[Effectiveness of different maintenance methods for codonopsis radix].

OBJECTIVE: To observe different maintenance methods including vacuum-packing, storage together with tobacco, storage together with fennel, ethanol steam and sulfur fumigation for the protection of Codonopsis Radix against mildew and insect damage, and to analyze the content of polysaccharide and flavonoids of Codonopsis Radix tested in this studies, so as to look for the scientific maintenance methods replacing traditional sulfur fumigation. METHODS: Except for the sulfur fumigation, naturally air-dried Codonopsis Radix was used to investigate the maintenance effectiveness of the above methods, respectively. Mildew was observed by visual inspection, and the content of polysaccharide and flavonoids were determined by ultra-violet and visible spectrophotometer. Comprehensive evaluation was given based on the results of the different maintenance methods. RESULTS: Low-temperature vacuum-packing, ambient-temperature vacuum-packing and sulfur fumigation could keep Codonopsis Radix from mildew and insect damage for one year, but ambient-temperature vacuum-packing showed flatulent phenomenon; ethanol steam could keep Codonopsis Radix from mildew and insects for over half a year; storage together with tobacco or fennel did not have maintenance effect. The difference of polysaccharide and flavonoids contents of all tested Codonopsis Radix was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Low temperature vacuum-packing maintenance can replace traditional sulfur fumigation, and it can maintain the quality of Codonopsis Radix to a certain extent.

[Effect of Codonopsis Radix maintained with sulfur fumigation on immune function in mice].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the immune function of mice being given the extract of Codonopsis Radix maintained with sulfur fumigation. METHODS: Mice were divided into five groups. Except the normal control group, the mice were fed with the extract of Codonopsis Radix maintained with sulfur fumigation at the high,medium and low doses, as well as medium dose of Codonopsis Radix maintained with low-temperature vacuum method, respectively. Mice were treated once a day for 10 continuous days. Weight change,organ indexes, blood cell indices, macrophage phagocytic function, and IL-2 and IFN-γ levels were measured. RESULTS: Compared with normal control group, Codonopsis Radix maintained with sulfur fumigation at medium and high doses inhibited body weight increase of mice; white blood cell count of high dose group was significantly increased; significant increase of macrophage phagocytosis were observed for all groups except the normal control group; and spleen index and IFN-γ level of Codonopsis Radix maintained with sulfur fumigation medium dose group were increased significantly. CONCLUSION: Codonopsis Radix maintained with sulfur fumigation can promote mouse immune function to a certain degree. There was no difference in immune effect between Codonopsis Radix maintained with sulfur fumigation and low-temperature vacuum method during experimental period. However,taking the extract of Codonopsis Radix maintained with sulfur fumigation can exert negative effect on appetite and body weight in mice.

[Chemical constituents from Gentiana striata].

OBJECTIVE: To study the chemical constituents of Gentiana striata. METHODS: The constituents were isolated from the whole herb of Gentiana striata by recrystalization, silica gel column chromatography, polyamide column chromatography and Sephadex LH-20,etc. Their structures were elucidated through MS, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR. RESULTS: -8 compounds were isolated and identified as: Desoxyloganin (1), Gmephiloside (2), 5,7,4'-trihydroxy-3'-methoxyflavone (3), (+)-8-hydroxypinoresinol (4) 3S,5R, 6R, 9S-tetra-hydroxymegastigmane (5), Quercetin-3-O-beta-D-glucoside (6), Ferulic acid (7) and Ursolic acid (8). CONCLUSION: All the compounds are isolated for the first time from Gentiana striata.

NMR and X-ray crystallography, complementary tools in structural proteomics of small proteins.

NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography, the two primary experimental methods for protein structure determination at high resolution, have different advantages and disadvantages in terms of sample preparation and data collection and analysis. It is therefore of interest to assess their complementarity when applied to small proteins. Structural genomics/proteomics projects provide an ideal opportunity to make such comparisons as they generate data in a systematic manner for large enough numbers of proteins to allow firm conclusions to be drawn. Here we report a comparison for 263 unique proteins screened by both NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography in our structural proteomics pipeline. Only 21 targets (8%) were deemed amenable to both methods based on an initial 2D 15N-HSQC NMR spectrum and optimized crystallization trials. However, the use of both methods in the pipeline increased the total number of targets amenable to structure determination to 107, with 43 amenable to NMR only and 43 amenable to X-ray crystallographic methods only. We did not observe a correlation between 15N-HSQC spectral quality and the success of the same protein in crystallization screens. Similar results were found for an independent set of 159 proteins as reported in the accompanying paper by Snyder et al. Thus, we conclude that both methods are highly complementary, and in order to increase the number of proteins suited for structure determination, we suggest that both methods be used in parallel in screening of all small proteins for structure determination.