Erigeron breviscapus has been widely used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and its total flavonoid component is commonly used to treat ischemic stroke, coronary heart disease, diabetes and hypertension. Scutellarin is the major ingredient of E. breviscapus and scutellarein is one of the main bioactive metabolites of scutellarin in vivo, but the latter's pharmacological activities have not been fully characterized. Provided evidence that could inhibit platelet aggregation, the effect of scutellarein on rat washed platelets and its underlying mechanisms were evaluated in our research. Scutellarein inhibited platelet adhesion and aggregation induced by multiple G protein coupled receptor agonists such as thrombin, U 46619 and ADP, in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, the mild effect of scutellarein on intracellular Ca 2 mobilization and cyclic AMP (cAMP) level was observed. On the other hand, the role of scutellarein as potential protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor was confirmed by PKC activity analysis and molecular docking. The phorbol myristate acetate-induced platelets aggregation assay with or without ADP implied that the scutellarein takes PKC(s) as its primary target(s), and acts on it in a reversible way. Finally, scutellarein as a promising agent exhibited a high inhibition effect on ADP-induced platelet aggregation among its analogues. This study clarifies the PKC-related signaling pathway involved in antiplatelet action of scutellarein, and may be beneficial for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

Cyclina sinensis belongs to the family Veneroida, Veneridae, a marine mollusks having high economic value. It is distributed in the coastal waters of Southeast Asia. In recent years, the recourses of C. sinensis have been severely depleted due to overfishing and pollution. Genetic divergency has also been reported. It is necessary to protect this bivalve from the hazards. In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome of C. sinensis has been determined. The total number of nucleic acids were 21 799 bp. The genome contains 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, 2 rRNA genes and a non-coding control region. The phylogenetic analysis was conducted with 11 related species and confirmed the classification status.

The first complete mitochondrial genome in Blaberidae has been reported in this research. Opisthoplatia orientalis (Blaberidae, Epilamprinae) known as ground cockroach with golden edge is distributed in East and South Asia and widely used for thrombolytic therapy in China. Meanwhile, Blaptica dubia (Blaberidae, Blaberinae) has been adopted as feeder insect for various kinds of pets all over the world. In the present study, we investigated the complete mitochondrial genome of O. orientalis and B. dubia, and the mitogenome is 18 724  and 17 340 bp in length, respectively. The circular molecule consists of 13 protein coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, and a non-coding control region, with an AT content of 75.7% for O. orientalis and 72.8% for B. dubia. A preliminary phylogenetic analysis has been carried out with 11 related species and the status of these two species is further confirmed.