菌物生药学——一个充满生机的边缘学科

菌物生药学是一门新兴的边缘学科,它涉及菌物学、生药学、中药学等许多学科,以菌物药为研究对象,运用现代自然科学的理论知识和技术方法,研究和探讨菌物药的来源、性状、显微特征、理化鉴别、质量指标以及引种驯化、发酵等生物工程和寻找新药源的理论和实践问题。随着现代科学尤其是现代生命科学的飞速发展,菌物药的研究在当今世界也有重要的理论和实践意义。本文从菌物生药学的发展历史,研究内容以及与其他学科关系等几个方面进行阐述,旨在将这一具有理论和实践价值的学科得以发展。     

广昌产莲子心的资源调查和生药学研究

目的:对广昌产莲子心的资源进行了调查,并对其粉末显微及理化鉴别等进行了研究.方法:实地调研了解江西省广昌县莲子心的资源,用显微和理化方法对其进行生药学研究.结果:广昌莲子心的年贸易量可达200～300t,生药学研究表明其富含生物碱和黄酮分成分.结论:广昌为全国最大的优质莲子心药材集散地之一.     

Phytochemistry and pharmacognosy

During the past 50 years there have been tremendous advances in chemical and biological techniques of analysis that have transformed research in pharmacognosy. The PSE has regularly held symposia of relevance to pharmacognosy and some of these are briefly reviewed in the area of natural products from higher plants. These symposia have charted the developments that link pharmacognosy with phytochemistry and illustrate the application of increasingly more sophisticated analytical techniques to the discovery of biologically active compounds. Plants have yielded clinical drugs, either as natural product molecules, or as synthetic modifications, particularly for chemotherapeutic treatment of cancer and malaria. Aspects of biotechnology, traditional medicines and herbal medicinal products are briefly discussed.     

薏苡生药学研究进展

薏苡(Coix lacryma-Jobi L.var.ma-yuen (Roman.) Stapf)为禾本科蜀黍族薏苡属植物,其果仁薏苡仁是我国传统中药材之一,具有利水渗湿,健脾止泻,清热排脓之功效.目前对薏苡的研究主要集中在药理活性和功能食品开发方面,缺乏对其生药学的系统研究.因此长期以来对薏苡的研究存在着起源不清、品种杂乱、种质资源利用欠佳等问题.近年来随着分子生物学的蓬勃发展,多种现代生物技术已用于薏苡种质资源鉴定和遗传多样性的研究,为薏苡资源的保护和可持续发展提供了支持.本文就薏苡的起源与进化,种属分类,细胞学和分子生物学研究进展加以综述,从分子水平揭示薏苡遗传结构及与近缘植物的亲缘关系,为明确薏苡今后种质资源的开发和优异基因的利用提供理论依据.     

Lipophilic constituents from aerial and root parts of Mercurialis perennis L.

Introduction – Dog's mercury (Mercurialis perennis L.) is a perennial herb used in remedies for medicinal purposes. The plant is supposed to contain potentially active substances but its constituents have only been rarely studied. Objective – Detailed studies on the phytochemical composition are of great interest to broaden the knowledge on the chemotaxonomy and pharmacognosy of M. perennis. Methodology – Chloroform and hexane extracts from roots and aerial parts were investigated using GC/MS and LC/MS. Results – The whole plant exhihited a broad spectrum of structurally diverse constituents, mainly alkaloids, terpenes, sterols and simple aromatic compounds. Closer inspection of the piperidine alkaloid hermidin revealed its inherent instability towards air oxygen. To obtain quantitative data on these alkaloids the synthesis of the more stable reference compound 4‐methoxy‐1‐methylpyridine‐2,6(1H,3H)‐dione (MMPD) was required. In this study, MMPD was detected for the first time as a genuine compound in Mercurialis. Hermidine quinone and hermidin dimers originating from hermidin via a free anionic radical reaction were also confirmed by GC/MS. Moreover, volatile compounds such as benzylalcohol, 2‐phenylethanol, 4‐methoxy‐ and 3,4‐dimethoxyphenol, (?)‐cis‐ and (+)‐trans‐myrtanol, (?)‐cis‐myrtanal as well as squalene were predominantely present in Mercurialis roots. In contrast, aerial parts mainly contained phytol derivatives, sterols and tocopherols. By changing solvent polarity, lipid and wax‐containing fractions were obtained. LC/MS‐studies on hexane extracts showed the presence of several mixed triglycerides constituted by linolenic, linoleic, oleic, stearic and palmitic acids, as well as lutein, carotenes and pheophytins. Conclusions – The phytochemical data presented complement our knowledge on the rarely studied plant M. perennis and may broaden its use in future phytotherapy. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

