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Tea drinking impacts aging and aging-related diseases. However, knowledge of anti-aging molecules other than the major catechins in complex tea extracts remains limited. Here we used Caenorhabditis elegans to analyze the longevity effects of tea extracts and constituents comprehensively. We found that the hot water extract of green tea prolonged lifespan and heathspan. Further, the MeOH fraction prolonged lifespan significantly longer than other fractions. Correlation analysis between mass spectroscopic data and anti-aging activity suggests that ester-type catechins (ETCs) are the major anti-aging components, including 4 common ETCs, 6 phenylpropanoid-substituted ester-type catechins (PSECs), 5 cinnamoylated catechins (CCs), 7 ester-type flavoalkaloids (ETFs), and 4 cinnamoylated flavoalkaloids (CFs). CFs (200 μM) are the strongest anti-aging ETCs (with the longest 73% lifespan extension). Green tea hot water extracts and ETCs improved healthspan by enhancing stress resistance and reducing ROS accumulation. The mechanistic study suggests that they work by multiple pathways. Moreover, ETCs modulated gut microbial homeostasis, increased the content of short-chain fatty acids, and reduced fat content. Altogether, our study provides new evidence for the anti-aging benefits of green tea and insights into a deep understanding of the chemical truth and multi-target mechanism., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Guan-Hu Bao reports financial support was provided by National Natural Science Foundation of China. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

SARS-CoV-2 M pro (Mpro) is the critical cysteine protease in coronavirus viral replication. Tea polyphenols are effective M pro inhibitors. Therefore, we aim to isolate and synthesize more novel tea polyphenols from Zhenghedabai (ZHDB) white tea methanol-water (MW) extracts that might inhibit COVID-19. Through molecular networking, 33 compounds were identified and divided into 5 clusters. Further, natural products molecular network (MN) analysis showed that MN1 has new phenylpropanoid-substituted ester-catechin (PSEC), and MN5 has the important basic compound type hydroxycinnamoylcatechins (HCCs). Thus, a new PSEC (1, PSEC636) was isolated, which can be further detected in 14 green tea samples. A series of HCCs were synthesized (2-6), including three new acetylated HCCs (3-5). Then we used surface plasmon resonance (SPR) to analyze the equilibrium dissociation constants (K D ) for the interaction of 12 catechins and M pro . The K D values of PSEC636 (1), EGC-C (2), and EC-CDA (3) were 2.25, 2.81, and 2.44 μM, respectively. Moreover, compounds 1, 2, and 3 showed the potential M pro inhibition with IC 50 5.95 ± 0.17, 9.09 ± 0.22, and 23.10 ± 0.69 μM, respectively. Further, we used induced fit docking (IFD), binding pose metadynamics (BPMD), and molecular dynamics (MD) to explore the stable binding pose of M pro -1, showing that 1 could tightly bond with the amino acid residues THR 26 , HIS 41 , CYS 44 , TYR 54 , GLU 166 , and ASP 187 . The computer modeling studies reveal that the ester, acetyl, and pyrogallol groups could improve inhibitory activity. Our research suggests that these catechins are effective M pro inhibitors, and might be developed as therapeutics against COVID-19., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Guan-Hu Bao has patent # CN113429372A pending to Anhui Agricultural University., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background and Purpose: Previous studies suggest that major Camellia sinensis (tea) catechins can inhibit 3-chymotrypsin-like cysteine protease (3CLpro), inspiring us to study 3CLpro inhibition of the recently discovered catechins from tea by our group., Methods: Autodock was used to dock 3CLpro and 16 tea catechins. Further, a 3CLpro activity detection system was used to test their intra and extra cellular 3CLpro inhibitory activity. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) was used to analyze the dissociation constant (K D ) between the catechins and 3CLpro., Results: Docking data suggested that 3CLpro interacted with the selected 16 catechins with low binding energy through the key amino acid residues Thr24, Thr26, Asn142, Gly143, His163, and Gln189. The selected catechins other than zijuanin D (3) and (-)-8-(5''R)-N-ethyl-2-pyrrolidinone-3-O-cinnamoylepicatechin (11) can inhibit 3CLpro intracellularly. The extracellular 3CLpro IC 50 values of (-)-epicatechin 3-O-caffeoate (EC-C, 1), zijuanin C (2), etc-pyrrolidinone C and D (6), etc-pyrrolidinone A (9), (+)-gallocatechin gallate (GCG), and (-)-epicatechin gallate (ECG) are 1.58 ± 0.21, 41.2 ± 3.56, 0.90 ± 0.03, 46.71 ± 10.50, 3.38 ± 0.48, and 71.78 ± 8.36 µM, respectively. The K D values of 1, 6, and GCG are 4.29, 3.46, and 3.36 µM, respectively., Conclusion: Together, EC-C (1), etc-pyrrolidinone C and D (6), and GCG are strong 3CLpro inhibitors. Our results suggest that structural modification of catechins could be conducted by esterificating the 3-OH as well as changing the configuration of C-3, C-3''' or C-5''' to discover strong SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier GmbH.)

