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Solanum lyratum Thunb is a traditional Chinese medicinal with a significant clinical outcome for tumor treatment; however, chemicals or fractions separated from the herb did not exhibit strong and comparable efficacy. To investigate the potential synergy or antagonism among chemicals in the extract, we obtained the compounds solavetivone (SO), tigogenin (TI) and friedelin (FR) from the herb. The anti-tumor effects of these three monomer compounds alone or in combination with the anti-inflammatory compound DRG were also tested in this study. SO, FR and TI used alone did not inhibit the proliferation of A549 and HepG2 cells, but the combination of the three achieved 40% inhibition. In vitro anti-inflammatory analysis showed that DRG had a stronger antiinflammatory effect than TS at the same concentration, and the combination of DRG with SO, FR or TI inhibited the anti-tumor effect of DRG. This is the first study that documented the synergistic and antagonistic interactions between different compounds in a single herb. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Psoriasis is a dermatological disease of T lymphocyte origin and has multiple etiological backgrounds. Recent lines of researches suggest that prolactin as a neurohormone may have a role in the disease activity of psoriasis. Objective To identify the correlations of serum prolactin concentration with disease activity of psoriatic patients. Methods In the department of Dermatology & Venereology at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, this cross sectional study was conducted. Time period was from September 2016 to December 2017. Fifty individuals diagnosed as psoriasis were included. Subjects were enrolled according to some specific criteria. Consecutive sampling method was applied to choose the samples. For measurement of disease activity of each subject, Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) was implemented. Results In this study, 39.64±15.51 years was got as mean age of the subjects and mean BMI was 22.43±1.16 kg/m2 within the range of 19.9-25.39. Study showed that serum prolactin gradually increased according to the increment of PASI score and serum prolactin had positive correlation with PASI score (r=0.821; p≤0.001) which was accepted as significant statistically. Patients with joint involvement had significantly higher serum prolactin level. Conclusion A positive correlation between psoriatic disease activity with concentration of patient's serum prolactin was observed in this study. So, serum prolactin may be esteemed as a marker of psoriatic disease activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The liquid fermentation of Antrodia cinnamomea is a promising alternative source for fungus production compared to the wildly grown fruiting body. Elicitation is a strong tool to enhance the productivity in microbial cells to obtain more compounds of interest. In this study, in order to improve the fungus growth and its terpenoids production, various vegetable oils were added in the fermentation broth of A. cinnamomea. It was found that corn oil from a group of vegetable oils exhibited the best effect on the biomass and triterpenoid content. After optimization, the initial addition of 1% (v/v) corn oil plus the inoculation of 10% (v/v) mycelia led to a maximum triterpenoid yield (532.3 mg L-1), which was increased as much as fourfold compared to the blank control. Differential transcriptome analysis demonstrated that corn oil significantly enriched several metabolic pathways including glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, propanoate metabolism and transmembrane hydrophobins. The enriched pathways interacted with deferentially expressed genes (DEGs) induced by corn oil treatment. Our research provides a potential strategy for the large production of triterpenoids by the improved fermentation of A. cinnamomea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ophiorrhiza rugosa var. prostrata is one of the most frequently used ethnomedicinal plants by the indigenous communities of Bangladesh. This study was designed to investigate the antidiarrheal, anti-inflammatory, anthelmintic and antibacterial activities of the ethanol extract of O. rugosa leaves (EEOR). The leaves were extracted with ethanol and subjected to in vivo antidiarrheal screening using the castor oil-induced diarrhea, enteropooling, and gastrointestinal transit models. Anti-inflammatory efficacy was evaluated using the histamine-induced paw edema test. In parallel, in vitro anthelmintic and antibacterial activities were evaluated using the aquatic worm and disc diffusion assays respectively. In all three diarrheal models, EEOR (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg) showed obvious inhibition of diarrheal stool frequency, reduction of the volume and weight of the intestinal contents, and significant inhibition of intestinal motility. Also, EEOR manifested dose-dependent anti-inflammatory activity. Anthelmintic action was deemed significant (P < 0.001) with respect to the onset of paralysis and helminth death. EEOR also resulted in strong zones of inhibition when tested against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. GC-MS analysis identified 30 compounds within EEOR, and of these, 13 compounds documented as bioactive showed good binding affinities to M3 muscarinic acetylcholine, 5-HT3, tubulin and GlcN-6-P synthase protein targets in molecular docking experiments. Additionally, ADME/T and PASS analyses revealed their drug-likeness, likely safety upon consumption and possible pharmacological activities. In conclusion, our findings scientifically support the ethnomedicinal use and value of this plant, which may provide a potential source for future development of medicines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]