Abstracts from the 2nd International Symposium on Phytochemicals in Medicine and Food (2-ISPMF)

s from the 2nd International Symposium on Phytochemicals in Medicine and Food (2-ISPMF) Fuzhou, China. 07–10 April 2017 Published: 14 May 2018 © The Author(s) 2018. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. 1 The use of Chinese medicine in the management of psychiatric disorders: from clinical trials to psychopharmacological approaches Zhang‐Jin Zhang School of Chinese Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China Correspondence: Zhang‐Jin Zhang ‐ zhangzj@hku.hk Journal of Chinese Medicine 2018, 13(Suppl 1):1 Background: There have been numerous psychological and psychiatric terms recorded in traditional Chinese medical bibliographies, developing a TCM specialty called mental-emotional diseases (神志 病), in which symptomatology, etiology, psychopathology, and various therapeutic approaches have been well established. Results: Chinese medicine was the mainstay in the management of mental disorders and wellbeing in ancient days. It also has been increasingly used in today’s clinical practice aimed to enhance the clinical efficacy, reduced adverse effects caused by conventional treatment and comorbid symptoms. This fact is reflected in an increasing number of clinical studies, demonstrating the potential benefits of Chinese medicine in the treatment of anxiety, mood disorders, insomnia, schizophrenia, tic disorders, and antipsychotic-induced side effects. There are also numerous studies in identifying psychopharmacological and psychotherapeutic effects of herbal medicine in in vitro and in vivo models. Conclusions: This talk will provide an overview of the empirical use of Chinese medicine in the treatment of mental disorders and related research findings obtained from clinical trials and laboratory-based experiments. 2 An innovative platform for Traditional Medicine R&D at the University of Macau: Enhancing international collaboration in the New Era Chunming Wang, Yitao Wang State Key Laboratory of Quality Control in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macau SAR, China Correspondence: Yitao Wang ‐ ytwang@umac.mo Journal of Chinese Medicine 2018, 13(Suppl 1):2 Since its establishment as the first research-oriented institute in Macau in 2002, the Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences (ICMS) at the University of Macau (UM) has devoted itself to promoting the study of Chinese medical sciences with a global vision and an interdisciplinary approach. It has gained international reputation as an academic hub for research of both traditional medicine and biopharmaceutical sciences. Since December 2010, ICMS has prided itself in hosting the State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine—as China’s first ever State Key Laboratory in the field. The Institute, home to 34 principal investigators and over 200 research students, has achieved remarkable progress in terms of funding supports, research publications as well as talent nurturing. Only in the past 6 years, the team has published over 1000 papers in SCI-indexed journals (including the likes of Nature, Medicine and Lancet) as well as secured grants worth approximately USD 30 million. Nowadays, with its state-of-theart facilities, internationally-trained researchers and solid research outputs, ICMS/SKL promises to further build up a platform for global collaboration on translational research and product development, and ultimately to position Macau as a dynamic R&D centre of traditional medicine in the region and beyond. 3 Alkaloids: Back to basics for drug development R. Verpoorte Natural Products Laboratory, Institute of Biology Leiden, Leiden University, PO Box 9505, 2300RA Leiden, The Netherlands Correspondence: R. Verpoorte ‐ VERPOORT@chem.LeidenUniv.NL Journal of Chinese Medicine 2018, 13(Suppl 1):3 Since molecular biology started its advance some 30 years ago, it had a major landmark in obtaining the full sequence of the human genome, followed by that of various other organisms. We are now reaching the phase that the 1000 $ full sequencing of an organism becomes reality. It is almost cheaper to sequence again than to save the full sequence of an organism. At the same time it becomes clear that having a sequence does not help much to really understand a living organism. The high expectations for drug development, for example, have shown to be over optimistic, as so far no novel drugs have resulted from this knowledge. For natural products based drug development the trend was at-random screening of crude plant extracts. More recently a metabolomics approach came into the picture as it allows fast dereplication and also allows to find possible synergy and pro-drugs, which particularly is of interest in studying medicinal plants. Such a systemic approach means a clear change from the “single compound—single target” paradigm of drug development of the past 40 years. Moreover, plants are no considered to be super organisms in the sense that they are dependent on the collaboration of the plant with all kind of microorganisms, Open Access Chinese Medicine Page 2 of 63 Chin Med 2018, 13(Suppl 1):26 e.g. in the rhizosphere, but also endophytes in the plant itself. That means new organisms as potential sources for drug development. In the classical way plants were studied for single active compounds, often in a targeted approach. Particularly alkaloids are a valuable resource for drug development, about 80% of all known drugs contain an amine function. In the past researchers specialized on a specific class of natural products. Nowadays generalists should be able to isolate and structure elucidate any compound from any source. As a result basic knowledge about the different classes is disappearing. Particularly with the openaccess publication hype, journals are interested in publishing many papers and not in high quality as authors pay and not the readers, resulting in publication with surprising results. The rapid erosion of basic knowledge makes it worth to go against this trend, back to a combination of basic knowledge on alkaloids and learning either from nature, i.e. plant environment interactions; or from our ancestors, i.e. traditional medicines. Combining alkaloid phytochemistry, pharmacology, biology and biotechnology will be the key to a better understanding of nature and applying this knowledge for applications like crop protection and novel drugs. 4 Protective influence of healthful nutrition on mechanisms of environmental pollutant toxicity and disease risks Bernhard Hennig University of Kentucky Superfund Research Center, Lexington, KY 40536, USA Correspondence: Bernhard Hennig Journal of Chinese Medicine 2018, 13(Suppl 1):4 Background: Human exposures to environmental contaminants in China and around the world, such as persistent chlorinated organics, heavy metals, pesticides, phthalates, flame retardants, electronic waste, and especially airborne pollutants, are significant and require urgent attention. Given this widespread contamination and abundance of such environmental pollutants in the ecosystem, it is unlikely that remediation alone will be sufficient to address the health impacts associated with these exposures. Furthermore, we must assume that the body burdens of some of these contaminants result in populations with extraordinary vulnerabilities to disease risks. Thus, exploring preventive measures of environmental exposure and disease risk through new paradigms of environmental toxicology, optimal and/or healthful nutrition, and health is essential. Results and discussion: There is a significant need to further understand the relationship between lifestyle modifications and toxicantinduced diseases. Factors which can trigger the pathologies of non-communicable or chronic diseases, including atherosclerosis, diabetes, and obesity, are complex. Complex diseases often do not have a single cause, and it is the interaction between our genes, the environment (e.g., chemical or non-chemical stressors and/or buffers) we are exposed to and our lifestyles which ultimately cause or prevent complex diseases. Relevant environmental and lifestyle factors include the timing, from early development through adulthood, and duration of exposure to environmental toxicants, as well as potential nutritional interventions and the etiology of non-communicable diseases. While a sedentary lifestyle and/or poor dietary habits can exacerbate the deleterious effects resulting from exposure to toxic chemicals, much emerging evidence suggests that positive life-style changes (e.g., healthful nutrition, exercise or increased physical activity) can modulate and/or reduce the toxicity of environmental pollutants. Diet or the types of foods we eat may serve as either an agonist or an antagonist of the health impacts associated with exposure to environmental pollutants. Our work has shown that diets high in anti-inflammatory bioactive nutrients (e.g., phytochemicals or polyphenols) and increasing physical activity are two possible strategies of modulating and reducing the disease risks associated with exposure to toxic pollutants in the environment. For example, we found that animals which consumed a diet enriched with bioactive compounds common in green tea were better prepared to counteract a subsequent exposure to dioxin-like pollutants as evidenced by decreased oxidative stress and increased antioxidant defense proteins. Emerging data now implicate the importance of epigenetic control mechanis

Since its establishment as the first research-oriented institute in Macau in 2002, the Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences (ICMS) at the University of Macau (UM) has devoted itself to promoting the study of Chinese medical sciences with a global vision and an interdisciplinary approach. It has gained international reputation as an academic hub for research of both traditional medicine and biopharmaceutical sciences. Since December 2010, ICMS has prided itself in hosting the State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine-as China's first ever State Key Laboratory in the field. The Institute, home to 34 principal investigators and over 200 research students, has achieved remarkable progress in terms of funding supports, research publications as well as talent nurturing. Only in the past 6 years, the team has published over 1000 papers in SCI-indexed journals (including the likes of Nature, Medicine and Lancet) as well as secured grants worth approximately USD 30 million. Nowadays, with its state-of-theart facilities, internationally-trained researchers and solid research outputs, ICMS/SKL promises to further build up a platform for global collaboration on translational research and product development, and ultimately to position Macau as a dynamic R&D centre of traditional medicine in the region and beyond.
Since molecular biology started its advance some 30 years ago, it had a major landmark in obtaining the full sequence of the human genome, followed by that of various other organisms. We are now reaching the phase that the 1000 $ full sequencing of an organism becomes reality. It is almost cheaper to sequence again than to save the full sequence of an organism. At the same time it becomes clear that having a sequence does not help much to really understand a living organism. The high expectations for drug development, for example, have shown to be over optimistic, as so far no novel drugs have resulted from this knowledge. For natural products based drug development the trend was at-random screening of crude plant extracts. More recently a metabolomics approach came into the picture as it allows fast dereplication and also allows to find possible synergy and pro-drugs, which particularly is of interest in studying medicinal plants. Such a systemic approach means a clear change from the "single compound-single target" paradigm of drug development of the past 40 years. Moreover, plants are no considered to be super organisms in the sense that they are dependent on the collaboration of the plant with all kind of microorganisms, Open Access e.g. in the rhizosphere, but also endophytes in the plant itself. That means new organisms as potential sources for drug development. In the classical way plants were studied for single active compounds, often in a targeted approach. Particularly alkaloids are a valuable resource for drug development, about 80% of all known drugs contain an amine function. In the past researchers specialized on a specific class of natural products. Nowadays generalists should be able to isolate and structure elucidate any compound from any source. As a result basic knowledge about the different classes is disappearing. Particularly with the openaccess publication hype, journals are interested in publishing many papers and not in high quality as authors pay and not the readers, resulting in publication with surprising results. The rapid erosion of basic knowledge makes it worth to go against this trend, back to a combination of basic knowledge on alkaloids and learning either from nature, i.e. plant environment interactions; or from our ancestors, i.e. traditional medicines. Combining alkaloid phytochemistry, pharmacology, biology and biotechnology will be the key to a better understanding of nature and applying this knowledge for applications like crop protection and novel drugs. Chin Med 2018, 13(Suppl 1):26 Conclusions: Strawberry may represent a promising powerful diseasefighting food, for the prevention of chronic degenerative pathologies or in support to traditional therapies for the best achievement of therapeutic goals. However, further in vivo studies are needed to translate the in vitro evidence into in vivo outcomes and to understand the mechanisms governing the strawberry phytochemicals bioefficacy.  the possibility that numerous molecular network interactions (with feedback regulation of the neuroendocrine and immune systems) contribute to the overall pharmacological response and result in agonist-dependent antagonism is most suitable for understanding the mechanisms of action of adaptogens [1]. The mechanisms of action of adaptogens are "specifically" related to stress-protective activity and increased adaptability of the organism [1]. Molecular targets, signaling pathways, and networks common to adaptogens are associated with chronic inflammation, atherosclerosis, neurodegenerative cognitive impairment, metabolic disorders, and cancer, all of which are more common with age [1]. Current and potential use of adaptogens in pharmacotherapy is related to the treatment of mental diseases and behavioral disorders, such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, stress-induced fatigue, and cognitive function. Their prophylactic use by healthy subjects (pharmacosanation) to reduce the negative effects of stress and for prevention of age-related diseases is justified. Conclusion: The mechanisms of action of adaptogens are "specifically" related to stress-protective activity and increased adaptability of the organism [1]. It is very unlikely that the pharmacological activity of any phytochemical is specific and associated only with one type of receptor, particularly adaptogenic compounds, which affect key mediators of the adaptive stress response at intracellular and extracellular levels of communication [1]. plant kingdom, due to its biological diversity, constitutes in fact a rich source of high quality molecules which are used in agriculture, veterinary, pharmacy and medicine with various applications. Biological diversity of plants also relies on chemical diversity mainly deriving from their secondary metabolism. Plants synthesize and accumulate in their organs a large number of highly specialized metabolites, the so called secondary metabolites, which possess a wide range of different chemical structures that result from plant evolution and are the molecular basis of heredity. These secondary metabolites are specific to an individual species thus contributing to define the plant species distinctiveness. Phytochemicals are responsible for the plant ecological properties and are required for the plant-environment interactions. In addition, many of them display important pharmacological properties. Results and conclusions: In these recent years, the growing interest in using plant metabolites to treat diseases in humans and animals and the high request of health products originating from natural sources rather than synthetic has contributed to revive the research towards the study of plant biodiversity with the aim to identify new bioactive molecules and/or phytochemicals which may serve as leads to develop new health products or innovative drugs. The present communication will provide a selection of botanical species with phytopharmaceutical importance and highlight the chemical polymorphism deriving from the plant biodiversity along with its implications on bioactivity. Based on our study on the chemical and biological characterization of rare or less studied plant species, discussion will include examples of wild growing species as well as of cultivated plant species. Their importance in the promotion of a good health and in the development of new pharmacological applications will be illustrated and commented. Background: An ideal plant system is of great significance to reveal the mystery of the plant kingdom, and drug discovery [1]. Apocynaceae and Asclepiadaceae are two important families in the flora. Apocynaceae directly and progressively changes in the evolution to Asclepiadaceae. Epigyneae is at the highest position in the evolution system of Apocynacea. Epigynum Wigth belongs to Epigyneae-the evolutionary highest family, therefore, it is a genus at a junction status evolution to Asclepiadaceae from Apocynaceae. Epigynum auritum is the only species distributed in China in the Epigynum Wight of Epigyneae [2,3]. The chemical perspective of E. auritum remains largely unknown. We chose the species to research their chemical constituents and try to find some clues in the taxonomy. As we know, cardiac glycoside is the important bioactive constituent of Apocynaceae, and pregnane is the main constituent of Asclepiadaceae. But in our preliminary studies on E. auritum, we discovered three kinds of novel steroid natural products with deformed or degraded skeletons, they neither belong to cardiac glycoside, nor belong to traditional pregnane. And E. auritum's kin-E. cochinchinensis, mainly distributed in Laos, was also found including same types of steroid natural products. The structures of compounds from E. auritum and E. cochinchinensis were elucidated as follow ( Fig. 1) [4,5,6]: Result: Our studies also revealed that the novel androstane derivatives from E. auritum displayed significant immunosuppressive activities. Remarkably, the activity of androsta-4, 6,8(9),14(15)-tetraene-3,11,16trione was found similar to standard immunosuppresive agents tritolide and dexamethasone [7,8]. According to the result of the previous research, an autoimmune disease is a multi-system involvement condition arising from an abnormal immune response producing a variety of autoantibodies on the base of the activation of T and B cells. Lymphoma is a malignant lymphocytes tumor, while lymphocytes (e.g., B, T and NK cells) undertake the body's immune system. The acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is also a cloned disease involving the malignant proliferation of the precursor of T and B lymphocytes. Therefore, both autoimmune diseases and ALL are closely related to T and B lymphocytes, and the main drugs are the glucocorticoids (GCs) currently used in clinical therapies. ALL and lymphoma cell proliferation inhibition experiment of novel androstane derivatives were evaluated with dexamethasone as a positive control [9,10,11,12]. Our research results showed that androstane derivatives significantly inhibited MOLT4 and SR cell proliferation, which dexamethasone has showed resistance for these two cell lines. Therefore, the androstane derivatives can be considered as a new potential clinical drugs for overcoming the resistance of dexamethasone, and worth to further study. Conclusions: In the future, we will study the structure-activity relationship of the androstane compounds isolated from Epigynum plants and its derivatives with the inhibition of lymphatic hyperplastic tumor cell proliferation, further verificate the inhibition on the primary cell proliferation for searching the potential new drugs overcoming GCs resistance in lymphatic hyperplastic tumor treatment.
Background: To cope with threats imposed by pathogens and pests, plants accumulate toxic substances, including a diverse array of alkaloids, terpenoids, and other metabolites with bioactive properties. Steroidal glycoalkaloids (SGAs) and nicotine are specialized metabolites found in certain species of Solanaceae family. A group of jasmonateresponsive ERF transcription factors, of which genes form tandem clusters in relevant genomes, regulate production of SGAs in tomato and potato [1,2] and that of nicotine in tobacco [3]. Results: Altered expression of ERFs causes the drastic changes of SGA or nicotine accumulation and expression of metabolic and transport genes involved in long multi-step routes leading to the end products, including upstream primary pathways. Promoter-binding studies demonstrate that ERF factors up-regulate the transcription of the downstream structural genes. Such transcriptional regulation Fig. 1 See text for description is corroborated with frequent occurrence of cognate cis-regulatory elements for the factors in the promoter regions. A loss-of-function mutation of JRE4, one of the clustered ERF genes from tomato, causing a substitution of one amino acid residue critical for DNA-binding activity of the factor, results in marked reduction of SGA accumulation and associated gene expression in the species, supporting a predominant role of JRE4 in the SGA regulation. Conclusions: The functional conservation and diversity of ERF factors and their possible contribution for the evolution of networks with coregulated metabolic genes will be discussed.
Background: Flavonols and related polyphenolic compounds of the flavonoid group are ubiquitous in higher plants, and abundant in common plant based food and beverages (such as citrus fruits, berries, onion, broccoli, soy products, tea and red wine). These phytochemicals have been the focus of enormous recent attention as nutraceuticals which are active against various free radical mediated and other human diseases, especially cancers, cardiovascular ailments, diabetes, atherosclerosis, and neurodegenerative disorders Their high potency and low cytotoxicity make them viable alternatives to conventional therapeutics [1]. In this context, the question of the intracellular targets of flavonoids, the mode of interaction with such targets, and the quest for suitable 'nano-vehicles' for drug delivery (which are capable of enhancing the solubility and bioavailability of these nutraceuticals) have been key areas of explorations [1][2]. On a different scenario, from spectroscopic perspectives, flavonols (which are the most commonly occurring dietary flavonoids) have come into much recent prominence as prototype molecules exhibiting ultrafast proton transfer reactions following light absorption, which leads to exquisitely sensitive 'two color' fluorescence (comprising blue-violet and yellow-green emission bands (Fig. 1). The relative intensities between the two colors, and other important emission parameters (such as emission maxima, lifetime, and anisotropy) are strongly modulated by the local environment of the target binding site(s). This has opened up interesting opportunities for using flavonols as their 'own fluorescence reporters' for noninvasing sensing of their interactions with various intra-cellular targets (encompassing proteins, duplex and quadruplex DNA, and biomembranes) [2][3][4][5][6][7][8], as well as 'nano-vehicles' for drug delivery [9]. Results: Representative and recent studies exemplifying applications of 'two color' fluorescence of typical dietary flavonols, such as fisetin and quercetin are highlighted and reviewed in this lecture. This is based on research activities in our laboratory during the past 15 years, from 2001 till date [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9], and other related work. Upon binding to various bio-relevant targets (encompassing carrier proteins, biomembranes, duplex and quadruplex DNA), and cyclodextrin based nano-vehicles for drug delivery, dramatic changes are noted in the two color emission profiles of representative flavonols we examined. In particular, we observed spectacular enhancement of the yellow-green ESIPT tautomer emission yield, as well as drastic changes in anisotropy, lifetime, and rotational correlation time upon binding to such broad range of receptors. Simultaneously, for fisetin and other similar structurally related flavonols, for which the normal fluorescence exhibits strong 'charge transfer' character, significant blue shifts are noted in the maxima of the normal (non proton transferred) fluorescence band, signifying relatively apolar binding environments. With regard to encapsulation in cyclodextrin nano-cavities, the role of cavity size, and chemical modifications to the parent cyclodextrins, crucially determine encapsulation capabilities [9]. These are clearly evident from differences in the fluorescence emission profiles, tautomer/ normal emission intensity ratio, anisotropy and other emission parameters. The occurrence of FRET from trp-214 of human serum albumin (HSA) to flavonol molecules bound to the protein matrix are clearly evident from both fluorescence emission and excitation profiles. This indicates that the flavonol binding sites in HSA are proximal to unique tryptophan moiety of the protein.
(trp-214) [3]. Studies on interactions of dietary flavonols with quadruplex DNA reveal that flavonols are useful quadruplex DNA ligands [4][5], and thus can be potentially useful anti-cancer drugs through stabilization of quadruplex DNA structure. The intrinsic fluorescence emission of flavonols also prove to be useful in exploring binding of flavonols to model and natural biomembranes, both in terms of locating the environments of the flavonols in membranes (from the two color fluorescence emission signatures) and obtaining quantitative estimates of partition coefficients, and phase transition temperatures for liposomal membranes [2]. Supporting studies via other relevant spectroscopic techniques, especially induced circular dichroism (ICD) and molecular modeling are also briefly reviewed, and such studies confirm and consolidate the fluorescence based findings. Such complementary studies provide additional insights regarding the binding processes, including thermodynamics and conformational aspects, together with details regarding the dominant noncovalent interactions involved. Implications of such findings are assessed in relation to the promising prospects of flavonoid based drug discovery and development. Conclusions: 1. The exquisitely sensitive intrinsic 'two color' fluorescence of medicinally active dietary flavonols offers interesting possibilities for using favonols as their 'own fluorescence reporters' for non-invasive sensing of their interactions with various intra-cellular targets relevant to the therapeutic actions of flavonols (encompassing proteins, duplex and quadruplex DNA, and biomembranes), as well as their encapsulation in natural and chemically modified 'nano-vehicles' for drug delivery. 2. It is evident from such studies that the structure and substitution patterns of flavonols play a crucial role in determining their binding modes, and relative affinities with their receptors. 3 We can envision that. expanded use of the intrinsic fluorescence of dietary flavonols via spectroscopy and microscopic studies can emerge as a valuable approach in drug discovery and development endeavors aimed towards screening of the most appropriate flavonol derivatives with desired medicinal properties, from among numerous structural variants available in nature.
inhibited the proliferation of HT-29 and Hep G2 cells in an intuitive dose-dependent manner with the IC50 values at 3.98 ± 0.29 μg/ mL and 11.85 ± 0.20 μg/mL, respectively. In another effort, some flavonoids like compounds 3 and 4 against Topo I screened out from Rhamnus davurica using UF-LC/MS showed markedly inhibition to proliferation of Hep G2 cells with IC50 values at 10.20 ± 0.24 and 4.78 ± 0.28 μg/mL, respectively. Conclusions: The UF-LC/MS using Topo I as a target enzyme proved to be an efficient and alternative approach for the rapidly screening and identification of natural-origin Topo I ligands from some medicinal plants of interest, the bioactive compounds against Topo I could be fished out, and identified from complex plant extracts. Thus, The UF-LC/MS method has shown great potential as a powerful tool for the discovery of novel Topo I inhibitors in a high throughput manner.
Background: Mulberry 1-deoxynojirimycin (DNJ), a imino suagr known as glucose analog is gaining considerable interest due to its multi-faecetd health benefits. Previous studies claimed that DNJ possessed high α-glucosidase inhibition, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiinflammatory activity, inhibition of adipogenesis as well as protection from age-related behavioral. Thus, the present work plan was executed to evaluate the anti-diabetic potential of DNJ with a objective of restoring urinary metabolite change in db/db mice model.

