In order to reveal the main nutrients and functional ingredients in the shoots of Polygonatum cyrtonema, the polysaccharides, proteins, amino acids, and total phenols were determined. The tested samples cultured in Ma'nijiaonong, Hengtang village, Tianmushan town, Lin'an, Zhejiang, which were collected from three provenances(Pan'an and Longquan in Zhejiang and Qingyang in Anhui). The results showed that the polysaccharide content of the shoots varied from 2.34% to 12.73%, roughly one-third of rhizomes. The protein content varied from 107.75 to 192.49 mg·g~(-1), nearly 5.50 times more than rhizomes. Moreover, the average of total amino acid content was 193.13-248.74 mg·g~(-1), approximately 4.16 times of rhizomes. And the essential amino acids account for 35.57%-39.44% of the total amino acids content, which was close to the standard of the ideal protein proposed by FAO/WHO(the essential amino acid/total amino acid is about 40%). In addition, the taste amino acids(TaAA) changed from 160.12 to 208.29 mg·g~(-1), revealing the material basis of "shoots were extremely delicious" in Chinese ancient herbal medicine. Additionally, the total phenols varied from 51.21-58.76 mg·g~(-1), about 2.96 times of rhizomes. The DPPH free radical scavenging rate of tested shoots was over 95%, which obviously superior to rhizomes. Therefore, the shoots of P. cyrtonema is a very high-quality vegetable and functional food with good development potential. Furthermore, the main nutrients and functional substances in P. cyrtonema shoots are closely related to the provenances and harvesting seasons. It is important to improve the quality and yield of the shoots by strengthening the variety of breeding and cultivation techniques.
Amino Acids, Essential/analysis* ; Functional Food ; Nutrients/analysis* ; Plant Proteins, Dietary/analysis* ; Plant Shoots/chemistry* ; Polygonatum/chemistry* ; Polysaccharides/analysis* ; Rhizome

OBJECTIVETo develop the reproducible in vitro propagation protocols for the medicinally important plants viz., Achyranthes aspera (A. aspera) L. and Achyranthes bidentata (A. bidentata) Blume using nodal segments as explants.

METHODSYoung shoots of A. aspera and A. bidentata were harvested and washed with running tap water and treated with 0.1% bavistin and rinsed twice with distilled water. Then the explants were surface sterilized with 0.1% (w/v) HgCl2 solutions for 1 min. After rinsing with sterile distilled water for 3-4 times, nodal segments were cut into smaller segments (1 cm) and used as the explants. The explants were placed horizontally as well as vertically on solid basal Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 3% sucrose, 0.6% (w/v) agar (Hi-Media, Mumbai) and different concentration and combination of 6-benzyl amino purine (BAP), kinetin (Kin), naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and indole acetic acid (IAA) for direct regeneration.

RESULTSAdventitious proliferation was obtained from A. aspera and A. bidentata nodal segments inoculated on MS basal medium with 3% sucrose and augmented with BAP and Kin with varied frequency. MS medium augmented with 3.0 mg/L of BAP showed the highest percentage (93.60±0.71) of shootlets formation for A. aspera and (94.70±0.53) percentages for A. bidentata. Maximum number of shoots/explants (10.60±0.36) for A. aspera and (9.50±0.56) for A. bidentata was observed in MS medium fortified with 5.0 mg/L of BAP. For A. aspera, maximum mean length (5.50±0.34) of shootlets was obtained in MS medium augmented with 3.0 mg/L of Kin and for A. bidentata (5.40±0.61) was observed in the very same concentration. The highest percentage, maximum number of rootlets/shootlet and mean length of rootlets were observed in 1/2 MS medium supplemented with 1.0 mg/L of IBA. Seventy percentages of plants were successfully established in polycups. Sixty eight percentages of plants were well established in the green house condition. Sixty five percentages of plants were established in the field.

CONCLUSIONSThe results have shown that use of nodal buds is an alternative reproducible and dependable method for clonal propagation of A. aspera and A. bidentata. The high rate of direct shoot-root multiplication and their high rate of post-hardening survival indicate that this protocol can be easily adopted for commercial large scale cultivation.

Achyranthes ; growth & development ; Culture Media ; chemistry ; Plant Roots ; growth & development ; Plant Shoots ; growth & development ; Plants, Medicinal ; growth & development ; Survival Analysis

OBJECTTo study the effects of different kinds and amounts of fertilizers on spring shoots growth yield of Akebia trifoliate.

METHODBy applying orthogonal design method, the effects of fertilizers on spring shoots growth yield were analyzed.