广西特产植物罗汉果的研究与应用

综述了广西特产药用植物罗汉果的生药学、化学成分、药理学、提取分离方法和应用研究 ,为深入研究开发利用罗汉果资源提供参考。     

模式识别及其在生药学领域中的应用

本文对模式识别及其在生药学领域中的应用进行了综述,附参考文献21篇。     

Biotec Visions July 2009

News: Mutagenic biodiesel blends – Technicolor cancer imaging – Anticancer nanoparticle – Increased oxygen transfer in baffled microtiter plates – Transgenic barley growing on acid soil – Brain music – Laser light-induced brain waves – First genome sequence of ruminant species Special issues: Cytometry of microbes – Food-borne Mycotoxins Book highlights: Biotech funding trends – Biotechnology in Flavor Production Opinion: Another biofuel blunder? Tips and tricks: Good to know: Gel Electrophoresis Test your knowledge. Do you recognize this? Most read Writing tips Briefs: A hypothetical new model of LDL – Gaden Award – Patenting hES cells in Europe     

黄芩研究进展

本文从黄芩及其同属药用植物的资源利用与鉴别,化学成分,药理活性,及临床应用等方面作一综述。     

Bioactive Coumarins from the Stems of Clausena emarginata

Five new coumarins, clauemarmarins I – M ( 1 – 4 ), together with 10 known analogs ( 5 – 14 ), were isolated from the stems of Clausena emarginata. Compounds 8 – 13 were obtained from this plant for the first time. Their structures were established and elucidated by comprehensive analysis of spectroscopic data. The absolute configurations of 1 – 4 were further determined by their electronic circular dichroism spectroscopy. Compounds 5 , 7 , 12 , and 14 exhibited inhibitory effects on LPS‐induced NO production. Compounds 5 – 7 showed selective neuroprotective effects in Aβ_{25 – 35} model at 10 μm .     

Embryonic asymmetry: The left side gets all the best genes

The origin of left–right developmental asymmetry is a continuing puzzle, but some recent results provide new insights into the steps leading to organ asymmetry – implicating the homeobox protein Pitz-2 in one key step – and others support a model of symmetry-breaking that involves the chirality of microtubules.     

Four New Triterpenoid Saponins from the Root of Ilex centrochinensis

One new siaresinolic acid saponin ( 1 ) and three new rotundic acid saponins ( 2 – 4 ) were isolated from the roots of Ilex centrochinensis. Their structures were confirmed by detailed analysis of standard spectroscopic data (IR, MS, 1D and 2D NMR). Compounds 1 – 4 exhibited anti-inflammatory activity by inhibiting nitric oxide production in a lipopolysaccharide-induced RAW264.7 cell inflammatory model. However, they showed no significant lipid-lowering activity against the production of triglycerides in the lipid-accumulation model of HepG2 cells induced by oleic acid.     

Automatic preparation,calibration, and simulation of deformable objects

Many simulation environments – particularly those intended for medical simulation – require solid objects to deform at interactive rates, with deformation properties that correspond to real materials. Furthermore, new objects may be created frequently (for example, each time a new patient's data is processed), prohibiting manual intervention in the model preparation process. This paper provides a pipeline for rapid preparation of deformable objects with no manual intervention, specifically focusing on mesh generation (preparing solid meshes from surface models), automated calibration of models to finite element reference analyses (including a novel approach to reducing the complexity of calibrating nonhomogeneous objects), and automated skinning of meshes for interactive simulation.     

湖北八角莲属四种药用植物的生药学研究

本文对湖北分布的八角莲属四种植物进行了全面系统的生药学研究,发现不同种之间的显微特征明显,为四种药材的鉴别以及伪品药材的识别提供了重要依据。     

Waste biotech

US market for environmental biotech products for waste treatment worth $261.3 M by 2013 Marine pharmacognosy Recent patents related to biowaste and bioactive compounds Project profile: Concentration and separation of bioactives in food science Microbial-based motor fuels Dairy fermentation, cell factories and bioactive peptides Earliest genetic material: Waste from the stars? Marine bacteria use carbon dioxide     

