OBJECTIVETo isolate and elucidate the chemical constituents from the tuber of Arundina graminifolia.

METHODThe compounds were extracted by 95% alcohol and isolated by column chromatography on silica gel, SephedaxLH-20 and ODS. The structures were determined by UV, IR, NMR and MS spectral analysis.

RESULTFive compounds were isolated, and their structures were identified as (2E)-, 2-propenoic acid, 3-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-decosyl ester (I), p-hydroxybenzyl alcohol (II), triacontanol (III) and p-hydroxybenzylethyl ether (IV), 3-hydroxy-5-methoxybibenzyl (V), respectively.

CONCLUSIONAll compounds were isolated from the genus of Arundina for the first time.

Benzyl Alcohols ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Fatty Alcohols ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Orchidaceae ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Rhizome ; chemistry

The conversion of exogenous p-hydroxybenzaldehyde to p-hydroxy-methyl-phenol-beta-D-glucoside (gastrodin) was studied by using cell suspension culture of Datura tatula L. The chemical structure of this synthesized gastrodin was identified based on the spectral analysis and chemical evidence. The conversion procedure of p-hydroxybenzaldehyde into gastrodin by D. tatula L. cell suspension cultures was established. The synthesized gastrodin (II) was isolated from the ferment liquor and identified by spectral analysis. At the same time, the p-hydroxybenzyl alcohol (I) converted through biotransformation of p-hydroxybenzaldehyde by cell suspension cultures of D. tatula L. was also isolated and identified. The efficiency of glucosylation of p-hydroxybenzaldehyde was remarkably enhanced by adding salicylic acid (0.1 mg/L) and keeping the lower pressure (0.001MPa) in 25L airlift loop bioreactor. The biotransformation of exogenous p-hydroxybenzaldehyde to gastrodin by cell suspension culture of D. tatula L. is a promising approach.
Benzaldehydes ; metabolism ; Benzyl Alcohols ; chemistry ; Bioreactors ; Biotransformation ; Datura ; metabolism ; Glucosides ; biosynthesis ; chemistry ; Salicylic Acid ; pharmacology ; Suspensions

As an important active ingredient in the rare Chinese herb Gastrodiae Rhizoma and also the main precursor for gastrodin biosynthesis, 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol has multiple pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammation, anti-tumor, and anti-cerebral ischemia. The pharmaceutical products with 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol as the main component have been increasingly favored. At present, 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol is mainly obtained by natural extraction and chemical synthesis, both of which, however, exhibit some shortcomings that limit the long-term application of 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol. The wild and cultivated Gastrodia elata resources are limited. The chemical synthesis requires many steps, long time, and harsh reaction conditions. Besides, the resulting by-products are massive and three reaction wastes are difficult to treat. Therefore, how to artificially prepare 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol with high yield and purity has become an urgent problem facing the medical researchers. Guided by the theory of microbial metabolic engineering, this study employed the genetic engineering technologies to introduce three genes ThiH, pchF and pchC into Escherichia coli for synthesizing 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol with L-tyrosine. And the fermentation conditions of engineering strain for producing 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol in shake flask were also discussed. The experimental results showed that under the conditions of 0.5 mmol·L~(-1) IPTG, 15 ℃ induction temperature, and 40 ℃ transformation temperature, M9 Y medium containing 200 mg·L~(-1) L-tyrosine could be transformed into(69±5)mg·L~(-1) 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol, which has laid a foundation for producing 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol economically and efficiently by further expanding the fermentation scale in the future.
Benzyl Alcohols ; Escherichia coli/metabolism* ; Gastrodia/chemistry* ; Metabolic Engineering ; Tyrosine/metabolism*

Gastrodin(GAS) and p-hydroxybenzyl alcohol(HBA) are extracts of dried tubers of Gastrodia elata, which is the material basis for its efficacy and belongs to phenolic compounds. Modern pharmacology studies have shown that they have significant effects on central nervous system diseases, such as insomnia, convulsions, depression, ischemic stroke, anxiety, and cognitive impairment, and these diseases are closely related to neurotransmitters and cytokines. This paper described various mechanisms of GAS and HBA monomer components on the central nervous system. They alleviate hippocampal neuronal toxicity mainly by regulating a variety of neurotransmitters, such as acetylcholine, glutamic acid(GLU), γ-aminobutyric acid(GABA), serotonin(5-HT), dopamine(DA), norepinephrine(NE), 5-indoleacetic acid(5-HIAA), high vanillic acid(HVA) and dihydroxyphenylacetic acid(DOPAC), pro-inflammatory cell growth factors, such as IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α and relevant receptor functions, and exert neuropharmacological effects by effectively increasing mRNA expressions of brain neurotrophic factors, such as BDNF and GDNF, and further inhibiting the apoptosis of damaged neurons. This paper summarized various mechanisms on the central nervous system, which provides a scientific basis for the further research of the neuropharmacological mechanism of GAS and HBA and the development of new drugs and functional food.
Benzyl Alcohols/pharmacology* ; Central Nervous System/drug effects* ; Gastrodia/chemistry* ; Glucosides/pharmacology* ; Humans ; Plant Extracts/pharmacology*

