Search

Ebracteolatain A is a phloroglucinol derivative from the root of Euphorbia ebracteolata Hayata, a Traditional Chinese Medicine also known as Langdu. It has been shown to have good inhibitory effects in breast cancer cells. In this study, a simple, rapid, sensitive, and specific ultra–performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated to study the pharmacokinetics (PKs) and tissue distribution of Ebracteolatain A in rats. Ebracteolatain A and Magnolol (internal standard) were extracted by the simple protein precipitation extraction technique using methanol as the precipitating solvent. Chromatographic separation was performed using the Agilent Poroshell 120 EC-C18 column with a mobile phase of acetonitrile:0.1% formic acid (70:30, v/v). The protonated analyte was quantitated in negative ionization by MS/MS via multiple reaction monitoring mode. The assay exhibited a linear dynamic range of 2–2000 ng/mL for Ebracteolatain A in biological samples. The lower limit of quantitation was 2 ng/mL. Non-compartmental PK parameters indicated that Ebracteolatain A was well absorbed into the systemic circulation. The absolute bioavailability of Ebracteolatain A was greater when administered by intraperitoneal administration than by oral administration. The tissue distribution study showed that Ebracteolatain A was distributed in the heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, brain, stomach, intestine, uterus, ovary, and breast after intravenous injection. The results of this study further our understanding of the in vivo anti-cancer activity of Ebracteolatain A, and shed light on pharmacological strategies that may be useful for the development of novel breast cancer therapeutics.

A high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) method was developed for the preparative separation of four major sesquiterpenoids with similar structures, namely ar-turmerone, β-turmerone, α-turmerone, and E-α-atlantone, from the essential oil of Curcuma longa Linn. using a two-phase solvent system composed of n-heptane-ethyl acetate–acetonitrile–water (9.5/0.5/9/1, v/v). From a single HSCCC run, 1.7861 g of ar-turmerone, 0.4708 g of β-turmerone, 1.3427 g of α-turmerone, and 0.1650 g of E-α-atlantone were obtained. The purity of each compound was over 98% as determined by HPLC. The chemical structures of these compounds were determined by 1H NMR and 13C NMR.

The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) - CRISPR-associated protein 9 (CRISPR-Cas9) system has emerged as a versatile molecular tool for genome editing in various organisms in recent years (Tsai and Joung, 2016). In this system, the endonuclease of Cas9 is directed to DNA targets by a synthetic guide RNA (sgRNA). The ribonucleoprotein complex of Cas9 and sgRNA recognizes the DNA sequence that is complementary to the 5′-end guide sequence (also referred to as the spacer) of the sgRNA and the presence of a protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) preceding the targeting site.

In order to improve the ability of denitrification and phosphorus removal from reclaimed water, a novel composite filler was prepared using sulfur powder and sponge iron powder, and a comparative experiment was constructed at different HRT(hydraulic retention time) and C/N(carbon-nitrogen ratio) conditions between the novel filler and the composite filler. The results showed that the efficiency of nitrogen and phosphorus removal on the novel filler was higher than that on the grain filler (more than 30% higher at HRT=4 h and C/N=1). Moreover, based on the 16S rRNA gene clone library, the denitrification system in the two reactors included sulfur autotrophic denitrification bacteria and heterotrophic denitrification bacteria, while the proportion of sulfur autotrophic denitrification bacteria in the novel filler system was higher. The dominant bacteria in the novel filler and composite filler were

To study the effects of sulfur/sponge iron ratio on denitrification and phosphorus removal, a series of static experiments were conducted using different ratios of sulfur and sponge iron. The results showed that the denitrification and phosphorus removal effect of sulfur/sponge iron composite fillers was significantly higher than that of single filler, and sulfur/sponge iron ratio was one of the key factors influencing nitrogen and phosphorus removal by composite fillers. When the volume ratio was equal to or greater than 1:1, the removal efficiency of TN and TP reached 85% and 97%, respectively. The denitrification and phosphorus removal process of the composite fillers both fitted second-order kinetic equation, the denitrification was dependent on heterotrophic denitrification and sulfur autotrophic denitrification; the phosphorus removal was mainly chemical phosphorus removal caused by sponge iron corrosion.