REVIEW: Optimality models in the age of experimental evolution and genomics

Optimality models have been used to predict evolution of many properties of organisms. They typically neglect genetic details, whether by necessity or design. This omission is a common source of criticism, and although this limitation of optimality is widely acknowledged, it has mostly been defended rather than evaluated for its impact. Experimental adaptation of model organisms provides a new arena for testing optimality models and for simultaneously integrating genetics. First, an experimental context with a well‐researched organism allows dissection of the evolutionary process to identify causes of model failure – whether the model is wrong about genetics or selection. Second, optimality models provide a meaningful context for the process and mechanics of evolution, and thus may be used to elicit realistic genetic bases of adaptation – an especially useful augmentation to well‐researched genetic systems. A few studies of microbes have begun to pioneer this new direction. Incompatibility between the assumed and actual genetics has been demonstrated to be the cause of model failure in some cases. More interestingly, evolution at the phenotypic level has sometimes matched prediction even though the adaptive mutations defy mechanisms established by decades of classic genetic studies. Integration of experimental evolutionary tests with genetics heralds a new wave for optimality models and their extensions that does not merely emphasize the forces driving evolution.     

Evolution and current status of the phytochemistry of nitrogenous compounds

Nitrogen-containing and other secondary plant products have evolved as a consequence of the struggle between the plant and the animal kingdoms, the latter directly or indirectly thriving on plants. During evolution plants developed bioactive and exceedingly complicated chemical structures that serve the purpose of plant defense. It is this property of those plants that has been exploited by mankind as medicines, poisons and recreational drugs. Three classes of nitrogen-containing plant products are being reviewed in this article: the alkaloids, the cyanogenic glucosides/glucosinolates and the nonprotein amino acids. It is the interplay of different scientific disciplines such as chemistry, pharmacognosy, medicine, analytics, cell biology, molecular biology, botany and chemotaxonomy that form a new and exciting area called "phytochemistry". It is foreseeable that this integration of disciplines across traditional borders will bring new achievements in phytochemistry, as history has taught us already.     

New Isocoumarins from a Cold‐Adapted Fungal Strain Mucor sp. and Their Developmental Toxicity to Zebrafish Embryos

Three new isocoumarin derivatives, mucorisocoumarins A–C ( 1 – 3 , resp.), together with seven known compounds, 4 – 10 , were isolated from the cold‐adapted fungal strain Mucor sp. (No. XJ07027‐5). The structures of the new compounds were identified by detailed IR, MS, and 1D‐ and 2D‐NMR analyses. It was noteworthy that compounds 1, 2, 4 , and 5 were successfully resolved by chiral HPLC, indicating that 1 – 7 should exist as enantiomers. In an embryonic developmental toxicity assay using a zebrafish model, compound 3 produced developmental abnormalities in the zebrafish embryos. This is the first report of isocoumarins with developmental toxicity to zebrafish embryos.     

A new dynamic null model for phylogenetic community structure

Phylogenies are increasingly applied to identify the mechanisms structuring ecological communities but progress has been hindered by a reliance on statistical null models that ignore the historical process of community assembly. Here, we address this, and develop a dynamic null model of assembly by allopatric speciation, colonisation and local extinction. Incorporating these processes fundamentally alters the structure of communities expected due to chance, with speciation leading to phylogenetic overdispersion compared to a classical statistical null model assuming equal probabilities of community membership. Applying this method to bird and primate communities in South America we show that patterns of phylogenetic overdispersion – often attributed to negative biotic interactions – are instead consistent with a species neutral model of allopatric speciation, colonisation and local extinction. Our findings provide a new null expectation for phylogenetic community patterns and highlight the importance of explicitly accounting for the dynamic history of assembly when testing the mechanisms governing community structure.     

Fluorescent labeling of ursolic acid with FITC for investigation of its cytotoxic activity using confocal microscopy

Fluorescent labeling is a widely-used approach in the study of intracellular processes. This method is becoming increasingly popular for studying small bioactive molecules of natural origin; it allows us to estimate the vital intracellular changes which occur under their influence. We propose a new approach for visualization of the intracellular distribution of triterpene acids, based on fluorescent labeling by fluoresceine isothiocyanate. As a model compound we took the most widely-used and best-studied acid in the ursane series – ursolic acid, as this enabled us to compare the results obtained during our research with the available data, in order to evaluate the validity of the proposed method. Experimental tracing of the dynamics of penetration and distribution of the labeled ursolic acid has shown that when the acid enters the cell, it initially localizes on the inner membranes where the predicted target Akt1/protein kinase B – a protein that inhibits apoptosis – is located.