This study aims to establish an HPLC method for simultaneous determination of gastrodin and eight nucleosides and nucleobases components in Gastrodia elata. The separation was carried out on an Agilent Zorbax Bonus-RP (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 μm) column with a methanol-(0.04% acetic acid) water solution gradient elution program at a flow rate of 1.0 mL x min(-1). The column temperature was 36 degrees C, and the detection wavelength was 254 nm. The volume of injection was 20 μL. The nine components including gastrodin, cytosine, uracil, cytosine, adenine, thymine, uridine, guanosine and adenosine were well separated. The calibration curve was well linear in the range of 2.04-262.00 mg x L(-1), 0.20-24.67 mg x L(-1), 0.18-23.75 mg x L(-1), 0.20-25.83 mg x L(-1), 0.20-26.67 mg x L(-1), 0.16-20.00 mg x L(-1), 0.22-27.71 mg x L(-1), 0.20-24.29 mg x L(-1), 0.24-30.58 mg x L(-1), respectively, and the correlation coefficient was between 0.998 9-0.999 9. The average recovery of gastrodin and eight nucleosides and nucleobases were 96.4%-99.6%, RSD less than 2.7% (n = 6). The contents of gastrodin in all the seven Tibet cultured Gastrodia elata samples were over 2 mg x g(-1). Further, all samples contain higher contents of adenosine, guanosine, uridine and cytidine compared to low contents of cytosine, uracil, adenine and thymine. The established method is accurate, reproducible and suitable for the determination of gastrodin and eight nucleosides and nucleobases comppnents in Gastrodia elata.
Benzyl Alcohols ; analysis ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Gastrodia ; chemistry ; Glucosides ; analysis ; Nucleosides ; analysis ; Nucleotides ; analysis

Basidiomycete PM2, a lignin-degrading white rot fungus, produces lgnin peroxidase (Lip) and manganese peroxidase (Mnp) in nutrient nitrogen limited liquid cultures. This fungus was selected for its ability to decolorize azo group of dyes. In order to improve production of the peroxidases and rapid dye decolorizing activity by basidiomycete PM2, the addition of veratryl alcohol or Tween 80 to nutrient nitrogen limited liquid cultures were tested. It was found to have a large stimulatory effect on Mnp activities and decolorization rate of azo dyes. A maximum Mnp activities of 254.2 u/L with veratryl alcohol and 192.2 u/L with Tween 80 were achieved respectively. These values were about 3.4-fold and 2.5-fold higher than that obtained in the control cultures (without alcohol or Tween 80), whereas the levels of Lip activity detected were very low (about 12 u/L)in all the cultures. In further experiments using three kinds of azo dyes of congo red, orange G and orange IV, enzyme activities and dye decolorization were investigated in the above-mentioned cultures. The results showed that Mnp activities and decolorization were notably higher than those obtained in the control cultures in the presence of azo dyes. Cultures supplemented with Tween 80 were more adequate for dye decolorization. The rates of the decolorization with Tween 80 of congo red (95.4%), orange G (98.5%) and orange IV (54.4%) after 24 hours of dye incubation were higher than that supplemented with veratryl alcohol. According to the results, Mnp activities secreted by basidiomycete PM2 play an essential role in the process of dye decolorization. Tween 80 was the main factor affecting the decolorization. The analysis of structure of the three kinds of azo dyes indicats that the extent of decolorization is affected by the dye molecular structure. The types and quantity of the substituted groups on the aromatic ring of azo dyes have effect on the percentage of biological decolorization.
Azo Compounds ; metabolism ; Basidiomycota ; enzymology ; metabolism ; Benzyl Alcohols ; pharmacology ; Coloring Agents ; metabolism ; Oxygenases ; biosynthesis ; Peroxidases ; biosynthesis ; Polysorbates ; pharmacology