Materials and methods:
In this study, urinary metabolomics method of type 2 diabetic db/db mice based on LC-MS was employed to represent the metabolic characteristics of T2DM followed by DNJ supplementation to assess the biochemical and histopathological parameters. Metabolomics was applied to LC-MS metabolic urinary of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) mice treated with mulberry 1-deoxynojirimycin (DNJ). Principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were applied to directly demonstrate the changed profiles of the treated mice groups. Results: After DNJ administration, serum biochemical indicators related to T2DM like blood glucose, triglyceride, total cholesterol, nitrogen, malondialdehyde and creatinine decreased significantly. Histopathological changes in liver cells were marked by deformations and disruptions in central area of nuclei in DM mice. DNJ treatment recovered regular liver cells with normal nuclei. LC-MS data acquistion showed that the metabolites of T2DM were significantly different from healthy controls in the bulk data generated. The level of 16 metabolites showed that the diabetic group was closer to the healthy group as the DNJ treatment time prolonged. DNJ inhibited the activity of glucosidase on glucose metabolism, but also affected lipid and amino acid metabolism.

Conclusions:
The metabolic profiling in urine of mice treated with DNJ provided essential hints to intervene with pathophysiology of T2DM which can also be useful as a source of novel T2DM-associated biomarkers. Present results also provided a reference for the underlying anti-diabetic mechanism of DNJ which may offer deep insights into the potent metabolite biomarkers of the applied anti-diabetic interventions.
information. The high availability of databases provides new opportunities for data integration and can be used to predict the target network of the bioactive constituents. Network pharmacology has been widely applied on the treatment of DM. Based on network pharmacology, the mechanisms of Ge-Gen-Qin-Lian decoction and Tangminling Pills used to the treatment of T2DM were elucidated.

Conclusions:
The appropriate use of network pharmacology may initiate new directions, overcome the disadvantages of current antidiabetic therapies as well as contribute new insights into the discovery of novel antidiabetic drugs.
Background: In recent years, the ambient particulate matter (PM) continues to pose a threat to public health worldwide [1]. Recent research has identified oxidative stress and inflammatory responses as potential features underlying the toxic effects of PM [2]. Sulforaphane (SFN), possessing antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, has not been reported in amelioration of oxidative damage induced by PM and warrants further investigations [3,4]. In this study, protective effects of SFN against oxidative damage incurred by PM2.5 were evaluated. Materials and methods: PM samples were collected by an air sampler in winter in 2016. Samples were then surged with sonication, freezedried, weighed and stored at − 20 °C. To obtain PM suspensions, 5 mg PM samples were blended with 1 mL phosphate buffered saline. Adenocarcinomic human alveolar basal epithelial cells (A549) were used as in vitro models. A549 cells were maintained in F-12 K medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and 1% penicillin/streptomycin at 37 °C in a 5% CO 2 humidified cell culture incubator.

Results:
The cell viability of A549 cells which were incubated with PM2.5 dropped in a dose-and time-dependent manner (Fig. 1). After incubation with 100 μg/mL PM2.5 for 48 h, the cell viability of A549 cells approached 57.7% compared to the control group cells. In the following experiments, incubation with 100 μg/mL PM2.5 for 48 h was used to induce damage on A549 cells. When A549 cells were incubated with more than 6 μmol/L SFN, the cell viability of A549 cells dropped in a time-and dose-dependent manner (Fig. 2). However, there were no discernible differences of cell viability between 0.5, 1, 2, 4 and 6 μmol/L SFN-treated cells and control cells (p > 0.05). As indicated in Fig. 3 Background: A large body of evidence from the past two decades suggests that long-term consumption of dietary polyphenols holds a crucial role in the protection against pathologies induced by oxidative stress and chronic inflammation, such as some forms of cancer, obesity, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. Polyphenols are the most abundant antioxidants consumed by humans, with a total estimated intake ranging from 1 to 1.2 g/day. 40% of these consist of flavonoids [1][2]. The mechanisms of action at the basis of polyphenol protective activities are reported. Results: Polyphenol protective properties have been initially ascribed to their antioxidant activity, free radical scavenging, and metal chelating properties. Polyphenols exert their antioxidant activity at the gastro-intestinal (GI) level, through their ability to quench free radicals formed in the GI tract and to chelate ions such as iron. Epidemiological and observational studies support the positive effects of polyphenols on many gastrointestinal diseases. For instance, the consumption of high amounts of green tea has been associated with the prevention of chronic gastritis and GI cancer [3]. Moreover, in vitro and in vivo studies have shown that some flavonoids inhibit the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines in human gastric adenocarcinoma cells infected with Helicobacter pylori [4] and significantly decrease lipid peroxidation and reactive oxygen species in gastric mucosa submitted to ketoprofeninduced oxidative damage [5]. As far as systemic effects of polyphenols are concerned, their poor bioavailability, mainly due to their low solubility in physiological conditions and extensive metabolism, has prompted recent consideration for other potential mechanisms of action, which may explain the protective effects of these dietary components at systemic levels. The main direct or indirect molecular targets playing important roles in the health maintaining properties of polyphenols include the expression of genes involved in key steps of oxidative stress and pro-inflammatory response, suggesting that nutrigenomic effects could participate in mediating the protective activities of polyphenols. Moreover, growing evidence suggests that polyphenols are able to modulate the expression of microRNA (miRNA) [6]. These are small non-coding RNAs containing about 22 nucleotides, which control various biological processes, such as cell development, differentiation, proliferation and apoptosis, through their capacity to bind to target mRNAs, especially in the 3′UTR region, and cause a negative regulation of gene expression by inhibiting target mRNA translation or inducing its degradation [7]. The deregulation of miRNA levels could lead to the development of oxidative stress and inflammation based-pathologies. In turn, the modulation of the expression levels of miRNAs involved in oxidative stress and inflammation, at least in part, could explain the protective antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of polyphenols [8].

Conclusions:
The mechanisms of action at the basis of polyphenol protective activity seem to be different depending on the site of action. In fact, it may be assumed that they act through a direct antioxidant activity in the gastrointestinal system and through an indirect antioxidant mechanism at sistemic level, where, at least in part, polyphenols exert their protective properties via the interaction with cell signaling pathways as gene regulators.
Background: Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (also named danshen), is a famous traditional herb medicine widely used for the clinical treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases [1][2]. As one group of active constituents in S. miltiorrhiza, the abietane-type diterpenes tanshinones have been reported to own a variety of biological activities such as antitumor, anti-ischemic and antioxidant properties. However, the low contents of tanshinones in S. miltiorrhiza plants cannot meet the increasing clinical demand. In recent years, the genes involved in tanshinone biosynthetic pathway have been successfully isolated and characterized from S. miltiorrhiza, such as SmGGPPS (geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase), SmHMGR (3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA reductase), SmDXR (1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate reductoisomerase), SmDXS (1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate synthase). Results: Pathway engineering has been an effective strategy to elevate the production of bioactive secondary metabolites [3]. Genetic engineering method was employed to enhance production of tanshinones significantly in transgenic hairy root lines than the control [1][2][3][4][5].
Co-expressing of SmHMGR and SmGGPPS can increase tanshinone production significantly in a transgenic S. miltiorrhiza hairy root line HG9 [3]. Also, when SmHMGR and SmDXR were co-expressed into S. miltiorrhiza hairy roots, the content of tanshinone was clearly enhanced, especially after elicitation by yeast extract and/or Ag+ [4]. Simultaneous introduction of SmGGPPS and SmDXSII can improve the production of tanshinones to 12.93 mg/g dry weight in line GDII10, and all the single-gene transformed lines showed higher content of tanshinones compared with the control. To elucidate the effect of SmGGPPS and SmDXSII on isoprenoids in plants, they were co-expressed in Arabidopsis thaliana plants. Transgenic lines harboring GGPPS and DXSII showed raised levels of chlorophyll, carotenoids, gibberellins, and indole acetic acid when compared with the wild lines [5].

Conclusions:
The above results indicated that it is a promising method to improve the production of tanshinones and other natural bioactive compounds by metabolic engineering strategy.
Background: Phytic acid (myo-inositol 1,2,3,4,5,6 hexakisphosphate; PhA) can take the form of phytate and is the major phosphorus (P) storage molecule present in plant seeds [1]. PhA has several negative consequences in human and animal health as well as in agriculture. It is not digestible to humans and non-ruminants because of the absence of the degrading enzyme phytase in the gastro-intestinal tract. PhA also chelates to minerals such as zinc and iron, rendering them bio-unavailable to monogastrics like pigs and humans resulting in major mineral deficiencies in especially the populations in developing countries as their diets mainly consist of grains without access to phytase enzyme from other food sources. A better understanding of crop plant PhA biosynthetic pathway and the genetic improvement of varieties with reduced phytate content are important objectives in plant breeding. The identification of the precise mechanism, enzymes and regulatory genes involved in this pathway is needed to adequately manipulate the PhA amount in the seed. Case report: There is whole array of technologies and methods that can reduce the antinutritional factor: household food preparation, production of complementary food [3], exploring the grain phytase, GMO strategies in plants as overexpression of phytase in planta, blocking the biosynthetic partway by mutations in planta by employing new breeding technologies like crispr/cas9 or simply exploring existing variation and biodiversity. Conclusion: Although individual enzymes have been characterized in several plants and LPA mutants have been identified, the genetic variation, gene expression and function, and a definitive biosynthetic pathway for PhA in crop plants remains largely unknown. Alternative to removing the PhA crops can be biofortified by foliar application of zinc in the field [2]. What are essential to elucidate action mechanism of multi-ingredient natural drugs? Haruki Yamada Background: With the progress of modern science and technology, modern medicine has greatly improved. However, disease structure has turned to see a marked increase in non-specific, constitutional or psychosomatic and multifactorial diseases under increasing populations of aged persons and changing life style and circumstances etc. Natural products are very important resources for the drug discovery and it was proved that 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to the discovery of useful anti-parasitic drugs derived from the natural products, and their great contribution for global health. As another drugs derived from natural resource, traditional herbal medicines such as traditional Chinese medicines and Kampo (Japanese traditional) medicines are suitable for the treatment of multifactorial diseases because these medicines have been used as the traditional herbal formula, in which these multi-ingredients drugs due to component herbs are relatively effective to recover complicated symptoms caused by disturbance of the body systems such as immune, neural and endocrine systems. In Japan, 148 standardized Kampo pharmaceutical preparations have been developed as mostly granule type, and covered by national health insurance system. Now, more than 80% practicing physicians have experience of using the Kampo medicines for the treatment depending on the patient's clinical situation, either separately or to complement modern western medicine in modern-day therapy of Japan. Present paper introduces our pharmacological studies of Kampo medicines to discuss what are essential to elucidate action mechanism of multi-ingredient natural drugs. Results: Each Kampo formula seems to be the symptoms and constitution-dependent compounds library containing the set of essential low-molecular weight ingredients and bioactive polysaccharides, and these multi-ingredients may attack to multiple target sites to show multilateral actions. Shoseiryuto (SST) showed to recover bronchial airway inflammation but also airway infection in the animal model. SST had the oral adjuvant activity through the synergic effect of two stereo-isomers in the constituents. Hochuekkito showed to act activation of upper respiratory mucosal immune system and to repair epithelial tissue injury in local mucosal sites through the control of intestinal mucosal immune systems by the overall combination effects of the low-molecular weight ingredients and bioactive polysaccharides. Kososan showed an anti-depressive-like effect in the model mice via the normalization of hypotharamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, ameliorating effect of the stress-induced decreases in the number of neural progenitor cells, and increase of orexin-A-positive cells in lateral hypothalamic area. Conclusion: Accumulated comprehensive results may contribute for more evidence-based clinical applications and further drug discovery.

Synergic effect of glucan particles from Saccharomyces serevisiae and curcumin on lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammatory response in vitro
Background: Glucan particles (GPs) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae are hollow cell walls that are composed mainly of β-1,3-d-glucans. β-Glucans have demonstrated immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory potential both in vitro and in vivo. Several studies confirmed the ability of β-glucans to attenuate the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)induced inflammatory response in vitro [1]. Curcumin is natural hydrophobic phenolic compound, which possesses significant antiinflammatory effect [2]. The aim of this study is to elucidate whether it is possible to reach synergic effect or other benefit by the co-application of GPs and curcumin. Materials and methods: The GPs were prepared by the partial extraction of yeast cell components as described in our recent work [3]. As a model for determination of anti-inflammatory potential, the THP1-XBlue ™ -MD2-CD14 cell line (Invivogen, USA) was used. It expresses an NF-κB/AP-1-inducible SEAP (secreted embryonic alkaline phosphatase) reporter gene. Cells were pre-treated by GPs, curcumin, or their mixture in different concentrations and ratios. After 1 h, the NF-κB/AP-1 signalling pathway was triggered by the addition of LPS. The NF-κB/AP-1 activity was detected 24 h later. Results: GPs and curcumin alone did not induce NF-κB/AP-1 activity. When only GPs were used before LPS addition, they significantly (p < 0.05) attenuated the effect of LPS. Interestingly, a simple dose dependence has not been observed. Application of curcumin together with GPs strengthened the anti-inflammatory potential of pure GPs and reduced the NF-κB/AP-1 activity in dose-depend manner. Conclusions: Obtained results indicated the strong potential of co-application of GPs from Saccharomyces cerevisiae with curcumin as promising therapeutic strategy for treatment of inflammatory diseases.
Background: Aspergillus flavus is one of the most important of stored agricultural products. A. flavus is commonly known as a toxic moulds which pose a risk to human health [1] and can be caused postharvest losses and diseases in grains and grains products [2]. Consequently, safe method to control the A. flavus on agricultural products was needed to find. The natural compounds treatment especially the essential oils have been recognized as a harmless agent for food preservation [3]. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the effect of Michelia alba oil and its main component (linalool) in the vapor phase on the growth of A. flavus. Materials and methods: The components of the M. alba oil were identified using GC-MS analysis. Different volumes (150, 300, 450 μl) of M. alba oil and linalool were first absorbed by plant absorbent material (Φ ~ 20 mm) before being added into a closed airtight plastic box (1L). Next, Malt Extract Agar (MEA) containing A. flavus on a Petri dish (uncovered plate) was placed into the box and then, kept at 25 °C for 10 days. During the incubation, the diameter of the mold colony in the center was measured every day.

