A Network Pharmacology-Based Study on Antidepressant Effect of Salicornia europaea L. Extract with Experimental Support in Chronic Unpredictable Mild Stress Model Mice / 中国结合医学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the pharmacodynamic material basis, mechanism of actions and targeted diseases of Salicornia europaea L. (SE) based on the network pharmacology method, and to verify the antidepressant-like effect of the SE extract by pharmacological experiments.@*METHODS@#Retrieval tools including Chinese medicine (CM), PubMed, PharmMapper, MAS 3.0 and Cytoscape were used to search the components of SE, predict its targets and related therapeutic diseases, and construct the "Component-Target-Pathway" network of SE for central nervous system (CNS) diseases. Further, protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and Gene Ontology (GO) function annotation of depression-related targets were analyzed to predict the antidepressant mechanism of SE. Chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) model was used to construct a mouse model with depression-like symptoms. And the animals were randomly divided into 6 groups (n=10) including the normal group (nonstressed mice administered with distilled water), the CUMS group (CUMS mice administered with distilled water), the venlafaxine group (CUMS mice administered with venlafaxine 9.38 mg/kg), SE high-, medium-, and low-dose groups (CUMS mice administered with SE 1.8, 1.35 and 0.9 g/kg, respectively). Then some relevant indicators were determined for experimental verification by the forced swim test (FST), the tail suspension test (TST) and open-field test (OFT). Dopamine (DA) concentration in hippocampus and cerebral cortex, IL-2 and corticosterone (CORT) levels in blood, and nuclear factor E2 related factor 2 (Nrf2), kelch-like epichlorohydrin related protein 1 (Keap1), NAD(P) H dehydrogenase [quinone] 1 (NQO1) and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) levels in mice were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Western blot respectively to explore the possible mechanisms.@*RESULTS@#The "target-disease" network diagram predicted by network pharmacology, showed that the potential target of SE involves a variety of CNS diseases, among which depression accounts for the majority. The experimental results showed that SE (1.8, 1.35 g/kg) significantly decreased the immobility period, compared with the CUMS group in FST and TST in mice after 3-week treatment, while SE exhibited no significant effect on exploratory behavior in OFT in mice. Compared with CUMS group, the SE group (0.9 g/kg) showed significant differences (P<0.05) in DA levels in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. In addition, compared with CUMS control group, SE (1.8 g/kg) group showed a significant effect on decreasing the activities of CORT (P<0.05), and serum IL-2 level with no statistical significance. Finally, Western blot results showed that compared with the model group, Nrf2, Keap1, NQO1 and HO-1 protein expressions in SE group (1.8 g/kg) were up-regulated (all P<0.01).@*CONCLUSION@#The SE extract may have an antidepressant effect, which appeared to regulate Nrf2-ARE pathway and increased levels of DA and CORT in the hippocampus and cortex.

Aquaponic System with White Shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei Rearing and Production of the Plants Batis maritima, Sarcocornia neei and Sporobolus virginicus

Abstract Aquaponics is a system that integrates aquaculture with plant production in which two species are benefited, and there is water saving. In this study was carried out with an aquaponic system to verify the interaction between the growth of the halophytes Batis maritime, Sarcocornia neei, and Sporobolus virginicus associated with white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei rearing. We also investigated if there were different responses of physicochemical variables of the water in the experimental shrimp culture ponds integrated into the growth of plants and control ponds, without plants, throughout a 56-day period. The treatment experiment and control presented a statistically significant difference in total dissolved solids, salinity, total suspended solids, ammonia, orthophosphate, and nitrite. In the experimental treatment, with the presence of plants and recirculating water, a reduction of total suspended solids, ammonia and orthophosphate was observed. The rate of shrimp production was not significantly different between treatments, and the performance was similar to that of other studies. The biomass gain of the halophyte B. maritima was 876.6 grams in 0.5 m² and of S. neei was 48.8 grams in 0.16 m². All plants of the species S. virginicus died during the experiment.

A choline monooxygenase gene promoter from Salicornia europaea increases expression of the -glucuronidase gene under abiotic stresses in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.).

A 1312 bp 5' flanking region of Salicornia europaea choline monooxygenase (SeCMO) gene was isolated using the anchored PCR. To investigate the mechanism of regulation for this stress-induced gene, the SeCMO promoter--glucuronidase (GUS) chimeric gene constructs containing five deletions F1, F2, F3, F4 and F5 were introduced into tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The functional properties of each promoter fragment were examined by assaying GUS activity in the leaves of transgenic tobacco treated with abiotic stresses (NaCl, PEG6000 and low temperature). The GUS activity in transgenic tobacco with F2 (-1056 to +8) construct showed highest increase under all the three abiotic stresses. Thus, the study provided a potential promoter induced by the salt, dehydration and cold for the plant genetic manipulation.

Phytochemical investigation of Suaeda beccata [chenopodiaceae]

This work covers some phytochemical studies of a wild plant, Suaeda baccata Forsk of the family Chenopodiaceae, which covers almost all the cities of Iraq. Literature survey revealed a number of publications concerning different species of Suaeda, but none at all concerned Suaeda baccata. therefore, a research on this plant will be of important value. Several reports indicated the presence of alkaloids in some Suaeda species, thus our investigation procedures emphasized the identification and isolation of the alkaloids that might be present in this plant. Preliminary investigation on the plant extract showed the presence of the alkaloids that were tested by both Mayor's reagent and Dragendorffs spraying reagent, and authenticated with standard compounds by TLC using several solvent systems that proved the presence of two alkaloids, trigonelline and choline. Trigonelline crystals were subjected to tests of purity as HPLC, melting point and mixed melting point, which matches with the standard trigonelline. Extract containing choline alkaloid was identified only by TLC using different solvent systems. Studies concerning its crystallization and identification by HPLC and melting point were left for further studies since choline is highly hygroscopic and oxidizable compound