Distribution behavior of lipophilic drugs in the oil-in-water (O/W) microemulsions was studied. Fluorescence spectra analysis was performed to investigate the effect of the compositions of microemulsions on the fluorescence spectra of armillarisin and ofloxacin which were used as the model drugs. The fluorescence spectra of the model drugs in the microemulsions with various amount of the compositions were compared. The results showed that the armillarisin were both localized in the interfacial film of microemulsion systems with both phenylmethanol and PEG 400 as the co-surfactants, separately. Ofloxacin was localized in the interfacial film of microemulsion systems with Gradamol GTCC as the oil phase, but in the oil pool of microemulsion systems with oleic acid/olive oil (OA/OO) (1:1) as the oil phase. Besides, it was found that the drug would have the tendency to locate in the microenvironment where the composition with the largest solubility to model drug is located, and its actual localized position would be dependent on the amount of this composition. The results indicate that the localized region of lipophilic drug in the O/W microemulsion systems is related with the solubility of the model drug in various compositions.
Benzopyrans ; chemistry ; Benzyl Alcohols ; Emulsions ; Ofloxacin ; chemistry ; Oils ; Polyethylene Glycols ; Solubility ; Spectrometry, Fluorescence ; methods ; Surface-Active Agents ; Water

OBJECTIVETo study on the drug release characteristics and mechanism of gastrodin ion-activated nasal in situ gel in vitro.

METHODRegularity and mechanism of the drug release of gastrodin nasal in situ gel were studied by using the diffusion cell model and the membrane-less dissolution model, respectively. A novel kinesis diffusion cell model was designed according to the characteristics of release environment of nasal cavity. It was used to investigate the effect of adhesiveness on the release of the in situ gel.

RESULTDrug release of gastrodin nasal in situ gel followed the one order release model. Erosion rate of the gel was low and not linearly correlated with the release rate. Compared with gastrodin solution, the nasal in situ gel could increase release time and release amount.

CONCLUSIONGastrodin in the nasal in situ gel is released mainly by diffusion rather than erosion. Release amount of the in situ gel in nasal cavity may be obviously increased because of its adhesiveness.

Adhesiveness ; Benzyl Alcohols ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Calibration ; Diffusion ; Gels ; Glucosides ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Kinetics ; Models, Chemical ; Nose ; metabolism ; Solubility

Gastrodia elata Bl. is a famous and costful traditional Chinese medicine. Their genomic DNA fingerprints were investigated using a modified Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA method. DNA fragments common to all or to fine populations were identified and recovered. Five DNA fragments were proven not to be reported through DNA cloning, PCR identifying, nucleotide sequencing and bioinformatics analyses and were received in and recorded by NCBI GenBank. Gastrodine contents of the Gastrodia tuber samples were determined using high performance liquid chromatography technique. The distribution of the five DNA fragments in 9 Gastrodia elata Blue populations and the correlation with gastromedicine content were studied. The results show the distribution of these DNA sequences varied greatly among the populations whereby DNA Sequence 1 was the common and distinguishing molecular marker for all the populations studied and DNA Sequence 2 may relate to higher gastrodine content. In conclusion, these DNA marker sequences can be employed to identify genuine gastrodia tubers, better varieties and optimize their selection and cultivating.
Base Sequence ; Benzyl Alcohols ; analysis ; Cloning, Molecular ; Computational Biology ; DNA, Plant ; chemistry ; Gastrodia ; genetics ; Glucosides ; analysis ; Plant Tubers ; genetics

The chromatographic fingerprint of Gastrodia elata Bl. (Tianma) was developed to compare the quality of Tianma samples from different habitats and processing methods. The above analysis method was established by HPLC-DAD technique. And an HPLC method was used to analysis the contents of gastrodin (GAS) and p-hydroxybenzyl alcohol (HBA) in Tianma from different habitats and processed methods. Experiments of chromatographic fingerprint analysis were carried out with a Zorbax XDB C18 column (250 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 microm). The mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile and 0.1% aqueous acetic acid in gradient elution mode. The column was maintained at 25 degrees C. Detection was set at 270 nm. The mass spectra were recorded using as ESI source in the negative mode with ion spray voltage at 3500 V, source temperature at 335 degrees C, gas spray at 8.3 kPa and gas flow rate at 9 L x min(-1). The HPLC methods of quantitative analysis were the same as those of chromatographic fingerprint analysis except the mobile phase, which consisted of acetonitrile and 0.1% aqueous acetic acid in isocratic elution mode with the ratio of 4.5 to 95.5 (v/v). Data of chromatographic fingerprint were analyzed by the "similarity evaluation system for chromatographic fingerprint of TCM (Version 2004 A)" software to compare the quality of Tianma. Samples from different habitats with the same processing method were of high similarity, though a few samples showed evident difference in fingerprint graphics. For Tianma samples with different processing methods, the contents of common peaks were different and the processing method of freezing to dry was better than others. With HPLC-MS technique, 8 major common peaks in the fingerprint of Tianma were identified by their MS spectra and comparison with the reference standards. The results of similarity analysis for chromatographic fingerprint were basically consistent with those of quantitative analysis. The established HPLC-DAD/MS methods can be used to evaluate the quality of Tianma.
Benzyl Alcohols ; analysis ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Gastrodia ; chemistry ; Glucosides ; analysis ; Mass Spectrometry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Quality Control ; Rhizome ; chemistry