Results:
The effect of vapor phase of M. alba oil and linalool are shown in Fig. 1. Results indicated that the vapor phase of M. alba oil at ≥ 300 μl L −1 air and linalool at ≥ 150 μl L −1 air could inhibit the growth of A. flavus on MEA by 100% for at least 10 days. Therefore, linalool vapor showed good inhibitor to inhibit growth of A. flavus than using M. alba vapor alone. Result from the GC-MS found that two main components of the M. alba leaf were L-linalool (73.74%) and trans-Caryophyllene (7.35%), respectively. Conclusions: The vapor phase of M. alba oil at ≥ 300 μl L −1 air and linalool at ≥ 150 μl L −1 air could completely inhibit the growth of A. flavus on MEA for at least 10 days. And Linalool is one of the main components of M. alba oil that showed a strongest antifungal activity in the vapor phase of this essential oil. Therefore, M. alba vapor demonstrated a good potential to control significant growth of A. flavus. This explore might be useful for grain storage industry. Background: Naturally transgenic plants represent species, containing sequences, homologous to Agrobacterium T-DNA, in their genomes. Their ancestors were transformed by Agrobacterium and gave a rise to new species [1]. They are described in genera Nicotiana, Linaria, Ipomoea. All these plants are used in folk medicine, since they contain big amounts of secondary metabolites [2][3]. Linaria species are used as an anti-inflammatory and laxative. More than 200 secondary metabolites have been identified in 41 Linaria species so far [4]. They include iridoids [5], flavonoids [6], organic acids, saponins [7], diterpenoids and steroids [8]. The major fraction of them is iridoid glycosides. Although the spectrum of secondary metabolites is described in many Linaria species, nobody compared species in the aligned conditions. Here we identify and compare levels of iridoid glycosides in Linaria species, representing three sections and develop procedures to obtain plant tissue cultures, producing these compounds.  [4]. Furthermore, tobacco HMGS overexpressors (OEs) enhanced native NtHMGR1, NtIPI2, NtSQS, NtSMT1-2, NtSMT2-1, NtSMT2-2 and NtCYP85A1 expression in seedlings, improving sterol content, plant growth and seed yield [5]. Enhanced growth and seed yield in tobacco OE-S359A in comparison to OE-wtBjHMGS1 corresponded to higher NtSQS expression and sterol content in OE-S359A [5].

Results and conclusions:
In the present study, wt and mutant (S359A) BjHMGS1 were overexpressed in a crop plant, tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). The results obtained from this study will be presented and the feasibility in manipulating isoprenoid production using wt and mutant HMGS in an edible fruit will be discussed. Background: Riboflavin been traditionally synthesized for food and feed fortification by chemicals means but past decade has witnessed a surge in information about commercial biotechnological processes. Materials and methods: In this study, among the 55 isolates bioprospected from dairy and non-dairy sources, 16 isolates were found harbouring complete rib structural genes. The isolates harbouring both complete as well as incomplete operon were compared phenotypically for riboflavin production by chemical, fluorescence, microbiological based assays and HPLC. Among the screened isolates on agar diffusion assay, the maximum increase in growth of auxotroph was observed in the presence of KTLF1 and KTLF16 respectively. Expression pattern of rib genes was studied in selected isolates and MTCC8711. RNA was isolated at different intervals of time in MRS and riboflavin assay medium (RAM), milk and whey based medium. On the basis of fold increase in relative mRNA expression of all the rib genes, the isolate KTLF1 was selected for expression studies in milk and whey.
The riboflavin producers were further screened for in vitro probiotic, safety aspects as well as technological properties. Results: Three riboflavin producing isolates were able to show potential probiotic, safety attributes as well as appreciable adhesion on HT-29 cell lines as well as hold the promises to be used as novel starter cultures.

Conclusion:
The study has generated the data for further exploration of these isolates endowed with appreciable starter as well as functional activities for industrial use as novel and native starter cultures to produce an essential vitamin in situ which would contribute significantly to the functional value of certain fermented foods. Background: Platycodin D (PD) is a triterpenoid saponin isolated from the Chinese herb Platycodonis Radix. It possesses various biological activities, such as immune stimulation, anti-nociception, anti-obesity and anti-cancer, etc. Materials and methods: MTT, colony formation assay, flow cytometry, western blotting, transwell assay, immunoprecipitation, siRNA, realtime PCR and xenograft models were adopted to study the anticancer potential and mechanisms of PD.
Results: PD exhibited potential effects on the anti-adhesion, antimigration, anti-invasion as well as antiproliferation activities in cancer cells [1]. PD induced apoptosis and enhanced the anticancer properties of the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin via promotion of apoptotic activity [1,2]. In addition, PD triggered protective autophagy via ERK-JNK pathways in cancer cells [3,4]. We further demonstrated PD as a novel Hsp90 inhibitor by disrupting the protein-protein interaction of Hsp90 and its chaperone Cdc37 (unpublished data). This disruption by PD resulted in degradation of Hsp90 client proteins without feedback increase of Hsp70 (unpublished data). AKT and mTOR inhibitors were found to increase the expression of EGFR, HER-2 and IGF1R upon AKT/ mTOR inhibition, while PD reduced the total levels of EGFR, HER-2 and IGF1R expression. Co-treatment of the AKT inhibitor or mTOR inhibitor with PD blocked this feedback activation and triggered enhanced antiproliferation activity and apoptotic effect [5] . Conclusions: These findings not only identified PD is a potential agent for cancer treatment, but also establish a novel mechanistic rationale for the combination approach with PD.

35
Insights into anti-cancers mechanism of 10-gingerol from Tongling white ginger Background: Antibacterial agents can inhibit bacterial contamination in food, which is necessary for human health. Therefore, investigate the effect of antibacterial agents with low toxicity is an important issue. Plant compounds extracted from different sources has gaining considerable interest due to its multiaspect in health benefits. However, in the current decade, plants and animals derived polysaccharide fractions have been studied for various biological properties but less attention is given so far on their antibacterial potential, and their exact antagonistic mechanism is still not well understood and needs further research. In our previous studies, the polysaccharides from peony possessed high anticancer, antioxidant, antiinflammatory activity. Thus, the present work with the aim of evaluating anti-bacterial potential of peony polysaccharides under different kinds of bacterial strains. Materials and methods: For evaluating the antagonistic effect of four kinds of poney polysaccharides under different bacterial species (Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis and Salmonella typhimurium). Antibacterial active ingredients extracted with water by reflux from penoy in different harvest periods, the agar diffusion method was used to measure the antimicrobial ability, inhibition zone diameter was used to ascertain the minimal concentration of polysaccharides to inhibit the growth of test organisms completely. The correlation between polysaccharides active ingredients and antibacterial activity was evaluated. The correlation between characteristic peaks and antibacterial activity was evaluated. Results: After poney polysaccharides administration, regardless of the bacterial strain, DASS represented the strongest antibacterial activity on the basis of largest inhibition zone, the lowest minimal inhibitory concentration and maximum inhibition of bacterial growth in liquid medium.

Conclusions:
Herein, we investigated the antimicrobial potential of sequentially extracted poney polysaccharide fractions namely HBSS, CHSS, DASS and CASS. Overall results indicated that poney polysaccharides as a kind of natural antimicrobial compounds to restrain the growth of bacteria which hold a promise as potential natural antimicrobial agent to formulate the functional foods with potential applications in the medical and food industries. Background: The leaves extract of C. nutans have been used extensively as primary sources of complementary and alternative healthcare or as economical in-housing regimens for cancer patients [1]. Patients have claimed that they have recovered from cancer illness after consuming C. nutans leaves over a period of time. It has been proved that many antioxidant substances have anticancer or anticarcinogenic properties [2]. A study had pointed to the necessity of chemicals profiling and evaluation of antioxidant and antiproliferative properties of C. nutans extract.

Materials and methods:
The whole plant of C. nutans were dried and extracted with methanol. The content of the active components in the extracts was determined by ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight/mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF/MS). The compounds were tested for antiproliferative property on HT29, HepG2 and MCF-7 cell lines while antioxidant activity was monitored by radical scavenging assay (DPPH) and ferric reducing power (FRAP Background: Lotus seed resistant starch (GP-LRS3) can escape digestion in the small intestine of healthy individuals and be completely or partially fermented in the colon, which has been reported to increase the proliferation of bifidobacterium. Generally, biopolymer with different molecular weight present a wide range of characteristics, which define its applications and influence the final performance of the products. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the structural properties and prebiotic effects of different molecular weight lotus seed resistant starch precipitated by stepwise ethanol.

Materials and methods:
In order to obtain LRS3 with different molecular weight,GP-LRS3 was precipitated by stepwise ethanol. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) were adopted to study the structural properties of different molecular weight LRS3. Furthermore, the prebiotic effects of different molecular weight LRS3 were also determined.

Results:
The results showed two fractions of GP-LRS3 (GP-LRS3-1 and GP-LRS3-2) could be separated by 20 and 30% ethanol, respectively. The weight-average molar mass (M w ) of GP-LRS3-1 and GP-LRS3-2 were 8.49 × 10 4 and 2.23 × 10 4 g/mol, respectively, and the polydispersity index(M w /M n ) were 2.28 and 1.56, respectively. SEM micrographs of GP-LRS3-1 and GP-LRS3-2 showed an irregular shape with rough surface, similar to GP-LRS3. FT-IR for GP-LRS3, GP-LRS3-1 and GP-LRS3-2 showed almost identical characteristic bands. Indicating grading alcohol precipitation of LRS3 belong to physical separation without chemical changes. Moreover, there was a significant effect of lotus-seed resistant starch on promoting bifidobacterium proliferation and producing shot-chain fatty acids during fermentation in vitro. The effect of promoting bifidobacterium proliferation and short-chain fatty acids production were: GP-LRS3 > GP-LRS3-1 > GP-LRS3-2.

Conclusions:
These results concluded the proliferation of bifidobacterium was affected by the molecular weight of lotus seed resistant starch, and the higher the molecular weight of lotus seed resistant starch, the greater the proliferation of bifidobacterium. Background: Phytosterols are bioactive substances similar to cholesterol in structure, which could reduce total cholesterol and lower density lipoprotein cholesterol in serum to prevent cardiovascular disease. A daily dietary intake of 2 g phytosterols results in a reduction of low density lipoprotein cholesterol and total plasma cholesterol levels of approximately 10%, but no evidence show intakes of phytosterols higher than 3 g/day have additional cholesterol-lowering benefits and high intakes may induce undesirable effects. Phytosterols can be present in the free form and as esters or glycosides in plant-based foods, and the preparation have been approved as a novel food. The total intake of phytosterols in Chinese people was estimated to be 334.21 mg/day in 2007 which is much lower than the recommendation. However, the Chinese diet structure had changed a lot during the last 10 years and many researches had been done to figure out the physiological function and bioavailability of phytosterols under different processing.

Composition profiles, bioavailability and benefit-risk assessment on cardiovascular health of phytosterols in Chinese diet
Conclusions: This review summarized the content of total and individual phytosterols with free and conjugated forms in different food of the Chinese diet, discussed effect of different process on bioavailability of phytosterols, and evaluated the health benefit and potential adverse effects on cardiovascular health by estimating the total intake of phytosterols from Chinese diet. Finally, we outlined the knowledge gaps on research and presented suggestions on phytosterols intake to Chinese. Background: Inflammatory abnormalities are widely implicated in a vast variety of acute and chronic human disease processes. Regulation of inflammatory response relies on multiple potential mechanisms. Nuciferine is an aromatic ring-containing alkaloid found in the nelumbo nucifera leaves, showing potential anti-inflammation activity, but the molecular mechanism of anti-inflammatory effect of nuciferine is still unclear. Thus, in this study, we investigated the anti-inflammatory effect and possible mechanisms of nuciferine in the RAW264.7 cells. Materials and methods: MTT assay was performed to detect nuciferine cytotoxicity. The inflammatory model in vitro was made using RAW264.7 cells stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Interleukin 6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) production was detected using enzymelinked immunosorbent assay. The real-time polymerase chain reaction was employed to assess the expression of IL-6 and TNFα mRNA. The peroxisome proliferator activated receptors (PPARs) activity was studied by luciferase reporter assay. PPARs specific pharmacological agonists (WY14643/GW501516/rosiglitazone) and antagonists (GW6417/ GSK0660/GW9662) were applied for mechanism study. The expression of indicated proteins I-κB was examined by Western blotting. Results: Nuciferine significantly suppressed inflammatory cytokines production such as IL-6 and TNF-α in LPS-induced RAW264.7 cells. In addition, the luciferase assay results of three PPAR subtypes showed that all of the activities are promoted by nuciferine in a dose-dependent manner. Specific inhibitors of PPARα and PPARγ markedly abolished LPS-induced IL-6 and TNF-α production, even I-κB degradation. However, the specific inhibitor of PPARδ did not. Background: Kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis Planch.) seed oil (KSO) as a by-product resource in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries, exhibits various bioactivities such as antioxidant, anti-aging and regulating the blood lipids. Materials and methods: Lipids, ash, moisture, protein and polyphenols of the kiwi fruit seeds were detected by the AOAC standard methods. The chemical properties of KSO such as density, refractive index, iodine value, peroxide value, and acidity value were determined by the AOCS methods, and the fatty acid compositions were determined by GC-MS analysis. The antioxidant capacity of KSO was assessed by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and hydroxyl radical scavenging capacity (HRSC) methods. The single cell gel electrophoresis was performed to evaluate the protective effects of KSO on DNA damage. Results: Kuilv had the most oil content (34.84 ± 0.10 g/100 g) which is followed by Hort 16A (34.73 ± 0.3 g/100 g) and Xuxiang (34.84 ± 0.10 g/100 g). KSOs were rich in unsaturated fatty acids (UFA), accounting for 79.53-85.84% of the total lipid, and the linolenic acid content was the highest in UFA. UFA contents are in the follow order: Yate (85.84/100 g) > Hort 16A (82.65/100 g) > Xuxiang (82.35/100 g). Significantly, all varieties of KSO demonstrated the different levels of antioxidant activities that were evaluated by using in vitro methods. Yate had strong 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging capacity (35.1 ± 2.06 mg/mL for IC50), whereas Xuxiang had high hydroxyl radical scavenging capacity (1.91 ± 0.01 mg/mL for IC50). Unexpected, Hongyang which had less oil content also have high activities in oxygen radical absorbance capacity (1.99 ± 0.21 mg Trolox) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (107.3 ± 0.3 mg Trolox/ kg). The comet assay further verified that the different varieties of KSO obviously protected mice lymphocytes against oxidative DNA damage. Conclusion: Our finding provided an evidence for the bioactivity of KSO as a potential source of dietary supplement and different varities of KSO had their own advantages. Keywords: kiwi seed oil, physiochemical properties, antioxidant activities, DNA damage Acknowledgements: This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21476184 and 21676212). Background: The anthocyanins, belonging to a parent class of flavonoids, are neutral pH unstable chemical, which are easy to degrade in higher pH condition. Because of around-7-pH condition for most cell culture, the anthocyanins and their agylcons (anthocyanidins) shows weak stability in neutral cell-culture-condition. Herein, we characterized the stability of those ten anthocyanins (including anthocyanidins), which includes anthocyanins and their agylcons: cyanidin chloride and cyanidin 3-glucoside chloride; delphinidin chloride and delphinidin 3-glucoside chloride; malvidin chloride and malvidin 3-glucoside chloride; peonidin chloride and peonidin 3-glucoside chloride; petunidin chloride and petunidin 3-glucoside chloride, respectively, incubated with DMEM cell culture at 37 °C, 5% CO 2 . Result: The anthocyanidins are instable and degraded within 10 min ( 100 T 10 < 1.0 min, 100 T 50 < 1.0 min), while cyanidin chloride ( 100 T 10 = 2.08 min, 100 T 50 = 6.19 min), delphinidin chloride ( 100 T 10 = 1.49 min, 100 T 50 = 3.13 min) and peonidin chloride ( 100 T 10 < 1 min, 100 T 50 = 8.13 min) are relatively more stable, but still degraded easily. However, on the other side anthocyanins with sugar moieties have high stability, whose values of 100 T 50 are almost larger than 180 min, except delphinidin 3-glucoside chloride ( 100 T 50 = 37.66 min). Conclusion: In summary, the anthocyanidins were so instable and hardly to detect after first 10 min. The glycosylation at 3-position can largely enhance their stability. The methoxylation at ring B at 3′ and 5′ hydroxyl groups of anthocyanins can increase their stability. Compared to the methoxylation of 3′ hydroxyl group's obvious enhancing the stability, the methoxylation of 5′ hydroxyl group just slightly increased the stability of anthocyanin. The hydroxylation at 3′ and 5′ positions on ring B of anthocyanins both decreased the stability. Compared to the hydroxylation of 3′ hydroxyl group's significant weakening the stability, the hydroxylation of 5′ hydroxyl group just slightly decreased the stability of anthocyanin. The outcomes from the current experimental study could be utilized in further investigation on degradation or metabolism of anthocyanins and anthocyanidins under cell culture condition, and then might encourage further researches of actual bioactive compounds, which derived from anthocyanins and anthocyanidins. Background: Radix Polygalae (RP) is the pharmaceutical name for the root of prescribed for the treatment of memory disorders and Polygala tenuifolia Willd. Traditionally, RP was mental diseases. In recent years, more bioactivities of RP have been published, such as its use as an anti-inflammatory [1] and antidepressant [2][3][4], and in the treatment of Parkinson disease [5] and Alzheimer disease [6]. Although RP is rich in biological activities, its chemical background has not been clear until now. Previous reports have focused on the research of saponins in RP [7]. Rarely, publications have related the research on another kind of bioactive component, i.e., volatiles, that may help to delay or reduce the insult to brain functions elicited by mental diseases [8]. Materials and methods: Thirty-two batches of RP samples included 20 batches of superior and 12 batches of inferior RP, were collected from Yunnan, Sichuan, and Changsha, China. The standards methyl eugenol (purity: 98%), undecane (purity, 99%), and α-asarone (purity, 98%) were purchased from Sigma. Alkane standard solution of C8-C20 was purchased from Fluka Chemika. Hexane and anhydrous sodium sulfate were of analytical grade. Chromatographic fngerprints of essential oils from RP were obtained by GC-MS analysis. Two multivariate resolution methods, SFA and HELP [9,10], were applied to resolve the qualitative and quantitative problem of overlapped peaks (Figs. 1, 2). Partial least-squares (PLS) discriminant analysis (DA) [11] coupled with regression coeffcient was applied to discriminate the superior RP samples from the inferior ones and to reveal the chemical features of authentic RP. Results: A total of 88 volatile compounds were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed ( Table 1). The superior and inferior RP samples were separated well by the discriminant plane, with a correct rate of 100%, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) value was 0.917. The data set was permutated for 5000 times and the frequency of correct rates for the permutated model is a normal distribution with the mean value about 45%, which guarantees the reliability of the recognition model. The four components, 1-octanol, shyobunone, isobornyl acetate, and α-asarone, were screened as the characteristic components to distinguish superior RP samples from the inferior ones (Fig. 3). Conclusions: In this study, a reliable and comprehensive strategy has been proposed to identify essential oils in RP by GC-MS combined with chemometrcics. This strategy shown effective mothed to revealing the chemical features of a complex analytical sample such as RP.    interest. Microfluidic systems have provided an ideal microreactor platform to produce hairtail iron peptide (HPH) due to their simplified manipulation, high efficiency, flexible controllability, and environmental-friendly chemical process [1].

