Chemical investigation of the rhizomes of Polygonatum sibiricum Red. led to the identification of 27 constituents. Among them, a total of 16 compounds were obtained from Polygonatum for the first time, in which, 3 and 4 were also firstly isolated as natural products. Anti-inflammatory activity studies on 13 isolated compounds showed that β-carboline constituents, especially compounds 1 and 2, significantly inhibited the expression of NO, TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated RAW264.7 macrophage cells. Moreover, western blotting analysis demonstrated that compound 1 significantly inhibited the expression of COX-2, iNOS and the activation of NF-κB, suggesting that β-carboline structures may play an important role in inhibition of NF-κB signaling pathway, which thereby inhibits the production of inflammatory factors. The present research may not only help further elucidation of the anti-inflammatory mechanism of P. sibiricum Red., but also provide the potential bioactive molecules for inflammatory diseases research.

Background: Expansins (EXPs), a group of proteins that loosen plant cell walls and cellulosic materials, are involved in regulating cell growth and diverse developmental processes in plants. However, the biological functions of this gene family in cotton are still unknown. Results: In this paper, we identified a total of 93 expansin genes in Gossypium hirsutum. These genes were classified into four subfamilies, including 67 GhEXPAs, 8 GhEXPBs, 6 GhEXLAs, and 12 GhEXLBs, and divided into 15 subgroups. The 93 expansin genes are distributed over 24 chromosomes, excluding Ghir_A02 and Ghir_D06. All GhEXP genes contain multiple exons, and each GhEXP protein has multiple conserved motifs. Transcript profiling and qPCR analysis revealed that the expansin genes have distinct expression patterns among different stages of cotton fibre development. Among them, 3 genes (GhEXPA4o, GhEXPA1A, and GhEXPA8h) were highly expressed in the initiation stage, 9 genes (GhEXPA4a, GhEXPA13a, GhEXPA4f, GhEXPA4q, GhEXPA8f, GhEXPA2, GhEXPA8g, GhEXPA8a, and GhEXPA4n) had high expression during the fast elongation stage, and GhEXLA1c and GhEXLA1f were preferentially expressed in the transition stage of fibre development. Conclusions: Our results provide a solid basis for further elucidation of the biological functions of expansin genes in relation to cotton fibre development and valuable genetic resources for future crop improvement.

Treatment with either letrozole or curcumin could inhibit the xenografted endometrial tumor growth via inducing apoptosis in tumor cells. Combination of letrozole and curcumin further strengthened the inhibitory effect on tumor growth.