Formation of catechins-human serum albumin (HSA) complex contributes to stably transporting catechins and regulating their bioavailability. Recently, a new class of catechins namely flavoalkaloids have been reported from tea. The unique structural modification with an N-ethyl-2-pyrrolidinone ring at catechins from these flavoalkaloids has raised our interest in their HSA binding affinity. Thus, we investigated the interaction between HSA and flavoalkaloids by molecular docking, UV-Vis spectroscopy (UV), fluorescence quenching approaches, and surface plasmon resonance (SPR). Thermodynamic parameters suggest that electrostatic forces contribute greatly to the interaction. The binding ability is affected by different ester group (galloyl or cinnamoyl) at 3-OH, N-ethyl-2-pyrrolidinone substituted position (C-6 or C-8), C-2, C-3 and C-5''' configurations, and hydroxyl group numbers at B ring, among which the 3-O-cinnamoyl substitution and 5'''-R configuration present the strongest contributions. UV showed slight changes in the conformation and microenvironment of HSA during the binding process. The quenching and binding constants suggest that the quenching is a static type. The small K D values (1-20 μM) detected by SPR confirmed the strong binding affinities between HSA and flavoalkaloids. Present study will help us to understand the interaction mechanism between flavoalkaloids and HSA, shedding light on structural modification of common catechins to enhance the stability, bioavailability and bioactivities., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Zijuan tea ( Camellia sinensis var. assamica), an anthocyanin-rich cultivar with purple leaves, is a valuable material for manufacturing tea with unique color and flavor. In this paper, four new phenylpropanoid substituted epicatechin gallates (pECGs), Zijuanins A-D (1-4), were isolated from Zijuan green tea by different column chromatography. Their structures were identified by extensive high resolution mass spectroscopy (HR-MS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and experimental and calculated circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopic analyses. Detection of the changes in fresh tea leaves collected from April to September and the final processed product by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-HRMS suggested that production of compounds 1 and 2 may be enhanced by the processing procedure of Zijuan green tea. Additionally, 1-4 were proposed to be synthesized through interaction between the abundant secondary metabolite ECG and phenolic acids from tea leaves by two key steps of phenol-dienone tautomerism. 1 and 2 showed impressive activity in protecting SH-SY5Y cells against H 2 O 2 -induced damage at the concentration of 1.0 μM.

Understanding the transformation of P in polyphosphate form in the soil and its effect on P availability is the prerequisite for reasonable polyphosphate fertilizer application. A pot experiment was conducted to explore the effects of polyphosphate fertilizers and MAP on soil available-P, inorganic P transformation in soils, soil micro-nutrient availabilities of Fe, Mn and Zn. Meanwhile, the effects of different P fertilizer on rape P nutrition and PUE in both calcareous and acid soils were investigated. Compared with the MAP treatment, polyphosphate fertilizers significantly increased plant available P concentrations in calcareous soil. Soil water soluble-P and Olsen-P were increased by 19.0% and 25.4%, respectively, and soil resin-P and NaHCO 3 -P (high labile P) and NaOH-P (medium labile P) increased by 22.8%, 43.3% and 33.8%, respectively. Those results implied that polyphosphate could reduce the fixation of P in calcareous soil. However, there was no significant effect of polyphosphate fertilization on improving P availability and reducing P fixation in acid soil. In comparison with MAP treatment, polyphosphate treatments significantly mobilized micronutrient in soils and increased the uptake of Fe, Mn and Zn by rape plants. In the calcareous soil, the available Fe, Mn, and Zn increased by 2.1%, 16.2% and 20.8%, respectively. In acid soil, the available Fe, Mn, and Zn increased by 6.6%, 11.9% and 9.2%, respectively. In addition, polypho-sphate treatments significantly increased dry mass, P uptake concentrations and P use efficiency (PUE) of rape in calcareous soil, but not in acid soil. In conclusion, polyphosphate fertilizer could significantly increase P availability and micronutrient availability, plant P nutrition and PUE, especially in calcareous soil. Thus, polyphosphate could be used as alternative of P source substituting the orthophosphate-based P fertilizer in calcareous soil.

