No abstract

The root of Morinda officinalis (Rubiaceae) is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and impotence in the traditional Oriental medicine. To identify the antinociceptive anti-inflammatory components of this crude drug, we adopted an activity-directed fractionation approach. The active fraction of the BuOH extract of M. officinalis root was subjected to silica gel and ODS column chromatography to yield two diterpenes, compounds 1 and 2 and these were identified as monotropein and deacetylasperulosidic acid, respectively. The iridoid glycoside, monotropein, was tested for its anti-inflammatory antinociceptive effects using hot plate-and writhing antinociceptive assays and by using carrageenan-induced anti-inflammatory assays in mice and rats. Pretreatment with monotropein (at 20, 30 mg/kg/d, p.o.) significantly reduced stretching episodes and prolonged action time in mice. It also significantly reduced acute paw edema by carrageenan in rats. These results indicate that monotropein contributes to the antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory action of Morinda officinalis root.

The herbs of Euphorbia supina (Euphorbiaceae) have been used to treat hemorrhage, chronic bronchitis, hepatitis, jaundice, diarrhea, gastritis, and hemorrhoids as a medicinal herb. This work is aimed to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze the polyphenols with peroxynitrite-scavenging activities. The eight compounds: gallic acid, methyl gallate, avicularin, astragalin, juglanin, isoquercitrin 6″-gallate, astragalin 6″-gallate, and ellagic acid, were isolated from E. supina and used for HPLC analysis and peroxynitrite (ONOO(-))-scavenging assay. Simultaneous analysis of the eight compounds was performed on MeOH extract and its fractions. The contents in MeOH extract and peroxynitrite-scavenging activities of the dimer of gallic acid, ellagic acid (15.64 mg/g; IC50 0.89 μM), and two galloylated flavonoid glycosides, astragalin 6″-gallate (13.72 mg/g; IC50 1.43 μM) and isoquercitrin 6″-gallate (16.99 mg/g; IC50 1.75 μM), were high, compared to other compounds. The legendary uses of E. supina could be attributed to the high content of polyphenols, particularly ellagic acid, isoquercitrin 6″-gallate, and astragalin 6″-gallate as active principles.

Field studies on the control of potato commonscab were carried out using a Streptomyces scabiesantagonistic biofertilizer produced from swine feces with a selected strain of Streptomyces albidoflavus CH-33. The field soil, which was supplemented with lime in order to adjust the pH into the agricultural range of6 to 7, was mixed with 3.8kg ofbiofertilizer per subplot (1.0 x 1.2m) to a depth of 15cm. The scab severity, in terms of the percent coverage of the total surface area of the potato tubers, was 18.3 % and 23.2 % in the control and the subplot supplemented with barnyard manure, respectively, whereas the lesions were light in the biofertilizer subplot, the scab severity being only 1.7 %in terms of percent coverage. The field soil supplemented with the biofertilizer gave the maximumpotato production. In the biofertilizer subplot, the viable count of Streptomyces scabies in the field soil had decreased to 2 x 102 per gram soil by 80 days, whereas that of actinomycetes including Streptomyces albidoflavus CH-33 had increased to 4 x 108 per gram soil.