Collagen derived species-specific peptides for distinguishing donkey-hide gelatin (Asini Corii Colla) / 中草药·英文版

Objective: As an important food therapy product with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) applications, donkey-hide gelatin (Asini Corii Colla, ACC) has been used for thousands of years. However, till now few effective strategy had been proposed to distinguish ACC from other animal hide gelatins, especially closely related horse- and mule-hide gelatins, which was an embarrassment of ACC quality control. Methods: Combined mass spectrometry and bioinformatic methods have been applied to identify and verify two ACC-specific peptides (Pep-1 and Pep-2) capable of distinguishing ACC from other closely related animal gelatins with high selectivity. Results: It confirmed that these two peptides could be not only used for distinguishing ACC from highly homologous horse-hide and mule-hide gelatins as well as other animal hide gelatins. Conclusion: The present study provides a simple method for species-specific peptides discovery, which can be used for assessing the quality of animal gelatin products, and ensure they are authenticable and traceable.

Buckwheat rutin inhibits angII-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy via blockade of CaN-dependent signal pathway

Buckwheat rutin has been found to be able to inhibit angiotensin II [AngII] - induced hypertrophy in cultured neonatal rat cardiomyocytes, but the mechanism remains uncertain. In this study, myocardial hypertrophy model was made by adding AngII to the medium of cardiac myocytes of neonatal rats; meanwhile, different concentrations of buckwheat rutin were applied to observe their effects. Intracellular Ca[2]+ level was detected by Hitachi - 850 fluorospectrophotometer, calcineurin [CaN] activity was measured by colorimetric method, the expression of CaN protein was observed with immunocytochemistry, and the proto - oncogene c - fos mRNA expression was assessed with reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction [RT - PCR]. Compared with control group, AngII could greatly stimulate the increase of intracellular Ca[2]+ level, the activities and protein expression of cardiomyocytes CaN, and the expression of proto - oncogene c - fos mRNA in cultured neonatal rat cardiomyocytes, which could be effectively decreased by buckwheat rutin. Our results demonstrated that buckwheat rutin exhibited inhibitory effect on AngII - induced hypertrophy in cultured neonatal rat cardiomyocytes via Ca[2]+ antagonism action thus block the CaN - dependent signal pathway