A water-soluble polysaccharide isolated with hot water from the fruit of
Physalis alkekengi L. which is a traditional Chinese medicine herb was fractionated with different concentration of ethanol ...and purified by Sepharose CL-6B gel filtration chromatography. The structural characterization and hypoglycemic activity of the purified polysaccharide fraction (designated PPSB) were evaluated in this paper. PPSB (
M
w
=
27
kDa) is an acid heteropolysaccharide consisting of Ara, Gal, Glc and GalA in ratio of 2.6:3.6:2:1 and α-configuration. It has a backbone composed of (1→5)-linked Ara, (1→6)-linked Gal with three branches attached to O-3 of (1→6)-linked Gal and terminated with either Gal or Gal and Glc, and all of Glc and the majority of GalA are distributed in branches. Pharmaceutical experiments showed PPSB administered orally in alloxan-induced diabetic mice can significantly reduce blood glucose levels and water intake, and increase the body weight of diabetic mice compared with alloxan-induced diabetic control group. The results suggest PPSB could be considered as a potential candidate for developing a new anti-diabetic agent.
Physalis alkekengi L. is the only representative of the genus Physalis (Solanaceae) that is native to Bulgaria, found in wild habitats under different climatic and soil conditions. The plant is ...poisonous, but produces edible fruit, which are a source of functional nutrients—vitamins, phenolic antioxidants, minerals, etc. Therefore, the objective of this work was to determine the presence of certain nutrient and bioactive substances in two phenotypes of P. alkekengi fruit from Bulgaria, in order to better reveal the prospects of fruit use in nutrition. Different macro and micronutrients were determined in the fruit—protein, ash, lipids, fiber, natural pigments, sugars, amino acids, minerals—and the results showed differences between the phenotypes. Fruit energy values were low and identical in the samples, 43 kcal/100 g. The fruits were rich in extractable phenolics (TPC, 17.74–20.25 mg GAE/100 g FW; flavonoids, 15.84–18.03 mg QE/100 g FW) and demonstrated good antioxidant activity (DPPH, 171.55–221.26 mM TE/g; FRAP, 193.18–256.35 mM TE/g). P. alkekengi fruits were processed to obtain a dry extract with ethanol (yield 47.92–58.6%), and its individual composition was identified (GC-MS). The results in this study supported the presumed phytonutritive potential of P. alkekengi fruit, thus, opening doors for further research.
Physalins are important bioactive compounds from genus Physalis. They often occur as isomers, which makes the structural elucidation difficult. In the present study, the fragmentation behavior and UV ...characteristics of seven physalins from genus Physalis were firstly investigated using electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) and diode array detection (DAD). Combined with ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) and DAD, the established approach to the structural identification of physalins by ESI-MS/MS was then applied to the analysis of Physalis alkekengi L. According to the UPLC retention behavior, the diagnostic UV spectra and the molecular structural information provided by MS/MS spectra, about 19 fingerprint peaks were identified, including 14 physalins and 5 other compounds. Finally, the established fingerprint method was applied to the analysis of 31 P. alkekengi L. samples collected from different locations, which reflected their similar chemical constituent properties. The proposed method provides a scientific and technical platform to the herbal industry for quality control and safety assurance of herbal preparations that contain this class of physalins.
The aerial parts of the plant
Physalis alkekengi L. var.
franchetii (PA) are traditionally used in folk medicine to treat cough, middle ear infection, sore throat, abscesses, and urinary problems. ...However, the cellular mechanisms underlying PA's possible anti-inflammatory effects are unknown.
We examined the effect of a methanol extract of PA on the production of nitric oxide (NO), inducible NO synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase (COX)-2, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and interleukin (IL)-6. We also examined the extract's effect on the activity of IκBα, mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and STAT1 in macrophages stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or LPS/interferon-γ (IFN-γ). We further fractioned the extract into chloroform and water to investigate which fraction possessed anti-inflammatory activity.
We found that the PA methanol extract significantly reduced the production of NO, iNOS, COX-2, TNF-α, and IL-6. The extract also inhibited LPS-induced IκBα degradation and MAPK activation as well as LPS/IFN-γ-induced STAT1 activation, effects observed at a higher concentration than that required to suppress iNOS. The chloroform fraction possessed the anti-inflammatory activity of PA by inhibiting the expression of iNOS, TNF-α and IL-6 through downregulation of IκBα degradation and MAPK activation.