A green and reliable method using supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and molecular distillation (MD) was optimized for the separation and purification of standardized typical volatile components fraction (STVCF) from turmeric to solve the shortage of reference compounds in quality control (QC) of volatile components. A high quality essential oil with 76.0% typical components of turmeric was extracted by SFE. A sequential distillation strategy was performed by MD. The total recovery and purity of prepared STVCF were 97.3% and 90.3%, respectively. Additionally, a strategy, i.e., STVCF-based qualification and quantitative evaluation of major bioactive analytes by multiple calibrated components, was proposed to easily and effectively control the quality of turmeric. Compared with the individual calibration curve method, the STVCF-based quantification method was demonstrated to be credible and was effectively adapted for solving the shortage of reference volatile compounds and improving the QC of typical volatile components in turmeric, especially its functional products.

Alpinia galanga (L.) Willd. and Alpinia officinarum Hance, commonly known as greater galangal and lesser galangal, respectively, belong to the family of Zingiberaceae (ginger). Due to their spicy flavor and aromatic odors, both of the two rhizomes have long been used as flavoring ingredients and spices in Asia. They also were well-known traditional Chinese medicine and have been widely used as a remedy for gastrointestinal diseases, such as stomachache, dyspepsia, and gastrofrigid vomiting. Previous phytochemical investigations have shown that they have some similar chemical constituents, such as diarylheptanoids, flavonoids, volatile oil, terpenes, phenylpropanoids, and glycosides, but the main chemical components are different. A. galanga is rich in a variety of phenolic compounds and essential oils, whereas A. officinarum is rich in flavonoids and diarylheptanoids. Investigations have shown A. galanga and A. officinarum have many biological activities, including effectiveness as antiinflammatory, antitumor, antiviral, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiallergic, and gastroprotective agents. This chapter will give an exhaustive review of the botanical properties of these plants. In addition, the phytochemical and pharmacological properties and the adulterant identification of these two plants will also be discussed.

Turmeric (the rhizome of Curcuma longa Linn.) has been used as a spice, food flavoring and coloring agent, and in medicinal preparations for various diseases including cough, diabetic wounds, hepatic and cardiovascular disorders in Eastern civilization for a long time. Curcuminoids and essential oil are the major components of turmeric, which have shown various bioactivities and promising results in various research investigations. Particularly, curcumin has demonstrated powerful efficacy as an anticancer agent, which possesses antiinflammatory, antioxidant, anti-Alzheimer, and anticancer activities in both preclinical and clinical studies. Moreover, curcumin has hepatoprotective, neuroprotective, cardioprotective, hypoglycemic, antirheumatic, and antidiabetic activities. Recently research indicated that the ar-turmerone, α-turmerone, and β-turmerone were the biologically active constituents in the essential oil, and proved their antimicrobial, antioxidative, antiinflammatory activity, and anticancer potentials. Turmeric oil is also widely used in pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications. Therefore, both curcuminoids and volatile components are the basis for healthy efficiencies of turmeric. This chapter will summarize the chemical composition and quality control methods of turmeric, the recent biological studies of curcuminoids and turmeric oil. The pharmaceutics studies and application are also summarized.

The aim of this work was to study the plant regeneration and Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of Achyranthes bidentata using cotton EREBP gene. Results showed that the callus induction rate of stems from A. bidentata was the highest (100%) and bud was in approximately 70% of calli from stems. However bud differentiation rate of the callus from leaves and petioles was very low. Compared with ceftriaxone, 200mg/L cefotaxime could completely control Agrobacterium tumefaciens and had relatively less toxic action on the stems of A. bidentata. In addition, the induction rate of callus resistant to hygromycin was the highest when infected for 3 min and co-cultivated for 3 d. Six positive transgenic plants transformed with pCAMBIA1304-GhEREB2 expression vector were obtained and confirmed by PCR. The expression of target gene GhEREB2 was detected in five transgenic plants by RT-PCR. In brief, an efficient system of genetic transformation and plant regeneration was established for A. bidentata.

The insulation material VIP in building offers a new material for highly insulated constructions with just a fraction of the required insulation thickness compared to conventional thermal insulation materials. A VIP is basically composed of the core material, the barrier film and getters. Core materials of VIP are glass fiber, fumed silica, fiber-powder composite core. The barrier film covered by glass fiber textile is the protection of the envelope against surface damage and fire attack. We introduce the VIP elements, the system of VIPs in building application and external thermal insulation system with VIP.