Materials and methods:
Here a novel polysaccharide microfiber reactor based on a microfluidic spinning technique for in situ fabrication of an excellent biological activity iron supplement is demonstrated. A dense band or network structure could be formed by the konjac glucomannan (KGM) self-assembly of the molecules inner group or the cross-linking polymerization of other polymers. Macromolecule selfassembly reactions are carried out in coaxial flow-based microdevices with different microchannel. Bead structure was formed by hairtail protein hydrolysates and ferrous ions in T shape microchannel and then net structure was formed by KGM and polyvinyl pyrrolidone in Y shape microchannel. The ferrous ions was set in net structure tightly (Fig. 1). Moreover, the antioxidant activity was studied systematically by vitro chemical experiments and mice experiments. Results: Results revealed that reticular konjac glucomannan hairtail iron peptide microfiber (KGM-Fe-HPH) had better reducing power, O 2− scavenging ability and DPPH scavenging than hairtail iron peptide. The activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and catalase (CAT) were improved obviously. The negative performance and growth of MDA caused by D-Gal of mice were relieved by KGM-Fe-HPH. The structural deformation of hepatocytes, the outflow of fluid, the enlargement and aggregation of cells intercellular space were repaired by KGM-Fe-HPH (Fig. 2).
Conclusions: This strategy firstly contributes a facile and environmental-friendly route to fabricate polysaccharide microfiber. Moreover, an excellent biological activity iron supplement was fabricated by the HPH uniform dispersion and activity protection in microreactor platform, which opens a promising avenue to protect sensitive active substances. The C-type starches are widely distributed in seeds or rhizomes of various legumes, traditional Chinese medicinal plants, and many potential medicinal crops. This carbohydrate polymer directly affects the application of starchy plant resources. Structure and crystallinity properties are crucial parameters of starch granules, which directly affect physicochemical and mechanical properties of starch materials and the performance of starch-based additives. The unique crystal structure consisting of both A-and B-type polymorphs endows C-type starches with specific crystal adjustability. Additionally, large proportions of resistant starch and slow digestible starch are found in C-type starch and contribute to benign glycemic response and proliferation of gut microflora. In this paper, we initially briefly review the distribution of C-type starch in various plant sources. We then introduce several structural models of C-type starch and its crystal properties. We also discuss the behavior and functionality relevant to modified C-type starch. Ultimately, we outline recent advances, potential applications, and limitations of C-type starch in industry, aiming to provide a theoretical basis for further research and to broaden the prospects of its applications.  starch; RS4, which is chemically modified starch; and RS5, which is starch-lipid complexes. RS could not only reduce blood glucose and insulin levels but also increase fecal bulk and short chain fatty acid (SCFA) production during fermentation in the large intestine. Therefore, the study of RS, especially RS3, has attracted a lot of interest within the food and nutrition scientific community. Materials and methods: B. longum and L. bulgaricus were purchased from China's industrial microbial preservation management center. Lotus seed native starch and GP-LRS3 were prepared using the previous method reported by . MP-LRS3: lotus seed native starch (150 g) was dispersed in 1000 ml distilled water (starch: water, 3:20), and the starch suspensions were heated under 640 W of microwave power for 2 min, cooled to room temperature, and stored at 4 C for 24 h. UP-LRS3: lotus seed native starch (450 g) was dispersed in 1000 ml distilled water (starch: water, 9:20), and the starch suspensions were packed with vacuum package machine, and then treated with an ultrasonic transducer at the ultrasonic power of 300 W for 55 min at 25 C. After that, the mixture was pressure-cooked in an autoclave at 115 C for 15 min, cooled to room temperature, and stored at 4 C for 24 h. Lactic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid was purchased from Aladdin Reagent Co., LTD. Glucose, potassium hydroxide and ice acetic acid, sodium hydroxide were obtained from Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co., Ltd.

Results:
The results showed that compared with the media containing GLU or HAMS, the media containing GP-LRS3, UP-LRS3 or MP-LRS3 displayed the significantly higher probiotic effect on B. longum and L. bulgaricus. B. longum and L. bulgaricus had an 8 h lag phase in the medium with GP-LRS3, UP-LRS3 or MP-LRS3, whereas the lag phase in the media with GLU or HAMS was 16 h. Besides, the content of butyric acid in the medium with GP-LRS3, UP-LRS3 and MP-LRS3 during the B. longum fermentation process was significantly higher than that in the media with GLU or HAMS, and the positive effect on the capability of butyric acid production from B. longum were: MP-LRS3 > UP-LRS3 > GP-LRS3. The content of butyric acid and propionic acid have no significant increase in all media during the L. bulgaricus fermentation process.

Conclusions:
The conclusions from the above results were as follows: firstly, the proliferation of probiotics was significantly better than that of HAMS and GLU on B. longum and L. bulgaricus, but the probiotic effect of LRS3 has no significant difference between them on L. bulgaricus; then, B. longum had longer logarithmic growth phase in the medium with GP-LRS3; finally, two probiotics use LRS3 to produce short-chain fatty acids in different capacities, B. longum is superior to L. bulgaricus.

46
Comparison of total flavonoids content, antioxidant activity of extracts of Woodwardia japonica L. collected from 9 different regions Xin Wang 1,2 , Jianbo Xiao 2,3 , Jianguo Cao 2 , Quanxi Wang 2 Background: Flavonoid extracts of ferns were not only conductive to phylogeny and genesiology, but with significant pharmacological activities [1]. Flavonoids of higher plants could be altered by the changes of ecological factors. Nevertheless, the effects of ecological factors on the flavonoid content and antioxidant activity of ferns remain unclear. Here total flavonoid contents and antioxidant activities of the extracts of Woodwardia japonica from 9 different places were compared. Materials and methods: W. japonica was chosen for the experiment because of the highest content in our previous reported [2]. Radical scavenging assay (DPPH, ABTS, O 2− ), FRAP, reducing power assay were adopted.

Results:
The differences between flavonoid contents and bioactivities of W. japonica collected from 9 different regions are obvious (Fig. 1). Total flavonoid content of the species from Wuyi Mountain in Jiangxi province was the highest (34.54%), while that from Yandang Mountain in Zhejiang province was the lowest (11.45%). Species living under adequate sunshine in high altitude region were with higher total flavonoid content and antioxidant activity, and vice versa. The results showed that sunshine and altitude were positive correlation with total flavonoid contents. The extracts from W. japonica from 9 different regions all showed strong antioxidant activity (Fig. 2). Furthermore, antioxidant activity of species from Wuyi Mountain in Jiangxi province was obviously stronger than those from Yandang Mountain in Zhejiang province. Species living under adequate sunshine in high altitude region of W. japonica were with higher total flavonoid content and antioxidant activity. Conclusion: The total flavonoid contents and antioxidant activity of extracts from W. japonica were relative to ecological factors. Background: In many countries, the prevalence of metabolic disease has attained epidemic proportions because of cardiovascular complications and mortality. A metabolic syndrome is associated with risk from 5 factors: abdominal (central) obesity, elevated blood pressure, elevated plasma glucose, high serum triglycerides, and low highdensity lipoprotein levels. Treatment is focused on reduction of the risk of heart disease by lowering LDL cholesterol and reducing high blood pressure, and then on treatment of diabetes. Very important is a reduction in weight by proper diet and exercise [1]. Results: Beneficial effects of hop phenolic compounds for diabetic patients consist of improving blood glucose and lipid profiles, and reducing insulin resistance. Phenolic compounds exert antiobesity effects that are closely linked with antioxidant effects, through their ability to modulate lipid and energy metabolism and thus enable weight loss and reduce obesity. Regulation of cholesterol metabolism by phenolic compounds may reduce certain factors linked with hypercholesterolemia and dyslipidemia. Prenylflavonoids such as xanthohumol have been demonstrated to have strong antiobesity activities including the ability to inhibit diacylglycerol acyltransferase in rat liver, to inhibit triglyceride transport using a HepG2 cell line, and to inhibit the secretion of apolipoprotein B, the main constituent of the cholesterol LDL fraction. Therapeutic potential of polyphenols as treatment for obesity is also associated with the ability to inhibit α-glucosidase, an enzyme that controls blood glucose levels [1,2]. Iso-α-acids are able to improve health by influencing lipid metabolism, glucose tolerance, and body weight. Diabetic mice treated with iso-α-acids showed reduced plasma glucose, triglyceride, and free fatty acid levels by 65.3, 62.6, and 73.1%, respectively. When mice were fed hop iso-α-acids in their diet, with high levels of cholesterol, an increase in plasma HDLcholesterol and a reduction in cholesterol and triacylglycerol content in the liver were observed. The modulatory effect of iso-α-acids on lipid metabolism may also be responsible for lost body weight [1].

Conclusions:
For treatment of metabolic syndrome should be very effective hop substances from group of polyphenols and bitter acids. Chin Med 2018, 13(Suppl 1):26 remains unclear. Here, we investigated the ameliorative effect of Nuci with two doses (0.06 and 0.12%) on type II diabetes mice induced by high-fat diet (HFD) and multiple low doses intraperitoneal injection of streptozocin (STZ). Materials and methods: Type 2 diabetic mice induced by high fat and low dose of streptozotocin (STZ, 35 mg/kg) and were administered Nuci for 13 weeks. The fasting blood glucose (FBG) and body weight were tested. Acetylcholine (Ach) induced endothelium-dependent relaxation was measured in aortas for estimating endothelial function. The level of serum insulin was measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. The NO levels in aortas were determined according to the manufacturer's instructions. In addition, endothelial NO synthase (eNOS), phosphorylated-eNOS (p-eNOS), Akt, and phosphorylated-Akt (p-Akt) levels were also evaluated in endothelial cells. Background: Pesticides have been used as a major means of pest control for nearly a century in agriculture for higher-yield and higherquality crop. However, it has been clear that extended exposure to pesticides would harm to environment and human health. For instance, it was reported that extended exposed of anabasine (ANA) caused different degree of toxic signs, and even resulted in the fetal cleft palates in pregnant goats [1,2]. In this study, we aimed to investigate the binding behaviors between cucurbit [7]uril (CB [7]) and ANA, and examine the influence of CB [7]'s encapsulation on the toxicity of the pesticide.

Materials and methods:
The chemical behaviors between CB [7] and ANA were examined by 1 H NMR, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), UV-visible absorbance spectroscopy, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), and molecular modeling. Zebrafish embryos were selected as in vivo models to investigate the toxicity. Results: 1 H NMR, ESI-MS, as well as ITC suggested that ANA formed 1:1 binding complexes with CB [7], with a relatively strong binding affinity (10 5 M −1 ). Regarding the toxicity of the pesticide, as shown in Fig. 1A, compared with the control group, the viable hatching rate of embryos treated with 300 μM ANA was significantly lower, (ca. 20%), suggesting dramatic embryonic toxicity of ANA. In contrast, a much higher hatching rate (ca. 90%) was observed when ANA was encapsulated by CB [7]. Similar trend was observed in the survival rate of embryos treated with a variety of concentrations of ANA in the absence and in the presence of CB [7] (Fig. 1B). Moreover, relatively high concentrations (200-300 μM) of ANA induced serious physical malformations during the embryonic development, including retarded growth, yolk sac edema, spinal deformation, and yolk sac deformity and tail malformation. In contrast, in the presence of CB [7], the treated embryos didn't show any obvious malformation compared with the free ANA group. The results demonstrated that CB [7] can decrease the teratogenic effect caused by ANA.

Conclusions:
In summary, our results demonstrated with in vivo zebrafish models that supramolecular encapsulation of pesticides by CB [7] may significantly reduce the fetal and developmental toxicities of these pesticides.  [1]. The molecular basis of the characteristic fragrance and nutritional properties of Chinese chive has not been previously identified [2][3][4]. Materials and methods: Sequential extractions in a series of solvents and high-performance liquid chromatography were used to isolate 40 compounds from Chinese chive. The compounds were identified based on high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectra, 1D and 2D nuclear magnetic resonance techniques, and circular dichroism spectra.
Results: Eight novel compounds were identified-four new pyrazines (Fig. 1), which have distinctive flavour; one new lignan; and three new  (Fig. 2)-together with 32 known compounds. Several of these compounds have potential applications as health-promoting dietary supplements, food additives, or seasonings. Additionally, the volatile organic compounds in fresh and steamed Chinese chive were compared, and the toxicological activity of extracts from fresh and steamed Chinese chive was tested in normal rat liver (IAR20) and kidney (NRK) cells.

Conclusions:
The results showed that Chinese chive is toxic to liver and kidney cells when fresh, but is safe after heating. This could explain why it is traditional to eat cooked Chinese chive. A possible metabolic rule regarding pyrazines is postulated based on this data, and a human metabolic pathway is suggested for two of the novel compounds which have the highest amount of Chinese chive extracts.
Background: Pineapple fruit, Ananas comosus, is widely known and distributed all over the countries. The consumption of pineapple fruit had been used for many purposes and interest. Many products produce from the pineapple source had been established in the market for the consumer use. The uses of it also dispersed in many areas that are mainly focus for the industrial and medicinal application. Bromelain is the enzyme extracted from the pineapple fruit or its stem. Bromelain is from the protease enzymes belonging to the Bromeliaceae family. The isolation of bromelain from the pineapple fruit and the study about its specialty had begun since 1894. This enzyme is rich with many benefits and help to treat in many problems. The content of this enzyme was found to be varied in the different type of pineapple cultivar. Therefore, this research study is aim to extract the fruit and stem bromelain from different type of cultivars in Malaysia. It was then followed by the enzymatic analysis of the enzyme followed by the protein quantification using SDS-PAGE analysis.

Materials and methods:
The three different cultivars of A. comosus, Nanas Moris, Nanas Madu and Nanas Sarawak Kecil, are collected. The samples were prepared for bromelain extraction. The analysis of bromelain from fruit and stem were done using enzymatic assay and SDS PAGE.
Results: As a result, for fruit bromelain screening, Nanas Morris gave the highest enzymatic activity which is 0.8220 U/ml followed by Nanas Madu which is 0.7703 U/ml and Nanas Sarawak Kecil with the amount of 0.6925 U/ml. This is shown that, Nanas Morris have high amount of protein content in it and there are high amount of l-tyrosine released when the protease enzyme digest the casein substrate. On the other hand, for stem bromelain screening, the highest enzymatic activity was shown by Nanas Sarawak Kecil which is 0.672 U/ml followed by Nanas Morris and Nanas Madu with the value of 0.670 U/ml and 0.653 U/ml, respectively. The results were shown in Table 1 below. It was reported that for the pineapple fruit in their crude state that is analyzed by using SDS-PAGE, The expected protein band of bromelain are observed within the range of 24-45 kDa [1]. In addition, the previous findings from the experiment conducted on crude extracts of the peel, pulp, leaves and stem of A. comosus showed the molecular weight ranging from 25 to 27 kDa for bromelain [2]. The result shows above is the formation of the protein band when undergo SDS PAGE analysis for all of the cultivar. The molecular weight for fruit bromelain is found approximately at 25 kDa based on the Fig. 1. However, other protein bands also visible in the SDS-PAGE because of the presence of other protein sample in the crude extract of the pineapple. This protein bands might indicate for the other proteases such as ananain and papain. Papain is one of the cysteine proteinase that is found in the pineapple fruit beside the bromelain [1,2]. Conclusion: The result indicated the presence of different concentration of bromelain from different variants of A. comosus. The research study can lead to the increase awareness of eating fresh pineapple among citizens.   [3,4].
Results: (1) The structure-affinity relationship shows that the methylation, glycosylation and methoxylation of resveratrol will reduce binding affinity with HSA. (2) The structure-free radical scavenging activity relationships of stilbenoids showed that the free radical scavenging activity of stilbenoids depends on their structure: the hydroxyl number on the ring A and B ring of stilbenoids significantly influences the free radical scavenging potential, more the hydroxyl group on stilbenoids, stronger free radical scavenging activity. The ortho-hydroxyl group substituted shows stronger free radical scavenging activity than the meta-hydroxyl group substituted. The methylation of the hydroxyl moiety on stilbenoids will weaken the free radical scavenging capacity; however, an additional methoxyl group on resveratrol will enhance the free radical scavenging ability. (3) The stability of stilbenoids in DMEM cell culture, human plasma, Milli Q water and HSA solution are compared. It was found that stilbenoids showed different stability in different solutions, and their stability is as follows: MilliQ water > HSA > human plasma > DMEM cell culture. The structure-stability relationship of stilbenoids in DMEM cell culture is determined as follows: (i) An additional hydroxyl group on ring B will reduce the stablity; (ii) The stability of resorcinol-type stilbenoids is higher than that of catechol-type stilbenoids; (iii) The methoxylation and glycosylation on of resveratrol improves the stability. Conclusions: HSA masks the DPPH scavenging ability of stilbenoids, but it increases ABTS scavenging ability. The interaction between stilbenoids with plasma proteins is beneficial to enhance the stability. were significantly slower than model group (HFD) (P < 0.01). The animal serum levels of TG, TC, ALT, AST and FFA in high-dose test sample group (GP150) was significantly lower than those the HFD, and (HDL-C) was higher than that in HFD. Antioxidant enzymes in liver tissue of experimental rats were analyzed, the levels of MDA of silymarin group (Sym), GP50, GP100 group and GP150 group were significantly decreased respectively compared with the HFD (P < 0.01), GSH-PX and SOD in GP150 were significantly increased (P < 0.01). High-fat diet can lead to significant increased in the abundance of Akkermansia, Lactobacillus, Nosocomiicoccus, Odoribacter, Oligella and Anaeroplasma.
On the other hand, decreased in the abundance of Collinsella, Enterococcus, Desulfovibrio and so on. The liver tissue of each experimental group was subjected to transcriptome sequencing analysis based on Illumina high-throughput sequencing platform, and the differentially expressed genes were analyzed by GO enrichment and KEGG enrichment. It was found that the differentially expressed genes were mainly enriched in PPAR signaling pathway, Biosynthesis of amino acids, Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, Type II diabetes mellitus and AMPK signaling pathway compared with the model group. The differentially expressed genes closely related to lipid metabolism mainly include Gk2, MEF, Scd1, IRS1IRM, SREBP-1c, PKL, Jun, IRS1IRM, Tkfc, PKL, Gadd45, enoyl -CaA hydratase, Hadhsc, Cyp2c70, Acaa2, Cyp4a11, RT1-A, Ins1, HRSL3, Phlpb, Fadsd6, Muscpho, Xbp1 and pe-CoA compared with the model group, these differentially expressed genes play a vital role in the corresponding signaling pathways, and regulate the body's lipid synthesis transport.

