Natural Products Journal, The - Current Issue

Actinidia eriantha Benth is a widely used natural product from Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Actinidiaceae family. However, its wild resources have been declining due to over-exploitation. It has become urgent to investigate the genetic diversity for the conservation of A. eriantha, to evaluate the current species and discover strategies for preservation.

The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) was used to evaluate the genetic diversity among and within populations of this species. Dnasp, PERMUT and Arlequin 3.0 software were used to calculate the genetic diversity index, and MEGA 5.0 software was used to construct the neighbor-joining (NJ) tree.

A total of 27 haplotypes were obtained by ITS sequence analysis of 12 populations, and the most frequently haplotype observed was H1. AMOVA analysis revealed that the genetic variation rates were 10.91% (FST = 0.22290) and 77.71% (FSC = 0.12306) among and within populations, respectively, with high genetic diversity at the species level (Hd = 0.692). The genetic distance among populations ranged from 0 to 0.004. The results of Permut analysis showed that there was no significant correlation between genetic distance and geographic distance (NST > GST). The NJ tree was divided into two Clades (Clade A and Clade B), Clade B has obvious geographical specificity, and haplotypes of this clade are all specific to the GX-ZY population. Four types were found according to ITS sequences of A. eriantha, haplotypes H1 and H5 were ancient haplotypes.

Our findings indicated that genetic diversity within populations was higher than observed among populations. This study is significant for further research endeavors focused on the efficient collection and preservation of wild resources of A. eriantha.

Depression is a mental health disorder with high morbidity and disability rates that has harmful effects on public health worldwide. Despite many hypotheses about its mechanism have been put forward, its deeper mechanism is still unclear. Nowadays, there are many antidepressants developed by pharmaceutical companies, such as fluoxetine, ketamine, and paroxetine used in clinical practice, but the therapeutic effects are not satisfactory, with serious adverse reactions and drug addiction.

Ginsenoside Rh2 (G-Rh2) is one of the major bioactive ginsenosides extracted from Panax ginseng that has been conducted for the treatment of many inflammatory diseases. However, the possible mechanisms of G-Rh2 involved in these neuroprotective effects on neuroinflammation are currently unclear.

We established a CSDS depression model in normal mice, and then the depressive symptoms of mice were evaluated by a series of behavioral testing. Finally, molecular biology experiments were conducted to demonstrate that G-Rh2 had anti-inflammatory and antidepressant effects.

We showed that G-Rh2 (30 mg/kg) significantly relieved depressive behavior in mice via attenuating oxidative stress injury and release of proinflammatory cytokines. Moreover, G-Rh2 reduced impaired neurogenesis in the hippocampus of CSDS-induced mice.

We demonstrated the anti-inflammatory and antioxidative effects of G-Rh2 to alleviate depression through improved neurogenesis in depressive mice for the first time. What's more, we aimed to verify the protective effects of G-Rh2 on neuroinflammation and provide novel insights for understanding the roles of G-Rh2 in the treatment of depression.

Zingiber rubens Roxb., a new species of the Zingiberaceae family, is found profoundly in the Northeastern region of India. It is a rhizomatous geophyte and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome native to Indo-China regimens.

The aim is to research the root part of this plant to discover active constituents and evaluate the molecular mechanism of antidiabetic activity.

The hydroalcoholic root extract of this plant (HAZR) was evaluated for in-vitro antioxidant assays α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibition assay. Further, the antidiabetic activity assay was evaluated, exploring the molecular mechanism for modulating oxidative stress in tissue biochemical parameters and HbA1c. To explore the molecular mechanism, we also investigated the inhibition assay of protein kinase C (PKC) phosphorylation in mouse peritoneal macrophages.

The experiments' results helped to conclude that HAZR has potent antioxidant and antidiabetic activity and could have been embedded with potent active molecules. They also revealed the mechanism of action as inhibition of PKC phosphorylation, meriting further studies.

The present study revealed that HAZR demonstrated its antidiabetic activity against diabetic animal models through oxidative stress-mediated PKC and TGF-β regulation in diabetic individuals.

This review aims to evaluate the latest techniques used in formulating epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), analyse the difficulties encountered in the process, and offer perspectives on potential future advancements in epigallocatechin gallate formulations for both nutraceutical and pharmaceutical applications.

This work provides a thorough literature review and examines current epigallocatechin gallate formulation strategies, assesses solubility improvement approaches, examines obstacles, and summarises results regarding benefits and drawbacks. In nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals, it identifies knowledge gaps and suggests future research avenues.