Green tea may favorably modulate blood glucose homeostasis, and regular consumption of green tea can prevent the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus. In this study, α-glucosidase and α-amylase inhibitory effects of the novel acylated flavonol tetraglycoside (camellikaempferoside C, 1) and 14 other flavone and flavone glycosides (FGs) isolated from Lu'an GuaPian (Camellia sinensis L.O. Kuntze) were evaluated. The kaempferol monoglycoside (15) showed inhibitory activity against α-glucosidase with IC50 at 40.02 ± 4.61 μM, and kaempferol diglycoside (13) showed α-amylase inhibition with IC50 at 0.09 ± 0.02 μM. Further, inhibitory mechanisms of FGs 15 and 13 were studied by molecular docking analysis and fluorescence spectrometry. Molecular docking suggested that FG 15 interacted with α-glucosidase mainly by hydrogen bonding, which was the same interaction force between FG 13 and α-amylase. Intrinsic fluorescence of α-glucosidase and α-amylase was quenched by 15 and 13, respectively, through a static quenching mechanism. The spontaneous formation of 15-α-glucosidase and 13-α-amylase complexes was driven by van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonding. The present study provides new insight into the potential application of Lu'an GuaPian green tea as a functional food ingredient to regulate postprandial hyperglycemia through inhibition of α-glucosidase/α-amylase by FGs, particularly the mono- and di- glycosides of kaempferol.

Tea is thought to alleviate neurotoxicity due to the antioxidative effect of ester-type tea catechins (ETC). Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) can sensitize β-amyloid (Aβ) induced neurotoxicity, and inhibitors of NGAL may relieve associated symptoms. As such, the interactions of ETC with NGAL were investigated by fluorescence spectrometry and molecular simulation. NGAL fluorescence is quenched regularly when being added with six processing types of tea infusion (SPTT) and ETC. Thermodynamic analyses suggest that ETC with more catechol moieties has a stronger binding capacity with NGAL especially in the presence of Fe 3+ . (-)-Epicatechin 3-O-caffeoate (ECC), a natural product isolated from Zijuan green tea, shows the strongest binding ability with NGAL (K d = 15.21 ± 8.68 nM in the presence of Fe 3+ ). All ETC are effective in protecting nerve cells against H 2 O 2 or Aβ 1-42 induced injury. The inhibitory mechanism of ETC against NGAL supports its potential use in attenuation of neurotoxicity.

