Sleep promoting and omics exploration on probiotics fermented Gastrodia elata Blume.

Fermenting Chinese medicinal herbs could enhance their bioactivities. We hypothesized probiotic-fermented gastrodia elata Blume (GE) with better potential to alleviate insomnia than that of unfermented, thus the changes in chemical composition and the insomnia-alleviating effects and mechanisms of fermented GE on pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced insomnia zebrafish were explored via high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectroscopy-coupled HPLC (HPLC-MS), phenotypic, transcriptomic, and metabolomics analysis. The results demonstrated that probiotic fermented GE performed better than unfermented GE in increasing the content of chemical composition, reducing the displacement, average speed, and number of apoptotic cells in zebrafish with insomnia. Metabolomic investigation showed that the anti-insomnia effect was related to regulating the pathways of actin cytoskeleton and neuroactive ligand-receptor interactions. Transcriptomic and reverse transcription qPCR (RT-qPCR) analysis revealed that secondary fermentation liquid (SFL) significantly modulated the expression levels of neurod1, msh2, msh3, recql4, ercc5, rad5lc, and rev3l, which are mainly involved in neuron differentiation and DNA repair. Collectively, as a functional food, fermented GE possessed potential for insomnia alleviation.

Association study of the functional variants of the GLIS3 gene with risk of knee osteoarthritis.

INTRODUCTION/OBJECTIVES: Osteoarthritis (OA) ranks the most common joint disorder and the leading cause of disability. Growing evidence has revealed that OA has a strong genetic background, except for aging and obesity. The aim of this study is to determine the associations between potential functional variants of the GLIS3 and GLIS3-AS1 gene and risk of knee OA among a Chinese population. METHODS: In this case-control study with 810 knee OA cases and 900 healthy controls, seven selected functional SNPs of the GLIS3 and GLIS3-AS1 gene were evaluated. RESULTS: We found minor alleles of rs10116772 (OR: 0.80, 95% CI: 0.69-0.92, P = 0.002), rs7045410 (OR: 0.74, 95% CI: 0.61-0.92, P = 0.005), and rs7032713 (OR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.63-0.93, P = 0.006) were significantly associated with decreased risk of knee OA. Results of the dominant and recessive model, stratified analyses using Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grading presented that the significant associations were not materially changed. Haplotype analysis indicated that haplotype CGT (OR: 0.66, 95% CI: 0.46-0.96, P = 0.031) and ATT (OR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.6-0.95, P = 0.017) were significantly associated with decreased risk of knee OA. Further, they were also significantly associated with lower expression level of GLIS3, as well as higher expression level of GLIS3-AS1 in the articular cartilage specimens. Genotype-tissue expression (GTEX) data also validated that minor alleles of rs7045410 and rs7032713 were significantly associated with higher expression level of GLIS3-AS1 in thyroid and pituitary tissues (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: These findings revealed the essential role of genetic variants of the GLIS3 and GLIS3-AS1 gene in the occurrence of knee OA together. Key Point • Functional variants of the GLIS3 and GLIS3-AS1 gene were significantly associated with decreased risk of knee OA.

Constituents from solid-cultured Antrodia camphorata.

Antrodia camphorata is a rare and precious traditional food and medicine for improving health-related conditions in Taiwan. The phytochemical research of the mushroom led to the isolation of a new naphthalenecarboxaldehyde, named as 1-Naphthalenecarboxaldehyde,3,4,4a,5,6,7,8,8a-octahydro-2-(hydroxymethyl)-5,5,8a-trimethyl (1). Meanwhile, seven other known compounds of nerolidol (2), cadinol (3), herbarulide (4), 3ß-Hydroxy-5a,8a-epidioxyergosta-6,22-diene (5), ergosta-7,22-diene-3,6-dione (6) 2,3-dimethoxy-5-methyl-p-benzoquinone (7) and ß-sitosterol (8) were also obtained from A. camphorata for the first time except compound (8). The new compound was elucidated by 2D NMR techniques (COSY, HMBC, HSQC, NOESY) and HRMS while those known compounds deduced by comparing 1H NMR and 13C NMR data with other literatures. Then, the hepG2 cell toxicity screening was conducted and the results demonstrated that only compound 7 and 8 exhibited significant toxicity to hepG2 cell at the concentration of 50 µg/mL.