This comprehensive review presents a synthesis of pivotal discoveries about epigallocatechin gallate formulations, particularly emphasising notable progress in enhancing solubility and the concomitant obstacles encountered in this pursuit. This review weighs the benefits and drawbacks, shedding light on areas that need further investigation in the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical fields.

This review synthesises current research on formulations containing epigallocatechin gallate, focusing on their various applications and the obstacles accompanying their implementation. Despite facing various challenges, the methodologies that have been investigated demonstrate potential. The comprehensive evaluation of both strengths and limitations highlights the imperative nature of continuous research. The conclusion provides opportunities for research in pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals, outlining future directions.

Hericium erinaceus is a versatile mushroom with potential therapeutic benefits. A variety of bioactive compounds have been found in this mushroom that have anti-ulcer, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and blood sugar and lipid regulating effects.

The aim is to isolate and characterize compounds from the rice medium of H. erinaceus and evaluate their potential therapeutic effects on oxidative stress-associated diseases.

Fifteen compounds were isolated and characterized using NMR spectra and ESI-MS. The effects of compounds 3 and 7 on LPS-induced nitric oxide (NO) generation in BV2 cells and H2O2-induced cytotoxicity in SH-SY5Y cells were investigated. The regulation of nitric oxide production and apoptosis-associated proteins Bcl-2 and Bax were also examined.

Compounds 3 and 7 exhibited potent inhibitory effects on LPS-induced NO generation in microglial cells and significant resistance to H2O2-induced cytotoxicity in neuronal cells. Molecular docking simulations demonstrated the interaction of compounds 3 and 7 with iNOS and Bax, respectively. Western blot analysis revealed that 7 inhibited NO production and regulated the expression of Bax and Bcl-2, suggesting a protective effect against H2O2-induced apoptosis.

Compounds 3 and 7 isolated from H. erinaceus are potential therapeutic candidates for oxidative stress-associated diseases, possibly through their regulation of nitric oxide production and apoptosis-related proteins. Further investigations are warranted to elucidate their mechanisms of action and therapeutic potential.

Mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) are light-dependent ecosystems found from 30 to 150 m in depth that are highly diverse and relatively understudied worldwide.

One new indole alkaloid, chaetoid A (1), one known analog, indigodole B (2), and one known β-carboline type alkaloid 1-acetyl-β-carboline (3), along with three known cyclic depsipeptides, turnagainolide A (4), turnagainolide B (5), arthroamide (6) were isolated from cultures of fungus Chaetomium sp. NBUF152 is associated with a 66 m deep mesophotic zone Halichondria sponge. Their structures were determined by analysis of spectroscopic data (NMR, HRESIMS, UV, IR, optical rotation, and ECD). The in vitro bioassay results showed that compounds 1-6 exhibited moderate inhibition against acetylcholinesterase (AchE).

The results showed that these compounds displayed moderate anti-AchE activities with IC50 values of 25.97, 25.80, 21.07, 23.49, 21.28 and 25.3 μmol/L.

This work could lead to additional investigation into the potential of marine organisms in MCEs as a source for discovering natural products with interesting structures and bioactivities.

Anisophyllea disticha (Jack) Baill. (A. disticha) is a species of the Anisophylleaceae family that has undergone the least investigation despite being widely used in folk medicine to cure a wide range of illnesses.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of various factors on the supercritical fluid extraction of A. disticha in order to maximise recovery of total phenolic content, antioxidant activity, and polyphenol identification.

The total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activities of A. disticha were determined using the supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) method and compared with Soxhlet. Box-Behnken design of response surface methodology was performed to examine the effect of independent variables of SFE such as temperature, pressure, and concentration of ethanol as co-solvent on TPC and antioxidant activities of A. disticha stem extracts.

At combined effects of different temperatures, pressure, and co-solvent, the total SFE yield were ranged between 0.65 and 4.14%, which was about half of the Soxhlet extract of 8.75 ± 1.54%. The highest concentration (µg/g) of gallic acid (118.83 ± 1.17), p-coumaric (61.60 ± 0.33), ferulic acid (57.93 ± 1.15), and quercetin (24.16 ± 0.41) were obtained at a temperature of 50°C, the pressure of 25 MPa and co-solvent of 20%, while lowest concentration was found 70°C, 30 MPa, and 20% ethanol.

SFE extracts possessed remarkable TPC and concentration of phenolic compounds, indicating superior recovery of compounds. SFE showed more than two-fold higher ferric-reducing antioxidant power compared to Soxhlet with values of 585.32 ± 17.01 mg Fe (II)/g extract and 203.63 ± 16.03 mg Fe (II)/g extract, respectively. SFE demonstrated a potential alternative to the classical solvent extraction methods.