Our findings indicate that the PA methanol extract contains different anti-inflammatory compounds, some of which suppressed iNOS expression and some of which inhibited IκBα degradation and MAPK activity. Further research is warranted to identify these anti-inflammatory components of PA and validate its use in animal studies.
In this study, the optimization of microwave-assisted extraction of total saponins from
P. alkekengi
(TSP) and in vitro anti-inflammatory activity were discussed. According to the results in ...Box–Behnken design, the nonlinear regression model obtained from the Design-Expert software was a reasonable fit for the experiment data (
R
2
= 0.9994). Results showed that the optimal extraction conditions with a yield of 6.41 ± 0.25 mg/g for crude TSP extraction were aqueous ethanol (80%) to raw material ratios of 32:1 (mL:g), extraction power of 300 W, and extraction time of 29 min. The content of the total saponins in the purified extract was 91.32 ± 1.57%. Bioassay indicated that TSP could significantly inhibited the release of nitric oxide (NO), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in a dose-dependent manner, and down-regulated the expressions of related genes. In addition, TSP treatment could also suppress the elevated cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) gene expression in LPS-induced RAW 264.7. Moreover, the secretions of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) in stimulated macrophages were also restrained in a concentration-dependent way. All these results indicated that TSP exhibited anti-inflammatory effects by suppressing the transcription of some inflammatory cytokine genes, suggesting that the anti-inflammatory properties of TSP may be helpful to mitigate inflammatory diseases as well as some other related diseases. The overall results indicated that TSP had potential as anti-inflammatory lead compounds for follow-up research.
Phytochemical investigations on Physalis. alkekengi L. var. franchetii, a widespread traditional Chinese medicine, led to the isolation and identification of three new sesquiterpenoids physalisitins ...A–C (1–3). Their structures were elucidated by NMR and HRESIMS analysis, and their absolute configurations were determined by quantum chemical NMR and ECD calculations, as well as by comparing their optical rotation values with those known analogues. All of the isolated compounds were evaluated for their cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitory activity. Compounds 1–3 dose-dependently inhibited the COX-2 enzyme with IC50 values of 3.22 ± 0.25, 6.35 ± 0.84, and 11.13 ± 1.47 μM, respectively.
Three new sesquiterpenoids were discovered from the traditional Chinese medical plant Physalis. alkekengi L. var. franchetii. Display omitted
The protein was extracted from Physalis alkekengi L. var. franchetii (Mast.) Makino fruit by using water extraction and acid precipitation methods, and it consisted of 188 mg/g of protein on dry ...basis of the extract. Among 18 amino acids, eight essential amino acids for human account for 31% were found in this extract. Based on shotgun proteomics method, the protein extracted from Physalis fruit was analysed by nanoflow reversed-phase liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (nano-RPLC-MS/MS) system. Combined with database searches and bioinformatics analysis, the protein species and six molecular functions were identified, including with catalytic activity, antioxidant activity, enzyme regular activity, nutrient reservoir activity, transporter activity and binding activity. And three antioxidant activity-related proteins were identified. These results may lay the foundation for further study of the functional properties of the proteins in Physalis fruit.
A pair of new 3-epimeric steroids possessing a rare 13,14-seco-16,24-cycloergostane skeleton, 3α-methoxy-2,3-dihydro-4,7-didehydrophysalin B (1), and 3β-methoxy-2,3-dihydro-4,7-didehydrophysalin B ...(2) were isolated from the 60% EtOH extract of the stems and leaves of Physalis alkekengi L. var. franchetii. Their structures were characterized on the basis of spectral evidence.
A new sesquiterpene, named as 13-hydroxy-3,11-(7?H, 10?H)-acordien-3-one (1), and a known norsesquiterpene 3?-hydroxy-5?, 6?-epoxy-7-megastigmen-9-one (2) were isolated from the seeds of Physalis ...alkekengi L. var. franchi. The structure of 1 was established by spectroscopic methods. Compound 1 was found to show modest antibacterial activity.
The differentiation of chromoplasts in the sepals of Physalis alkekengi was studied by light- and electron-microscopy and pigment analyses. The development of the chromoplasts from the chloroplasts ...started about four weeks after antítesis and, within the next two weeks resulted in the formation of small electron-transparent crystalloids connected to plastoglobules. Treatment of the sepals with norflurazon, which inhibits p-carotene accumulation, prevented the formation of the small crystalloids. Only numerous plastoglobules filled the chromoplasts. The results are discussed with regard to the already known action of some bleaching herbicides.