Zijuan tea is a special cultivar of Yunnan broad-leaf tea (Camellia sinensis var. assamica) with purple buds, leaves, and stems. Phytochemical study on this tea led to the discovery of three hydroxycinnamoylated catechins (HCCs) (1-3), seven other catechins (4-10), three proanthocyanidins (11-13), five flavones and flavone glycosides (14-18), two alkaloids (19, 20), one steroid (21), and one phenylpropanoid glycoside (22). The isolation and structural elucidation of the caffeoylated catechin (1) by means of spectroscopic techniques were described. We also provide the first evidence that 1 is synthesized via a two-step pathway in tea plant. The three HCCs (1-3) were investigated on their bioactivity through molecular modeling simulation and biochemical experiments. Our results show that they bind acetylcholinesterase (AChE) tightly and have strong AChE inhibitory activity with IC 50 value at 2.49, 11.41, 62.26μM, respectively., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A four year field study was conducted to determine how soil biological properties and soil aggregate stability changed when organic fertilizer and biofertilizer were used to reduce chemical fertilizer application to a drip irrigated cotton field. The study consisted of six fertilization treatments: unfertilized (CK); chemical fertilizer (CF, 300 kg N·hm -2 ; 90 kg P2O5 · hm -2 , 60 kg K2 O·hm -2 ); 80% CF plus 3000 kg·hm -2 organic fertilizer (80%CF+OF); 60% CF plus 6000 kg·hm -2 organic fertilizer (60%CF+OF); 80% CF plus 3000 kg·hm -2 biofertilizer (80%CF+BF); and 60% CF plus 6000 kg·hm -2 biofertilizer (60%CF+BF). The relationships among soil organic C, soil biological properties, and soil aggregate size distribution were determined. The results showed that organic fertilizer and biofertilizer both significantly increased soil enzyme activities. Compared with CF, the biofertilizer treatments increased urease activity by 55.6%-84.0%, alkaline phosphatise activity by 53.1%-74.0%, invertase activity by 15.1%-38.0%, β-glucosidase activity by 38.2%-68.0%, polyphenoloxidase activity by 29.6%-52.0%, and arylsulfatase activity by 35.4%-58.9%. Soil enzyme activity increased as the amount of organic fertilizer and biofertilizer increased (i.e., 60%CF+OF > 80%CF+OF, 60%CF+BF > 80%CF+BF). Soil basal respiration decreased significantly in the order BF > OF > CF > CK. Soil microbial biomass C and N were 22.3% and 43.5% greater, respectively, in 60%CF+BF than in CF. The microbial biomass C:N was significantly lower in 60%CF+BF than in CF. The organic fertilizer and the biofertilizer both improved soil aggregate structure. Soil mass in the >0.25 mm fraction was 7.1% greater in 80%CF+OF and 8.0% greater in (60%CF+OF) than in CF. The geometric mean diameter was 9.2% greater in 80%CF+BF than in 80%CF+OF. Redundancy analysis and cluster analysis both demonstrated that soil aggregate structure and biological activities increased when organic fertilizer and biofertilizer were used to reduce chemical fertilizer application. In conclusion, the organic fertilizer and the biofertilizer significantly increased SOC, soil enzyme activity, and soil microbial biomass C and N. The organic fertilizers also improved soil aggregation. Therefore, soil quality could be improved by using these fertilizers to reduce chemical fertilizer application, especially under drip-irrigation.

The present work assessed the contributions of high root-mean-square (RMS) level (H-level, containing primarily vowels) and middle-RMS-level (M-level, with mostly consonants and vowel-consonant transitions) segments to the intelligibility of noise-masked and noise-suppressed sentences. In experiment 1, noise-masked (by speech-spectrum shaped noise and 6-talker babble) Mandarin sentences were edited to preserve only H- or M-level segments, while replacing the non-target segments with silence. In experiment 2, Mandarin sentences were subjected to four commonly-used single-channel noise-suppression algorithms before generating H-level-only and M-level-only noise-suppressed sentences. To test the influence of an effective signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) on intelligibility, both experiments incorporated a condition in which the SNRs of H-level segments and M-level segments were matched. The processed sentences were presented to normal-hearing listeners to recognize. Experimental results showed that (1) H-level-only sentences carried more perceptual information than M-level-only sentences under both noise-masked and noise-suppressed conditions; and (2) this intelligibility advantage of H-level-only sentences over M-level-only sentences persisted even when effective SNR levels were matched, and it might be attributed to the perceptual advantage of vowels in speech intelligibility. In addition, the lesser distortion in H-level segments than in M-level segments following noise-suppression processing suggests that differential processing distortion might contribute to the H-level advantage observed.

