No abstract

A fixed ligand (FL) version of the kinetic method was applied to rapid, simple, and accurate chiral analysis of DOPA, which is an important drug used for treatment of Parkinson's disease. Singly charged clusters containing the transition metal ion Cu(II), pyridyl ligands which serve as a fixed ligand, some amino acid as a reference, and the analyte DOPA were generated by electrospray ionization. The cluster ion of interest was mass-selected, and the kinetics of its competitive unimolecular dissociations was investigated in an ion trap mass spectrometer. The chiral selectivity (R(chiral)), the ratio of the two fragment ion abundances when the cluster contains one pure enantiomer of the analyte expressed relative to that for the other enantiomer, varies with fixed ligands, references, and transition metals. Chiral discrimination was optimized in 1,10-phenanthroline as a FL, L-Phe and L-Pro as a reference, and Cu(II) as a central metal ion. Quantitative determinations of the enantiomeric composition of DOPA were achieved using two-point calibration curves. The linear relationship between the logarithm of the fragment ion abundance ratio (ln R) and enantiomeric compositions (ee%) of the DOPA allows the determination of the chiral purity of enantiomeric mixtures.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a slow, progressive neurodegenerative disease and the most common type of dementia in the elderly. The etiology of AD and its underlying mechanism are still not clear. In a previous study, we found that an ethyl acetate extract of Centipedegrass (CG) (i.e., EA-CG) contained 4 types of Maysin derivatives, including Luteolin, Isoorientin, Rhamnosylisoorientin, and Derhamnosylmaysin, and showed protective effects against Amyloid beta (Aβ) by inhibiting oligomeric Aβ in cellular and in vitro models. Here, we examined the preventative effects of EA-CG treatment on the Aβ burden in the Tg (Mo/Hu APPswe PS1dE9) AD mouse model. We have investigated the EA-CG efficacy as novel anti-AD likely preventing amyloid plaques using immunofluorescence staining to visually analyze Aβ40/42 and fibril formation with Thioflavin-S or 6E10 which are the profile of immunoreactivity against epitope Aβ1–16 or neuritic plaque, the quantitation of humoral immune response against Aβ, and the inflammatory cytokine responses (Th1 and Th2) using ELISA and QRT-PCR. To minimize the toxicity of the extracted CG, we addressed the liver toxicity in response to the CG extract treatment in Tg mice using relevant markers, such as aspartate aminotransferase (AST)/ alanine aminotransferase (ALT) measurements in serum. The EA-CG extract significantly reduced the Aβ burden, the concentration of soluble Aβ40/42 protein, and fibril formation in the hippocampus and cortex of the Tg mice treated with EA-CG (50 mg/kg BW/day) for 6 months compared with the Tg mice treated with a normal diet. Additionally, the profile of anti-inflammatory cytokines revealed that the levels of Th2 (interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interleukin-10 (IL-10)) cytokines are more significantly increased than Th1 (interferon-γ (IFN-γ), interleukin-2(IL-2)) in the sera. These results suggest that the EA-CG fraction induces IL-4/IL-10-dependent anti-inflammatory cytokines (Th2) rather than pro-inflammatory cytokines (Th1), which are driven by IL-2/IFN-γ. With regard to the immune response, EA-CG induced an immunoglobulin IgG and IgM response against the EA-CG treatment in the Tg mice. Furthermore, EA-CG significantly ameliorated the level of soluble Aβ42 and Aβ40. Similarly, we observed that the fibril formation was also decreased by EA-CG treatment in the hippocampus and cortex after quantitative analysis with Thioflavin-S staining in the Tg brain tissues. Taken together, our findings suggested that Maysin and its derivative flavonoid compounds in the EA-CG fraction might be beneficial therapeutic treatments or alternative preventative measures to adjuvant for boosting humoral and cellular include immune response and anti-inflammation which may lead to amyloid plaque accumulation in Alzheimer’s patients’ brains.

Context: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the abnormal accumulation of b-amyloid (Ab). Multiple Ab-aggregated species have been identified, and neurotoxicity appears to be correlated with the amount of non-fibrillar oligomers. Potent inhibitors of Ab oligomer formation or Ab-induced cell toxicity have emerged as attractive means of therapeutic intervention. Eremochloa ophiuroide Hack. (Poaceae), also known as centipedegrass (CG), originates from China and South America and is reported to contain several C-glycosyl flavones and phenolic constituents. Objective: We investigated whether CG could suppress Ab aggregation, BACE1 activity, and toxicity at neuronal cell. Materials and methods: The inhibitory effect of CG extracts toward aggregation of Ab42 was investigated in the absence and presence of 50 mg/mL CG. We investigated the inhibitory effects of CG (0-5 mg/mL) on BACE1 using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based assay. The effects of CG (0-75 mg/mL) on Ab42-induced neurotoxicity were examined in PC12 cells in the presence or absence of maysin and its derivatives of CG. Results: We isolated EA-CG fraction (70% MeOH fraction from EtOAc extracts) from methanol extracts of CG, which contained approximately 60% maysin and its derivatives. In the present studies, we found that several Ab oligomeric forms such as the monomer, dimer, trimer, and highly aggregated oligomeric forms were remarkably inhibited in the presence of 50 mg/mL of EA-CG. EA-CG also inhibited BACE1 enzyme activity in a dose-dependent manner. EA-CG treatment generated approximately 50% or 85% inhibition to the control at the tested concentrations of 1 or 5 mg/mL, respectively. Moreover, the neurotoxicity induced by Ab42 was significantly reduced by treatment of EA-CG, and the 75 mg/mL EA-CG treatment significantly increased cell viability up to 82.5%. Discussion and conclusion: These results suggested that the anti-Alzheimer's effects of CG occurred through inhibition of neuronal cell death by intervening with oligomeric Ab formation and reducing BACE1 activity. Maysin in CG could be an excellent therapeutic candidate for the prevention of AD.

The objective of this study was to determine the infection patterns of etiological agents causing calf diarrhea in the Gyeongnam province, Korea. In this study, from January 2011 to December 2011, feces and necropsy specimens from 249 calves diagnosed with diarrhea (＜7 months old) were examined by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction assay and bacteria & coccidium isolation for detection pathogenic organism. The results of this study showed that 78 cases (31.3%) in spring, 71 cases (28.5) in summer, 62 cases (24.9%) in fall and 38 cases (15.3%) in winter were diagnosed with calf diarrhea, respectively. Calf diarrhea-causing pathogens were diagnosed as bacteria 113 (45.4%), viruses 97 (39.0%), coccidium 1 (0.4%), unknown cases 13 (5.2%), and mixed infections 25 (10.0%). We isolated three virus types from fecal samples (97), which were classified as BVD 64 (66.0%), BRV 21 (21.6%), and BCV 12 (12.4%). Moreover, co-infected pathogens were 25 cases, consisting with BVD & BRV 11 (44%), BVD & BCV& BRV 7 (28.0%), E. coli & BCV 3 (12%), and BVD & IBR 1 (4.0%). In summary, we demonstrated that the enteropathogens of bacteria, viruses, and parasite were detected in samples from cattle with diarrhea, principally in young calves less than 7 months of age. Future studies of infectious diarrhea in cattle should include assays for this etiologic agent.