OBJECTIVETo investigate 4 populations of 80 samples of Vitex trifolia var. simplicifolia collected from Shandong and Jiangxi province and analyze their intraspecies genetic variance.

METHODInter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) technique was applied for the study.

RESULTFifteen specific and stable primers were selected from 100 primers. A total of 129 sites were generated, and 115 of them (89.15%) were polymorphic. The data analyzed by PopGene demonstrated that the average polymorphic site percentage among the four populations was 71.89%. The average Shannon's information index was 0. 220 4. According to cluster analysis and the law of geographic variation, the populations were classified into two large groups: the Shandong group and the Jiangxi group.

CONCLUSIONThese results will provide the information for protection and utilization of V. trifolia var. simplicifolia and also further data for the study of genetic variation and species differentiation of V. trifolia var. simplicifolia.

The present study aimed to provide the protection strategies for wild germplasm resources of original plants of Viticis Fructus and a theoretical basis for the sustainable use of Viticis Fructus. The genetic diversity and genetic structures of the 232 indivi-duals in 19 populations of Vitex rotundifolia and V. trifolia were analyzed by eight SSR markers with tools such as Popgene32, GenAlex 6.502, and STRUCTURE. Bottleneck effect was detected for the population with more than 10 individuals. The results indicated that 42 and 26 alleles were detected from the populations of V. rotundifolia and V. trifolia, respectively, with average expected heterozygo-sities of 0.448 6 and 0.583 9, which are indicative of low genetic diversity. AMOVA revealed the obvious genetic variation of V. rotundifolia and V. trifolia within population(84.43%, P<0.01; 60.37%, P<0.01). Furthermore, in eight SSR loci, six from V. rotundifolia populations and two from V. trifolia populations failed to meet Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium expectations(P<0.05), which confirmed that the populations experienced bottleneck effect. As assessed by Mantel test, geographical distance posed slight impacts on the genetic variation between the populations of V. rotundifolia and V. trifolia. Principal component analysis(PCA) and STRUCTURE analysis demonstrated evident introgression of genes among various populations. The original plants of Viticis Fructus were confirmed low in genetic diversity and genetic differentiation level. Therefore, the protection of wild resources of original plants of Viticis Fructus should be strengthened to ensure its sustainable use.
Alleles ; Fruit/genetics* ; Genetic Variation ; Geography ; Microsatellite Repeats ; Vitex/genetics*

Vitex trifolia L. has been used traditionally to treat various illnesses, such as inflammation, headache, migraine, and gastrointestinal infections. We analyzed and evaluated the composition of V. trifolia leaf oil. Based on the results, we isolated abietatriene from V. trifolia leaf oil and investigated the effect of V. trifolia leaf oil and its active compound abietatriene on melanogenesis in B16F10 melanoma cells. They significantly decreased melanin contents and melanogenic factors, such as tyrosinase, TRP-1, TRP-2, and MITF dose-dependently in both protein and mRNA levels. Protein and mRNA expressions were determined by Western blot analysis and quantitative real time RT-PCR. Findings indicate that V. trifolia leaf oil and abietatriene reduce melanogenesis by regulating the expression of melanogenic factors. These results suggest that V. trifolia leaf oil and abietatriene could comprise a useful therapeutic agent for treating hyperpigmentation and used as effective skin-whitening agents.
Blotting, Western ; Hyperpigmentation ; Inflammation ; Melanins ; Melanoma ; Migraine Disorders ; Monophenol Monooxygenase ; RNA, Messenger ; Vitex*

The effects of the cultivation media, plant growth regulators and inoculum size on the cell growth and 20-hydroxyecdysone production in suspension cultures of Vitex glabrata R. Br. were investigated. The cell growth and 20-hydroxyecdysone formation reach the highest when cells are cultured in the Gamborg's B5 medium supplemented with 2.0 mg/L BAP (6-benzylaminopurine) and 1.0 mg/L 2,4-D. The maximum 20-hydroxyecdysone productivity, of about 1.l mg/L/day, was observed in the culture with 20% PCV (packed cell volume) of inoculum size. These data also show that the increment of the inoculum size to 20% PCV could increase the productivity in 7-folds.
Cell Culture Techniques ; methods ; Culture Media ; Ecdysterone ; biosynthesis ; Vitex ; cytology ; metabolism

OBJECTIVEThe research aimed to investigate the entophytic fungal community of Vitex negundo var. cannabifolia, including the biodiversity from different organs and the correlations with habitations.