Conclusions:
The Ganoderma triterpenes can effective in reducing the serum levels, the body weight, gut microbiota composition and genes expression, which closely related to lipid metabolism. The results provided the theoretical basis for the application of GP in functional food and drugs of the regulation of lipid metabolism. of NP-LRS3 and GP-LRS3 on the proliferation of bifidobacteria were evaluated by assessing the changes in optical density (OD), pH values, short chain fatty acid (SCFA) production, and tolerance to gastrointestinal conditions compared with glucose (GLU) and high amylose maize starch (HAMS).

Result:
The result showed that the molecular weights of NP-LRS3, GP-LRS3, and ZP-LRS3 were 0.102 × 10 6 , 0.014 × 10 6 , and 0.025 × 10 6 Da, respectively. Compared with native starch and HAMS, LRS3 lacked the polarization cross and the irregularly shaped LRS3 granules had a rougher surface, B-type crystal structure, and greater level of molecular order. The FT-IR measurements indicated no differences in the chemical groups. Analysis by 13 C NMR indicated an increased propensity for double helix formation and higher crystallinity in LRS3 than in the two other types of starch. Moreover, LRS3 was more effective than either glucose or HAMS in promoting the proliferation of bifidobacteria. LRS3 increased the number of bifidobacteria, achieved a brief lag phase, enhanced the bacterial tolerance to gastrointestinal conditions, and obtained a higher production of butyric acid.

Conclusions:
The prebiotic effect of LRS3 was a result of a combination of multiple factors, including the surface microstructure, crystalline pattern, double helix structure and biological mechanisms. LRS3 as a prebiotic constituent could be applied widely in food industry. Background: The used of essential oil as the natural antifungal in food and agricultural products have been increasing. Essential oil vapor, have been proved to be more effective than liquid phase [1]. The antifungal activity of peppermint oil vapor has been confirmed from many studied that has potential to apply in foods due to its pleasant sensory qualities and it traditionally used against a number of diseases [2]. However, the application of essential oil vapor has some drawback about the degradation and unstable concentration during exposure.
To overcome this problem, activated carbon (AC) is needed to act as an essential oil carrier. This experimental aim is to prove that AC could release peppermint oil and menthol (as its major component) in vapor phase and the released vapor can cause the antifungal activity against postharvest pathogenic fungi isolated from brown rice which are Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus. Materials and methods: Peppermint oil was analyzed for its main component using GC/MS. The A. flavus and A. niger were isolated from brown rice. The modified disc volatilization was used to determine the antifungal activity. The 20 μL of fungal suspensions (10 7 CFU mL −1 ) was added on MEA media in the air tight glass jar (1L) before the peppermint oil (100-1000 μL L −1 air) and menthol (40-400 μL L −1 air) treated activated carbon was being hung in the middle of the jar. Control was done in the same way but without essential oil. After 5 days, mycelia growth was measured. The lowest concentration that produced no visible colony was reported to be the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC).

Results:
The result shows that AC has potential to release both peppermint oil and menthol vapor against A. niger and A. flavus. The antifungal activity could be correlated to the presence of peppermint oil and menthol as its major components (38.6%) since the increasing of peppermint oil and menthol concentration have effect on the growth of both fungal species. The MIC of peppermint oil adsorbed activated carbon on A. niger and A. flavus was shown in Table 1.

Conclusions:
This experiment confirmed that both peppermint oil and menthol could release from the activated carbon at room temperature and those compounds still have antifungal ability to inhibit A. niger and A. flavus growth for more than 5 days. Further experiment should be performed in order to investigate the effect of the minor component and the synergic effect between each component. However, this experiment prove that peppermint oil gives higher antifungal activity than the purified major component. This gives a lot of benefit for the local application since the price of essential oil is lower than the purified component. Background: Late diagnosis and lack of specific therapy target contribute to the low survival rate of human epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), the most lethal gynecologic malignancy [1]. Therefore, screening diagnostic markers and identifying therapy targets are urgently required. Heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) has been demonstrated to be over-expressed in certain malignancies and to be involved in tumor initiation, development, transformation and metastasis. It is believed that HSF1 is a promising candidate for anti-tumor therapy [2,3]. However, its expression pattern and function in ovarian cancer is far from illumined. Methods: We examined the HSF1 expression in human epithelial ovarian cancer tissues, and evaluated its carcinogenesis promoting activity in a xenograft tumor model. Results: In normal ovarian tissues, HSF1 was barely detected, whereas, high expression of HSF1 was found in malignant EOC tissues. Suppressed proliferative activity and intensified apoptosis were observed in HSF1 knocked-down SKOV3 cells. In nude mouse xenografts, downregulation of HSF1 was found to cause reduced carinogenesis, indicating the anti-tumor effect induced by modulation of HSF1 against EOC. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that HSF1 may be considered as a potential candidate for a diagnostic marker of human EOC, and that modulation of HSF1 could be a promising therapy strategy against human EOC.  Background: Previous studies indicated that Cyanidin-3-O-βglucoside (C3G) as a classical anthocyanin exerted liver protective effect, but the effect on liver fibrosis was not fully explored [1]. In addition, the bioavailability of anthocyanins are quite low, thus the mechanism of anti-fibrosis effect of C3G still need to be systematically investigated [2].

Materials and methods:
In the present study, carbon tetrachloride (CCl 4 )-treated liver fibrosis animal model and primary hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) were adopted to explore the restraining effect of C3G and its metabolite protocatechuic acid (PCA) on liver fibrosis and the activation of HSCs. Results: Our data demonstrated that the treatment of C3G on CCl 4 -treated mice model inhibited liver fibrosis and HSCs activation. Both C3G and PCA reserved the lipid droplet as well as retinol in primary HSCs in vitro. C3G and PCA separately inhibited the mRNA expression of α-smooth muscle actin and collagen I, but elevated the level of matrix metalloproteinase-2 and liver X receptors. Only PCA suppressed the levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) secreted from HSCs significantly. In addition, C3G and PCA inhibited the proliferation and migration of HSCs.

Conclusions:
In conclusion, daily intake of Cy-3-G could prevent liver fibrosis progression in mice induced by CCl 4 through inhibiting HSC activation. PCA mainly explained the inhibiting effect, which provides a basis for clinical practice of liver fibrosis prevention. Background: The interactions between phytochemicals and nanoparticles (NPs) may affect the toxicity of NPs [1]. Flavonoids are the most vital phytochemicals in diets and are of great general interest due to their diverse bioactivity [2]. Herein, baicalein (Ba) and its glycoside baicalin (Bn), were selected as models for phytochemicals and their interactions with ZnO NPs as well as the influences on the toxicity of ZnO NPs to Caco-2 cells were studied.

Materials and methods:
The human colon epithelial Caco-2 cells (ATCC, HTB-37) and the human liver cells HepG2 (ATCC, HB-8065) were used for cytotoxicity assay. The interactions between Ba or Bn and ZnO NPs were indicated by the changes of hydrodynamic sizes, zeta potential and UV-Vis spectra. The cytotoxicity of ZnO NPs with or without the presence of Ba or Bn was investigated by CCK-8 assay, neutral red uptake and acridine organe. The uptake of ZnO NPs into Caco-2 cells was estimated by the increase of intracellular Zn ions. Oxidative stress was indicated by the measurement of superoxide using dihydroethidium (DHE), whereas inflammation was indicated by the measurement of release of interleukin 1beta (IL-1beta) and IL-6. Results: Compared with Bn, Ba were more effective at changing the hydrodynamic sizes, zeta potential and UV-Vis spectra of ZnO NPs.
With the presence of Ba, the cytotoxicity of ZnO NPs to Caco-2 cells was modestly decreased, whereas the cyto-protective effect was not observed in HepG2 cells (see Fig. 1). Intracellular superoxide or release of inflammatory cytokines were not affected by the exposure to ZnO NPs with or without the presence of Ba or Bn (p > 0.05). Exposure of Caco-2 cells to ZnO NPs significantly increased intracellular Zn ions (p < 0.01), which was modestly decreased by the presence of Ba but not Bn (p > 0.05).

Conclusions:
The presence of Ba may modestly protected Caco-2 cells from the exposure to ZnO NPs by stabilizing the NPs and accumulation of intracellular Zn ions.

Acknowledgements:
The authors thank for the financial support from Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (2017JJ3303) Fig. 1 The cytotoxicity of ZnO NPs (XF106) with or without the presence of Ba or Bn  [1], although its structure was erroneously assigned as 1S, 7S, 10S-1 (Fig. 1). Later they proposed its structure as 1S, 7S, 10R-1 [2], but the absolute configuration was only recently confirmed as 1S, 7R, 10S by us applying X-ray analysis. Our group also isolated 13 new sesquiterpene alkaloids from the flowers and the leaves of A. rupestris [3,4].

Results:
We systemically modified carboxyl group and cyclopentenone ring of rupestonic acid by condensation reaction (Fig. 1) [5][6][7]. Nearly 250 new compounds were synthesized and evaluated with regard their activities inhibiting influenza viruses A and B. Among them, several compounds especially compound, especially compound YZH-106 [8] (Fig. 1), exhibited pronounced activities and deserved further investigation. Conclusions: Structural-activity relationship of rupestonic acid derivatives has been systematically investigated. Several anti-influenza virus lead compounds have been discovered. Among them, compound YZH-106 exhibited activity against influenza viruses as good as the positive drug (oseltamivir). Further investigation on the structural modification of rupestonic acid is ongoing and would contribute to the discovery of novel anti-influenza drug candidates from natural products.
Background: Inherited retinal degeneration (IRD) is a common cause of blindness in humans, characterized by the death of photoreceptor cells. Although the molecular disease mechanisms of IRD are not fully understood, oxidative stress and inflammation are believed to play a major role in the photoreceptor cell death. There is no effective therapy for patients with IRD, and development of new therapeutic strategies is urgently needed. The zebrafish has been increasingly used as a model to study a variety of human diseases, including visual disorders. We have characterized a zebrafish mutant line that carries a nonsense mutation in the rpgrip1 gene. The rpgrip1 mutant Zebrafish showed an absence of rod photoreceptor segments and early retinal degeneration. Gyepnoside (Gyp) is the predominant component of Gynostemma pentaphyllum, a traditional Chinese medicine. Gyp has been shown to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties in non-retinal cells and organs. In this study we investigated the protective role of Gyp in retinal degeneration. Materials and methods: Rpgrip1 mutant zebrafish were treated with Gyp from 6 h post fertilization (hpf ) to one-month old or from 2-to 6-months old. After the treatment, eye samples were collected and subjected to histological, histochemical and biochemical assays. Results: To evaluate whether Gyp can protect against rod photoreceptor cell death, rpgrip1 mutant zebrafish embryos were treated with Gyp from 6hpf till one-month old. Gyp-treated zebrafish showed significantly delayed rod photoreceptor cell death. To evaluate whether Gyp can reduce cone cell death, 2-months old rpgrip1 mutant zebrafish were treated with Gyp for 4 months and exhibited significantly decreased death of double cone cells. Rpgrip1 mutant zebrafish showed significantly decreased antioxidant capacity and increased inflammation and lipid peroxidation when compared to the wildtype siblings. Gyp-treated zebrafish demonstrated significantly increased expression of antioxidant genes (SOD, catalase, NQ1) and decreased inflammation genes (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α) when compared to untreated controls. The level of glutathione and the activities of catalase and superoxide dismutase were also significantly increased whereas the level of malondialdehyde was significantly decreased in Gyp-treated zebrafish when compared to untreated controls. The protection against photoreceptor cell death by Gyp is likely to be through NRF2-ARE and NF-kB signalling pathways. We found Gyp-treated rpgrip1 Fig. 1 Chemical modification of rupestonic acid mutant zebrafish had a high level of NRF2 and a low level of NF-kB when compared to untreated controls. Conclusion: Gyp has the capacity to protect against oxidative damage and inflammation and offers therapeutic potential for patients with retinal degeneration. Mongolia, and Japan [1]. As a traditional Chinese medicine and food supplement, FAA exhibits hemostatic, analgesic and antipruritic activities for treatment of various ailments, such as hemorrhage, pain, and skin itch; it is also consumed as a food ingredient because of its delicious flavor and distinctive smell [2,3]. To date, most of the published works are focused on the volatile oil due to its high content in FAA [4,5]. However, FAA contains many other nonvolatile compounds, such as phenolic acids and flavonoids. Unfortunately, only few systematic studies were performed to investigate the nonvolatile components of FAA. To study the nonvolatile phytochemical compounds in FAA, we developed a rapid and efficient UHPLC-high-resolution quadrupole Orbitrap mass spectrometry (Q-Orbitrap-MS) method in the current work. Materials and methods: FAA powder (50.00 g) was extracted twice with 70% methanol under ultrasound, and extracts were successively extracted with n-hexane, ethyl acetate and n-butanol to yield four fractions, namely, n-hexane fraction (n-HexF), ethyl acetate fraction (EAF), n-butanol fraction (nBuF), and water fraction (WF). The total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC) of all fractions were measured and compared, and antioxidant activities of all fractions were assessed by DPPH free radical, ABTS free radical, superoxide anion scavenging assay and Ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay [6][7][8][9][10]. DPPH-UHPLC-MS experiments were performed to screen the antioxidant constituents in each fraction [11]. Results: As shown in Fig. 1 EAF shows the highest TPC and TFC and highest antioxidant capability with regard to DPPH, ABTS, superoxide anion free radical scavenging ability, and ferric reducing antioxidant power. In addition, the potential antioxidant components were screened by DPPH-UHPLC-MS experiments and subsequently characterized by using high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (shown in Fig. 2).

Comprehensive characterization and identification of antioxidants in Folium Artemisiae
Conclusion: This work further demonstrated that UHPLC-HRMS is a powerful tool for characterization and identification of compounds in complex samples, such as FAA. In addition, this work revealed the potential of FAA as an inexpensive resource of natural antioxidants.   Background: Bacterial β-glucuronidases (GUS) play key roles in the deconjugation of a variety of endogenous and drug glucuronides, thus have been recognized as important targets to modulate the enterohepatic circulation of various glucuronides [1]. It is increasingly clear that bacterial GUS are closely related with the toxicity or intestinal disorders caused by the hydrolysis of β-d-glucuronides. Thus, it is highly desirable to find safe and potent inhibitors from friendly phytochemicals or herbals against GUS for alleviating the intestine disorders by the hydrolysis of drug glucuronides [2]. Natural flavonoids are the most abundant friendly phytochemicals in plants and famous for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory effects and anti-diabetic activity [3]. Materials and methods: In this study, more than 30 natural flavonoids were collected and their inhibitory effects on E. coli β-glucuronidase (EcGUS) were assayed in vitro. Recombinant EcGUS was used as enzyme source, while p-Nitrophenyl-β-d-glucuronide acid (pNPG) was used as the substrate for EcGUS. The IC 50 values were used to evaluate the inhibition capability of various flavonoids. The inhibition kinetic analysis was conducted to obtain the inhibition contant (K i ) and to determine the inhibition kinetic types. Docking simulations were performed to reveal the interactions between the flavonoid-type EcGUS inhibitor and EcGUS. Results: Among all tested flavonoids, the polyphenolic flavonoids including scutellarein, luteolin, baicalein, quercetin and scutellarin displayed strong to moderate inhibitory effects against EcGUS, with the IC 50 values ranging from 5.09 to 29.64 μM, while isoflavones and dihydroflavones displayed weak inhibitory effects against EcGUS. Further investigation on inhibition kinetics revealed that scutellarein and luteolin functioned as potent competitive inhibitors against EcGUS-mediated PNPG hydrolysis, with the K i values less than 3.0 μM. Molecular docking simulations demonstrated that scutellarein and luteolin could be well-docked into the catalytic site of EcGUS, while the binding areas of these two natural inhibitors on EcGUS were identical to that of the substrate PNPG. Additionally, as shown in Fig. 1 Background: The decoction of Pteris multifida had been applied to attenuate symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in Chinese folk medicine. To investigate the functional ingredients of P. multifida for its potential medicinal applications, the total flavonoid extract of P. multifida (PME) was processed and characterized, as well as evaluation of anti-BPH effect of PME. Results and conclusions: High performance liquor chromatography and mass spectrometer assay revealed 10 flavonoids, including apigenin-7-O-β-d-glucose-4′-O-α-l-rhamnoside (1), luteolin-7-O-β-dglucose (2) and apigenin-7-O-β-d-glucose (3) as key constituents of PME. Biological evaluation of PME against BPH was then conducted on a testosterone-induced BPH mice model, and the results were listed in Table 1. After 60-day administration, PME (180 mg/kg, i. g.) decreased the prostate index in BPH mice apparently. Immunohistochemical assay revealed inhibition of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression, together with activation of transforming growth factorbeta 1 (TGF-β 1 ) expression in the prostatic samples administrated by PME. A 90-day subchronic toxicity test was further undertaken in male Sprague-Dawley rats, and the no-observed-adverse-effect level for PME was 200 mg/kg BW/day. These results revealed that PME exhibited anti-BPH potential with safe, which might be applied in treatment of BPH [1].

