Anti-Inflammatory and Wound Healing Properties of Leaf and Rhizome Extracts from the Medicinal Plant Peucedanum ostruthium (L.) W. D. J. Koch

Peucedanum ostruthium (L.) W. D. J. Koch (Apiaceae) is a worldwide perennial herb native to the mountains of central Southern Europe. The rhizome has a long tradition in popular medicine, while ethnobotanical surveys have revealed local uses of leaves for superficial injuries. To experimentally validate these uses, plant material was collected in the Gran Paradiso National Park, Aosta Valley, Italy, and the rhizome and leaves were micromorphologically and phytochemically characterized. Polyphenol-enriched hydroalcoholic rhizome and leaf extracts, used in cell-free assays, showed strong and concentration-dependent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. In vitro tests revealed cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase inhibition by the leaf extract, while the rhizome extract induced only lipoxygenase inhibition. MTT assays on HaCaT keratinocytes and L929 fibroblasts showed low cytotoxicity of extracts. In vitro scratch wound test on HaCaT resulted in a strong induction of wound closure with the leaf extract, while the effect of the rhizome extract was lower. The same test on L929 cells showed similar wound closure induction with both extracts. The results confirmed the traditional medicinal uses of the rhizome as an anti-inflammatory and wound healing remedy for superficial injuries but also highlighted that the leaves can be exploited for these purposes with equal or superior effectiveness.     

Phytochemistry and Biological Activities of Iris Species Growing in Iraqi Kurdistan and Phenolic Constituents of the Traditional Plant Iris postii

A dozen Iris species (Iridaceae) are considered traditional remedies in Kurdistan, especially for treating inflammations. Phytochemical studies are still scarce. The information reported in the literature about Iris species growing in Kurdistan has been summarized in the first part of this paper, although, except for Iris persica, investigations have been performed on vegetal samples collected in countries different from Kurdistan. In the second part of the work, we have investigated, for the first time, the contents of the methanolic extracts of Iris postii aerial parts and rhizomes that were collected in Kurdistan. Both extracts exhibited a significant dose-dependent free radical scavenging and total antioxidant activities, comparable to those of ascorbic acid. Medium-pressure liquid chromatographic separations of the two extracts afforded l-tryptophan, androsin, isovitexin, swertisin, and 2″-O-α-l-rhamnopyranosyl swertisin from the aerial parts, whereas ε-viniferin, trans-resveratrol 3,4′-O-di-β-d-glucopyranoside, and isotectorigenin were isolated from the rhizomes. This is the first finding of the last three metabolites from an Iris species. The various remarkable biological activities of isolated compounds scientifically sustain the traditional use of I. postii as a medicinal plant.     

激光技术在林木和园艺植物育种及基因工程中的应用

激光具有极高的功率密度，因而可被应用于种子催芽和诱变育种，可作为林木和园艺植物育种和基因改良的新技术手段。文章从四个方面进行了探讨：（1）激光辐照的生物效应机理；（2）激光在林木和园艺植物种子催芽中的应用；（3）激光在林木和园艺植物诱变育种中的应用；（4）激光在林木和园艺植物基因工程中的应用。     

VIRUS RESISTANCE OF TRANSGENIC TOBACCO PLANTS EXPRESSING TOBACCO MOSAIC VIRUS COAT PROTEIN GENE

An intermediate expressing vector carrying the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV, Chinese common strain) coat protein (CP) gene was constructed by recombinant DNA techniques. The TMV-CP gene was transferred into the tobacco genome via Ti plasmid and a large number of regenerated plants, including both systemic and local lesion hosts for TMV, were obtained. Southern blot analysis revealed that 1-5 copies of the CP gene were integrated into the tobacco genome. RNA and protein analysis demonstrated that the TMV-CP gene was correctly expressed in the transgenic plants. The abundance of TMV-CP mRNA in total leaf RNA accounted for 0.005-0.01%, while the amount of coat proteins reached 0.05-0.2% of the total leaf soluble proteins. Virus challenge experiments showed that the symptom development of virus infection was markedly delayed and the replication as well as the spread of the virus was significantly inhibited in the transgenic plants expressing the TMV-CP gene. Three of these plants were completely protected afte     

盐酸煮沸提取和ICP-AES测定植株中矿质元素

本文研究了用4N盐酸煮沸提取植株中的K、Na、Ca、Mg、P、Cu、Zn、Fe、Mn、Sr、Ba和B的实验条件。浸提液用ICP-AES测定,获得了满意的结果。方法简单、操作简便、安全。与硝酸-高氯酸湿消化法进行了对照,结果非常一致,除硼外十一种元素都不存在显著差异。并测定了国家级标准甘兰物质GBW 08504,其结果与标准值相符。     

Distribution and Degradation of 14C-Ethyl Prothiofos in a Potato Plant and the Effect of Processing

Prothiofos and some of its degradation products have been synthesized in our laboratory for investigation purposes. The residual fate of ¹⁴ C-ethyl prothiofos in different parts of potato plant was studied. The highest level of insecticide residues was detected in and on the leaves of potato plants. The residues of prothiofos insecticide were mainly located in the peels of potato tubers (peeling process removed 85% of the total residue after one month of the treatment), small amount penetrated into the pulp of potato tubers. The degradation products in the extracts of both peel and pulp of potato tubers were identified as prothiofos, prothiofos oxon, desethyl prothiofos, O-ethyl-S-propyl phosphorodithioate, O-ethyl phosphorothioate, O-ethyl-S-propyl phosphoric acid, O-ethyl phosphoric acid, despropylthio prothiofos, and prothiofos oxon sulfoxide. In addition 2,4-dichlorophenol was identified as such and in conjugated metabolites.

