% of the total fatty acids. Phytosterols including 24-methylenecholesterol, campesterol, stigmasterol, dihydrolanosterol, 24-methyldesmosterol, β-sitosterol, Δ 5 -avenasterol, cycloartenol, and Δ 7- avenasterol were identified for the 1st time. The inhibition values (IC 50 ) for the DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging capacities of the oil were 7.86 and 15.49 mg/mL, respectively. Additionally, LRM seed oil was also demonstrated to possess strong pancreatic lipase, and CEase inhibition activities with IC 50 values of 12.38 and 2.63 mg/mL, respectively. The mechanism study indicated that the inhibitory manner of the oil on CEase belonged to uncompetitive inhibition of reversible inhibition. The results derived from above studies suggest that LRM seed oil could be a potential source of high value phytochemicals for developing novel functional food., (© 2018 Institute of Food Technologists®.)

This study was designed to investigate the differences in the plasma proteome of healthy normotensive, prehypertensive, and hypertensive subjects. A case-control pilot study was conducted among well-matched subjects. Plasma protein was analyzed by two-dimensional electrophoresis combined with MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. The results showed that there were 22 differentially expressed spots among the three groups, which corresponded to 18 proteins involved in inflammation and immunity, lipid metabolism, transport, coagulation and fibrinolysis, cell proliferation and apoptosis, and anti-oxidation. With an increase in blood pressure, these proteins were differentially expressed which indicated that prehypertension probably was an early stage of hypertension.

A novel, simple and accurate fingerprint method was developed using high-performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array detection (HPLC-DAD) for the quality control of Qianghuo, a Tibetan folk and Chinese herbal medicine used as a diaphoretic, an antifebrile and an anodyne. For the first time, the feasibility and advantages of employing chromatographic fingerprint were investigated and demonstrated for the evaluation of Qianghuo by systematically comparing chromatograms of aqueous extracts with the professional analytical software recommended by State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA). Our results revealed that the chromatographic fingerprint combing similarity evaluation could efficiently identify and distinguish raw herbs of Qianghuo from different sources and different species. The effects on Notopterygium forbesii Boiss (Apiaceae) chromatographic fingerprints resulted from collecting locations, harvesting time were also examined.