Water and nitrogen are two major limiting factors for upland crop growth and development in arid region. Optimizing regulation irrigation schedule, rates and coupling with N fertigation is an effective way for realizing crop production improvement as well as water and nutrient use efficiency enhancement. In the present study, a field trial was carried out to study the influence of water (4500, 6750, 9000 m³ · hm⁻²) coupling with N (0, 225, 330, 435, 540 kg · hm⁻²) supply on maize dry matter accumulation, N uptake, yield and nitrogen fertilizer use efficiency in drip irrigated high cultivated density (≥ 105000 plant · hm⁻²) condition. There was an obvious tendency that the amounts of corn dry matter accumulated and plant N absorbed increased with levels of water and N supply, however, those decreased gradually when the N applied rate beyond 435 kg · hm⁻² and irrigation level above 9000 m³ · hm⁻². For instance, the effect of irrigation level on corn dry matter accumulation order exhibited W₆₇₅₀ (36359 kg · hm⁻²) > W₉₀₀₀ (35077 kg · hm⁻²) > W⁴⁵⁰⁰ (33451 kg · hm⁻²), the sequence of amount of N absorbed showed N₄₃₅ (462.0 kg · hm⁻²)> N₅₄₀ (459.4 kg · hm⁻²) > N₃₃₀ (423.4 kg · hm⁻²) > N₂₂₅ (348.1 kg · hm⁻²), the amount of N absorbed in N₄₃₅ treatment increased by 9.1% and 32.7%, respectively, in contrast with treatments of N₃₃₀ and N₂₂₀, whereas, the amount of N absorbed in N₅₄₀ decreased by 0.6% than that in N₄₃₅ treatment. The highest N absorption rate increased with N application rate increasing within N supply range of 0-435 kg · hm⁻², it reached peak value of 6.57 kg · hm⁻² · d⁻¹ at N application rate of 435 kg · hm⁻²,then had decline trend with increasing N rate. Both irrigation and N supply exerted a significant role on maize yield as well as yield component of kernel number per spike and kernel mass per spike. An obvious positive interaction was obtained between water and nitrogen, moreover, the effect of N on yield was substantially higher than that of irrigation. N fertilizer use efficiency increased with increasing N level within N supply range of 0-435 kg · hm⁻² and then dropped markedly when N rate above 435 kg · hm⁻² It was found that the water productivity of irrigation (WP i increased with increasing N level, while, that decreased with increasing irrigation rate. At the suitable irrigation range of 4500-6750 m³ · m⁻² the WP of 2.57-3.80 kg · m⁻³could be achieved. The maximum corn yield of 18072 kg · hm⁻² as reached at N rate of 567.0 kg · hm⁻² The best N rate of 427.9-467.7 kg N · hm⁻² btained the optimum yield of 17109-17138 kg · hm⁻² with the nitrogen partial factor productivity of 122 kg N · hm²and nitrogen use efficiency of 45.0% reached. In sum, optimizing water coupling with N supply was the effective strategy for realizing corn yield improvement as well as resources of water and N use efficiency in drip irrigation condition in arid region.

Brackish water irrigation utilization is an important way to alleviate water resource shortage in arid region. A field-plot experiment was set up to study the impact of the salinity level (0.31, 3.0 or 5.0 g · L(-1) NaCl) of irrigated water on activities of soil catalase, invertase, β-glucosidase, cellulase and polyphenoloxidase in drip irrigation condition, and the responses of soil CO2 flux and organic matter decomposition were also determined by soil carbon dioxide flux instrument (LI-8100) and nylon net bag method. The results showed that in contrast with fresh water irrigation treatment (CK), the activities of invertase, β-glucosidase and cellulase in the brackish water (3.0 g · L(-1)) irrigation treatment declined by 31.7%-32.4%, 29.7%-31.6%, 20.8%-24.3%, respectively, while soil polyphenoloxidase activity was obviously enhanced with increasing the salinity level of irrigated water. Compared to CK, polyphenoloxidase activity increased by 2.4% and 20.5%, respectively, in the brackish water and saline water irrigation treatments. Both soil microbial biomass carbon and microbial quotient decreased with increasing the salinity level, whereas, microbial metabolic quotient showed an increasing tendency with increasing the salinity level. Soil CO2 fluxes in the different treatments were in the order of CK (0.31 g · L(-1)) > brackish water irrigation (3.0 g · L(-1)) ≥ saline water irrigation (5.0 g · L(-1)). Moreover, CO2 flux from plastic film mulched soil was always much higher than that from no plastic film mulched soil, regardless the salinity of irrigated water. Compared with CK, soil CO2 fluxes in the saline water and brackish water treatments decreased by 29.8% and 28.2% respectively in the boll opening period. The decomposition of either cotton straw or alfalfa straw in the different treatments was in the sequence of CK (0.31 g · L(-1)) > brackish water irrigation (3.0 g · L(-1)) > saline water treatment (5.0 g · L(-1)). The organic matter decomposition rate in the plastic film mulched soil was significantly higher than that in the no plastic film mulched soil. 125 days after incubation, the recovery rates of cotton straw and alfalfa straw were 39.7% and 46.5% with saline water irrigation, 36.3% and 36.5% with brackish water irrigation, and 30.5% and 35.4% with CK, respectively. In conclusion, brackish water drip irrigation had a significant adverse effect on soil enzyme activities, which decreased soil microbial biomass, soil CO2 flux and soil organic matter decomposition, and subsequently deteriorated the soil biological characteristics in oasis farmland.