Photooxidation degradation of phytochemicals in food: A review
Acknowledgements: This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. U1603124 and 81460634), and Jiangsu Provincial Science and Technology Commission (BE2011671).  Background: Uridine-disphosphate glucuronosyltransferase 1A1 (UGT1A1), one of the most important phase II conjugative enzymes, plays key role in the elimination and detoxification of a host of potentially harmful compounds (such as bilirubin) and clinical drugs (such as etoposide and diethylstilbestrol). Therefore, it is of great significance to systematically evaluate the inhibitory effects of natural products in dietary supplements (such as flavonoids) against human UGT1A1 [1,2]. A previous study by us has developed a specific fluorescent probe (NCHN) for UGT1A1, This study aimed to explore the structure-inhibition relationships of flavonoids against human UDP-glucuronosyltransferase UGT1A1 using a high-throughput screening method. Methods: More than thirty natural flavonoids have been collected and assayed with the probe NCHN which can be used for high-throughput screening (HTS) and characterization of UGT1A1 inhibitors by using human liver microsomes (HLM) and UGT1A1 as the enzyme source in this paper [3]. To research the effect of inhibition against UGT1A1 mediated NCHN-O-glucuronidation in HLM, and select the suitable concentration of inhibitor (flavonoids) to determine the IC 50 value; According to the IC 50 value, the compounds which has the strongest inhibitory effect (IC 50 <5 μmol L −1 ) would be the chosen to proceed the next study; The single enzymes and HLM were used as enzyme sources, respectively. With the IC 50 value and the suitable concentration of substrate which determined by enzyme kinetics, the compound inhibited glucuronyl transferase enzyme inhibition kinetics experiment was studied to determine the inhibition constants K i of the compound and its inhibit competitive type, respectively. At the same time it seems to be more inclined to develop flavonone as novel flavonoid drugs for the pharmaceutical chemists. All these findings were extraordinary helpful for us to explore the potential structure-inhibition relationships about flavonoids as UGT1A1 inhibitors, which was also very useful to designing and developing more potent flavonoid-type inhibitors against UGT1A1 for the pharmaceutical chemists, as well as for the development of novel flavonoid drugs with improved safety profiles. Keywords: Flavonoids; UGT1A1; Structure-inhibition relationship; High-throughput screening.

Results
Background: Debaryomyces hansenii, which was isolated from food or intestinal contents of experimental mice, was identified as a halotolerant yeast with a high biotechnological potential, particularly in food industry. It has been demonstrated that Debaryomyces hansenii adjusts the microecosystem balance and has curative effect on antibiotic-induced diarrhea. Our objective was to investigate the influence of Debaryomyces hansenii treatment on intestinal microorganisms of mice with symptom of antibiotics-induced diarrhea. Materials and methods: Eighteen specific pathogen free (SPF) mice were randomly selected into three groups: healthy control group, diarrhea control group and diarrhea treated group. Mice model with antibiotic-induced diarrhea was constructed by gavaging mixed antibiotics (23.33 mL kg −1 day −1 ) composed of gentamycin sulfate and cefradine for 5 days. After the success of modeling, mice were treated with D. hansenii by intragastric administration. In the control group, mice were given steriled water. Four days after treatment, total DNA of intestinal microflora of treated and control mice was extracted, and Conclusion: All these findings are not only useful for guiding reasonable applications of GNA and its related medical preparations, but also important in laying out the foundation for further in vivo investigations on the HDIs risks caused by GNA-associated inhibition against human UGTs. GNA is an Broad-spectrum inhibitor against most UGTs (Fig. 1).
Background: Pesticides have been used as a major means of pest control for nearly a century in agriculture for higher-yield and higherquality crop. However, it has been clear that extended exposure to pesticides would harm to environment and human health. For instance, it was reported that extended exposed of anabasine (ANA) caused different degree of toxic signs, and even resulted in the fetal cleft palates in pregnant goats [1,2]. In this study, we aimed to investigate the binding behaviors between cucurbit [7]uril (CB [7]) and ANA, and examine the influence of CB [7]'s encapsulation on the toxicity of the pesticide.

Materials and methods:
The chemical behaviors between CB [7] and ANA were examined by 1 H NMR, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), UV-visible absorbance spectroscopy, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), and molecular modeling. Zebrafish embryos were selected as in vivo models to investigate the toxicity. Results: 1 H NMR, ESI-MS, as well as ITC suggested that ANA formed 1:1 binding complexes with CB [7], with a relatively strong binding affinity (10 5 M −1 ). Regarding the toxicity of the pesticide, as shown in Fig. 1A, compared with the control group, the viable hatching rate of embryos treated with 300 μM ANA was significantly lower, (ca. 20%), suggesting dramatic embryonic toxicity of ANA. In contrast, a much higher hatching rate (ca. 90%) was observed when ANA was encapsulated by CB [7]. Similar trend was observed in the survival rate of embryos treated with a variety of concentrations of ANA in the absence and in the presence of CB [7] (Fig. 1B). Moreover, relatively high concentrations (200-300 μM) of ANA induced serious physical malformations during the embryonic development, including retarded growth, yolk sac edema, spinal deformation, and yolk sac deformity and tail malformation. In contrast, in the presence of CB [7], the treated embryos didn't show any obvious malformation compared with the free ANA group. The results demonstrated that CB [7] can decrease the teratogenic effect caused by ANA.  Background: Dietary fiber (DF), defined as "edible parts of plants or analogous carbohydrate that are resistant to digestion and absorption in the human small intestine with complete or partial fermentation in the large intestine" [1], is abundant in plant products such as fruits, vegetables, and grains. DF has attracted increasing interests in recent years as many studies have revealed that it might be involved in disease preventive and health promotive activities, including attenuation of blood cholesterol and glucose, laxative effect and reduction of risk of colon cancer, heart disease and obesity [2,3]. Materials and methods: Wine grape pomace dietary fiber (DF) powders was prepared by superfine grinding, whose effects were investigated on the composition, functional and antioxidant properties of the wine grape pomace DF products. The antioxidant activities of wine grape pomace and DF before and after grinding were in terms of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, 2,2′-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiozoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) radical scavenging activity, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and total phenolic content (TPC).

Results:
The results showed that superfine grinding could effectively pulverize the fiber particles to submicron scale. As particle size decrease, the functional properties (water holding capacity, water retention capacity, swelling capacity, oil binding capacity and nitrite ion absorption capacity) of wine grape pomace DF were significantly (p < 0.05) decreased and a redistribution of fiber components from insoluble to soluble fractions was observed. Conclusions: Compared with DF before and after grinding, micronized insoluble DF showed increased ABTS radical scavenging activity, ferric reducing antioxidant power and TPC yet decreased DPPH radical scavenging activity. Positive correlations were detected between ABTS radical scavenging activity, FRAP and TPC.

Conclusions:
The results suggested that kidney beans could be a potential dietary source of certain health-promoting compounds including protein, dietary fiber, resistant starch, anthocyanins and antioxidants. Notes: This article named "Nutrients, phytochemicals and antioxidant activities of 26 kidney bean cultivars" has been included by the Food Chemical and Toxicology on its special issue on phytochemicals in medicine and food. It is caused by either the body can't produce enough insulin or the body can't effectively respond to the produced insulin. Natural products have played an important role in DM treatment due to multi-components and multi-targets to produce combined or synergistic effects. Network pharmacology approach, integrating network biology and pharmacology, is introduced to study DM, which can combine the drugs, target proteins and disease and form drug-target-disease networks [1]. It has been widely used in the studies of the bioactive compounds and action mechanisms of natural products for the treatment of DM. Results: Natural extracts, polysaccharides and polyphenols are the main components used to DM therapy. Super Natural II, NAPRALERT, Chemical Entities of Biological Interest and DrugBank are the related databases. The action mechanisms related to type 2 DM (T2DM) include α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory, targeting β cell dysfunction, targeting signal pathways [2][3][4][5][6][7][8] (AMPK, PI3K/Akt, mTOR, JAK-STAT, ROS-ERK-NF-κB, Wnt and IGF-1 signal pathways) (Fig. 1) and Fig. 1 Summary of signal pathways related to diabetes mellitus modulation of gut microbiota. T2D-Db, T2DGADB and T2D@ZJU, the databases related to DM, were developed to integrate these information. The high availability of databases provides new opportunities for data integration and can be used to predict the target network of the bioactive constituents. Network pharmacology has been widely applied on the treatment of DM. Based on network pharmacology, the mechanisms of Ge-Gen-Qin-Lian decoction and Tangminling Pills used to the treatment of T2DM were elucidated.

Conclusions:
The appropriate use of network pharmacology may initiate new directions, overcome the disadvantages of current antidiabetic therapies as well as contribute new insights into the discovery of novel antidiabetic drugs.

Background:
The work was based on in vitro evaluation of radical scavenging ability and antioxidant action of yunnaneic acid B, isolated from Pulmonaria officinalis L. The term "yunnaneic acids" is a collective name of several oligomeric derivatives of caffeic and rosmarinic acids, originally identified in Salvia yunnanesis. Yunnaneic acid B (C 54 H 46 O 25 ) is a dimer of yunnaneic acid C, (being a complex of caffeic acid and the Diels-Alder adduct of rosmarinic acid). Contrary to numerous studies on biological activities of caffeic and rosmarinic acids, physiological effects of yunnaneic acid(s), including their activity in the cardiovascular system, have not been described yet.

Materials and methods:
The methanol extract from aerial parts of P. officinalis L. was investigated for phytochemical constituents. It was purified in a stepwise manner by different chromatographic methods. The extract was first applied to preconditioned RP-C18 column (80 × 100 mm, Cosmosil 140 C 18 -PREP, 140 µm), followed by removal of polar constituents (like sugars and simple organic acids), while flavonoids and other phenolic compounds were eluted with 50% methanol. This fraction was directed to further purification by low-pressure chromatography on Sephadex LH-20 column (48 × 400 mm), as well as reversed phase column (32 × 300 mm, Cosmosil 40 C 18 -PREP, 40 µm), followed by semi-preparative RP-HPLC (10 × 250 mm, Atlantis T3 Prep OBD, 5 µm). The chromatographic separation yielded a cream-colored substance, subsequently identified by means of HR-QTOF-MS/MS and NMR techniques and comparison with literature data [1] as yunnaneic acid B. Measurements of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH • ) reduction and H 2 O 2 -scavenging efficacy indicated on considerable antioxidant potency of yunnaneic acid B. At its concentrations ≤10 µg/ ml, about 69% of the radical reduction and 35% of H 2 O 2 scavenging were observed. Antioxidant action of yunnaneic acid B (1-50 µg/mL) was also evaluated using a biological experimental system of blood plasma in vitro, exposed to 100-200 μM peroxynitrite-induced oxidative stress. Results: Yunnaneic acid B effectively diminished oxidative damage of blood plasma lipids (up to 60 and 90% inhibition of lipid hydroperoxides and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances generation, respectively). Furthermore, under oxidative stress, it was able to prevent the peroxynitrite-induced decrease of non-enzymatic antioxidant capacity of blood plasma (also measured with the use of DPPH • radical), and even, to strengthen the antioxidant potential of blood plasma (by about 25%, when compared to control/untreated blood plasma).
Conclusions: This is the first study confirming the presence of yunnaneic acid B in P. officinalis as well as in the Boraginaceae family. The examined acid significantly reduced effects of peroxynitrite-induced oxidant stress and enhanced antioxidant potential of blood plasma in vitro.
Background: Sargassum thunbergii, which belongs to the family of Sargassum, has been traditionally used as an edible and medicinal seaweed in China for a long time [1]. The polysaccharides extracted from S. thunbergii have been found to exhibit versatile bioactivities, such as antioxidant, immunomodulatory, and antitumor activities [2]. In recent years, considerable research has shown that non-digestible polysaccharides conferred prebiotic effects by modulating the intestinal health [3]. Up to now, little information is available on the hypoglycemic and prebiotic functions of polysaccharides from S. pallidum (SPP). Therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate the preliminary structure, hypoglycemic and prebiotic properties of SPP. . AFM analysis showed that ST-P2 exhibited a short chain conformation with branched structure. The results of in vitro hypoglycemic assay showed that ST-P2 exhibited effective inhibitory effect on α-glucosidase α-glucosidase activity, and could significantly promote pancreatic cell proliferation and insulin secretion of RIN-m5f cells [4]. In addition, in vitro fermentation assay showed that ST-P2 resulted in pH decline of fecal culture and a significant increase in the production of total short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), and especially acetic, propionic, n-butyric and n-valeric acids. Furthermore, ST-P2 significantly enhanced beneficial Bacteroidetes population, and inhibited the harmful Firmicutes population [5]. Conclusions: Overall, these results suggest that ST-P2 could potentially be exploixed as a novel hypoglycemic and prebiotic ingredient in functional food and pharmacological fields. Background: The wine-making industries produce millions of tons of residues (grape pomace) after fermentation, which represents a waste management issue both ecologically and economically [1]. In the process of grape juicing and brewing red wine will generate a lot of byproducts such as grape seeds and grape skins [2]. These byproducts are rich in bioactive phytochemicals and dietary fibers. The tannin and protein of byproducts contains a very high nutritional value and keeping health function.

Materials and methods:
This study discusses the method of the organic solvent extraction to extract tannins and alkali fusion protein extraction process.

Results:
The experimental results showed that: the best conditions of extracting tannins from grape seed are: the volume fraction of ethanol is 51.70%, the extraction time is 3.08 h, the extraction temperature 61.88 °C. Under this conditions the extraction rate of tannin is up to 6.15%; the best conditions of extracting protein from grape seed are: the extraction time is 48.02 min, the extraction temperature is 60.89 °C, and the solid-liquid ratio is 1:32. Under this conditions the extraction rate of protein is up to 3.24%.
Conclusions: This method could be useful to the development of industrial extraction processes. Background: Stenoloma chusanum (L.) Ching is known as a traditional Chinese medicinal fern. It has been reported for its high flavonoid content, strong antioxidant potentials, and biological activities including detoxification, hemostasis, antibacterial and anti-cancer effects, etc [1]. However, the previous works mainly focus on the crude extract and there are few data on the exact components of S. chusanum and their intrinsical biological activities. Hence, the purpose of this work is to identify its chemical components and isolate the active compounds and explore their biological activities.

Materials and methods:
The 80% ethanol extract of S. chusanum (L.) Ching (7.8 kg) was extracted sequentially using petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, dichloromethane and n-butyl alcohol. The ethyl acetate extract was isolated via chromatography eluting with hexane and ethyl acetate in a gradient concentration. Pure compounds were obtained by further purification of silica gel column chromatography, and/or crystallization, medium pressure preparative liquid chromatography (MPLC) and highspeed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC). Results: Five compounds were obtained and their structures were identified by means of chemical evidence, spectral analysis ('H-NMR, 13 C-NMR). They are confirmed as vanillic acid, syringic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, ethyl caffeate and protocatechualdehyde. Among the five compounds, cinnamic acid and ethyl caffeate were isolated from the plants of S. chusanum for the first time.  Background: The structural differences of flavonoids significantly affect their absorption, metabolism and activity [1]. As a widely distributed plant, the lotus leaf was becoming popular as a kind of drink like tea especially in herbal formulations [2]. Flavonoids are main functional components of lotus leaf and many of them was identified including isoquercetin, hyperin, kaempferol, astragalin, myricetin and so on [3][4][5]. Materials and methods: The interactions between flavonoids in lotus leaf and two kinds of serum albumin (human serum albumin and bovine serum albumin, HSA and BSA) and the DPPH free radical scavenging activities were carried out by spectroscopic methods. Eleven flavonoids reported existing in lotus leaf were selected as the research samples. And the relationship between the molecular properties of flavonoids and their affinities for HSA and BSA were also analyzed. Results: It showed that the hydroxylation might decrease or increase the affinities for HSA and BSA depending on the conjunction sites. The methoxylation on 3′ position might also decrease the affinities for HSA and BSA. The glycosylation decreases the DPPH free radical scavenging activities of flavonoids and lowers the affinities for HSA and BSA depending on the type of sugar moiety. The hydrogenation of the C 2 -C 3 double bond of apigenin and quercetin decreases both the affinities for HSA and BSA and DPPH activities. Conclusion: The molecular property-affinity relationship reveals that the hydrogen bond force plays an important role in binding flavonoids to HSA and BSA. The DPPH activity generally increase with the increasing affinities of flavonoids for serum albumins (Fig. 1).
Background: Grains of paradise (Aframomum melegueta K. Schum) has been a popularly used spice in most of African food preparation. Our previous study showed that ethyl acetate fraction from crude ethanolic extract inhibited α-amylase and α-glucosidase actions, improved pancreatic β-cell damage and ameliorated insulin resistance in diabetic rats [1]. Additionally, 6-Gingerol, 6-shogaol, 6-paradol and oleanolic acid are shown to be the compounds responsible for the antidiabetic action of Grains of paradise [2]. However, detail antioxidant potential of this spice in diabetic animal model has not yet been reported. Thus, the present study investigates the effect of oral consumption of Grains of paradise fruit on the in vivo antioxidant status of type 2 diabetes (T2D) model of rats. Materials and methods: The extraction and subsequent fractionation was carried out according to the method as reported previously [3]. T2D was induced in rats by feeding a 10% fructose solution ad libitum for 2 weeks followed by a single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (40 mg/kg body weight (bw)). The animals were orally administered with 150 (DGPL) or 300 mg/kg bw (DGPH) of the fraction once daily for 4 weeks. Data were analyzed by using a statistical software package (SPSS for Win-dows, version 22, IBM Corporation, NY, USA) using Tukey's-HSD multiple range post hoc test. Values were considered significantly different at p < 0.05. Results: After 4 weeks of intervention, diabetic untreated animals showed significantly (p < 0.05) elevation of blood glucose levels (Fig. 1). The levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were observed to increase with concomitant reduction of reduced glutathione (GSH) levels in the serum and organs (liver, kidney, heart and pancreas) of diabetic untreated animals. The activities of endogenous antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase and reductase) were greatly reduced in the serum and organs of diabetic untreated animals compared to the normal animals (Fig. 2). These alterations were reverted to near-normal after the intake of Grains of paradise fruit in the treated groups (DGPL & DGPH) within the study period, especially at the dose of 300 mg/kg bw. This potent antioxidant action may partly be attributed to the presence of the 6-Gingerol, 6-shogaol and 6-paradol are known to be potent antioxidant [4].

