High-performance liquid chromatography—Two wavelength detection of triterpenoid acids from the fruits of Ziziphus jujuba containing various cultivars in different regions and classification using chemometric analysis

Antiproliferation of melanoma cells by polysaccharide isolated from Zizyphus jujuba

OBJECTIVE

Zizyphus jujuba, a traditional Chinese herb rich in functional components such as polysaccharide, has been widely consumed in Asian countries. The objective of this study was to determine the antiproliferation effect of melanoma cells as affected by deproteinized polysaccharide (DPP) isolated from Z. jujuba.

METHODS

Deproteinized polysaccharide was obtained through boiling water extraction, ethanol precipitation, deproteinization, and dialysis, and the molecular weight of DPP was determined by high-performance gel-filtration chromatography. Melanoma cell viability was assessed by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, the cell cycle was analyzed by flow cytometry, the formation of apoptotic bodies was observed under a fluorescence microscope at 450 nm, and caspase-3 and caspase-9 were measured by an assay kit.

RESULTS

Deproteinized polysaccharide was composed of two fractions with average molecular weights of 143 108 and 67 633 Da. The 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide test showed that the antiproliferation effect of DPP on melanoma cells followed a dose- and time-dependent course. The 50% inhibitory concentration of DPP in inhibiting melanoma cell growth was 3.99 ± 0.10 mg/mL after 24-h treatment but decreased significantly to 3.36 ± 0.14 mg/mL after 48 h. The cell cycle assay revealed melanoma cells to be arrested in G2/M phase. Moreover, with DPP treatment, the apoptotic bodies were generated, accompanied by an increase in caspase-3 and caspase-9 activity.

CONCLUSIONS

This outcome suggested that DPP may be used as a potential anti-skin cancer agent for further in vivo and clinical trial experiments.

Herbaceous peony (Paeonia lactiflora Pall.) as an alternative source of oleanolic and ursolic acids

Oleanolic acid (OA) and ursolic acid (UA) have been proven to possess many biological activities, and much attention is focused on the search for plants which are rich in OA and UA. In this report, the OA and UA accumulation characteristics were investigated in 47 cultivars of Chinese herbaceous peony (Paeonia lactiflora Pall.) and were followed in three cultivars over different developmental stages as measured by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). OA and UA levels in leaves and stems demonstrated an overall upward trend from May 1 to September 15 except for UA in the leaves of "Hong Feng". The maximum values of OA and UA in leaves of "Yangfei Chu Yu", "Fen Zhu Pan" and "Hong Feng" were 852.98, 575.60, 290.48 μg/g FW and 924.94, 827.36, 432.67 μg/g FW, respectively. The maximum values of OA and UA in stems of "Yangfei Chu Yu", "Fen Zhu Pan" and "Hong Feng" were 359.28, 90.49, 43.90 μg/g FW and 326.86, 82.25, 56.63 μg/g FW, respectively. OA and UA contents in leaves of 47 different herbaceous peony cultivars ranged from 66.73-618.12 and 36.23-665.14 μg/g FW, respectively, with average values of 171.62 and 227.57 μg/g FW, respectively. The results suggested that the aboveground parts of herbaceous peony may be used as an alternative source of OA and UA for medicinal purposes in addition to its ornamental purposes.

Characterization of nucleosides and nucleobases in fruits of Ziziphus jujuba by UPLC-DAD-MS

The fruit of Ziziphus jujuba , named dazao in Chinese, has been utilized as food as well as crude drugs in China for thousands of years. To explore the profiles of the nucleosides and nucleobases in this fruit, an ultraperformance liquid chromatograph coupled with a photodiode array detector and electrospray ionization-mass spectrometer method (UPLC-DAD-MS) has been established and validated in this paper. The validated method was successfully applied for the simultaneous characterization and quantitation of 9 nucleosides and nucleobases in 49 dazao samples, which comprised 43 cultivars from 26 cultivation regions. Furthermore, principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to classify the samples on the basis of the contents of the nine analyzed compounds. The results showed that almost all of these dazao samples were rich in nucleosides and nucleobases, although their contents were obviously various, and the proposed method could serve as a prerequisite for quality control of jujube products.

Anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and heme oxygenase-1 inhibitory activities of ravan napas, a formulation of uighur traditional medicine, in a rat model of allergic asthma

Ravan Napas (RN) is a traditional formula used to treat pulmonary symptoms and diseases such as coughing, breathing difficulty, and asthma in traditional Uighur medicine. The purpose of this study was to investigate the anti-inflammatory, and immuno-modulatory activity of RN in a well-characterized animal model of allergic asthma. Rats were sensitized with intraperitoneal (ip) ovalbumin (OVA) and alum, and then challenged with OVA aerosols. The asthma model rats were treated with RN; saline- and dexamethasone- (DXM-) treated rats served as normal and model controls. The bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) cellular differential and the concentrations of sICAM-1, IL-4, IL-5, TNF-α, INF-γ, and IgE in serum were measured. Lung sections underwent histological analysis. The immunohistochemistry S-P method was used to measure the expression of ICAM-1 and HO-1 in the lung. RN significantly reduced the number of inflammatory cells in BALF and lung tissues, decreased sICAM-1, IL-4, IL-5, TNF-α, and IgE in serum, and increased serum INF-γ. There was a marked suppression of ICAM-1 and HO-1 expression in the lung. Our results suggest that RN may have an anti-inflammatory and immuneregulatory effect on allergic bronchial asthma by modulating the balance between Th1/Th2 cytokines.

Variation of oleanolic and ursolic acid in the flesh of persimmon fruit among different cultivars

Oleanolic acid (OA) and ursolic acid (UA) are important bioactive components in many plants, including persimmon (Diospyros kaki L.). The present work was carried out to determine OA and UA contents in the flesh of persimmon fruit from 32 cultivars, including 23 astringent and 9 non-astringent ones, by applying high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with UV detection. Both OA and UA were present in all of the investigated cultivars, except for three, 'Hiratanenashi', 'Ribenhongshi' and 'Matsumotowase'. The OA content ranged from traces to 88.57 μg/g FW, and that of UA were between traces and 27.64 μg/g FW.