Dianthiamides A–E,Proline-Containing Orbitides from Dianthus chinensis

Orbitides are plant-derived small cyclic peptides with a wide range of biological activities. Phytochemical investigation of the whole plants of Dianthus chinensis was performed with the aim to discover new bioactive orbitides. Five undescribed proline-containing orbitides, dianthiamides A–E (1–5), were isolated from a methanolic extract of Dianthus chinensis. Their structures were elucidated by extensive analysis of 1D and 2D NMR and HRESI–TOF–MS as well as ESI–MS/MS fragmentation data. The absolute configuration of the amino acid residues of compounds 1–5 was determined by Marfey’s method. All compounds were tested for their cytotoxic activity, and dianthiamide A (1) exhibited weak activity against A549 cell line with IC₅₀ value of 47.9 μM.     

Exploration and optimization of conditions for quantitative analysis of lignans in Schisandra chinensis by an online supercritical fluid extraction with supercritical fluid chromatography system

An online supercritical fluid extraction with supercritical fluid chromatography system could provide sequential extraction and quantitative analysis of lignans in Schisandra chinensis. Supercritical fluid extraction conditions were optimized at 15 MPa, 50°C, and 4 min with supercritical CO₂ adding 1% methanol; the elution volume and flow rate were set at 6 mL and 2 mL/min to blow extract out of the tank completely. The split‐flow rate was confirmed at 2.5%, which determines injection volume and accuracy of quantitative detection. The factors having negative influences on supercritical fluid chromatography retention in the online system, including sample loading forms and backpressure settings, are discussed in the paper. At last, an extraction‐quantitative method for lignans in Schisandra chinensis was developed, which could be finished within 19.5 min. The total content percentage of four lignans (Schisandrin, Schisandrin A, Schisandrin B and Schisandrol B) in four batches was respectively measured to be 1.42, 1.54, 1.62, and 1.90%.     

UFLC–MS/MS method for simultaneous determination of six lignans of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. in normal and insomniac rats brain microdialysates and homogenate samples: towards an in‐depth study for its sedative‐hypnotic activity

Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill., a traditional Chinese medicine, has been clinically used for the treatment of insomnia for centuries. The insomnia mechanism and the possible active ingredients of S. chinensis remain largely unknown. The objective of this study was to develop a method to detect its components which could pass through the blood brain barrier (BBB) by determining the brain microdialysate and brain tissue homogenate samples and then obtain the pharmacokinetic profile in brain for comprehensive understanding of its hypnotic clinical efficacy. Therefore, an efficient, sensitive and selective ultra fast liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry method for the simultaneous determination of six sedative and hypnotic lignans (schisandrin, schisandrol B, schisantherin A, deoxyshisandrin, γ‐schisandrin and gomisin N) of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. in rat brain tissue homogenate and brain microdialysates has been developed and validated. The analysis was performed on a Shim‐pack XR‐ODS column (75 mm × 3.0 mm, 2.2 µm) using gradient elution with the mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid water. The method was validated in brain homogenate and microdialysate samples, which all showed good linearity over a wide concentration range (r² > 0.99), and the obtained lower limit of quantification was 0.1 ng · ml^?1 for the analytes in brain microdialysate samples. The intra‐ and inter‐day assay variability was less than 15% for all analytes. The study proved the six lignans, as sedative and hypnotic ingredients, could pass through the BBB with brain targeting, distributed mainly in the hypothalamus and possessed complete pharmacokinetics process in brain. The results also indicated that significant difference in pharmacokinetic parameters of the analytes was observed between two groups, while absorptions of these analytes in insomniac group were significantly better than those in normal group. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An efficient strategy for the extraction and purification of lignans from Schisandra chinensis by a combination of supercritical fluid extraction and high‐speed counter‐current chromatography

An efficient strategy for extracting and separating five lignans from Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill has been developed using supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and high‐speed counter‐current chromatography (HSCCC) in the present study. First, the extraction was performed by a preparative SFE system under 15 MPa of pressure at 36°C for 4 h. Then, the SFE extract was successfully separated and purified by HSCCC with a two‐phase solvent system composed of n‐hexane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water (6:4:5:5, 6:4:6:4, 6:4:8:2, v/v) in a stepwise elution mode. The fractions were analyzed by HPLC, and the chemical structures of the products were identified by ESI‐MS and ¹H NMR spectroscopy. As a result, a total of 12.5 mg of schisandrin at 98.0% purity, 7.1 mg of gomisin A at 98.1% purity, 1.8 mg of schisantherin B at 93.3% purity, 4.4 mg of deoxyschisandrin at 92.9% purity, and 6.8 mg of γ‐schisandrin at 89.1% purity were obtained from 300 mg crude extract in a one‐step purification.     

