[Identification of Corydalis yanhusuo,C. turtschaninovii,C. decumbens by allele-specific PCR]

To establish a DNA molecular markers method for identification of Corydalis yanhusuo,C. turtschaninovii and C. decumbens,the mat K,trn G and psb A-trn H sequences of 56 samples from 14 species of C. yanhusuo,C. turtschaninovii,C. decumbens and their related species were obtained by sequencing. The SNP loci were obtained by Bio Edit 7. 2. 2 software. The primers for AS-PCR identification were designed based on the mutation sites,and the conditions of PCR were optimized to identify C. yanhusuo,C. turtschaninovii,and C. decumbens according to the specific bands. The results showed that the amount of template( 0. 6-1 200 ng)and annealing temperature( 42-60 ℃) had little influence on the amplification results,and the number of cycles had much influence on the amplification results. When the number of cycles was 20,the specific bands of 297 bp( mat K),353 bp( trn G) and 544 bp( mat K) were amplified from C. yanhusuo,C. turtschaninovii and C. decumbens,respectively. The method established in this study had a minimum detection limit of 6 ng for C. yanhusuo,60 ng for C. decumbens and less than 0. 6 ng for C. turtschaninovii. Thus,the allelespecific PCR method established in the research can specifically identify C. yanhusuo,C. turtschaninovii,and C. decumbens.

Canadine from Corydalis turtschaninovii Stimulates Myoblast Differentiation and Protects against Myotube Atrophy

Cachexia and sarcopenia are the main causes of muscle atrophy. These result in a reduction in the muscle fiber area, myo-protein content, and muscle strength, with various molecular modulators being involved. Although several reports have proposed potential therapeutic agents, no effective treatments have been found for muscle atrophy. We searched for myogenic modulators from medicinal plants to treat muscle diseases. We isolated six alkaloids from Corydalis turtschaninovii and evaluated their myogenic potential by using the MyoD reporter gene assay in C2C12 cells. Among the tested compounds, canadine showed the strongest transactivation of MyoD and increased MHC expression during myogenesis. The activation of p38 MAP kinase and Akt are major mechanisms that contribute to the myogenesis by canadine. Canadine increased the number of multinucleated and cylinder-shaped myotubes during myogenesis of C2C12 myoblasts. To determine the preventive effect of canadine in cancer-induced muscle wasting, differentiated C2C12 myotubes were treated with conditioned media from CT26 colon carcinoma culture (CT26 CM) in the presence of canadine. Canadine ameliorated the muscle protein degradation caused by CT26-CM by down-regulating the muscle specific-E3 ligases, MAFbx/atrogin-1 and MuRF1. In this study, we found that canadine from C. turtschaninovii stimulates myogenesis and also inhibits muscle protein degradation. Therefore, we suggest canadine as a protective agent against muscle atrophy.

Neuraminidase inhibitory activities of quaternary isoquinoline alkaloids from Corydalis turtschaninovii rhizome

Clostridium perfringens is a Gram-positive spore-forming bacterium that causes food poisoning. The neuraminidase (NA) protein of C. perfringens plays a pivotal role in bacterial proliferation and is considered a novel antibacterial drug target. Based on screens for novel NA inhibitors, a 95% EtOH extract of Corydalis turtschaninovii rhizome showed NA inhibitory activity (68% at 30 μg/ml), which resulted in the isolation of 10 isoquinoline alkaloids; namely, palmatine (1), berberine (2), coptisine (3), pseudodehydrocorydaline (4), jatrorrhizine (5), dehydrocorybulbine (6), pseudocoptisine (7), glaucine (8), corydaline (9) and tetrahydrocoptisine (10). Interestingly, seven quaternary isoquinoline alkaloids 1-7 (IC50 = 12.8 ± 1.5 to 65.2 ± 4.5 μM) showed stronger NA inhibitory activity than the tertiary alkaloids 8-10. In addition, highly active compounds 1 and 2 showed reversible non-competitive behavior based on a kinetic study. Molecular docking simulations using the Autodock 4.2 software increased our understanding of receptor-ligand binding of these compounds. In addition, we demonstrated that compounds 1 and 2 suppressed bacterial growth.