Potatoes are processed in three ways: frying, boiling, and baking, which is simulated in home preparation. The amount of prothiofos residues was found to decrease on boiling (70%) and further on baking (82%) and frying (100%). The results indicated that frying process is the most effective method for reducing the amount of pesticide residues. Detectable residues were found in boiled potatoes (2.64 ppm), in the boiling water (0.24 ppm), and in the frying oil (0.71 ppm). From these results we concluded that the processed potatoes are safely used for human consumption.     

Analytical approach for monitoring endocrine-disrupting compounds in urban waste water treatment plants

The presence of endocrine-disrupting compounds in influent and effluent water samples from four waste water treatment plants located in Italy was studied. The estrogen-like activity of the water samples was measured using a chemiluminescent recombinant yeast assay which is based on genetically engineered yeast cells that express the human estrogen receptor. This receptor, once activated, elicits the expression of the reporter gene lac-Z and, consequently, the production of β-galactosidase, which is then measured by chemiluminescence. To control and minimize sample matrix effects, an external control based on a modified yeast strain stably expressing β-galactosidase was developed and also used in the assay. Rapid and sensitive chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassays were also developed and validated for the quantification of 17β-estradiol, estrone, and estriol in waste water samples. Results from both methods were compared with a reference high-performance liquid chromatography and electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC ESI-MS-MS) method developed for the quantification of natural estrogens. The recombinant yeast assay revealed a significant estrogenic activity in the influent samples, ranging from 80 to 400 pmol/L 17β-estradiol equivalents (EEQ), which was reduced by 70–95 % in the effluent samples. The yeast assay also showed a systematic 20–30 % overestimation of estrogenic activity relative to the HPLC ESI-MS-MS method, suggesting the presence of other compounds in the samples with estrogenic activity. The chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassays showed the presence of estrogens in the influent samples (mean concentrations: 350–450 pmol/L for estrone, 5–100 pmol/L for 17β-estradiol, 25–300 pmol/L for estriol), with significantly lower concentrations detected in the respective effluent samples. The waste water treatment was able to reduce natural estrogen concentrations by 40–95 %, although a high variability was observed. The enzyme immunoassay data correlated well with data obtained by the HPLC ESI-MS-MS method. Although the recombinant yeast assay represents a useful tool for a first-level screening of estrogenic activity due to its simplicity and high analytical throughput, sample matrix effects observed in waste water of industrial origin were found to strongly affect the yeast cells response, even when properly corrected for using the external control, thereby limiting its use to urban waste water. Its integration with chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassays would improve its performance by reducing false negative results, thereby enabling its use in extensive studies monitoring for the presence of endocrine-disrupting compounds in urban treatment plant effluents.     

Unified Approach to Robust Performance of a Class of Transfer Functions with Multilinearly Correlated Perturbations

In this paper, we study the envelope of the Nyquist plots generated by a family of stable transfer functions with multilinearly correlated perturbations and show that the outer Nyquist envelope is generated by the Nyquist plots of the vertices of this family. We then apply this result to calculating the maximal H -norm and verifying the strict positive-realness condition for uncertain transfer function families. Vertex results for robust performance analysis are established. We also study the collection of Popov plots of this transfer function family and show that a large portion of its outer boundary comes from the vertices of this family. This result is then applied to the interval transfer function family to obtain a strong Kharitonov-like theorem.     

Molecular mechanisms of phytochrome signal transduction in higher plants

Phytochromes in higher plants play a great role in development, responses to environmental stresses and signal transduction, which are the fundamental principles for higher plants to be adapted to changing environment. Deep and systematic understanding of the phytochrome in higher plants is of crucial importance to molecular biology, purposeful improvement of environment in practice, especially molecular mechanism by which higher plants perceive UV-B stress. The last more than 10 years have seen rapid progress in this field with the aid of a combination of molecular, genetic and cell biological approaches. No doubt, what is the most important, is the application of Arabidopsis experimental system and the generation of various mutants regarding phytochromes (phy A–E). Increasing evidence demonstrates that phytochrome signaling transduction constitutes a highly ordered multidimensional network of events. Some phytochromes and signaling intermediates show light-dependent nuclear-cytoplasmic partitioning, which implies that early signaling events take place in the nucleus and that subcellular localization patterns most probably represent an important signaling control point. The main subcellular localization includes nucleus, cytosol and chloroplasts, respectively. Additionally, proteasome-mediated degradation of signaling intermediates most possibly function in concert with subcellular partitioning events as an integrated checkpoint. What higher plants do in this way is to execute accurate responses to the changes in the light environment on the basis of interconnected subcellular organelles. By integrating the available data, at the molecular level and from the angle of eco-environment, we should be able to construct a solid foundation for further dissection of phytochrome signaling transduction in higher plants.     

LEA proteins in higher plants: structure, function, gene expression and regulation

Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins are mainly low molecular weight (10–30 kDa) proteins, which are involved in protecting higher plants from damage caused by environmental stresses, especially drought (dehydration). These findings and the fact that the breeding of drought tolerant varieties would be of great value in agriculture, form the basis of search for anti-drought inducible genes and their characterization. LEA proteins are generally classified into six groups (families) according to their amino acid sequence and corresponding mRNA homology, which are basically localized in cytoplasm and nuclear region. LEA protein synthesis, expression and biological activities are regulated by many factors (e.g. developmental stages, hormones, ion change and dehydration), signal transduction pathways and lea genes. No tissue-specific lea gene expression has been considered as one main regulatory mechanism on the basis of extensive studies with the model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana. The study of the regulatory mechanism of lea gene expression is an important feature of modern plant molecular biology.