The Incorporation of Leucine-U-14C into Ipomeamarone

1. It was demonstrated by silica gel thin layer chromatography that leucine-U-¹⁴C was incorporated into furanoterpenes, e. g. ipomeamarone, in sweet potato root tissue infected by Ceratocystis fimbriata.

2. Further proof for ipomeamarone synthesis from leucine-U-¹⁴C was obtained by the constancy of the specific radioactivity of ipomeamarone semicarbazone through repetitive crystallization.

3. The synthetic pathway of ipomeamarone from leucine was found to be connected with the synthetic pathway from acetate at least at some steps.

4. Leucine-U-¹⁴C was incorporated into both saponifiable and non-saponifiable materials in the same way as acetate-2-¹⁴C.     

Volatile Components of Roasted Almonds: Basic Fraction

Roasted almond volatiles were isolated by vacuum carbon dioxide distillation of acetone extracts and separated into basic and non-basic fractions. The basic fraction was analyzed by combination gas chromatography-mass spectrometry utilizing open tubular column. Seventeen pyrazines and 2-formyl pyrrole were identified by comparison of their mass spectra with reference spectra. Besides them, five compounds were tentatively identified by mass spectrometry.     

Anti-inflammatory activity of halogenated secondary metabolites of Laurencia snackeyi (Weber-van Bosse) Masuda in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages

Secondary metabolites of tropical seaweed are proven to exhibit variety of biological activities. Six species of seaweed (Caulerpa racemosa var. laete-virens, Caulerpa sertularioides f. longipes, Halymenia dilatata, Laurencia snackeyi, Padina boryana, and Sargassum swartzii) were tested for anti-inflammatory activity in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Crude L. snackeyi extract exhibit potent activity, and upon bioassay-guided isolation, it contained four halogenated compounds that exert profound inhibitory effects against nitric oxide (NO) production in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. These compounds were subjected to spectroscopic measurements and were identified as palisadin A (1), aplysistatin (2), 5-acetoxypalisadin B (3), and palisol (4). Further experiments showed aplysistatin (2) to significantly inhibit NO production and prostaglandin-E2 (PGE2) production, and suppress inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Therefore, aplysistatin (2) is suggested to inhibit NO and PGE2 production via the inhibition of iNOS and COX-2, indicating that its activity may be attributed to the modulation of anti-inflammatory agents.     

SIZ1 deficiency causes reduced stomatal aperture and enhanced drought tolerance via controlling salicylic acid‐induced accumulation of reactive oxygen species in Arabidopsis

Transpiration and gas exchange occur through stomata. Thus, the control of stomatal aperture is important for the efficiency and regulation of water use, and for the response to drought. Here, we demonstrate that SIZ1‐mediated endogenous salicylic acid (SA) accumulation plays an important role in stomatal closure and drought tolerance. siz1 reduced stomatal apertures. The reduced stomatal apertures of siz1 were inhibited by the application of peroxidase inhibitors, salicylhydroxamic acid and azide, which inhibits SA‐dependent reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, but not by an NADPH oxidase inhibitor, diphenyl iodonium chloride, which inhibits ABA‐dependent ROS production. Furthermore, the introduction of nahG into siz1, which reduces SA accumulation, restored stomatal opening. Stomatal closure is generally induced by water deficit. The siz1 mutation caused drought tolerance, whereas nahG siz1 suppressed the tolerant phenotype. Drought stresses also induced expression of SA‐responsive genes, such as PR1 and PR2. Furthermore, other SA‐accumulating mutants, cpr5 and acd6, exhibited stomatal closure and drought tolerance, and nahG suppressed the phenotype of cpr5 and acd6, as did siz1 and nahG siz1. Together, these results suggest that SIZ1 negatively affects stomatal closure and drought tolerance through the accumulation of SA.     

Psychological and physiological effect in humans of touching plant foliage - using the semantic differential method and cerebral activity as indicators

Background

Numerous studies have reported on the healing powers of plants and nature, but there have not been so many instances of experimental research. In particular, there are very few psychological and physiological studies using tactile stimuli. This study examines the psychological and physiological effects of touching plant foliage by using an evaluation profile of the subjects’ impressions and investigating cerebral blood flow.

Methods

The subjects were 14 young Japanese men aged from 21 to 27 years (mean ± standard deviation: 23.6 ± 2.4). With their eyes closed, the subjects touched four different tactile samples including a leaf of natural pothos (Epipremnum aureum). The physiological indices were compared before and after each stimulus. Psychological indices were obtained using a ‘semantic differential’ method.

Results

The fabric stimulus gave people ‘soft’ and ‘rough’ impressions, ‘kind’, ‘peaceful’ and ‘pleasant’ feelings psychologically, and a sense of physiological calm. On the other hand, the metal stimulus gave people ‘cold’, ‘smooth’ and ‘hard’ impressions and an image of something ‘artificial’. The metal stimulus caused a stress response in human cerebral blood flow although its evaluation in terms of ‘pleasant or unpleasant’ was neutral. There were no remarkable differences between the stimuli of natural and artificial pothos compared with other types of stimulus psychologically. However, only the natural pothos stimulus showed a sense of physiological calm in the same appearance as the fabric stimulus.

Conclusions

This study shows that people experience an unconscious calming reaction to touching a plant. It is to be concluded that plants are an indispensable element of the human environment.     

Age- and Sex-Dependency of Laser Speckle Flowgraphy Measurements of Optic Nerve Vessel Microcirculation

Purpose

To investigate the relationship between various characteristics of a normal population and laser speckle flowgraphy (LSFG) measurements of mean blur rate (MBR) in the optic nerve head (ONH).

Methods

A total of 189 eyes of 189 normal subjects (93 male, 96 female, mean age 45 ± 14 years old, age range: 20–72) without any history of hypertension, hyperlipidemia or diabetes were enrolled. ONH microcirculation was measured with LSFG and overall MBR (MA), vessel-area MBR (MV), and tissue-area MBR (MT) were derived from these measurements. The statistical association of these measurements with characteristics such as sex, age, intraocular pressure (IOP) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) was then determined.

Results

There was a trend towards decreased IOP and MV and increased SBP with age (P = 0.002, P = 0.035, and P = 0.006, respectively). Furthermore, IOP, MV and SBP were correlated with age (r = -0.23, P = 0.011; r = -0.24, P < 0.001; and r = 0.30, P < 0.001, respectively). Separate multiple regression analyses of independent contributing factors revealed that sex and IOP contributed to MA (P < 0.001 and P = 0.002, respectively), sex, IOP, and age contributed to MV (P < 0.001, P = 0.003, and P = 0.024, respectively), while only IOP contributed to MT (P = 0.003).

Conclusion

In a normal population, MBR was affected by IOP in both the large vessel and capillary areas of the ONH, but not by SBP. MV was also affected by age and sex, while MT was stable independent of age or sex.