Rutin and Quercetin Decrease Cholesterol in HepG2 Cells but Not Plasma Cholesterol in Hamsters by Oral Administration

Rutin (R) and quercetin (Q) are two widespread dietary flavonoids. Previous studies regarding the plasma cholesterol-lowering activity of R and Q generated inconsistent results. The present study was therefore carried out to investigate the effects of R and Q on cholesterol metabolism in both HepG2 cells and hypercholesterolemia hamsters. Results from HepG2 cell experiments demonstrate that both R and Q decreased cholesterol at doses of 5 and 10 µM. R and Q up-regulated both the mRNA and protein expression of sterol regulatory element binding protein 2 (SREBP2), low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), and liver X receptor alpha (LXRα). The immunofluorescence study revealed that R and Q increased the LDLR expression, while only Q improved LDL-C uptake in HepG2 cells. Results from hypercholesterolemia hamsters fed diets containing R (5.5 g/kg diet) and Q (2.5 g/kg diet) for 8 weeks demonstrate that both R and Q had no effect on plasma total cholesterol. In the liver, only Q reduced cholesterol significantly. The discrepancy between the in vitro and in vivo studies was probably due to a poor bioavailability of flavonoids in the intestine. It was therefore concluded that R and Q were effective in reducing cholesterol in HepG2 cells in vitro, whereas in vivo, the oral administration of the two flavonoids had little effect on plasma cholesterol in hamsters.     

Analysis of Commercial Multi-vitamin Preparation by HPLC with Diode Array Detector

Abstract

A simple and efficient HPLC analysis method has been developed to simultaneously analyse complicated multi-vitamin preparations, including vitamin B complexes, vitamin C, orotic acid, methionine, calcium pantothenate, nicotinamide, biotin, folic acid and rutin, without using expensive ion pairing reagent. Diode array detector and adjustment of the mobile phase to pH 5.6 are required in the study. This method has been validated with good linearity, reproducibility, recovery and accuracy for analysis of commercial multi-vitamin products.     

A survey of metabolic changes in potato leaves by NMR‐based metabolic profiling in relation to resistance to late blight disease under field conditions

Non‐targeted nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)‐based metabolic profiling was applied to potato leaves to survey metabolic changes associated with late blight resistance under field conditions. Potato plants were grown in an experimental field, and the compound leaves with no visible symptoms were collected from 20 cultivars/lines at two sampling time points: (i) the time of initial presentation of symptoms in susceptible cultivars and (ii) 12 days before this initiation. ¹H NMR spectra of the foliar metabolites soluble in deuterium oxide‐ or methanol‐d₄‐based buffers were measured and used for multivariate analysis. Principal component analysis for six cultivars at symptom initiation showed a class separation corresponding to their levels of late blight resistance. This separation was primarily explained by higher levels of malic acid, methanol, and rutin and a lower level of sucrose in the resistant cultivars than in the susceptible ones. Partial least squares regression revealed that the levels of these metabolites were strongly associated with the disease severity measured in this study under field conditions. These associations were observed only for the leaves harvested at the symptom initiation stage, but not for those collected 12 days beforehand. Subsequently, a simple, alternative enzymatic assay for l ‐malic acid was used to estimate late blight resistance, as a model for applying the potential metabolic marker obtained. This study demonstrated the potential of metabolomics for field‐grown plants in combination with targeted methods for quantifying marker levels, moving towards marker‐assisted screening of new cultivars with durable late blight resistance. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preparation of CuO-Nanoparticle-Modified Electrode and Its Application in the Determination of Rutin

Abstract

In this article, highly pure, well-dispersed, 10-nm CuO nanoparticles were obtained by a hydrothermal reduction process, with oxalic acid as precipitator. The CuO nanoparticles were characterized by x-ray powder diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The CuO nanoparticles were modified onto a gold electrode to study the effect on the redox of the rutin. Cyclic voltammetry results show that the CuO nanoparticles were very active for rutin and that the CuO-nanoparticle-modified electrode can even determine rutin in a certain range of concentration from 5.0 × 10^?7 to 5.0 × 10^?4 mol L^?1 by differential pulse voltammertry, which provides a new application for CuO nanoparticles.     

液相色谱法同时测定维药蜀葵花中芦丁、槲皮素和山柰酚

维药是祖国医药学不可分割的组成部分。维药现代化,即利用现代技术研究维药的有效成分,是维药科学化、标准化、规范化、商品化和产业化的必经之路。本文建立了维药蜀葵花中有效成分芦丁、槲皮素和山柰酚的选择性提取方法,优化了高效液相色谱法(HPLC)同时测定这3种有效成分的分析条件。采用HC-C₁₈色谱柱(250 mm×4.6 mm, 5 μm)和甲醇-0.4%磷酸(50:50, v/v)流动相,在柱温30 ℃和流速1.00 mL/min的条件下实现了3种物质之间以及和干扰物之间的基线分离。维药蜀葵花中芦丁、槲皮素及山柰酚的线性范围分别为12.5~150 μg/mL (r=0.9998), 12.5~125 μg/mL (r=0.9999)及12.5~125 μg/mL (r=0.9988),加标回收率(n=5)分别为100.3%(RSD=1.1%)、97.60%(RSD=0.47%)、97.75%(RSD=0.71%)。该方法实现了同时测定维药蜀葵花中芦丁、槲皮素及山柰酚,为其他黄酮类物质的开发应用提供了科学依据,同时也可为其他维药分析提供借鉴。     