RESULTThe optimization project of applying fertilizers was K3N3J2P2, the amount of potassium fertilizer was 0.075 kg per m2, nitrogenous fertilizers was 0.090 kg per m2, organic fertilizer was 0.300 kg per m2, phosphate fertilizer was 0.090 kg per m2. The effect sequence of different fertilizer on spring shoots growth was K > N > J > P.

CONCLUSIONSpring shoots growth yield of A. trifoliate can increase significantly by reasonable applying fertilizer.

Fertilizers ; Magnoliopsida ; drug effects ; growth & development ; Nitrogen ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Phosphorus ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Plant Shoots ; drug effects ; growth & development ; Potassium ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Seasons

OBJECTIVETo establish cryopreservation system of shoot-tips from Fritillaria anhuiensis.

METHODTaking vitrification as system of cryopreservation, the shoot tips with length 2-3 mm were precultured in MS medium enriched with 0.4 mol x L(-1) sucrose for 3 d. They were treated for 20 min with 60% PVS2 at 25 degrees C, and then subjected to ice-cooled vitrification solution for 60 min and transferred to 2 mL cryotubes with fresh vitrification solution (PVS2) and plunged into liquid nitrogen. After rapid thawing in 40 degrees C water bath for 1 min, shoot-tips were expelled into MS medium containing 1.2 mol x L(-1) sucrose for 20 min. Further recovery and growth took place on regeneration medium in the dark at 25 degrees C for 2 weeks, and then with light/dark cycle of 12/12 h. The genetic integrity of cryopreserved shoot-tips was identified through products of PCR with arbitrary primers.

RESULT AND CONCLUSIONThe highest survival rates of shoot-tips reached 79.9% by vitrification, and the regeneration rates were 52.3%. No changes were found between treated materials and untreated materials in genomic DNA.

Cryopreservation ; methods ; Cryoprotective Agents ; chemistry ; Fritillaria ; genetics ; metabolism ; Genomic Instability ; genetics ; Plant Shoots ; genetics ; metabolism ; Plants, Medicinal ; genetics ; metabolism ; Preservation, Biological ; Survival Analysis ; Vitrification

OBJECTIVETo discuss the effect and mechanism of Platycladi Cacumen Carbonisatum (PCC) on rats with blood heat and hemorrhage syndromes.

METHODRats were fed with 15 g x kg(-1) water decoctions of Zingiberis Rhizoma and 5% alcohol for 15 days to establish the blood-heat and hemorrhage syndrome model. Yunnan Baiyao was taken as the positive control drug, and PCC decoctions (5.0, 10.0 g x kg(-1)) were given simultaneously, in order to detect changes in general physical signs of rats, such as body weight, daily diet, volume of daily drinking and urine and stool, and rectal temperature. Automatic hematology analyzers was used to determine white blood cell (WBC), red blood cell (RBC), hemoglobin (HGB), and hematocrit (HCT), blood time by docking (BT). Blood rheometers was used to detect whole blood and plasma viscosities, thrombin time (TT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), prothrombin time (PT) and fibrinogen content (FIB). Indexes related to thyroid functions, such as triiodothyronine (T3), tetraiodothyronine (T4), reverse triiodothyronine (rT3) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) were measured by radio-immunoassay, and changes in lung tissues were observed by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) stain.

RESULTAfter modeling, rats witnessed slow-down in weight growth rate, significant increase in daily diet, volume of daily drinking, urine and temperature, significant decrease in stools and their water content (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), rise in plasma T4 level, notable growth in T3 and rT3 concentrations (P < 0.05), decline in TSH concentration. Additionally, their WBC, RBC, HGB and HCT remarkably increased (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), with significant increase in high, middle and low whole blood viscosities and plasma viscosity (P < 0.01); their BT, TT, APTT were notably prolonged (P < 0.01), with significant increase in FIB content (P < 0.01). After oral administration of Yunnan Baiyao or PCC, rats of all groups showed significant improvement in blood heat syndromes (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), and their blood coagulation indexes including BT, TT, APTT, FIB, thyroid function indexes including T4, T3, rT3, TSH, WBC, RBC, HGB, HCT, whole blood viscosity and plasma viscosity were getting normal (P < 0.05, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONPCC can ameliorate blood heat symptoms and pathologic hemorrhage among rats with blood heat and hemorrhage syndromes by inhibiting thyroid functions and correcting hemorheological and coagulation disorders.

Animals ; Blood Cell Count ; Blood Coagulation ; drug effects ; Blood Viscosity ; drug effects ; Body Weight ; drug effects ; Cupressaceae ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Hemorrhage ; blood ; drug therapy ; Hot Temperature ; Lung ; drug effects ; pathology ; Male ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry ; Plant Shoots ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms ; Syndrome ; Thyroid Hormones ; blood