Ephedra herb is a traditional Chinese medicine with a long history. Conventionally, it was used as a folk phytomedicine in many ancient medical books and traditional prescriptions. Up to date, a variety of specific ingredients have been found in Ephedra herb, mainly including alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, polysaccharides, organic acids, volatile oils, and many other active compounds. These components from Ephedra herb account for its use as the accurate treatment of cold, cough, cardiovascular and immune system disease, cancer, microbial infection, and other diseases. Moreover, with the fast development of novel chemistry and medicine technology, new chemical constituents and pharmacological effects of Ephedra herb are increasingly identified, demonstrating their great potential for various diseases treatment. Therefore, further detailed understanding and investigation of this ancient herb will offer new opportunities to develop novel therapeutics. This study systematically reviews its progress of phytochemistry, traditional and modern pharmacology based on research data that have been reported, aiming at providing useful insight for commercial exploitation, further study and precision medication of Ephedra herb in future.
Agilawood is a costly heartwood medicine obtained from Aquilaria sinensis with active ingredients mainly composed of volatile and semi-volatile substances. However, the formation time of agilawood is quite long and little is known about its formation mechanism. Two highly active fungi obtained from natural agilawood were inoculated on A. sinensis trees to understand their interaction processes and elucidate the transformation rules of induced chemical compositions within different test periods. The results demonstrated that the fungi could successfully colonize living tissues and cells and activate the host defense system, resulting in agilawood accumulation. With increasing time, the main components of A. sinensis converted into constituents or analogs of agilawood and the host exhibited "self-injury" to prevent fungal intrusion and protect other tissues. The data presented here could provide scientific basis for producing agilawood with the two new fungi in a safe, feasible, and sustainable manner without destroying rare Aquilaria plants.
CUI JinLongGUO ShunXingFU ShaoBinXIAO PeiGenWANG MengLiang
对柴胡红景天中一株具有抗氧化活性的内生真菌Rb-R-1进行研究,获得其分类地位并评价抗氧化活性强弱。结果表明:这株真菌为Ascomacota门Hypocreales目Neonectria属的N.ramulariae真菌,具有较强的1,1-二苯基-2-三硝基苯肼(1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl,DPPH)自由基、羟自由基(·OH)、超氧阴离子自由基(O2-·)、NO2-清除能力和Fe2+螯合能力,IC50值分别为8.86、4.40、9.65、16.53、1.91 mg/m L;其发酵产物中总酚和总黄酮含量分别达18.12、22.48 mg/g。发酵条件优化结果表明,在以乳糖为碳源、牛肉膏为氮源、装液量90 m L/250 m L、p H 7.0、25℃条件下培养10 d时,内生真菌Rb-R-1发酵产物对DPPH自由基的清除率最大,达到93.12%;总酚和总黄酮含量最高,分别为19.14 mg/g和28.25 mg/g。
目的：对我国2个主产区的主要红景天（Rhodiola L.）品种r DNA-内转录间隔区（ITS）序列进行分析,为红景天种质资源的分子鉴别及进化关系提供依据。方法：提取核基因组DNA,聚合酶链反应（PCR）克隆ITS序列;经DNAstar软件拼接序列后,通过Clustal X软件进行比对,考察其变异位点及信息位点;用Mega 4.1计算品种之间的遗传距离,构建最大简约树（maximum parsimony,MP）和邻接树（neighbor-joining,NJ）。结果：5种红景天材料r DNA-ITS序列长度为603～604 bp,ITS1、5.8 S r DNA和ITS2的DNA长度分别为226 bp、164 bp和213～214 bp。ITS1和ITS2分别含有11和9个变异位点,其中,信息位点分别为6和2个;存在转换、颠换、缺失等现象;5.8 S r DNA序列含7个变异位点,2个信息位点;试验中红景天品种的遗传距离为0.018 2～0.627 3。大花红景天与柴胡红景天亲缘关系最近。结论：r DNA-ITS序列是鉴别红景天品种,研究遗传关系的良好方法。