Conclusions:
The results of our study showed that Grains of paradise intake improved the antioxidant status of a T2D rats and therefore could be used to ameliorate diabetes-induced oxidative damage. Fig. 1 The quenching ratio (F/F 0 ) of (a) HSA and (b) BSA fluorescences with addition of apigenin, naringenin, luteolin, quercetin, taxifolin, isorhamnetin, hyperoside, kaempferol, astragalin, isoquercitrin and rutin Fig. 1 Weekly serum blood glucose levels

Fig. 2 Levels of serum and tissues antioxidant parameters
Background: The plasma protein binding (PPB) is an unavoidable process after a drug being distributed in circulating blood. PPB rate is a thermodynamic value which is measured the binding percentage in the steady state [1]. The structure-affinity relationship of polyphenols binding to human serum albumin (HSA) had been widely reported. Previous research mainly focused on the combining strength of the structural properties of selected dietary flavonoids and HSA. However, few articles have paid close attention to the relationship between flavonoids' structure and their PPB affinity. Herein, we elucidated the protein binding of selected flavonoids and chose high performance affinity chromatography to determine the PPB affinities of flavonoids to HSA. Materials and methods: All the flavonoids standard of different structures were dissolved with chromatographic grade of dimethyl sulfoxide. The molarity of each standard is 10 −3 M. All the flavonoids standard were stored in low temperature refrigerator for use. The 50 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) consisted of 25 mM KH 2 PO 4 and 25 mM K 2 HPO 4 . MilliQ water was used to dissolve the buffer and phosphoric acid was used to adjust the value of pH. Degassing the buffer 15 min for use. HPAC was performed by using a Thermo Fisher HPLC (Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA) with a 1525 binary pump, a 717 plus autosampler, a 2487 dual wavelength absorbance detector set at the detection wavelength of 210/270/280/360 nm respectively. Data collection and integration were accomplished by using Chameleon software version 7.1. Analysis was performed on a CHIRAL-HSA column (150 × 4 nm I.D., 5.0 μm particle size; Daicel chiral Tech Co., Ltd., Japan). Results: The flavonoids with hydroxyl on ring A showed a higher PPB affinity compared those without hydroxyl on ring A. However, the hydroxylation of ring B lowered the PPB affinity. It was found that an additional methoxy group in ring A of flavones could decrease PPB affinity. Nevertheless, the methoxy group in ring A (position 6) of flavanone and ring B (position 4′) of isoflavone increased the PPB affinity. Methyl group at other positions of flavonoids slightly enhanced or little affected the PPB affinity. Hydrogenation of C 2 =C 3 double bond and glycosylation decreased the PPB affinity. Conclusions: In contrast, we found that the flavonoids with different structures their protein binding rates were also different. Background: Previously, we have synthesized a phthalimide analogue 4-hydroxy-2-(4-hydroxyphenethyl) isoindoline-1,3-dione (PD1), which showed good PPAR-γ agonist activity [1,2]. Since one of the functions of PPAR-γ is suppression of inflammatory responses, the present study aimed to investigate anti-inflammatory activity of PD1. Methods: Transcriptions of mRNA were determined by reverse transcriptase-PCR. Inflammatory protein expressions were determined by ELISA and western blot method. Results: In lipopolysaccharide(LPS)-stimulated marine macrophage RAW264.7 cells, PD1 suppressed the induction of pro-inflammatory factors including inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), nitric oxide (NO), cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukine 1β (IL-1β), and interleukine 6 (IL-6) in both mRNA level and protein level. In parallel, PD1 enhanced expression of anti-inflammatory factors such as arginase-1 and interleukine 10 (IL-10). PD1 simultaneously suppressed LPS-evoked nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) p65 subunit phosphorylation in macrophages. The anti-inflammatory mechanism of PD1 is proposed to be the inhibition of NF-κB pathway. In subsequent in vivo animal experiment employing carrageenan-induced acute inflammatory paw edema model, PD1 showed significant reduction in paw swelling. Histological analysis of tissue sections revealed reduction of cellular infiltration of immune cells in PD1-treated groups. Conclusions: These findings suggest that PD1 may serve as a lead for anti-inflammatory therapeutics. Background: Among the many biologically active constituents of Ganoderma, the triterpenoids have been shown to have hypoglycemic effects, enhanced immunity, liver protection, anti-cancer, hypolipidemic and health. Materials and methods: The regulation mechanism of Ganoderma triterpenes (GP) on lipid metabolism was studied in wistar rats with the disturbance in the lipid metabolism. The effects of GP on gut microbiota composition was analyzed by 16S rRNA(V3-V4 region) high-throughput sequencing (HTS) in caecal faeces and regulation mechanism on the lipid metabolism in rats with high-fat and highcarbohydrate diet was elucidated by the liver tissue transcriptase sequencing analysis based on the Illumina high-throughput sequencing platform. Results: The weight of Wistar rats fed with 8 weeks of high-fat diet was significantly higher than the control group (NFD) (p < 0.05), The weight gain of different doses of GP group (GP50, GP100, GP150) were significantly slower than model group (HFD) (P < 0.01). the animal serum levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), glutamate pyruvate transaminase (ALT), glutamic oxalacetic transaminase (AST) and free fatty acid (FFA) in GP150 was significantly lower than those the HFD, and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was higher than that in HFD. Antioxidant enzymes in liver tissue of experimental rats were analyzed, the levels of methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) of GP50, GP100 and GP150 group were significantly decreased respectively compared with the HFD (P < 0.01), glutathion peroxidase (GSH-PX) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in GP150 were significantly increased (P < 0.01). High-fat diet can lead to significantly increase the abundance of Akkermansia, Lactobacillus, Nosocomiicoccus, Odoribacter, Oligella and Anaeroplasma. On the other hand, decreased in the abundance of Collinsella, Enterococcus, Desulfovibrio and so on. The liver tissue of each experimental group was subjected to transcriptome sequencing analysis based on Illumina high-throughput sequencing platform, and the differentially expressed genes were analyzed by GO enrichment and KEGG enrichment. It was found that the differentially expressed genes were mainly enriched in PPAR signaling pathway, Biosynthesis of amino acids, Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, Type II diabetes mellitus and AMPK signaling pathway compared with the model group. The differentially expressed genes closely related to lipid metabolism mainly include Gk2, MEF, Scd1, IRS1IRM, SREBP-1c, PKL, Jun, IRS1IRM, Tkfc, PKL, Gadd45, enoyl -CaA hydratase, Hadhsc, Cyp2c70, Acaa2, Cyp4a11, RT1-A, Ins1, HRSL3, Phlpb, Fadsd6, Muscpho, Xbp1 and pe-CoA compared with the model group, these differentially expressed genes play a vital role in the corresponding signaling pathways, and regulate the body's lipid synthesis transport.

Study of regulation mechanism of
Background: Ganoderma atrum, a member of the genus Ganoderma, is an edible and medicinal fungus. The polysaccharide is regarded as the major bioactive substances in G. atrum. G. atrum polysaccharide (PSG-1) has been discovered many bioactivities. However, the effect of PSG-1 on dendritic cells (DCs) is still not clear. It is necessary to understand the bioactivity of PSG-1 on DCs. This study aimed to reveal the direct stimulation activity and indirect effect of PSG-1 on DCs. Materials and methods: DCs and T cells were generated from bone marrow cells and separated from spleen respectively. Flow cytometric, ELISA analysis and mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) were adopted to analysis cell surface molecule expression, cytokines production and the ability of DCs to promote proliferation of splenic T lymphocyte of mouse, respectively. Western blot analysis was employed to investigate the phosphorylation of p38, ERK and JNK. The indirect effect on DCs was studied by using a DCs-Caco-2 co-culture model in vitro. Background: Eurycoma longifolia is a tropical plant widely distributed in Southeast Asia [1]. As a traditional herbal medicine, it is used to treat fever, fatigue, dysentery, etc. In the present study, we aimed to isolate natural products from the roots of E. Longifolia via high-speed countercurrent chromatography (HSCCC), a highly efficient chromatographic technique widely used on isolation of phytochemicals [2]. Materials and methods: Around 30 g of methonalic extracts were obtained from 1 kg of dried root of E. Longifolia. The extracts were subjected to silica chromatography, eluting with petroleum ether with increased amount of ethyl acetate to provide 230 fractions. Among them, fractions 118-119 contained of polyacetylenes and were then subjected to HSCCC for further purification. A two-phase solvent system of hexane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water at a volume ratio of 5/2/5/2 was applied to separate a series of analogues. Then the whole mobile and stationary phase was blown out, concentrated, and subjected to second HSCCC purification with a solvent system at a volume ratio of 6/1/6/1.2. Results: 19 mg of longifolione A, 9 mg of longifolione B and 317 mg of longifolione C were yielded in the first step. 5 mg of longifolione D and 33 mg of longifolione E were obtained in the second step. The structures of these five compounds were identified by 1D and 2D NMR, HRMS and specific rotation. Conclusions: HSCCC method was applied to purify five new polysacetylenes from E. longifolia. All of these compounds are isolated from E. longifolia for the first time.

Results
Background: Polyphenols are one of the most abundant antioxidants in human daily diets and are one of the most common, most universal second metabolites found in various tissues of plants [1]. Diabetes complications are mainly caused by the accumulation of sorbitol. Under the action of NADPH coenzyme, aldose reductase can catalyze the conversion of glucose to sorbitol [2]. Therefore, aldose reductase is a key enzyme in polyol metabolism, but also an important ratelimiting enzyme. Dietary polyphenols, as important aldose reductase inhibitors, have attracted the attention of scholars. Herein, the structure-activity relationship of dietary polyphenols as aldose reductase inhibitors was investigated [3]. Materials and methods: Human recombinant aldose reductase (HRAR) activity was measured following the method developed by Halder et al. [4]. The reaction mixture was mixed by the order as followed: 146 μL of 67 mM (pH 6.2) sodium phosphate buffer contained 0.4 M Li 2 SO 4 , 24 μL of different concentrations of DMSO and inhibitors, 20 μL of 3 mM NADPH, 25 μL of diluted HRAR. After it was incubated for 10 min in 37 °C, immediately, 10 μL of dl-glyceraldehyde as a substrate was added to start the reaction. The HRAR activity was examined by measuring the decrease of NADPH absorption at 340 nm, and the dynamic absorbance was recorded for 10 min at intervals of 30 s. The concentration of inhibitors represented by the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC 50 ) were calculated by the least-squares regression line that the concentration plotted against the residual activity. Background: Polyphenols are one of the most abundant antioxidants in human daily diets and are one of the most common, most universal second metabolites found in various tissues of plants [1]. Diabetes complications are mainly caused by the accumulation of sorbitol. Under the action of NADPH coenzyme, aldose reductase can catalyze the conversion of glucose to sorbitol [2]. Therefore, aldose reductase is a key enzyme in polyol metabolism, but also an important ratelimiting enzyme. Dietary polyphenols, as important aldose reductase inhibitors, have attracted the attention of scholars. Herein, the structure-activity relationship of dietary polyphenols as aldose reductase inhibitors was investigated [3]. Materials and methods: Human recombinant aldose reductase (HRAR) activity was measured following the method developed by Halder et al. [4]. The reaction mixture was mixed by the order as followed: 146 μL of 67 mM (pH 6.2) sodium phosphate buffer contained 0.4 M Li 2 SO 4 , 24 μL of different concentrations of DMSO and inhibitors, 20 μL of 3 mM NADPH, 25 μL of diluted HRAR. After it was incubated for 10 min in 37 °C, immediately, 10 μL of DL-glyceraldehyde as a substrate was added to start the reaction. The HRAR activity was examined by measuring the decrease of NADPH absorption at 340 nm, and the dynamic absorbance was recorded for 10 min at intervals of 30 s. The concentration of inhibitors represented by the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC 50 ) was calculated by the least-squares regression line that the concentration plotted against the residual activity. Background: Selaginella doederleinii, belonging to the genus Selaginella, is widely distributed in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces of mainland China [1]. Traditionally, the whole plant has been used as a folk medicine to treat some kinds of cancers, sore throat and rheumatoid arthritis [2]. In our previous work, some unique flavonoids were reported in this plant [3][4][5]. As part of ongoing search for novel and bioactive flavones from this genus, 75% aqueous ethanol extract from the whole herbs of Selaginella doederleinii was isolated. Materials and methods: The whole herbs of S. doederleinii were collected in the town of Wutong, Lingui district, Guangxi, China, in July 2013 and authenticated by Prof. ZhenJi Li (Xiamen University, Xiamen, China). A botanical specimen of this species (20130710) was deposited at the Xiangya School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Central South University. Structures of 1-5 were determined by extensive spectroscopic methods including NMR and HRMS. All compounds were evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxicity against three human cancer cell lines A549, MCF-7, and SMMC-7721. The cytotoxicity assay was performed using MTT (3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) method in 96-well microplates [6]. Results: A new biflavone, doederbiflavone A (1), together with four known ones (2)(3)(4)(5) were isolated from S. doederleinii (Fig. 1). Compound 1 features a unique dimeric skeleton with apigenin and chrysin units, which was first discovered in nature, and exhibited significant cytotoxicity against A549 with IC 50 value of 1.78 μM. Conclusions: Compound 1 may be a promising compound for treating lung cancer.
Background: In many countries, the prevalence of metabolic disease has attained epidemic proportions because of cardiovascular complications and mortality. A metabolic syndrome is associated with risk from 5 factors: abdominal (central) obesity, elevated blood pressure, elevated plasma glucose, high serum triglycerides, and low highdensity lipoprotein levels. Treatment is focused on reduction of the risk of heart disease by lowering LDL cholesterol and reducing high blood pressure, and then on treatment of diabetes. Very important is a reduction in weight by proper diet and exercise [1]. Results: Beneficial effects of hop phenolic compounds for diabetic patients consist of improving blood glucose and lipid profiles, and reducing insulin resistance. Phenolic compounds exert antiobesity effects that are closely linked with antioxidant effects, through their ability to modulate lipid and energy metabolism and thus enable weight loss and reduce obesity. Regulation of cholesterol metabolism by phenolic compounds may reduce certain factors linked with hypercholesterolemia and dyslipidemia. Prenylflavonoids such as xanthohumol have been demonstrated to have strong antiobesity activities including the ability to inhibit diacylglycerol acyltransferase in rat liver, to inhibit triglyceride transport using a HepG2 cell line, and to inhibit the secretion of apolipoprotein B, the main constituent of Fig. 1 Effects of UIOPC on the treatment of liver, pancreas and kidney damages in STZ-induced diabetic mice and its toxicity evaluation in normal mice. A Liver; B Pancreas; C Kidney; D Toxicity evaluation the cholesterol LDL fraction. Therapeutic potential of polyphenols as treatment for obesity is also associated with the ability to inhibit α-glucosidase, an enzyme that controls blood glucose levels [1,2]. Isoα-acids are able to improve health by influencing lipid metabolism, glucose tolerance, and body weight. Diabetic mice treated with isoα-acids showed reduced plasma glucose, triglyceride, and free fatty acid levels by 65.3, 62.6, and 73.1%, respectively. When mice were fed hop iso-α-acids in their diet, with high levels of cholesterol, an increase in plasma HDL-cholesterol and a reduction in cholesterol and triacylglycerol content in the liver were observed. The modulatory effect of iso-α-acids on lipid metabolism may also be responsible for lost body weight [1].  Background: 'Fuju' (Citrus reticulata Blanco) is a traditional Chinese citrus cultivar, which has been well-accepted by consumers due to its attractive peel colour, pleasant flavors and healthy benefits. The cultivation of 'Fuju' was reducing every year, due to the relatively poor fruit quality. Cross-pollination was reported to be an effective method to increase the fruit yield of citrus cultivars suffering from inadequate yield [1,2]. In our previous study, cross-pollination by 'Murcott' tangor (Citrus reticulata Blanco × Citrus sinensis Osbeck) was found to have a potential of improving the fruit quality of 'Fuju' . The present study aimed to investigate the effect of cross-pollination by 'Murcott' tangor on the 'Fuju' fruit qualities, including physicochemical properties, phytochemicals and antioxidant capacities.

Materials and methods:
Fifteen fruit samples were randomly chosen from self-pollination (SP) and cross-pollination (CP) 'Fuju' trees. The physicochemical properties, including fruit weight, juice yield, total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA) and Vitamin C, as well as the phytochemicals, including total polyphenolic and carotenoid contents, were determined. Antioxidant capacities, including the free radical-scavenging and total antioxidant capacities, were measured. High-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method was used to identify and quantify three sugars (sucrose, glucose and fructose). Results: Among the physicochemical properties, there were no significant differences on the fruit weight, juice yield and Vitamin C content between CP and SP fruits. However, TSS of CP fruits increased from 11.08 ± 1.12% (SP) to 13.70 ± 1.27%, while TA decreased from 0.81 ± 0.06% (SP) to 0.68 ± 0.03%. The results of HPLC analysis of three sugars indicated that the sum of sugars of CP fruits was significantly higher than that of SP fruits, which were mainly contributed by the increase of fructose and sucrose. The cross-pollination exhibit no effect on the carotenoid content, while the total polyphenolic content of CP fruits was 287.36 ± 16.21 mg/L, which was significantly higher than that of SP fruits (216.14 ± 13.45 mg/L). CP fruits showed higher free radical-scavenging and total antioxidant capacities with the similar trend as the total polyphenolic content. Background: Dietary fiber consumption has been proved to be strongly associated with the beneficial effects on lipid profile, blood sugar levels, bowel function and prevention of certain chronic diseases [1]. Bamboo shoots have been consumed as a nutritious and healthy food for a long history, especially in the Asia. Due to the short storage period, most of fresh bamboo shoots are processed to various kinds of food products, which generates huge quantity bamboo shoot shells (BSS) as by-products without any utilization. In our previous studies, BSS could not only be a natural source for the extraction of polysaccharides [2], but also a potential source for dietary fiber production with relatively low costs.

Conclusions:
In conclusion, PRM3 can enhance the immune function and is a promising candidate of immunopotentiator applied in functional foods or drugs.

Background:
The remedies, prepared contrary to the classical eastern medicine (Tibb) and homeopathy practices, containing ingredients discontinued in the modern medicine are supposed to be an overlie to allopathy, hence may not devoid of claimed safety of these systems of treatment. To unearthing the fact, the present study describes reserpine-based equivalence of two most commonly used poly-ingredient antihypertensive herbal and homeopathic preparations containing roots of Rauwolfia serpentina L. (Benth.) ex kruz (family: Apocynaceae). Materials and methods: A simple analytical method developed for the determination of reserpine using a combined TLC and HPLC approach was applied to investigate the remedies. The standards/ samples drugs were applied band-wise on TLC plate, separately, and developed with mobile phase, chloroform: methanol (2:1, v/v). The air-dried plates were then placed in an oven at 100 °C for 10 min and viewed at 254 nm. The bands were scratched and silica gel was eluted with 5 mL methanol. The solvent was evaporated and the residue was reconstituted with 1 mL mobile phase. Each sample/standard solution (20 µL) was eluted through column-Eclipse X DB-C18 (5 µm, 4.6 × 150 mm)-using isocratic mobile phase comprising phosphate buffer (0.01 M): acetonitrile (65:35, v/v) adjusted to pH 3.0 with orthophosphoric acid, at flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The temperature of the column was maintained at 25 °C and detection was carried out using FLD detector; 280 nm excitation and 360 nm emission. The peaks were identified by comparing retention time to that of the standard. Calibration curve was constructed between concentration and peak area for the quantification of the reserpine in samples.

Results:
The extract of the roots and the two remedies were found to contain equivalent amount of reserpine.