METHODPDA medium was used to isolate and purify the endophytic fungi in V. negundo var. cannabifolia. The purified strains were identified by morphology together with similarity of 5.8S gene and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence.

RESULTNinety-seven strains of endophytic fungi were isolated from V. negundo var. cannabifolia. They were identified belonging to 12 species, 10 genera, 8 families and 6 orders, while 60 isolations identified into 9 species, 9 genus ,7 families and 6 orders were obtained from the wild plants and 37 belonging to 7 species, 5 genus, 3 families and 3 orders were from the cultivated ones.

CONCLUSIONIt indicated that the entophytic fungi in V. negundo var. cannabifolia were diverse, and there were some differences at quantity and species in different sites and organs of V. negundo var. cannabifolia.

Chemical investigation of the ethyl acetate extract of Gibberella moniliformis JS1055 endophytic fungus derived from a halophyte, Vitex rotundifolia, led to the isolation of nine compounds including 7-butyl-6,8-dihydroxy-3(R)-pent-11-enylisochroman-1-one (1), 7-butyl-6,8-dihydroxy-3(R)-pentylisochroman-1-one (2), 7-butyl-6,8-dihydroxy-3(R)-pentylisochroman-1-one (3), 5α,8α-epidioxyergosta-6,9(11),22-trien-3-ol (4), ergosterol peroxide (5), tetradecanoic acid (6), 8-O-methylfusarubin (7), nicotinic acid (8) and adenosine (9). They were identified by extensive spectroscopic data analysis including 1D, 2D (¹H-¹H COSY, HSQC, HMBC) NMR, and ESIMS. All the isolates (1
Adenosine ; Ergosterol ; Fungi ; Gibberella ; Moniliformis ; Myristic Acid ; Niacin ; Salt-Tolerant Plants ; Statistics as Topic ; Vitex

Halophytes are expected to possess abundant secondary metabolites and various biological activities because of habitat in extreme environments. In this study, we collected 14 halophytes (Asparagus oligoclonos, Calystegia soldanella, Carex pumila, Chenopodium glaucum, Elymus mollis, Glehnia littoralis, Limonium tetragonum, Messerschmidia sibirica, Rosa rugosa, Salsola komarovii, Spergularia marina, Suaeda glauca, Suaeda maritima, and Vitex rotundifolia) native to Korea and compared their total polyphenol contents, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. The total polyphenol contents of R. rugosa (27.28%) and L. tetragonum (13.17%) were significantly higher than those of the other 12 halophytes and L. tetragonum, R. rugosa, and M. sibirica showed significantly greater antioxidant activities than the other 11 halophytes, as determined by DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl). A. oligoclonos, E. mollis, and C. pumila showed significantly greater anti-inflammatory activities than the other 11, as determined by NO (Nitric oxide) and PGE₂ (Prostaglandin E₂) levels. In contrast, these three extracts had normal and low total polyphenol contents among the 14 halophytes. Consequently, the total polyphenol content in the 14 studied halophytes appeared to be related to antioxidant, but not anti-inflammatory activity levels.
Apiaceae ; Calystegia ; Caryophyllaceae ; Chenopodiaceae ; Chenopodium ; Ecosystem ; Elymus ; Korea ; Plumbaginaceae ; Rosa ; Salsola ; Salt-Tolerant Plants ; Vitex

