Protective effects of dioscin against systemic inflammatory response syndromevia adjusting TLR2/MyD88/NF­κb signal pathway.

Development of active compounds to control inflammation against systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) is critical important. Dioscin shows anti-inflammatory effects in our previous works. However, the action of the compound on SIRS still remained unknown. In the present paper, zymosan induced generalized inflammation (ZIGI) models in mice and rats, and PMA-differentiated THP­1 cells stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and Pam3-Cys-Ser-Lys4 (Pam3CSK4) were used. The results showed that dioscin significantly inhibited the proliferation of THP­1 cells stimulated by LPS and Pam3CSK4, obviously reduced the soakage of inflammatory cells and necrosis in liver, kidney and intestine of rats and mice, and reduced peritoneal ascites fluid compared with ZIGI model groups. In addition, dioscin significantly declined the levels of alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), creatinine (Cr), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), malondialdehyde (MDA) and myeloperoxidase (MPO), increased the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in rats and mice. The migration of macrophages in tissues was also suppressed by dioscin. Mechanism investigation showed that dioscin significantly inhibited the expression levels of TLR2, MyD88, NF­κb, HMGB­1, increased the expression levels of IKBα, and decreased the mRNA levels of interleukin­1 beta (IL­1ß), interleukin­6 (IL­6) and tumor necrosis factor­alpha (TNF­α) in liver, kidney, intestine tissues of rats and mice, and in PMA-differentiated THP­1 cells, which were further confirmed by TLR2 siRNA silencing in vitro. In conclusion, our data confirmed that dioscin exhibited protective effects against SIRS via adjusting TLR2/MyD88 signal pathway, which should be developed as one potent candidate to treat SIRS in the future.

The genome sequence of Dioscorea bacilliform TR virus, a member of the genus Badnavirus infecting Dioscorea spp., sheds light on the possible function of endogenous Dioscorea bacilliform viruses.

The complete genome sequence of Dioscorea bacilliform TR virus (DBTRV) was determined. The closest relatives of DBTRV are Dioscorea bacilliform AL virus (DBALV) and Dioscorea bacilliform RT virus 1 (DBRTV1). Specific primers were designed and used to determine the prevalence of DBTRV in a yam germplasm collection. It was found that this virus infects Dioscorea alata and D. trifida plants in Guadeloupe and French Guyana. DTRBV was not detected in any of the tested D. cayenensis-rotundata accessions. In silico analysis provided evidence for the presence of DBTRV-like endogenous sequences in the genome of D. cayenensis-rotundata, pointing to a possible role of these sequences in antiviral defense.

Therapeutic effect of dioscin on collagen-induced arthritis through reduction of Th1/Th2.

The aim of this study was to detect the therapeutic effect of dioscin on collagen-induced arthritis (CIA). Mice model of CIA was induced by chicken collagen II and arthritis index was assessed. After suspension of dioscin (100mg/kg/d) or triptolide was intragastrically administered, the left paw swelling and body weight of each mouse were measured. Then tissue samples were assayed by histopathological analysis. The levels of Th1 and Th2 were detected by flow cytometry. The expression of p-STAT1, p-STAT4 and p-STAT6 was demonstrated by western blot analysis, and T-bet and GATA-3 expression was detected by RT-PCR. The paw swelling and arthritis index were decreased and body weight was increased in the high dose of dioscin group compared to the model group (P<0.05). Histopathological analysis revealed that the damage of synovium tissue in dioscin and triptolide group alleviated. The ratio of Th1/Th2 in the dioscin group (0.82±0.24) and triptolide group (0.99±0.44) was lower than that in the model group (1.84±0.70, P<0.05). Additionally, p-STAT4 expression was decreased, and both p-STAT6 and GATA3 expression was increased in the dioscin group than that in the model group (P<0.05). Dioscin might have some therapeutic effects on CIA through regulating the proportion of Th1/Th2 cells, which could reduce the expression of p-STAT4, increase the expression of p-STAT6 and GATA3 in the synovial tissue.

Dioscin reduces lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammatory liver injury via regulating TLR4/MyD88 signal pathway.