Conclusions:
The results of the present study indicate that such eastern and homeopathic remedies containing extracts and undiluted stocks need to be monitored like allopathic drugs to avoid toxic effects of reserpine. Background: The complex biochemical composition of Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb has been studied as a source of biological components with health-related properties. The present study was interested in its α-glucosidase inhibition effect, and identifying the inhibitors. Materials and methods: Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb sample was extracted and separated with hexane fraction (HF), ethyl acetate fraction (EtOAc) and n-butyl alcohol fraction (BF). And each fraction was evaluated for its inhibition effect on α-glucosidase and inhibitors were identified using bioactivity-guided isolation. Results: The ethyl acetate (EtOAc) fraction of A. pilosa Ledeb showed strong α-glucosidase inhibitory effect. Especially, due to its selectivity towards α-glucosidase, the ethylacetate (EtOAc) fraction was chosen for further study on A. pilosa Ledeb. Ten compounds as main active constituents, K1-K10 were isolated and identified as agrimonolide Background: Mollusk octopus contains a variety of nutrients, while octopus scraps have caused a large number of marine pollution and resource waste [1]. It is reported that peptide-calcium chelate can probably be a suitable candidate as a supplement to improve calcium absorption in human body [2]. In this work, we investigated the interaction between marine octopus peptides and calcium. Materials and methods: The octopus scraps protein hydrolysate (OSPH)-Ca chelate was prepared and the possible chelating mechanism was investigated by UV spectroscopy, Fluorescence spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy and 1 H NMR. The calcium bioavailability of OSPH-Ca was determined by Caco-2 cell monolayer model Results: According to the optimal enzymolysis condition and chelation condition, the calcium binding capacity of OSPH reached 186.57 calcium ions per milligram peptide and the degree of hydrolysis was 19.78%. The structural properties indicated that amido and carboxy groups could be the reaction sites for chelation and calcium ions might link with oxygen atoms of carboxy group, nitrogen atoms of amido group by coordinate linkage (Fig. 1). In addition, calcium ions chelated with OSPH would cause intramolecular and intermolecular folding and aggregating (Fig. 2). Moreover, the amount of calcium uptake increased by 41% when compared with the CaCl 2 which was determined by Caco-2 cell lines. Particularly, OSPH-Ca could protect calcium ions from precipitation caused by dietary inhibitors tannic acid and phytate, and calcium uptake efficiency remained 3.35 and 1.68 times higher than that of CaCl 2 , respectively (Fig. 3). Conclusions: These findings further the progress in the research of turning marine waste into food ingredients, suggesting the potential in making marine peptide-calcium chelate as a functional supplement. Background: Oxidized xanthan gum with different aldehyde content was successfully prepared by periodate oxidization and used as a crosslinking agent for gelatin hydrogels. The effect of xanthan gum with different degree of oxidation and different gelatin/oxidized xanthan gum ratio on the structural and properties of hydrogel was investigated. Materials and methods: Oxidized xanthan gum was prepared by periodate oxidization and then crossed link with gelatin to form chemical cross-linked hydrogels. The swelling degree of different oxidized xanthan gum and different mass ratio of oxidized xanthan gum-gelatin hydrogels were determined gravimetrically. And the chemical composition of the samples was verified by FTIR.

Results:
The swelling degree of all the samples were enhanced with the degree of oxidation of xanthan gum increased, and reached maximum value at the ratio of 1:1 (Fig. 1). The results of FTIR revealed that Schiff-base formation promoted the crosslink between oxidized xanthan gum and gelatin (Fig. 2). When the mass ratio was 1:1, the characteristic peak of Schiff-base was the strongest.

Conclusion:
The swelling degree of oxidized xanthan gum/gelatin hydrogels and the amount of Schiff-base reached maximum value when the mass ratio of oxidized xanthan gum/gelatin was 1:1. Background: Heating is the most common process of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which has been confirmed to impact not only on the physical properties of raw materials but also the biological activities. Maillard reaction has been introduced into the study of heat processing of TCM in recent years [1,2]. In this study, the Maillard reaction and antioxidant activity of the heat-processed Radix pseudostellariae (RP) were investigated.

Materials and methods:
The raw materials were heat-dried at 40, 50 and 60 °C for different time. The Maillard reaction levels were determined. The changes of proteins were analysed by SDS PAGE and FTIR spectroscopy. Besides, the antioxidant activities in vitro were investigated. Results: Increased browning degrees of the extracts were observed temperature-and time-dependently (Fig. 1). The contents of free amino acids and reducing sugar decreased after heat-dried for 24 h at different temperature, indicating the occurring of Maillard reaction. Arginine, the predominant free amino acids of raw RP, decreased from 1.2422 to 0.2388% solid content by heat-dried at 60 °C for 12 h, which contributed to the significant reduction of total free amino acids contents. The smeared bands with high molecular weight in SDS PAGE indicated the conjugation of proteins and saccharides in the Maillard reaction ( Fig. 2A), and the glycation was further confirmed by FTIR (Fig. 2B). The DPPH radical scavenging activity, hydroxyl radical scavenging activity and reducing power all increased with thermal treatment (Fig. 3), which was accordance with the changes of browning degree.  Background: Antifreeze glycoprotein (AFGP) could be used for improving storage of blood, organs and tissues, preserving the textural quality of frozen foods, and protecting crops from freezing in a freeze-thaw cycle to prevent or minimize damage to cells and tissues [1,2]. This study aimed to investigate the cryoprotective activities of antifreeze glycopeptide analogues (GoAPP) obtained by nonenzymatic glycation and possible action mechanism of GoAPP on Streptococcus thermophiles during cold stress.

Materials and methods:
To prepare the glycopeptide analogues, various reaction time, temperature, pH and the mass ratio were used under various operating conditions. In order to understand the protective mechanism of GoAPP protectant, the impact on integrity permeability and microstructure of bacterial membrane, the glass transition temperature (Tg) and Thermal Hysteresis Activity (THA) of GoAPP were studied.

Results:
The results indicated that under the best conditions, 7.3% (w/v) of antifreeze peptide, 2.7% (w/v) of dextran at 77 °C, pH 8.74 and 67 min of reaction time, a glycopeptide analogues was purified and submitted to characterization. Treatment of S. thermophiles with 5 mg/ ml synthetic glycopeptide analogues led to 2.3-fold increased survival (p < 0.05). The leakage concentration of intracellular protein and nucleic acid were lesser in the GoAPP-treated group than those in the groups treated by glycerol, this indicated that GoAPP protectant maintained better membrance characteristics, prevented the leakage of intracellular proteins and nucleic acid (Fig. 1). Furthermore, the activities of lactate dehydrogenase and β-galactosidase were both higher in the GoAPP-treated group than those in control groups. Under the investigation of SEM, cells of GoAPP-treated group were significantly full and integral, while cells in control group were shrinking (Fig. 2). DSC curves of the freezing and melting processes for GoAPP and APP (original antifreeze peptide) indicated that the GoAPP group produce less ice nuclei than APP group in the equilibrium sample at the same holding temperature. Moreover, the addition of synthetic glycopeptide analogues (20 mg/ml) in deionized water increased the glass transition temperature (Tg) from − 27.6 to − 21.4 °C. Conclusion: The GoAPP were synthesized by modifying both the structure of the dextran moieties and the antifreeze peptide backbone, which could improve cell viability and maintaining the cell integrity. The results suggest that GoAPP could be potentially Background: Panax ginseng is one of the most commonly used herbal medicines around the world. It has potent anti-tumor, antioxidation, anti-inflammation, immune modulation properties [1]. Cancer cachexia is characterized by body weight loss (skeletal muscle mass loss), and cannot be completely reversed by common nutritional support [2]. More than 70-80% of advanced cancer patients develop cachexia, and nearly 20% of cancer deaths are directly caused by cachexia [3]. This study aimed to improve the physical condition and reduce the expression of inflammatory cytokine in experimental cancer cachexia mice by using water extract of ginseng (WEG).

Materials and methods:
Male BALB/c mice implanted with colon-26 adenocarcinoma cells were selected to establish cancer cachexia model for assessing the effect of WEG on experimental cancer cachexia mice.

Results:
The results indicated that gastrocnemius muscle from colon-26 bearing mice treated with WEG had significantly higher than untreated tumor-bearing mice (p < 0.01). In addition, colon-26 bearing mice treated with WEG show little side effect on heart, liver, spleen, lung, and kidney than untreated tumor-bearing mice. Further study will focus on inflammatory cytokine expression and NF-κB pathway activation.

Conclusions:
In conclusion, WEG may be an important medicine in treatment of cancer cachexia. Background: Hippocampus belongs to the Syngnathidae family and provides a source of traditional Chinese medicine materials. Hippocampus is rich in proteins and essential amino acids. It is a highquality material for preparation of proteins and related products. Moreover, previous studies have reported that a high ratio of heterocyclic or aromatic (i.e. His, Pro, Tyr, and Phe) and acidic (i.e. Glu and Asp) amino acids accounted for 16.14 and 20.09% of the total amino groups in Hippocampus, respectively. However, there is further study about the use of Hippocampus polypeptide for anti-fatigue treatment.
In this study, the optimal enzymatic hydrolysis conditions for preparation of Hippocampus polypeptide and its anti-fatigue activity were investigated.

Materials and methods:
This study investigated changes the in vitro antioxidant activity of Hippocampus polypeptides during enzymatic hydrolysis, including the effects of enzyme species, enzyme concentration, material-liquid ratio, hydrolysis time, pH, and temperature of the reaction system. Its in vivo anti-fatigue activity was also studied. Results and conclusions: Hippocampus peptide prepared by papain digestion exhibited the highest 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl free radical scavenging rate (71.89 ± 1.50%) and strong hydroxyl radical scavenging rate (75.53 ± 0.98%), compared to those prepared by five other commonly used enzymes (i.e., trypsin, neutral protease, compound protease, flavorzyme, and alkaline protease). Additionally, maximum antioxidant activity of Hippocampus polypeptide prepared by papain digestion was reached after hydrolysis for 40 min at pH 6.0 and 60 °C of the reaction system by using 2000 U/g enzyme and a material-liquid ratio of 1:15. Moreover, compared with the control group, Hippocampus peptide prolonged the swimming time by 33-40%, stabilized the blood glucose concentration, increased liver glycogen levels, and decreased blood lactate levels and blood urea nitrogen levels in mice (p < 0.01). In conclusion, these results indicated that Hippocampus polypeptide prepared by papain digestion under optimal conditions exhibited high degrees of antioxidant and antifatigue activity.  [1]. Traditionally, the whole plant has been used as a folk medicine to treat some kinds of cancers, sore throat and rheumatoid arthritis [2]. In our previous work, some unique flavonoids were reported in this plant [3][4][5]. As part of ongoing search for novel and bioactive flavones from this genus, 75% aqueous ethanol extract from the whole herbs of Selaginella doederleinii was isolated.

Materials and methods:
The whole herbs of S. doederleinii were collected in the town of Wutong, Lingui district, Guangxi, China, in July 2013 and authenticated by Prof. ZhenJi Li (Xiamen University, Xiamen, China). A botanical specimen of this species (20130710) was deposited at the Xiangya School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Central South University. Structures of 1-5 were determined by extensive spectroscopic methods including NMR and HRMS. All compounds were evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxicity against three human cancer cell lines A549, MCF-7, and SMMC-7721. The cytotoxicity assay was performed using MTT (3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) method in 96-well microplates [6]. Results: A new biflavone, doederbiflavone A (1), together with four known ones (2-5) were isolated from S. doederleinii (Fig. 1). Compound 1 features a unique dimeric skeleton with apigenin and chrysin units, which was first discovered in nature, and exhibited significant cytotoxicity against A549 with IC 50 value of 1.78 μM.  [1,2]. A detailed investigation was carried out to examine the antidiabetic activities of fucoidans from Enteromorpha prolifera (EPOs) in streptozotocin/high fat dietinduced diabetic mice. Materials and methods: E. prolifera collected in the coast of Qingdao, China that was chosen. EPOs was prepared from polysaccharides by ultrasonic hydrolysis at 60 °C and then filtrated by 3 kDa Millipore for use. The hypoglycemic activity of EPOs were evaluated in diabetic mice in vivo. Thirty Kunming mice (40-43 g) were divided randomly into three groups of ten mice each: diabetic control group, nondiabetic control group, and EPOs-treated group. Mice were intraperitoneally injected with 15 mg/mL streptozotocin (300 mg/kg). All animals received oral dosing daily for 28 days. Results: Body weights of EPOs group mice were lower than that of normal mice. The blood sugar was reduced by 28.03% in EPOs group. Effects of EPOs on oral glucose tolerance in diabetic mice were determined. Two hours after sugar administration, the blood glucose concentrations had returned to normal or were lower than before the administration. Photomicrographs of liver sections stained by hematoxylin-eosin staining in different experimental groups were examined. The nondiabetic control group revealed normal hepatic structure and lobules. Each lobule was made up of radiating plates, strands of cells forming a net-work around a central vein. By contrast, diabetic group showed distended cells, loose cytoplasm, and loss of normal architecture such as disarrangement of hepatocytes in the liver. Morevoer, there were fat vacuoles in some hepatocytes of diabetic group. EPOs group showed normal strands of cells forming a net-work, some hydropic hepatocytes and there is lesser fat vacuoles and distended cells than model group. Conclusions: These results indicated an effective relationship between low molecular weight fucoidans from E. prolifera and hypoglycemia in patients with diabetes mellitus. E. prolifera oligosaccharides can be developed into hypoglycemic drugs or health food. [1]. Green algae Enteromorpha species have long been used not only as a source of food but medicinal resource [2]. However, it has not been reported on its antiviral activity against EV71. Materials and methods: Enteromorpha prolifera polysaccharides (EPS) were obtained through water extraction and ethanol precipitation. Based on the effect of single factor solid-liquid ratio, temperature, time and concentration ratio on yield of EPS, response surface methodology was used to optimize the extraction process. MTT colorimetric assay was conduct to study the effect of EPS on the Vero cells infected by EV71 virus.

Results:
The results showed that the optimal EPS extraction conditions were as follows: extraction temperature of 90 °C, extraction time of 3 h, solid-liquid ratio of 1:30 and concentration ratio of 3:1, under which the yield of EPS was 8.05%. EPS contained 31.4% of total sugar, 11.9% of uronic acid, 5.5% of protein, and 10.2% of sulfates. MTT assay indicated that EPS can inhibit the replication of EV71 and lead to decreased content of EV71 in Vero cells. In vitro cytotoxicity was also determined. The in vitro antiviral activity was determined via crystal violet staining assay. At the same time, time-of-drug addition assay were used to find that EPS was more effective when added during EV71 infection. EPS inhibited EV71 replication and showed that it might block viral polyprotein expression and genomic RNA synthesis.

Conclusions:
The results demonstrated that EPS could effectively protect Vero cells from infecting and it has antiviral function during EV71early-stage replication. E. prolifera polysaccharides could be valuable as the potentially anti-EV71 therapeutic compounds.
Background: In many countries, the prevalence of metabolic disease has attained epidemic proportions because of cardiovascular complications and mortality. A metabolic syndrome is associated with risk from 5 factors: abdominal (central) obesity, elevated blood pressure, elevated plasma glucose, high serum triglycerides, and low highdensity lipoprotein levels. Treatment is focused on reduction of the risk of heart disease by lowering LDL cholesterol and reducing high blood pressure, and then on treatment of diabetes. Very important is a reduction in weight by proper diet and exercise [1]. Results: Beneficial effects of hop phenolic compounds for diabetic patients consist of improving blood glucose and lipid profiles, and reducing insulin resistance. Phenolic compounds exert antiobesity effects that are closely linked with antioxidant effects, through their ability to modulate lipid and energy metabolism and thus enable weight loss and reduce obesity. Regulation of cholesterol metabolism by phenolic compounds may reduce certain factors linked with hypercholesterolemia and dyslipidemia. Prenylflavonoids such as xanthohumol have been demonstrated to have strong antiobesity activities including the ability to inhibit diacylglycerol acyltransferase in rat liver, to inhibit triglyceride transport using a HepG2 cell line, and to inhibit the secretion of apolipoprotein B, the main constituent of the cholesterol LDL fraction. Therapeutic potential of polyphenols as treatment for obesity is also associated with the ability to inhibit α-glucosidase, an enzyme that controls blood glucose levels [1,2]. Iso-α-acids are able to improve health by influencing lipid metabolism, glucose tolerance, and body weight. Diabetic mice treated with iso-α-acids showed reduced plasma glucose, triglyceride, and free fatty acid levels by 65.3, 62.6, and 73.1%, respectively. When mice were fed hop iso-α-acids in their diet, with high levels of cholesterol, an increase in plasma HDLcholesterol and a reduction in cholesterol and triacylglycerol content in the liver were observed. The modulatory effect of iso-α-acids on lipid metabolism may also be responsible for lost body weight [1].

Conclusions:
For treatment of metabolic syndrome should be very effective hop substances from group of polyphenols and bitter acids. Chin Med 2018, 13(Suppl 1):26 Materials and methods: For in vitro study, cytotoxicity analysis was performed by ATP assay or MTT assay. Results: A low concentration of MC (1 µM) significantly increased the inhibition rates of EPC from 27.00 to 34.26% in human breast cancer brain metastasis cell lines MDA-Mb-231Br. The cell viability decreased in a dose-dependent manner with increasing doses of different treatments. Furthermore, MC enhanced EBC cytotoxicity compared to that of EBC treatment alone. Each group had a significant difference (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, p < 0.01, p < 0.01) while the combination index (CI) was less than 1.

Conclusions:
In conclusion, MC has the potential to enhance efficacy of chemotherapy drug EPC for human breast cancer brain metastasis.
Background: Herba Siegesbeckiae (HS) is a traditional Chinese medicine which has been reported to present various bioactivities including anti-inflammation [1], anti-allergy [2], anti-thrombotic, antiatherosclerosis, improving microcirculation [3], promoting skin wound healing [4], and anti-cancer [5]. Recommended by the Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2015 Edition [6], the plant sources of HS include Siegesbeckiae orientalis L. (SO), S. pubescens Makino (SP) and S. glabrescens Makino (SG). In this review, the phytochemical studies for the three HS plants were summarized and compared. Results: Reviewed from the database of SciFinder, a total amount of 228 components were found to be related to HS species. Among them, 9 components were reported for all three species, as well as 6 components for SP and SG, 10 components for SO and SP, and 1 component for SO and SG. Furthermore, other 58, 130 and 14 compounds were reported to be specific for SO, SP and SG, respectively. The distribution of these compounds in SO, SP and SG was illustrated in Fig. 1. Chemical-structurally, the HS-related components could be divided into 6 groups, including flavonoids, sesquiterpenoids, diterpenoids, triterpenoids, sterols and others. Two most important groups of the chemicals related to the pharmacological activities to SHs should be diterpenoids and sesquiterpenoids. Kaurane-type and pimaranetype carbon-skeletons (Fig. 2) were the main chemical structures for SH-related diterpenoids. The key differences of chemical distributions might to be related to the sesquiterpenoids. Most germacranolides were found in SO, while a cluster of cadinane sesquiterpenoids were only found in SP.