BACKGROUND: Menopausal symptoms have remarkable negative effects on women's quality of life, justifying the need to assess various therapeutic options. This research aimed to determine the effectiveness of Vitex agnus-castus extracts in alleviating menopausal symptoms in comparison with that of placebo. METHODS: This study was a randomized controlled double-blind clinical trial with a study group of 52 women referred to a clinic in Kermanshah in 2017. The participants were randomly divided into two groups: Vitex group (26 subjects) and placebo group (26 subjects). Menopausal symptoms were assessed using the Greene Scale before and 8 weeks after the intervention. RESULTS: After the intervention, the mean scores for total menopausal disorder, anxiety, and vasomotor dysfunction were significantly lower in the Vitex group than in the placebo group (P<0.05). The mean scores of the variables of somatic complications, depression, and sexual dysfunction did not show significant differences between the Vitex and placebo groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Administration of Vitex agnus-castus extracts as a phytoestrogenic medicine can alleviate menopausal symptoms in women.
Anxiety Disorders ; Depression ; Double-Blind Method ; Female ; Humans ; Menopause ; Phytoestrogens ; Placebo Effect ; Quality of Life ; Vitex

AIM: To investigate the chemical constituents of Vitex negundo. METHOD: Compounds were isolated by different chromatographic methods and their structures were elucidated on the basis of NMR spectroscopy. RESULTS: Four compounds were isolated and identified as 2α, 3α, 24-trihydroxyurs-12, 20(30)-dien-28-oic acid-28-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl ester (1), corosolic acid (2), vulgarsaponin A (3) and 2α, 3α, 24-trihydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic acid-28-O-β-Dglucopyranosyl ester (4), respectively. CONCLUSION Compound 1 is a new triterpenoid glycoside.
Molecular Structure ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; Saponins ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Triterpenes ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Vitex ; chemistry

In order to comprehensively evaluate the quality of Viticis Fructus, this study established HPLC fingerprints and evaluated the quality of 24 batches of Viticis Fructus samples from different species by similarity evaluation and multivariate statistical analysis(PCA, HCA, PLS-DA). On this basis, an HPLC method was established to compare the content differences of the main components, including casticin, agnuside, homoorientin, and p-hydroxybenzoic acid. The analysis was performed on the chromatographic column(Waters Symmetry C_(18)) with a gradient mobile phase of acetonitrile(A)-0.05% phosphoric acid solution(B) at the flow rate of 1 mL·min~(-1) and detection wavelength of 258 nm. The column temperature was 30 ℃ and the injection volume was 10 μL. The HPLC fingerprint of 24 batches of Viticis Fructus samples was established with 21 common peaks, and nine peaks were identified. Similarity analysis was carried out based on chromatographic data of 24 batches of chromatographic data of Viticis Fructus, and the results showed that except for DYMJ-16, the similarity of Vitex trifolia var. simplicifolia was ≥0.900, while that of V. trifolia was ≤0.864. In addition, the similarity analysis of two different species showed that the similarity of 16 batches of V. trifolia var. simplicifolia was 0.894-0.997 and that of the eight batches of V. trifolia was between 0.990 and 0.997. The results showed that the similarity of fingerprints of these two species was different, but the similarity between the same species was good. The results of the three multivariate statistical analyses were consistent, which could distinguish the two different species. The VIP analysis results of PLS-DA showed that casticin and agnuside contributed the most to the distinction. The content determination results showed that there was no significant difference in the content of homoorientin and p-hydroxybenzoic acid in Viticis Fructus from different species, but the content of casticin and agnuside was significantly different in different species(P<0.01). The content of casticin was higher in V. trifolia var. simplicifolia, while agnuside was higher in V. trifolia. The findings of this study show that there are differences in fingerprint similarity and component content of Viticis Fructus from different species, which can provide references for the in-depth study of the quality and clinical application of Viticis Fructus.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid/methods* ; Fruit/chemistry* ; Vitex/chemistry*