We previously reported the effects of dioscin against carbon tetrachloride-, acetaminophen- and alcohol-induced acute liver damage. However, its effect on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory liver injury remains unknown. In the present work, liver injury in mice and rats was induced by LPS, and dioscin was intragastrically administered for 7days. In vitro, the AML-12 cells and HepG-2 cells were treated with LPS after dioscin treatment. The results showed that dioscin not only markedly reduced serum ALT, AST levels and relative liver weights, but also restored cell injury caused by LPS. In mechanism study, dioscin significantly attenuated inflammation through down-regulating the levels of toll-like receptor (TLR) 4, myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88), interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase 1 (IRAK1), tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 6 (TRAF6), phosphorylated inhibitor of nuclear factor κB kinase (p-IKK), phosphorylated inhibitor of nuclear factor κB alpha (p-IκBα), phosphorylated nuclear factor κB p65 (p-NF-κB p65), high-mobility group protein 1 (HMGB-1), interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). TLR4 overexpression was also decreased by dioscin, leading to the markedly decreased levels of MyD88, IRAK1, TRAF6, p-IKK, p-IκBα, p-NF-κB p65 and HMGB-1. Suppression of MyD88 by ST2825 eliminated the inhibitory effects of dioscin on the levels of IRAK1, TRAF6, p-IKK, p-IκBα, p-NF-κB p65, HMGB-1, IL-1ß, IL-6 and TNF-α. Our results suggested that dioscin exhibited protective effect against LPS-induced liver injury via altering TLR4/MyD88 pathway, which should be developed as one potent candidate for the treatment of acute inflammatory liver injury in the future.

Diosgenin down-regulates NF-κB p65/p50 and p38MAPK pathways and attenuates acute lung injury induced by lipopolysaccharide in mice.

Diosgenin (Dio), a major active component of steroidal sapogenin of the traditional Chinese herb Dioscorea zingiberensis C.H.Wright, shows various activities including anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombotic activities, anti-cancer properties etc. In the present study, we found that diosgenin significantly suppressed the phosphorylation of lung NF-κB p50/p65 and MAPK/p38 in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury (ALI) in mice, when given orally at doses of 0.1, 1.0 and 10mg/kg 1h prior to LPS challenge (30 mg/kg, intravenous injection). Moreover, diosgenin attenuated the lung histopathological changes such as pulmonary edema, coagulation and infiltration of inflammatory cells. In addition, diosgenin significantly decreased the lung wet to dry weight (W/D) ratio and nitrite/nitrate content at three doses, and also markedly inhibited LPS-induced body temperature decrease and nitrite/nitrate elevation in plasma. Besides, diosgenin could significantly suppress activation of NF-κB p65/p50, p38 and expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in LPS-induced THP-1 cells. Our findings indicate the potential application of diosgenin for ALI treatment.

Optimización de un medio de cultivo para plantas micropropagadas de dioscorea alata L / Optimization of a culture medium for micropropagated plants of dioscorea alata L

La propagación de material de ñame de buena calidad es esencial para incrementar la producción sostenible de este cultivo. El presente trabajo tuvo como propósito optimizar el medio de cultivo de micropropagación de Dioscorea alata L. clon Caraqueño a través de los siguientes objetivos: determinar el efecto de diferentes antioxidantes (carbón activado 0,5 g/L-1 ; carbón activado 1,0 g/L-1; cisteína 10 mg/L-1, 20 mg/L-1 y 30 mg/L-1) y concentraciones de sales de Murashige y Skoog (MS) (25, 50, 75 y 100 %) en el medio de cultivo durante el establecimiento y la multiplicación de las plantas in vitro, y evaluar la utilización de distintas combinaciones de ácido naftalenacético (0,01; 0,1 mg/L-1) y bencilaminopurina (0,01; 0,1 mg/L-1) en el mejor medio de cultivo de multiplicación obtenido en el experimento anterior. A los 35 días se seleccionaron 40 plantas in vitro, a las cuales se les determinaron las siguientes variables: longitud en cm del vástago; número de nudos de novo por explantes; número de hojas por explante y porcentaje de fenolización. Se evaluó además, en el experimento con los reguladores de crecimiento, el número de raíces y longitud de la raíz de mayor tamaño. Se aplicó un diseño experimental completamente aleatorio con análisis de varianza bifactorial y clasificación simple. Se realizó la prueba de comparación de medias de Tukey para un nivel de significación del 5%. Los resultados obtenidos mostraron que las sales MS al 75% de su concentración, el carbón activado (0,5 g/L-1) o la cisteína (10 mg/L-1), en combinación con los reguladores de crecimiento ANA/BAP (0,01/0,01 mg/L-1) en el medio de cultivo MS, incrementaron los indicadores de desarrollo de las plantas in vitro tales como número de nudos de novo (3,5), longitud del vástago (4,1 cm), número de hojas (3,8), número de raíces (5,7) y longitud de las raíces (6 cm).