Effects of long-term cropping patterns on the activities of peroxidase, invertase, arylsulfatase, dehydrogenase and protease were investigated in this paper. Four long-term cropping patterns included (1) 10 years continuous cropping of corn, (2) 8 years continuous cropping of wheat followed by 10 years continuous cropping of cotton, (3) 15 years continuous cropping of cotton, and (4) 6 years continuous cropping of cotton followed by 6 years of wheat/sunflower rotation. The responses of soil bacteria, fungi, ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) , and the ammonia oxidizing archaea (AOA) to different copping patterns were analyzed. The results showed that cropping patterns significantly affected the activities of soil peroxidase, arylsulfatase, dehydrogenase and protease, while had no significant effect on soil invertase activity. The cropping patterns significantly influenced the diversity index of AOA, but had no significant influence on that of soil bacteria, fungi and AOB. The community structures of soil fungi and AOB were more sensitive to cropping patterns than soil bacteria and AOA. In conclusion, long-term continuous cropping of cotton decreased the activities of soil enzymes activities and soil microbial diversity in oasis farmland, while crop rotation could alleviate the negative influence.

Background: Tea is one of the most consumed beverages worldwide. The healthy effects of tea are attributed to a wealthy of different chemical components from tea. Thousands of studies on the chemical constituents of tea had been reported. However, data from these individual reports have not been collected into a single database. The lack of a curated database of related information limits research in this field, and thus a cohesive database system should necessarily be constructed for data deposit and further application., Description: The Tea Metabolome database (TMDB), a manually curated and web-accessible database, was developed to provide detailed, searchable descriptions of small molecular compounds found in Camellia spp. esp. in the plant Camellia sinensis and compounds in its manufactured products (different kinds of tea infusion). TMDB is currently the most complete and comprehensive curated collection of tea compounds data in the world. It contains records for more than 1393 constituents found in tea with information gathered from 364 published books, journal articles, and electronic databases. It also contains experimental 1H NMR and 13C NMR data collected from the purified reference compounds or collected from other database resources such as HMDB. TMDB interface allows users to retrieve tea compounds entries by keyword search using compound name, formula, occurrence, and CAS register number. Each entry in the TMDB contains an average of 24 separate data fields including its original plant species, compound structure, formula, molecular weight, name, CAS registry number, compound types, compound uses including healthy benefits, reference literatures, NMR, MS data, and the corresponding ID from databases such as HMDB and Pubmed. Users can also contribute novel regulatory entries by using a web-based submission page. The TMDB database is freely accessible from the URL of http://pcsb.ahau.edu.cn:8080/TCDB/index.jsp. The TMDB is designed to address the broad needs of tea biochemists, natural products chemists, nutritionists, and members of tea related research community., Conclusion: The TMDB database provides a solid platform for collection, standardization, and searching of compounds information found in tea. As such this database will be a comprehensive repository for tea biochemistry and tea health research community.

