Seed vigor is a key factor affecting seed quality. The mechanical drying process exerts a significant influence on rice seed vigor. The initial moisture content (IMC) and drying temperature are considered the main factors affecting rice seed vigor through mechanical drying. This study aimed to determine the optimum drying temperature for rice seeds according to the IMC, and elucidate the mechanisms mediating the effects of drying temperature and IMC on seed vigor. Rice seeds with three different IMCs (20%, 25%, and 30%) were dried to the target moisture content (14%) at four different drying temperatures. The results showed that the drying temperature and IMC had significant effects on the drying performance and vigor of the rice seeds. The upper limits of drying temperature for rice seeds with 20%, 25%, and 30% IMCs were 45, 42, and 38 °C, respectively. The drying rate and seed temperature increased significantly with increasing drying temperature. The drying temperature, drying rate, and seed temperature showed extremely significant negative correlations with germination energy (GE), germination rate, germination index (GI), and vigor index (VI). A high IMC and drying temperature probably induced a massive accumulation of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and superoxide anions in the seeds, enhanced superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activity, and increased the abscisic acid (ABA) content. In the early stage of seed germination, the IMC and drying temperature regulated seed germination through the metabolism of H₂O₂, gibberellin acid (GA), ABA, and α-amylase. These results indicate that the metabolism of reactive oxygen species (ROS), antioxidant enzymes, GA, ABA, and α-amylase might be involved in the mediation of the effects of drying temperature on seed vigor. The results of this study provide a theoretical basis and technical guidance for the mechanical drying of rice seeds.
Abscisic Acid/metabolism* ; Antioxidants/pharmacology* ; Catalase/metabolism* ; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant/drug effects* ; Germination ; Gibberellins/metabolism* ; Hydrogen Peroxide/chemistry* ; Malondialdehyde/chemistry* ; Oryza/metabolism* ; Oxygen/chemistry* ; Plant Proteins/genetics* ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; Seeds/metabolism* ; Superoxide Dismutase/metabolism* ; Superoxides/chemistry* ; Temperature ; Weather ; alpha-Amylases/metabolism*

OBJECTIVEThe current study was designed to evaluate the various antioxidant potentials and inhibitory effects of phenolic-rich leaf extracts of Bridelia ferruginea (BF) on the in vitro activities of some key enzymes involved in the metabolism of carbohydrates.

METHODSIn this study, BF leaf free and bound phenolic-rich extracts were used. We quantified total phenolic and flavonoid contents, and evaluated several antioxidant activities using assays for ferric reducing antioxidant power, total antioxidant activity (phosphomolybdenum reducing ability), 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl and thiobarbituric acid reactive species. Also, extracts were tested for their ability to inhibit α-amylase and α-glucosidase activity.

RESULTSThe total phenolic and total flavonoid contents in the free phenolic extract of BF were significantly greater than in the bound phenolic extract. Also, all the antioxidant activities considered were significantly greater in the free phenolic extract than in the bound phenolic extract. In the same vein, the free phenolic-rich extract had a significantly higher percentage inhibition against α-glucosidase activity (IC = 28.5 µg/mL) than the bound phenolic extract (IC = 340.0 µg/mL). On the contrary, the free phenolic extract (IC = 210.0 µg/mL) had significantly lower inhibition against α-amylase than the bound phenolic-rich extract (IC = 190.0 µg/mL).

CONCLUSIONThe phenolic-rich extracts of BF leaves showed antioxidant potentials and inhibited two key carbohydrate-metabolizing enzymes in vitro.

