Thoughts and suggestions on ecological cultivation of Gastrodia elata / 中国中药杂志

Due to the special biological characteristics, Gastrodia elata suffers from high resource consumption and low utilization rate in modern agricultural production, which significantly block the green and healthy development of this industry. Based on the theory and technology in ecological cultivation of Chinese medicinal materials, this study analyzed the challenges in ecological cultivation of G. elata, such as waste of fungus material, a few cultivation modes available, continuous cropping obstacles, frequent occurrence of diseases, and poor stability of ecological structure. According to the production practice, the following suggestions were proposed for ecological cultivation of G. elata: following the principle of environmental protection and no pollution, selecting suitable habitats to yield high-quality medicinal materials, committing to green control of diseases and pests, upgrading industrial structure to maximize the benefits, establishing a sound mechanism for protecting the genetic diversity of wild G. elata, carrying out simulative habitat cultivation to improve medicinal material quality, adopting science-based planning of fungus resources to relieve forestry pressure, enhancing the recycling and utilization of fungus materials, and applying diversified cultivation modes to improve the stability of ecological structure. The result is expected to provide a reference for the quality development of G. elata industry.

Metabolic engineering study on biosynthesis of 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol from L-tyrosine in Escherichia coli / 中国中药杂志

As an important active ingredient in the rare Chinese herb Gastrodiae Rhizoma and also the main precursor for gastrodin biosynthesis, 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol has multiple pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammation, anti-tumor, and anti-cerebral ischemia. The pharmaceutical products with 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol as the main component have been increasingly favored. At present, 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol is mainly obtained by natural extraction and chemical synthesis, both of which, however, exhibit some shortcomings that limit the long-term application of 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol. The wild and cultivated Gastrodia elata resources are limited. The chemical synthesis requires many steps, long time, and harsh reaction conditions. Besides, the resulting by-products are massive and three reaction wastes are difficult to treat. Therefore, how to artificially prepare 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol with high yield and purity has become an urgent problem facing the medical researchers. Guided by the theory of microbial metabolic engineering, this study employed the genetic engineering technologies to introduce three genes ThiH, pchF and pchC into Escherichia coli for synthesizing 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol with L-tyrosine. And the fermentation conditions of engineering strain for producing 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol in shake flask were also discussed. The experimental results showed that under the conditions of 0.5 mmol·L~(-1) IPTG, 15 ℃ induction temperature, and 40 ℃ transformation temperature, M9 Y medium containing 200 mg·L~(-1) L-tyrosine could be transformed into(69±5)mg·L~(-1) 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol, which has laid a foundation for producing 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol economically and efficiently by further expanding the fermentation scale in the future.

Gastrodia elata Blume and its pure compounds protect BV-2 microglial-derived cell lines against β-amyloid: The involvement of GRP78 and CHOP

Objectives: Gastrodia elata (GE) Blume (Orchidaceae) has been previously known for its therapeutic benefits against neurodegenerative diseases. Microglial activation and death have been implicated in the pathogenesis of a variety of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease. In this study, GE and its pure components, gastrodin and 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol (4HBA), were applied to β-amyloid-induced BV2 mouse microglial cells. Materials and Methods Cell viability was assessed by the MTT assay and Western blotting was also performed. Results: β-amyloid-induced cell death was shown to be induced time- and dose-dependently. To examine the cell death mechanism, we confirmed the involvement of ER stress signaling. C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP), a pro-apoptotic ER stress protein, was expressed at high levels but glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78), an anti-apoptotic ER stress protein with chaperone activity, was only slightly affected by treatment with β-amyloid. However, pretreatment with GE and its components inhibited the expression of CHOP but increased that of GRP78 in β-amyloid-treated cells. This study also showed that a single treatment with GE extracts, gastrodin, or 4HBA induced the expression of GRP78, a marker for enhanced protein folding machinery, suggesting a protective mechanism for GE against β-amyloid. Conclusions: This study reveals the protective effects of GE against β-amyloid-induced cell death, possibly through the enhancement of protein folding machinery of a representative protein, GRP78, and the regulation of CHOP in BV2 mouse microglial cells.