Objective: To study the pulse diagram parameters of subjects with subhealth state and to find the pulse parameters for subhealth state evaluation., Methods: A total of 1 275 subjects without diagnosed diseases were recruited and their health conditions were assessed with Health Evaluating Questionnaire H20 V2009. The subjects were assigned to health group or subhealth group according to the scale score. Subjects' syndrome in the subhealth group was differentiated using score of "subhealth state of syndrome differentiation V2010". Another 121 patients with cardiovascular diseases were enrolled as a control. The pulse information was collected with YJJ-101 subhealth pulse monitoring system and the parameters include amplitude of main wave (h₁), amplitude of repeat wave (h₅) and its front wave (h₃), 1/3 or 1/5 width of main wave (w₁) or (w₂), time of rapid ejection phase (t₂), period of pulse (t), pulse pressure (Pp), square (S), area in systole (As) and area in diastole (Ad) of pulse diagram and ratios of h₃/h₁, h₅/h₁, w₁/t, w₂/t and h₁/t₁., Results: Pulse diagram analysis showed significant differences among health, subhealth and disease group in Pp, h₁, S and As and ratios of h₅/h₁ and w₂/t. Compared with the health group, the values of w₁/t and w₂/t of the subhealth group increased (P<0.05), and Pp, h₁, h₅, h₅/h₁, S, As and Ad decreased (P<0.05). Compared with health group, the parameters of pulse of the subhealth group were increased in Pp and h₅/h₁ (P<0.05) and decreased in h1, w₂/t, S and As (P<0.05). Compared with health group, pulse parameters h₃/h₁, w₁, w₁/t, w₂/t of excess and deficiency syndrome group increased, and h₁, h₅, h₁/t ₁and h₅/h₁ decreased. Among different syndromes of subhealth state, pulse diagram parameters h₁, h₅, h₃/h₁, h₅/h₁ and w₁/t of yin deficiency, qi deficiency, liver stagnation and excess heat group were significantly different (P<0.05) from the health group, for example, pulse parameters h₁ and h₅ of stagnation, yin deficiency, qi deficiency and excess heat group declined in order, and pulse parameters h₃/h₁ and w₁/t of liver stagnation, excess heat, yin deficiency and qi deficiency group increased in order. Pulse index h₁ in the kidney deficiency group was higher than that in the health group and the other syndrome groups., Conclusion: Results of analyzing sphygmogram parameters showed different characteristics among different health status and the subhealth state due to different syndromes. Sphygmogram parameters may be used for objective evaluation of health status or subhealth syndrome differentiation.

The "Xiang" in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) contains various meanings such as phenomena, image and symbols. When we consider it as a thinking mode, "Xiang" permeates into all TCM aspects from natural phenomena, anatomical structures of human tissues to physiological functions as well as pathological manifestations of zang-fu organs. In addition, it may have profound but different connotations. The authors of this article analyzed the "Xiang" in TCM according to the "Xiang" of nature, "Xiang" of zang-organs, "Xiang" of spirit, "Xiang" of pulse (pulse conditions) and "Xiang" of tongue (tongue conditions).

Aim: To investigate the effects of endocardial endothelium (EE) in myocardial mechanics of hypertrophied myocardium of rats., Methods: Hypertrophied myocardium has been developed through long-term renovascular hypertension in rats. Selective stripping of EE was achieved chemically and the effects of EE on the activation and relaxation of hypertrophied myocardium were investigated and compared to those in the presence and absence of intact EE., Results: Resting tension (RT) and peak developed tension (DT) of isometric contraction of the left ventricular papillary muscles of renovascular hypertensive rats (RHR) remained similar, but maximal rate of tension development and fall (+dT/dtmax and -dT/dtmax) were lowered, time to +dT/dtmax (TPP) and time to -dT/dtmax (TPN) were increased, and time to peak developed tension (TPT) and half relaxation time (RT1/2) were prolonged, vs sham-operated rats (Sham). After EE denudation, TPT, and RT1/2 were significantly abbreviated in RHR. The -dT/dtmax was significantly augmented while the +dT/dtmax was unaltered, resulting in a prominent decrease in the ratio of +dT/dtmax to -dT/dtmax., Conclusion: EE predominantly influences the relaxation in isolated myocardium and early diastolic filling events in hearts, and is involved in the cardiac compensatory mechanism in hypertrophied myocardium.