Chemical composition and antioxidant activity of Borago officinalis L. leaf extract growing in Algeria

The aqueous and hydroalcoholic extracts of borage (Borago officinalis) leaves from Annaba region (Algeria) were preliminary analyzed for their phenolic profile (total phenolics, total flavonoids, total flavonols, total tannins and total anthocyanins). These extracts were evaluated for their antioxidant properties by different methods such as DPPH radical scavenging, test NBT and total antioxidant activity. The two extracts have exhibited a high antiradical capacity. Indeed, the ethanolic extract showed the lower IC50 values and the highest amount of phenolics (94.09 ± 1.72 mg gallic acid/g dry extract). Using LC-MS/MS analysis, it was possible to identify phenolic acids, flavonoids, sterol and for the first time oleuropein was identified in the aqueous extract of the plant. The obtained results have demonstrated that phenolic compounds are the major contributor to the antioxidant activity of plants.     

反相高效液相色谱法测定肾复康胶囊中的野黄芩苷和芦丁

建立了肾复康胶囊中野黄芩苷和芦丁的反相高效液相色谱测定方法。以甲醇-水为提取溶剂,采用超声提取法对样品进行前处理。以0.02 mol/L磷酸二氢钾缓冲溶液(含1.0％（体积分数）冰醋酸)-甲醇（体积比为63∶37）为流动相,于330 nm波长下检测,肾复康提取液中野黄芩苷和芦丁可达基线分离,分析时间在20 min内。野黄芩苷和芦丁在10 ~300 mg/L内,其峰面积与浓度之间线性关系良好,目标物的加标回收率大于98％。该方法适用于肾复康胶囊及相关药材中野黄芩苷和芦丁黄酮类化合物的测定和质量控制。     

运用二维相关红外光谱分析技术研究芦丁的热微扰过程

采用傅里叶变换红外光谱法(FTIR)和二维相关分析(2D correlation analysis)技术研究了固态芦丁20℃～160℃的升温过程。实验结果显示，芦丁红外光谱的特征峰在红外图上随着温度升高变化不明显，说明实验中芦丁分子没有发生氧化反应。借助于二维相关分析，提高了谱图的分辨率，将芦丁分子中不同苯环的骨架振动峰在二维同步图上显示并区分开来。同时还揭示了芦丁分子内各官能团之间的相互作用，反映了在热微扰过程中这些基因之间的协同关系和变化的先后顺序。分析结果表明；芦丁分子中两个苯环，杂环的C=O及=C-O-C基因发生了相互作用。其变化的顺序是和含氧杂环相连的苯环，C=O，=C-O-C和含氧杂环相并的苯环。此结论与芦丁的氧化反应机理相一致。总之，二维相关红外分析可以作为研究芦丁热微扰过程中结构动态变化的一种新方法，也为芦丁在氧化过程中的机理研究提供了一个重要的理论依据。     

Kinetic Determination of Microquantities of Rutin by Perturbation of the Bray-Liebhafsky Oscillatory Reaction in an Open System

A kinetic method is described for the microquantitative (microconcentration/microvolume) determination of rutin based on potentiometric monitoring of the concentration perturbations of the Bray-Liebhafsky (BL) oscillatory reaction being in a non-equilibrium stationary state close to a bifurcation point. The experiments are carried out in an open reactor. The response of the matrix system to perturbations by different concentrations of rutin ethanolic solutions is followed by a Pt-electrode. In the concentration range between 7.8×10^–8moldm^–3 and 9.1×10^–6mol dm^–3, we found a linear dependence of the maximal potential shift, E_m, on the logarithm of the rutin concentrations. The unknown concentrations can be determined from the calibration curve up to an accuracy of ±5%. The detection limit is 3.6×10^–8mol dm^–3. The amount of required sample can be as small as 10µL.     

Fermentation characteristics and the dynamic trend of chemical components during fermentation of Massa Medicata Fermentata

As a representative of traditionally fermented Chinese medicine, Massa Medicata Fermentata (MMF) shows the functions of invigorating the spleen and stomach and promoting digestion, which plays an important role in the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. The fermentation mechanism and the key factors that affect the quality of MMF have not been revealed yet, which has become an urgent issue that limits its clinical application. This article aims to systematically and comprehensively reveal the transformation of physical properties and the dynamic trend of chemical components including substrate components, volatile components, and lactic acid as anaerobic fermentation product during MMF fermentation. Along with obvious hyphae growth observed for MMF, the weight of MMF decreased, and the moisture and temperature increased. Through the quantified 14 components from substrate, ferulic acid increased from 45.53 ± 6.94 to 141.89 ± 78.40 μg/g, while glycosides and phenolic acids declined except caffeic acid. Also, within the 66 volatile components analyzed, alcohols and acids increased, while aldehydes and ketones decreased. Lactic acid was not detected in the fermentation substrate, but an apparent increase in lactic acid content was observed along with the increased fermentation days, resulting in 2.54 ± 0.15 mg/g on day 8. Based on the tested components, the fermentation process of MMF was discriminated into three distinct stages by principal component analysis, and an optimal fermentation time of four days was proposed. The results of this study will be of great significance to clarify the characteristics of fermentation and conduce to improving quality standards of MMF.