Animals ; Antioxidants ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; enzymology ; metabolism ; Enzyme Inhibitors ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Glycoside Hydrolase Inhibitors ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Iron ; adverse effects ; Magnoliopsida ; chemistry ; Oxidative Stress ; drug effects ; Pancreas ; drug effects ; enzymology ; metabolism ; Phenols ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Swine ; alpha-Amylases ; antagonists & inhibitors ; chemistry ; alpha-Glucosidases ; chemistry

BACKGROUND: Wood is a valuable material for interiors, and the psychophysiological relaxation effects of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from wood chips and essential oils have been reported. However, few studies have identified the odors in full-scale wooden environment, and also, differences in gender have not been clarified. In this study, we aimed to confirm the effects of VOCs emitted from interior wood walls in both human male and female participants. METHODS: We used Japanese cedar timber and analyzed VOCs in the experimental rooms with and without Japanese cedar timber by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The physiological effects were measured using neuroendocrinological and immunological parameters in saliva. A questionnaire was used to evaluate the subjective responses to each odor in the experimental rooms. RESULTS: The main compound emitted from Japanese cedar timber was δ-cadinene, and the total volume of VOCs in the wood condition (presence of VOCs emitted from Japanese cedar) was 282.4 (μg/m). Significant differences between genders in salivary parameters were shown that there were decreases of α-amylase in wood condition and increases of cortisol in the control (absence of VOCs) condition in female participants compared to male participants. The results demonstrated that VOCs in the experimental room with Japanese cedar timber tend to suppress the activation of the sympathetic nervous activity and non-VOCs of Japanese cedar in the control room increase cortisol in female participants. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that an indoor environment with wood interior materials has the potential to be useful for health management, especially women's health.
Adult ; Air Pollutants ; analysis ; Air Pollution, Indoor ; adverse effects ; analysis ; Cryptomeria ; chemistry ; Female ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; Humans ; Hydrocortisone ; metabolism ; Male ; Saliva ; chemistry ; Salivary alpha-Amylases ; metabolism ; Sesquiterpenes ; analysis ; Sex Factors ; Volatile Organic Compounds ; adverse effects ; Wood ; chemistry ; Young Adult

The present study was designed to characterize the polyphenols isolated from Acacia mearnsii bark crude extract (B) and fractions (B1-B7) obtained by high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) and evaluate their anti-inflammatory and carbolytic enzymes (α-glucosidase and α-amylase) inhibitory activities. Fractions B4, B5, B6, B7 (total phenolics 850.3, 983.0, 843.9, and 572.5 mg·g, respectively; proanthocyanidins 75.7, 90.5, 95.0, and 44.8 mg·g, respectively) showed significant activities against reactive oxygen species (ROS), nitric oxide (NO) production, and expression of pro-inflammatory genes interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated mouse macrophage cell line RAW 264.7. All the extracts suppressed α-glucosidase and α-amylase activities, two primary enzymes responsible for carbohydrate digestion. A. mearnsii bark samples possessed significantly stronger inhibitory effects against α-glucosidase enzyme (IC of 0.4-1.4 μg·mL) than the pharmaceutical acarbose (IC 141.8 μg·mL). B6 and B7 (IC 17.6 and 11.7 μg·mL, respectively) exhibited α-amylase inhibitory activity as efficacious as acarbose (IC 15.4 μg·mL). Moreover, B extract, at 25 µg·mL, significantly decreased the non-mitochondrial oxidative burst that is often associated with inflammatory response in human monocytic macrophages.
Acacia ; chemistry ; Animals ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Carbohydrate Metabolism ; drug effects ; Glycoside Hydrolase Inhibitors ; pharmacology ; Inflammation ; metabolism ; Interleukin-1beta ; metabolism ; Lipopolysaccharides ; Macrophages ; drug effects ; Mice ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II ; metabolism ; Plant Bark ; chemistry ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Polyphenols ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Proanthocyanidins ; pharmacology ; RAW 264.7 Cells ; alpha-Amylases ; antagonists & inhibitors ; alpha-Glucosidases ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo compare the effect of citric acid stimulation on salivary alpha-amylase (sAA), total protein (TP), salivary flow rate, and pH value between Pi deficiency (PD) children and healthy children, thereby providing evidence for Pi controlling saliva theory.

METHODSTwenty PD children were recruited, and 29 healthy children were also recruited at the same time. Saliva samples from all subjects were collected before and after citric acid stimulation. The sAA activity and amount, TP contents, salivary flow rate, and pH value were determined and compared.