The selective removal of endocardial endothelium of rat left ventricular papillary muscles by 1-second immersion in 0.5% Triton X-100 showed little influence on resting tension and only a small decrease in peak isometric tension (8.3 +/- 1.4 vs 9.6 +/- 2.4 mN/mm2 at Lmax, p > 0.05) with no reduction in maximal rate of tension development (+dT/dtmax; 136 +/- 21 vs 137 +/- 18 mN/mm2/s, p > 0.05). In contrast, there was a marked increase in maximal rate of tension decline (-dT/dtmax) from 71 +/- 14 to 92 +/- 15 mN/mm2/s (p < 0.05), so that the ratio between +dT/dtmax and -dT/dtmax fell from 1.98 +/- 0.27 to 1.51 +/- 0.13 (p < 0.01). Removal of endocardial endothelium led to a significant shortening of isometric twitch contractions. Time to peak tension was abbreviated from 111 +/- 20 to 84 +/- 8 ms (p < 0.05) and the half relaxation time from 92 +/- 9 to 68 +/- 8 ms (p < 0.01). Time to +dT/dtmax was also shortened from 31 +/- 6 to 44 +/- 9 ms (p < 0.05) and time to -dT/dtmax from 90 +/- 12 to 62 +/- 10 ms (p < 0.01). These effects were not influenced by alterations in stimulation frequency or muscle length. The early onset of relaxation and abbreviated duration of relaxation together with an increased rate of decline in tension led to a shorter total twitch which may explain the slightly lower peak tension once the endocardial endothelium was removed. Our findings confirm that endocardial endothelium modulates myocardial contraction, with a predominant influence on relaxation.

In isolated working right ventricle of guinea pigs, the hypothesis that endocardial endothelium (EE) might be involved in the modulation of cardiac responses to histamine receptor agonists was tested. The functional EE was denuded by switching Krebs perfusion solution to the solution containing saponin (30 micrograms.ml-1) for 2 min at a rate of 16 ml.min-1, followed by thorough washing with Krebs solution. The cardiac responses to histamine receptor agonists were compared in the presence and absence of EE. Bolus injection of histamine 0.5 mg into right ventricle elevated the right ventricular pressure (RVP), +dP/dtmax, and -dP/dtmax by 11%, 17%, and 35%, respectively, in the presence of intact EE; whereas by 30%, 43%, and 92%, respectively, after chemically selective denudation of EE with saponin. Similarly, impromidine (a H2 receptor agonist) 1, 3, 9, 27, and 54 micrograms obviously potentiated the RVP and +/- dP/dtmax in a concentration-dependent manner in preparations either with or without EE. The effects, however, could be greatly enhanced in the absence of EE. Pulmonary outflow was declined at 27 micrograms impromidine in EE-removed group. The results suggested that the augmentation of cardiac responses produced by histamine receptor agonists in EE-denuded preparations might be due to blockade of release of endothelium-derived relaxing factor, resulting in a reduced abbreviating effect on the myocardial contraction.

Selective removal of endocardium by 1-s immersion of the muscle into 0.5% Triton X-100 resulted in a significant reduction of PT (peak isometric twitch tension) at 1.25 mmol.L-1 [Ca2+]o over the stimulation frequency from 0.2 to 2.0 Hz (3.2 +/- 0.2 vs 4.4 +/- 0.4 mN/mm2 at 1 Hz, P < 0.01), while +dT/dtmax was unaltered. Tension-[Ca2+]o relation was shifted in accordance to [Ca2+]o, but with no significant change on PT at high [Ca2+]o compared with endocardium-intact muscles. TPT (time to peak isometric tension) and RT1/2 (half isometric relaxation time) were typically shortened at all [Ca2+]o or various stimulation frequencies (TPT: 203 +/- 18 vs 265 +/- 37 ms; RT1/2: 77 +/- 10 vs 108 +/- 26 ms, at 1.25 mmol.L-1 and 1 Hz, P < 0.01). Stimulation duration-threshold curve was slightly shifted to the left, yet no change in ERP (effective refractory period) was found. The data demonstrated that endocardium was an important modulator of myocardial contractile performance.

The correlation between protective effect of ginsenosides Rb + R0 and brain endogenously-derived prostacyclin synthesis, thromboxane A2 formation and lipid peroxidation were estimated in rats. Ginsenosides Rb + R0 100 mg/kg iv 30 min before 4-vessel occlusion elevated 6-keto-PGF1 alpha level, declined thromboxane B2 and brain edema formation, reduced the rise of lipid peroxides and suppressed the reduction in both creatine phosphokinase (CK) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities in brain tissue after 40-min ischemia followed by 1-h reperfusion. Furthermore, these improvements were partially abolished by pretreating with iv indomethacin. It is concluded that ginsenosides possess protective effect on cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury of rats and ginsenosides Rb + R0 are the active principles. The underlying mechanism of protection is ascribed partially or mainly to the facilitated synthesis and release of prostacyclin, reduced formation of thromboxane A2 and inhibited generation of free radicals and subsequent lipid peroxidation.