Chemical composition and α-amylase inhibitory activity of the essential oil from Sabina chinensis cv. Kaizuca leaves

Sabina chinensis cv. Kaizuca (SCK) is a variant of S. chinensis L. The essential oil from its leaves exhibited α-amylase inhibitory activity in vitro and the IC₅₀ value was 187.08 ± 0.56 μg/mL. Nineteen compounds were identified from this essential oil by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. The major compounds identified were bornyl acetate (42.6%), elemol (20.5%), β-myrcene (13.7%) and β-linalool (4.0%). In order to study the reason of the α-amylase inhibitory activity of this essential oil, the identified compounds were docked with α-amylase by molecular docking individually. Among these compounds, γ-eudesmol exhibited the lowest binding energy (?6.73 kcal/mol), followed by α-copaen-11-ol (?6.66 kcal/mol), cubedol (?6.39 kcal/mol) and α-acorenol (?6.12 kcal/mol). The results indicated that these compounds were the active ingredients responsible for the α-amylase inhibitory activity of essential oil from SCK.     

A new ent-kaurane diterpene derivative from the stems of Eurya chinensis R.Br

One new ent-kaurane diterpene derivative (1), along with four known diterpenes, was isolated from the stems of Eurya chinensis R.Br. The structure of the new compound was established by extensive analysis of mass spectrometric and 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic data. Compound 1 showed moderate anti-inflammatory activities with IC₅₀ value of 8.12 μM. This is the first example of diterpenoids with 4-hydroxy-4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-hydroxyl-cyclohexanoyl substituent.     

The effect of methyl jasmonate and light irradiation treatments on the stilbenoid biosynthetic pathway in Vitis vinifera cell suspension cultures

Grape stilbenes are a well-known family of plant polyphenolics that have been confirmed to have many biological activities in relation to health benefits. In the present study, we investigated the effect of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) elicitor at four different concentrations (25, 50, 100 and 200 μM) in combination or not with high-level light irradiation (10,000 LUX) on a cell line obtained from the pulp of Vitis vinifera cv. Shahani. Our results showed that the stilbene synthesis pathway is inhibited by high-light conditions. A concentration of 50 μM MeJA was optimum for efficient production and high accumulation of total phenolics and total flavonoids as well as total stilbenoids. Furthermore, we showed that there is a significant negative correlation between the production of these metabolites and cell growth. These data provide valuable information for the future scale-up of cell cultures for the production of these very high value compounds in bioreactor system.     

北苍术超临界CO2萃取产物的成分

用气相色谱－质谱－计算机联用法分析了北苍术的超临界CO2萃取产物的成分,鉴定出苍术酮、β－桉叶油醇、苍术醇31化合物,占出峰总面积的88．1％,并与传统水蒸汽蒸馏法（SD）提取的挥发油成分进行了对比。结果证明,两种方法抽提的苍术主成分基本相同,但超临界CO2萃取产物比SD产物多出现了一些重质组分,萃取更完全而有效。     

中国红豆杉细胞紫杉醇合成期特异表达新基因TS1-FL的部分cDNA克隆

采用mRNA差异显示技术(DDRT—PCR)比较了悬浮培养的中国红豆杉细胞合成紫杉醇前后的基因表达差异,并从紫杉醇合成期细胞中分离出一个特异表达的cDNA克隆TS1．TS1长度为638bp,序列相似性分析结果表明它代表一新基因序列(Genbank登录号：AF426429),将此新基因命名为TS1-FL．开放读框分析结果表明Tsl拥有一个不完整的开放读框,蛋白质同源性检索没有发现与TS1翻译序列有较大同源性的蛋白质．对此基因的进一步研究可揭示它在紫杉醇生物合成中所扮演的角色．     

濒危植物夏蜡梅光合生理生态特性

摘要：采用遮荫的方式设置3个光照梯度：全光照（CK）、37%全光照（37%RI）和10%全光照（10%RI）,于2007年7月中旬,对上述光环境中的夏蜡梅(Sinocalycanthus chinensis)幼苗的光合作用参数、叶绿素荧光参数进行测定,结果表明：3种光环境下,夏蜡梅的净光合速率日变化均为“双峰”曲线,CK和37%RI光环境下,午休现象明显;最大净光合速率的大小是37%RI＞CK＞10%RI;日均净光合速率的大小是37%RI＞10%RI＞CK.叶绿素荧光参数的日变化表明,10%RI光环境下光抑制现象不明显;37%RI光环境下在午间发生了明显的光抑制,但是光合机构可以恢复.全光照环境下发生了长期的光抑制,光合机构受到不可恢复的伤害.在夏蜡梅自然群落中,于2006年7月、10月和2007年4月下旬的晴朗天气,测定了群落冠层和林下2种光环境下夏蜡梅的净光合速率日进程,并与其主要伴生植物进行比较.7月夏蜡梅冠层的净光合速率日进程呈“双峰”曲线,有明显的“午休”现象;林下夏蜡梅则表现为“单峰”曲线;在4月和10月夏蜡梅及其伴生植物净光合速率日进程均呈“单峰”曲线.夏蜡梅3个季节的日均净光合速率的平均值比其它伴生植物低,在群落内种间竞争中将处于不利地位.