Composition and Radical Scavenging Activity of the Extracts from Deschampsia Antarctica É. Desv. Plants Grown in Situ and in Vitro

Applying synchrotron radiation-based attenuated total reflection-fourier transform infrared to chemically characterise organic functional groups in terrestrial soils of King George Island, Antarctica

Anthropogenic activities, especially associated with fossil fuel combustion, are raising concerns worldwide, but remote areas with extreme climate conditions, such as Antarctica, are isolated from the adverse influence of human civilisation. Antarctica is considered as the most untouched place on Earth. Such pristine areas, which have extremely low chemical pollutant concentrations owing to restricted anthropogenic impacts, exemplify plausible model environments to test the reliability and sensitivity of advanced analytical techniques employed to chemically characterise and evaluate the spatial distribution of chemical pollutants. Here, synchrotron radiation-based attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared (SR-ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy was employed to evaluate the variations in the organic functional groups (OFGs) of terrestrial soils of King George Island, Antarctica. Second-derivative SR-ATR-FTIR spectroscopy coupled with several multivariate statistical techniques highlighted the influence of anthropogenic activities on the alterations of OFGs in terrestrial soils collected near airports. Moreover, the daily activities of penguins could also have caused fluctuations in some OFGs of the samples the close to the Tombolo area and Ardley Island. The findings proved the effectiveness of SR-ATR-FTIR in evaluating the potential sources of variations in the chemical constituents, especially OFGs, in Antarctic terrestrial soils.

The deleterious effects induced by an acute exposure of human skin to common air pollutants are prevented by extracts of Deschampsia antarctica

The homeostatic and regenerative potential of the skin is critically impaired by an increasing accumulation of air pollutants in human ecosystems. These toxic compounds are frequently implicated in pathological processes such as premature cutaneous ageing, altered pigmentation and cancer. In this scenario, innovative strategies are required to tackle the effects of severe air pollution on skin function. Here we have used a Human Skin Organotypic Culture (HSOC) model to characterize the deleterious effects of an acute topic exposure of human skin to moderately high concentrations of common ambient pollutants, including As, Cd, Cr, dioxins and tobacco smoke. All these toxic compunds inflict severe damage in the tissue, activating the AHR-mediated response to xenobiotics. We have further evaluated the potential of an aqueous leaf extract of the polyextremophile plant Deschampsia antarctica (Edafence) to protect human skin against the acute exposure to toxic pollutants. Our results indicate that pre-treatment of HSOC samples with this aqueous extract conuterbalances the deleterious effects of the exposure to toxic comunds and triggers the activation of key genes invoved in the redox system and in the pro-inflammatory/wound healing response in the skin, suggesting that this natural compound might be effectively used in vivo to protect human skin routinely in different daily conditions.

OBTAINING OF PLANT TISSUE CULTURE Scutellaria baicalensis GEORGI. AND ITS BIOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS

Aim. To obtain a plant tissue culture of S. baicalensis as a possible source of biologically active compounds (BAC) with a wide range of pharmacological action. Methods. Plant tissue culture, photocolorimetric method, reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. Results. Two stably productive plant tissue culture strains (16SB3 and 20SB4) of S. baicalensis were obtained from fragments of roots seedling on a specially developed agar nutrient medium 5С01. The yield of dry biomass from 1 liter of this medium per passage (21st day of growth) for strain 16SB3 is 25–30 g, for strain 20SB4 – 30–40 g. The total content of flavonoids in dry biomass was in terms of routine for strains 16SB3 and 20SB4 – 0.6–0.9 and 0.7–0.9 mg/g, respectively, and the yield of flavonoids – 18–27 and 21–36 mg/l of nutrient medium, respectively. BAC typical for plants in nature, in particular, flavonoids vogonin, baikalein, neobaikalein, skulkapfavon and their derivatives, were found in the studied biomass of both strains. Conclusions. It was found that the biomass of the two strains of S. baicalensis plant tissue culture accumulated the same BAC, in particular, flavonoids, as do plants in natural conditions. The resulting plant tissue culture is promising as a possible source of Baikal skullcap BAC.