RESULTS(1) Citric acid stimulation was able to significantly increase salivary flow rate, pH value, sAA activities, sAA specific activity and sAA amount (including glycosylated and non-glycosylated sAA amount) in healthy children (P<0.05), while it could markedly increase salivary flow rate, pH value, and glycosylated sAA levels in PD children (P<0.05); (2) Although there was no statistical difference in determined salivary indices between the two groups (P>0.05), salivary indices except salivary flow rate and glycosylated sAA levels decreased more in PD children. There was statistical difference in sAA activity ratio, sAA specific activity ratio, and the ratio of glycosylated sAA levels between PD children and healthy children (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONPD children had decreased response to citric acid stimulation.

Child ; Citric Acid ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Saliva ; Salivary alpha-Amylases ; metabolism ; alpha-Amylases

BACKGROUNDSubjective assessment tools such as visual analog scales (VAS) or pain scores are commonly used to evaluate the intensity of chronic cancer-induced pain. However, their value is limited in some cases. We measured changes in VAS pain scores and salivary &alpha;-amylase (sAA) concentrations in cancer patients receiving radiotherapy for bone metastases to ascertain the correlation between these measures.

METHODSWe enrolled 30 patients with bone metastases attending a single institution from June 2010 to March 2011. All patients with cancer-induced bone pain received radiation therapy (RT) at the same dose (30 Gy) and fractionation (3 Gy/fraction, 5 days/week) for palliative pain relief. We assessed heart rate (HR), systolic and diastolic blood pressures (DBP/SBP) and VAS pain scores before (d0) and after five (d5) and ten fractions (d10) of irradiation. sAA and salivary cortisol (SC) concentrations were measured using a portable analyzer and automated chemiluminescence analyzer, respectively.

RESULTSRadiotherapy markedly decreased VAS scores from (82.93 ± 9.29) to (31.43 ± 16.73) mm (P < 0.001) and sAA concentrations from (109.40 ± 26.38) to (36.03 ± 19.40) U/ml (P <0.001). Moreover, there was a significant correlation between these two indices (P <0.01, r = 0.541). HR decreased by 6.5% after radiotherapy, but did not correlate with VAS scores (P >0.05). SC concentrations and BP did not change significantly during the study (P >0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe significant correlation between sAA concentrations and VAS pain scores identified in these preliminary results suggests that this biomarker may be a valuable, noninvasive and sensitive index for the objective assessment of pain intensity in patients with cancer-induced bone pain.

Aged ; Bone Neoplasms ; enzymology ; radiotherapy ; secondary ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pain ; enzymology ; radiotherapy ; Pain Management ; Pain Measurement ; Salivary alpha-Amylases ; metabolism ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo investigate and compare the inhibitory properties of free and bound phenolic extracts of clove bud against carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzymes (alpha-amylase & alpha-glucosidase) and Fe(2+)-induced lipid peroxidation in rat pancreas in vitro.

METHODSThe free phenolics were extracted with 80% (v/v) acetone, while bound phenolics were extracted from the alkaline and acid hydrolyzed residue with ethyl acetate. Then, the interaction of the extracts with alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase was subsequently assessed. Thereafter, the total phenolic contents and antioxidant activities of the extracts were determined.

RESULTSThe result revealed that both extracts inhibited alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase in a dose-dependent manner. However, the alpha-glucosidase inhibitory activity of the extracts were significantly (P<0.05) higher than their alpha-amylase inhibitory activity. The free phenolics (31.67 mg/g) and flavonoid (17.28 mg/g) contents were significantly (P<0.05) higher than bound phenolic (23.52 mg/g) and flavonoid (13.70 mg/g) contents. Both extracts also exhibited high antioxidant activities as typified by their high reducing power, 1,1 diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2, 2-azinobis-3-ethylbenzo-thiazoline-6-sulfonate (ABTS) radical scavenging abilities, as well as inhibition of Fe(2+)-induced lipid peroxidation in rat pancreas in vitro.

CONCLUSIONSThis study provides a biochemical rationale by which clove elicits therapeutic effect on type 2 diabetes.

