In the present study, the replicative lifespan assay of yeast was used to guide the isolation of antiaging substance from Gentiana rigescens Franch, a traditional Chinese medicine. A compound with antiaging effect was isolated, and the chemical structure of this molecule as amarogentin was identified by spectral analysis and compared with the reported data. It significantly extended the replicative lifespan of K6001 yeast at doses of 1, 3, and 10 μM. Furthermore, amarogentin improved the survival rate of yeast under oxidative stress by increasing the activities of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and these enzymes’ gene expression. In addition, this compound did not extend the replicative lifespan of sod1, sod2, uth1, and skn7 mutants with K6001 background. These results suggested that amarogentin exhibited antiaging effect on yeast via increase of SOD2, CAT, GPx gene expression, enzyme activity, and antioxidative stress. Moreover, we evaluated antioxidant activity of this natural products using PC12 cell system, a useful model for studying the nervous system at the cellular level. Amarogentin significantly improved the survival rate of PC12 cells under H2O2-induced oxidative stress and increased the activities of SOD and SOD2, and gene expression of SOD2, CAT, GPx, Nrf2, and Bcl-x1. Meanwhile, the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) of PC12 cells were significantly reduced after treatment of the amarogentin. These results indicated that antioxidative stress play an important role for antiaging and neuroprotection of amarogentin. Interestingly, amarogentin exhibited neuritogenic activity in PC12 cells. Therefore, the natural products, amarogentin from G. rigescens with antioxidant activity could be a good candidate molecule to develop drug for treating neurodegenerative diseases.

The established concept that RNA works only for protein synthesis has been changed over the past few decades and shifted towards therapeutic purposes. Almost 98% of mammalian genome is transcribed into nonprotein coding RNA termed as noncoding RNA (ncRNA) which plays regulatory role in molecular and cellular functions as controlling gene expression. These ncRNAs are classified as long noncoding RNA (lncRNA), short noncoding RNA (sncRNA), and translational/structural RNA which possess diverse functions. These ncRNAs regulate expression of normal gene and modulate disease development and progression. The characterization of ncRNA genes and their mechanisms can aid in disease diagnosis, examining its development and direct specific therapies in different disease treatments. Due to their unique modes of action, they are designated as novel class of targets leading to drug discovery. The modulation in these ncRNAs can enhance therapeutic treatments against different diseases by targeting mRNA for its cleavage via antisense olionucleotides (ASOs)/DNA duplex, RNA alternative splicing/editing, chromatin modification, transcriptional/translational interference, RNA masking, small interfering RNA/microRNA‐based gene silencing and by inducing immunity via RNA‐based vaccination. Here in this review, we tried to summarize the emerging fields of ncRNA, their role in different diseases, their modes of action, and their potential in target identification and therapeutic drug development.

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In the present study, mice with high-fat-diet-induced obesity were used in investigating the anti-obesity effects of an aqueous extract and isoquercitrin from Apocynum venetum L.

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