Erucic acid from Isatis indigotica Fort. suppresses influenza A virus replication and inflammation in vitro and in vivo through modulation of NF-kB and p38 MAPK pathway / 药物分析学报

Isatis indigotica Fort. (Ban-Lan-Gen) is an herbal medicine prescribed for influenza treatment. However, its active components and mode of action remain mostly unknown. In the present study, erucic acid was isolated from Isatis indigotica Fort., and subsequently its underlying mechanism against influenza A virus (IAV) infection was investigated in vitro and in vivo. Our results demonstrated that erucic acid exhibited broad-spectrum antiviral activity against IAV resulting from reduction of viral polymerase transcription activity. Erucic acid was found to exert inhibitory effects on IAV or viral (v) RNA-induced pro-inflam-matory mediators as well as interferons (IFNs). The molecular mechanism by which erucic acid with antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties was attributed to inactivation of NF-kB and p38 MAPK signaling. Furthermore, the NF-kB and p38 MAPK inhibitory effect of erucic acid led to diminishing the transcriptional activity of interferon-stimulated gene factor 3 (ISGF-3), and thereby reducing IAV-triggered pro-inflammatory response amplification in IFN-β-sensitized cells. Additionally, IAV- or vRNA-triggered apoptosis of alveolar epithelial A549 cells was prevented by erucic acid. In vivo, erucic acid administration consistently displayed decreased lung viral load and viral antigens expression. Meanwhile, erucic acid markedly reduced CD8+cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) recruitment, pro-apoptotic signaling, hyperactivity of multiple signaling pathways, and exacerbated immune inflammation in the lung, which resulted in decreased lung injury and mortality in mice with a mouse-adapted A/FM/1/47-MA(H1N1) strain infection. Our findings provided a mechanistic basis for the action of erucic acid against IAV-mediated inflammation and injury, suggesting that erucic acid may have a therapeutic potential in the treatment of influenza.

An Effective Strategy for the Development of Rapeseed Oil-Based Biodiesel Industry / 中国生物工程杂志

Rapeseed oil is one of the major raw materials for biodiesel production. The bottleneck of rapeseed oil-based biodiesel production at present is high cost of raw materials, which generally accounts for about 75% of total production cost. Current status and principal problems concerned in the production of biodiesel from rapeseed oil in China and other countries were introduced, based on which it was proposed to grow high-erucic acid rape in existing winter fallow fields and jointly produce biodiesel, erucic acid and its derivative products, and other highly valuable by-products such as glycerin and sterols from high-erucic acid rapeseed oil. The feasibility of this development strategy was analyzed in terms of product and market demand potential, economic benefits of enterprises, techniques and conditions of production, and source of raw materials. It was believed that the implementation of the strategy in China was of great significance in realizing rise and sustainable development of rapeseed oil-based biodiesel production, improving quality of biodiesel, promoting the development of biochemical engineering and many other industries, as well as in building a socialist new countryside.

Determinação de ácido erúcico em mostarda de mesa / Determination of erucic acid in prepared mustards

O ácido erúcico, substância de toxicidade já verificada em animais de laboratório, esta presente no óleo de semente de mostarda; este fato levou os autores a pesquisarem sua presença em mostarda de mesa. A técnica de cromatografia em fase gasosa foi utilizada para determinar o perfil cromatográfico do óleo de semente de mostarda, extraído de 15 amostras de semente de mostarda, 22 amostras de mostarda de mesa de origem nacional e 11 amostras de mostarda de mesa de origem europeia. Foram identificados os seguintes ácidos graxos: palmítico, palmitoleico, esteárico, oleico, linoleico, linolênico, gadoleico, behenico e erúcico. Foi encontrado um alto teor de acido erúcico, variando de 15,6 a 38,0% em relação aos ácidos graxos totais. O perfil cromatográfico permitiu a identificação rápida do óleo de mostarda como também possibilitou a detecção da adulteração de mostarda de mesa (AU).

EFFECTS OF HIGH ERUCIC ACID RAPESEED OIL ON FATTY ACID OXIDATION IN RAT LIVER / 营养学报

The effects of high erucic acid rapeseed oil (HER) on fatty acid oxidation in rat livers compared with low erucic acid rapeseed oil (LER) were studied. Weanling male SD rats were fed on 20% (% by weight, similarly hereinbelow) HER or LER diet for a week or 4 weeks, or 5% HER diet for 4 weeks. The hepatic capacity for oxidation of butyric acid and palmitic acid was determined by titrating the acetone produced by the fatty acid oxidation. The results showed that feeding HER to rats led to an increse in weight of liver and the extent of this increase was positively correlated to the intake of erucic acid (C22:1, n-9 cis). Feeding HER reduced the hepatic oxidation capacity for palmitic acid, notably in 20% HER (1 wk) group. Feeding LER had not shown this effect,indicating that erucic acid plays an important role in the toxicity of rapeseed oil. In the present study it was not found that the hepatic oxidation capacity for butyric acid was influenced by the intake of HER. Therefore, we considered that the inhibitory effect of HER on oxidation of long-chain fatty acids probably resulted from that the incorporation of erucic acid into mitocho-ndrial membranes interfered with the fatty acyl-CoA transfering system on the membranes, leading the fatty acyl-CoA to be unable to enter the mitochondria and to be oxidized there, but not from that the B-oxidation system in mitochondria was directly inhibited.