[Influence of different processing methods and mature stages on 3,29-dibenzoyl rarounitriol of Trichosanthes kirilowii seeds].

OBJECTIVE: To study the different mature stages and the best processing methods on the quality of Trichosanthes kirilowii seeds. METHODS: The content of 3,29-dibenzoyl rarounitriol in Trichosanthes kirilowii seeds was determined by HPLC. The sample of different mature stages such as immature, near mature and fully mature and processed by different methods were studied. RESULTS: Fully mature Trichosanthes kirilowii seeds were better than the immatured, and the best processing method was dried under 60degrees C, the content of 3,29-dibenzoyl rarounitriol reached up to 131.63microlg/mL. CONCLUSION: Different processing methods and different mature stages had a significant influence on the quality of Trichosanthes kirilowii seeds.

[Phenylpropanoids and diphenylethene compounds from roots and rhizomes of Smilax scobinicaulis].

The chemical constituents were separated and purified from the roots and rhizomes of Smilax scobinicaulis by various chromatographic methods including silica gel, Sephadex LH-20. Their structures were obtained and identified as resveratrol-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->3)-beta-D-glucopyranoside (1), resveratrol (2), 8-viniferin (3), ethyl caffeate (4), 1-0-caffeoylglycerol (5), 1-O-p-coumaroylglycerol (6), 1-0-feruloylglycerol (7), grossamide (8), moracin M (9) on the analysis of spectroscopic data. Compound 1 was a new compound and compounds 3-5, 8,9 were separated from this plant for the first time.

Anthraquinones from the roots of Prismatomeris tetrandra.

A new anthraquinone compound, 1,3-dihydroxy-6-methoxy-2-methoxymethyl-9,10-anthraquinone (1), along with four known analogues (2-5) were isolated from the roots of Prismatomeris tetrandra. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analysis. Among these compounds, lucidin omega-methyl ether (4) and lucidin omega-ethyl ether (5) were isolated from this genus for the first time. Compound 1 showed weak cytotoxic activity against A549 and LAC cell lines.

[Uptake kinetics of hTERT antisense molecular probe by cells and its biological properities].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the cell uptake kinetics and specific gene expression effect of hTERT antisense molecular probe in vitro. METHODS: Antisense molecular probes targeting hTERT mRNA were radiolabeled with technetium-99m by the method of bifunctional chelator. HepG2 cells expressing hTERT were cultured. The uptake kinetics of molecular probes mediated by liposome or not in cells were examined in vitro. RT-PCR (reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction) method was performed to assay the specific gene expression effect of the molecular probes. All data were analyzed by the statistic software of SPSS 12.0. RESULTS: The labeling efficiencies of molecular probe reached (76 +/- 5) % (n = 5), the specific activity was up to 1.850 x 10(6) Bq/microg, and the radiochemical purity was above 96% after purification. The absolute accumulation of (99m)Tc, whether on antisense or sense molecular probe, was clearly higher with liposome-mediated than without liposome-mediated (P < 0.05). Furthermore, liposome advanced the peak time of cellular uptake of antisense molecular probe, with the highest accumulation occurring at the end of 2 h, and remaining at the same level till 3 h later. In comparison with sense molecular probe, antisense molecular probe preserved the capacity to bind living hTERT-expressing cells specifically and inhibited the expression of hTERT mRNA significantly as well as ASON. CONCLUSION: Liposome-mediated method could increase cell uptake of molecular probes in vitro. Antisense molecular probe preserved the capacity to inhibit the expression of targeting mRNA specifically. All results provided the basis for further in vivo study.