In this paper, glass wool has been prepared under various rotating speed of centrifugal pan by centrifugal-spinneret-blow process. The fiber diameter of glass wool has been studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and vertical optical microscope (VOM). With the increase of rotating speed from 1800 rpm to 2400 rpm, the mean fiber diameter decreased from 5.9 µm to 3.9 µm, indicating the distribution of glass wool becomes more uniformity. The results show that the rotating speed has a direct and pronounced effect on the fiber diameter and distribution. The higher the rotating speed is, the smaller the mean fiber diameter is, and the more uniformity the distribution of fiber diameter is.

In this paper, glass wools were prepared under different vitreous fluid temperature (vary from 1100oC to 1300oC) by centrifugal-spinneret-blow process. The effect of vitreous fluid temperature on fiber diameter and surface topography of glass wool has been studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy and Vertical Optical Microscope. With the increase of vitreous fluid temperature (T) from 1100oC to 1250oC, the mean fiber diameter decreased from 6.6µm to 3.9µm. When vitreous fluid temperature goes up to 1300oC, the mean fiber diameter increased to 4.1µm, slightly bigger than that of 1250oC. There are many protuberances in the fiber for T=1100oC and 1150oC because the surface tension is very strong at low temperature. The surface topography of fiber becomes smooth when the temperature is higher than 1200oC. The results show that the vitreous fluid temperature has a direct and pronounced effect on fiber diameter and surface topography. The optimum vitreous fluid temperature is about 1250oC.

Our aim was to produce an antibiotic-emitting coating composed of zein microspheres for the prevention of bacterial infection oil implanted devices. Ciprofloxacin-loaded zein microspheres were prepared using a phase separation procedure, with particle sizes between 0.5 and 2 mu m. Drug encapsulation and drug loading varied with the amount of both zein and ciprofloxacin. and the highest encapsulation efficiency was 8.27% (2 mg/ml ciprofloxacin and 20 mg/ml zein: n = 3). A ciprofloxacin-loaded zein microsphere film (CF-MS film) was generated via solvent evaporation. Continuous drug release from a trypsin-degraded microsphere film was observed for Up to 28 days. The liberation of ciprofloxacin from the trypsin-degraded film and the biodegradation of the microsphere film were highly correlated. Proliferation assay of the growth of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) by the MTT method showed that the microsphere film had no toxicity when compared with cells grown oil Corning Culture plates alone and plates with a zein film alone. Quantification of bacteria adhesion showed that adhesion on the microsphere film is significantly Suppressed. in addition, according to the results of bacterial growth tests, ciprofloxacin-loaded microsphere films maintained antibacterial activity for more than 6 days, In contrast, a control medium containing a zein film allowed constant bacterial growth. These results indicate that CF-MS films might be useful as,antibacterial films oil implanted devices. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A series of thiosemicarbazone derivatives of benzo-15-crown-5 were synthesized efficiently at room temperature using hydrogenchloride acid (HCl) as catalyst. Their anion recognition properties of a, b and c were studied, the result show they exhibit highly selective binding and sensing of F−, MeCO2 − and n-C3H7CO2 − in CH3CN (F− > n-C3H7CO2 − > MeCO2 − > > Cl−, Br− and I−). Especially receptor c shows different UV-Vis spectrum of F− from MeCO2 −and C3H7CO2 −, in addition to the color of the solution change from colorless to yellow upon the addition of F−, these two points make it suitable to be used as colorimetric anion sensor to identify fluoride anion from other halide anions and carboxylate anions by naked-eye. The connection between receptor and anion is by hydrogen bonding interactions, the binding ratio is 1:1, which have been confirmed by UV-vis inspection spectra in CH3CN and 1HMR in DMSO-d6.

The title compound, C28H32N2O7, which was obtained by condensation of 4′-acetyl­benzo-15-crown-5 and 2-naphthyl­oxy­acetic acid hydrazide, adopts a syn–anti conformation, which enables N—H⋯O intermolecular hydrogen bonds to be formed between centrosymmetrically related mol­ecules. The resulting eight-membered rings join these mol­ecules together as characteristic dimers. The naphthalene ring system is almost perpendicular to the crown ether ring.