Animals ; Antioxidants ; chemistry ; Carbohydrate Metabolism ; drug effects ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; metabolism ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Enzyme Inhibitors ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Ferrous Compounds ; pharmacology ; Flavonoids ; chemistry ; Glycoside Hydrolase Inhibitors ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Inhibitory Concentration 50 ; Lipid Peroxidation ; drug effects ; Pancreas ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Phenols ; chemistry ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Polyphenols ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Syzygium ; chemistry ; alpha-Amylases ; antagonists & inhibitors ; alpha-Glucosidases

OBJECTIVETo investigate the protective effects of captopril against lung injury in a rat model of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP).

METHODSSeventy-two male SD rats were randomized into sham-operated group (SO group), SAP group and captopril intervention group (CAP group). Serum amylase and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity in the lung tissue were examined at 1, 6 and 12 h after the operation. TNF-&alpha; and AngII in the lung tissue were detected by ELISA, and the histopathological changes of the pancreas and lung were observed microscopically.

RESULTSThe MPO activity , which was similar between SAP group and CAP group at 1 h, were significantly lowered in CAP group at 6 and 12 h (P<0.05). Serum amylase level and the levels of TNF-&alpha; and AngII in the lung tissue homogenate were all reduced significantly in CAP group as compared to those in SAP group (P<0.01). The pathological injury of the lung was obviously lessened in CAP group in comparison with that in SAP group.

CONCLUSIONCaptopril can ameliorate SAP-induced lung injury in rats.

Amylases ; blood ; Angiotensin II ; metabolism ; Animals ; Captopril ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Disease Models, Animal ; Lung ; metabolism ; pathology ; Lung Injury ; etiology ; prevention & control ; Male ; Pancreatitis ; complications ; drug therapy ; Peroxidase ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; metabolism

A strain ZG0656 producing a-amylase inhibitor was isolated from soil in this study. Polyphasic taxonomic studies were performed, including appearance characteristics, culture characteristics, phenotypic characteristics, cell walls chemical composition, nearly complete 16S rDNA sequence alignment with those of representative Streptomyces species. These results revealed that strain ZG0656 represents a novel variation of Streptomyces coelicoflavus, for which we propose the name S. coelicoflavus var. nankaiensis. After fermentation in a 10 L fermentor, alpha-amylase inhibitors were accumulated in the harvested broth of strain ZG0656. The alpha-amylase inhibitors we obtained were identified as aminooligosaccharides after concentration, resin-adsorption, gel-filtration, and desiccation. They could intensively inhibit alpha-amylase, depress postprandial blood glucose elevation obviously. Thus, the a-amylase inhibitors are expected to act as drugs or functional food against diabetes.
Amino Sugars ; biosynthesis ; isolation & purification ; Fermentation ; Oligosaccharides ; biosynthesis ; isolation & purification ; Soil Microbiology ; Streptomyces ; classification ; metabolism ; alpha-Amylases ; antagonists & inhibitors

Saccharomycopsis fibuligera possesses high alpha-amylase and glucoamylase activities that enable it to utilize raw starch as a carbon source. A expression cassette containing the promoter sequence of 3-phosphogylycerate kinase gene (PGK1p), the alpha factor signal sequence from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the alpha-amylase coding sequence of S. fibuligera was constructed. The alpha-amylase expression cassette was inserted in the ILV2 locus of industrial brewer's yeast strain YSF-5 encoding alpha-acetolactate synthase (AHAS) by homologous recombination. The transformed yeast strain was selected on the media with starch as the sole carbon source and verified by PCR. The transformant exhibited secretive alpha-amylase activity, low AHAS activity and reduced diacetyl production. Effects of temperature, pH, and metal ions on the activity of the alpha-amylase expressed by the transformant were examined. The fermentation performance of host strain YSF-5 and the transformant was also examined.
Beer ; microbiology ; Diacetyl ; metabolism ; Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 ; genetics ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Recombination, Genetic ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae ; genetics ; metabolism ; Saccharomycopsis ; enzymology ; genetics ; alpha-Amylases ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; metabolism