The material propagation of good quality yam is essential to increase the sustainable production of this cultivation. In the present work the optimization of culture medium of Dioscorea alata L. clone Caraqueño micropropagation was carried out through the following objectives: to determine the effect of different anti-oxydants (activated charcoal 0,5 g.L-1; activated charcoal 1,0 g.L-1; cysteine 10 mg.L-1, 20 mg.L-1 and 30 mg.L-1) and Murashige and Skoog salts concentrations (25, 50, 75 and 100%) in the culture medium during the in vitro plants establishment and the multiplication, and to evaluate the use of different combinations of naftalenacetic acid (0,01; 0,1 mg.L-1) and benzylaminopurine (0,01; 0,1 mg.L-1) in the best multiplication medium obtained in the above experiment. At 35 days, 40 in vitro plants were selected. The following variables were determined in these plants: shoot length, cm; leaf and bud explant number; and oxydation phenolic percentage. In the experiment of plant growth regulators was also evaluated, the roots number and greater size root length. A totally randomized experimental design with one and two factor variance analysis and the Tukey test for means comparison at 5% significance level were applied. The obtained results showed that the salts MS at 75% concentration, the activated charcoal (0,5 g. L-1) or the cysteine (10 mg. L-1), in combination with the growth regulators ANA/BAP (0,01/0,01 mg.L-1) in the MS culture medium, increase the development of the in vitro plants, number of novo buds (3,5), shoot length (4,1 cm), number of leaves (3,8), number of roots (5,7) and greater size root length (6 cm).

Polysaccharides from Dioscorea batatas induce tumor necrosis factor-alpha secretion via Toll-like receptor 4-mediated protein kinase signaling pathways.

The bioactive polysaccharides (named ZPF1) from yam ( Dioscorea batatas) were chemically determined, suggesting repeating beta-1,4-mannan as mainly having a feature of acetylation on C2-OH and C3-OH, around 28%. The ZPF1 participated in the stimulation of murine wild-type macrophages predominantly in tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha). Toll-like receptor 4 is proved to be one of the cellular receptors in ZPF1-mediated TNFalpha secretion. Reactive oxygen species transmission and PI3-kinase are found necessary for regulating TNFalpha secretion by ZPF1 stimulation. Moreover, we found that extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2, Jun N-terminal kinase 1/2, and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase play important roles in the regulation of TNFalpha secretion in ZPF1-stimulated macrophages.

Identification of Dioscorea batatas (sanyak) allergen as an inhalant and oral allergen.

Dioscorea batatas is widely used in Asia as a herbal medicine or food product with potential health benefits. There have been several reports of occupational asthma caused by inhalation of D. batatas dust. However, there has been no report of systemic allergic reactions after oral administration of D. batatas. Two patients with D. batatas allergy were enrolled. One had experienced severe urticaria and angioedema after indigestion, and the other had been exposed to D. batatas dust and was diagnosed as having occupational asthma. Both patients had high serum-specific IgE and IgG4 antibodies to D. batatas. And IgE immunoblot demonstrated that both sera bound to a 27-kDa protein with an IgE-binding motif, which was revealed by 2-D-electrophoresis to have the sequence Asn-Val-Glu-Asp-Glu-Phe-Ser-X-Ile- Glu-Gly-Asn-Pro-X-X-Pro-Glu-Asn-X-Gly (pI 6.40, 6.04). In conclusion, discorin from D. batatas (DB3S) was identified as the major allergen of D. batatas in patients sensitized via an oral or inhalant route.

Identification of Dioscorea Batatas (Sanyak) Allergen as an Inhalant and Oral Allergen

Dioscorea batatas is widely used in Asia as a herbal medicine or food product with potential health benefits. There have been several reports of occupational asthma caused by inhalation of D. batatas dust. However, there has been no report of systemic allergic reactions after oral administration of D. batatas. Two patients with D. batatas allergy were enrolled. One had experienced severe urticaria and angioedema after indigestion, and the other had been exposed to D. batatas dust and was diagnosed as having occupational asthma. Both patients had high serum-specific IgE and IgG4 antibodies to D. batatas. And IgE immunoblot demonstrated that both sera bound to a 27-kDa protein with an IgE-binding motif, which was revealed by 2-D-electrophoresis to have the sequence Asn-Val-Glu-Asp-Glu-Phe-Ser-X-Ile- Glu-Gly-Asn-Pro-X-X-Pro-Glu-Asn-X-Gly (pI 6.40, 6.04). In conclusion, discorin from D. batatas (DB3S) was identified as the major allergen of D. batatas in patients sensitized via an oral or inhalant route.