An efficient system of genetic transformation and plant regeneration was established in Rehmannia glutinosa Libosch. f. hueichingensis (Chao et Schih) Hsiao by infecting the segments of leaves, stems and petioles of young regenerated plantlets with Agrobacterium rhizogenes strain 15834. Hairy roots were produced directly from the wounded surface of the explants on hormone-free Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium after infection by A. rhizogenes. Transformed roots grew rapidly either on solid or on liquid 1/2 MS medium, and exhibited typical hairy root phenotypes. The highest transformation frequency of 46.7% was achieved by pre-treating the A. rhizogenes with 100 micromol/L acetosyringone at logarithmic phase (OD600 = 1.8). The calluses with 100% induction frequency were induced from hairy roots on 1/2 MS medium containing 0.2 mg/L KT and 3.0 mg/L 6-BA, from which the shoots with 51.49% differentiation frequency was produced. These shoots could take root at a percentage of 100% and develope into four transformed plantlets when transferred on 1/2 MS medium, which had differences in morphological characters such as dwarfing, shortened nodals and abundant literal branching roots, and which survived vigorously after transplantation. The content of catalpol in an transformed hairy root clone was 0.557 mg/g. FW by means of HPLC, 48.5% and 18% of that in fresh and dried Rehmannia root, respectively. PCR and Southern blot analyses confirmed that rolB gene (564 bp) of TL-DNA was inserted in the genome of transformed hairy roots and their regenerated plantlets. RT-PCR analysis and opine paper electrophoresis detection revealed that TR-DNA containing opine synthetase gene was integrated and expressed in the genome of transformed hairy roots and their regenerated plantlets.

Genetic diversity of 28 cultivars of yam (Dioscorea opposita Thunb) was assessed by means of Inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. The results showed that seven proper primers, with rich polymorphism, could be selected from a total of forty four ISSR ones; distinct differences appeared among 28 cultivars amplified bands, and the rate of polymorphic bands was 83.01%; Shannon's Information index was 0.3191; a Jaccard's genetic similarity matrix and a dendrogram for these cultivars were formed, in which they could be divided into four groups: Group 1 was composed of D. opposita. cv. Ribenbai, D. opposita. cv. Huashanyao and D. opposita. cv. Ribenyuan; Group2 contained D. opposita. cv. Xiaoye; Group 3 contained D. opposita. cv. No.1 Songye; other 23 cultivars were put into Group4. PCA(Principal component analysis) was employed to evaluate the resolving power of the markers to differentiate among them. This laid the foundation of the identification of yam cultivars and the efficient use of its germplasm resources.

RAPD and ISSR markers were used to assess the germplasm genetic diversity among 10 individuals of Rehmannia glutinosa, including 8 cultivars and 2 virus-free lines micropropagated by tip tissue culture. 17 RAPD primers and 10 ISSR primers, with polymorphic and informative patterns, were selected from a total of 80 RAPD ones and 44 ISSR ones to determine these individuals' genetic diversity. The 17RAPD primers and 10 ISSR primers generated 177RAPDfragments and 110 fragments, respectively. The number of effective loci, the percentage of polymorphic loci, Shannon's Information index (I) and effective number of alleles (Ne) is in turn109, 61.58%, 0.3135, 1.3641 for RAPD makers, and 79, 71.82 %, 0.3577 and 1.4037 for ISSR markers; Jaccard's genetic similarity matrice and dendrograms for the 10 individuals were formed based on RAPD and ISSR-generated polymorphic bands. In dendrograms, they could be divided into two groups: one group containing six individuals such as Zupei 85.5, Datian 85.5, jinzhuangyuan, Jinbai, Zupei 9302 and Datian9302; the other composed of 4 ones such as Beijing No.1, Dahongpao, Dihuang 9104 and wild dihuang; the correlation coefficient of 0.649 between RAPD and ISSR markers GSs indicated that these two markers were significantly correlated. The results revealed that RAPD and ISSR markers were suitable for assessment of germplasm genetic diversity of Rehmannia glutinosa, and ISSR marker was superior to RAPD marker.

The synthesis of 4-acetylaminobenzo[15]crown-5 is reported by the reaction of benzo[15]crown-5, glacial acetic acid and hydroxylamine hydrochloride, where C-acylation, oximation, and Beckmann rearrangement are conducted in a one–pot reaction with polyphosphoric acid as catalyst.