To get more scientific information to support the medicinal uses of Ipomoea batatas, I. carnea, and I. pescaprae, phytochemical constituent analysis, toxicity and detoxification testing on normal and poisoned human cells, and ion channel inhibition using VGSCs, VGKCs and hERG channel were investigated. GC-MS and HPLC analysis were used for phytochemical screening and measuring the major compounds in 100 g leaf samples, which were 53.15-1446.93 mg oleamide in I. batatas -I. pes-caprae, 1.51-59.57 mg phytol in I. batatas -I. pes-caprae, and 39.04 mg α-amyrin and 8.09 mg β-amyrin in I. pes-caprae. The MTT assay showed no IC 50 value, and the comet assay revealed insignificant DNA damages (p > 0.05) on normal PBMCs. Detoxification efficacy for rice whisky-and herbicide-exposed cells was tested, and higher cell viability percentages were shown when the poisoned cells were treated with I. carnea and I. pes-caprae extracts compared with negative control. The hexane and acetonitrile extracts of I. batatas, I. carnea, and I. pes-caprae inhibited the VGSCs (Na v 1.6 and 1.8) and VGKCs (K v 1.1 and K v 10.1) channels, but not the hERG channel. The overall results indicated that the pharmacological activities of the studied plant extracts allowed them to be used as an excellent analgesic, an early marker in tumor formation useful for diagnosis and therapy of tumors, and treatments of poison and drug addiction, in addition to their antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antipyretic activities. The plants can be used in daily human life with good cardiac safety and low risk for hERG inhibition.

Background: Oleamide is an essential substance for human health. So, the plants with high oleamide content are great sources for health care products. Objective: This study is conducted to investigate the quality of oleamide in plants and test the bioactivity in the selected two studied species. Methods: The three Ipomoea and five Dillenia species including Ipomoea alba, Ipomoea aquatica and Ipomoea pes-caprae, and Dillenia indica, Dillenia obovata, Dillenia ovata, Dillenia parviflora and Dillenia pentagyna were investigated for the quantity of oleamide by high-performance liquid chromatography. The biological activity test was conducted on the powder formulation of the chosen plants, Dillenia ovata and Dillenia parviflora at a ratio of 30:70, for anti-inflammatory activity ex vivo on a panel of molecular targets through ion channel inhibition including voltage-gated sodium channel, voltage-gated potassium channel, and the cardiac ion as human ether-a-go-go related gene. Results: The results showed that the leaf extracts of I. aquatica and D. ovata gave the highest and subsequent oleamide quantity following 7.52 and 5.17 mg/g. Out of the Dillenia formulation which contained various compounds, oleamide showed the highest percentages of inhibition at 8.0-20.0%, and 6.2-14.2% in voltage-gated sodium channel, and voltage-gated potassium channel which had slightly lower values than the oleamide standard, and no effect as 0.0% value inhibition in the cardiac ion channel. Conclusion: The Dillenia formulation exhibits anti-inflammatory activity without affecting the heart. Accordingly, the three studied Ipomoea and three studied Dillenia species may be used for the same activity as a single component or formulation with effective solvent for disease treatments.

α-EG is a unique substance that was first found in the leaves and fruits of Morinda citrifolia (Mc) growing in Thailand using GC-MS at 52.33% and 54.12%. It was then concentrated and its abundance quantified, along with that of pinoresinol, via GC, compared to the standards in leaves, ufp, rfp, rawfs, and seeds. α-EG and pinoresinol, which have collagen stimulating, skin whitening, and an inhibitory effect on wrinkle formation, were found in different concentrations and amounts. Three different concentrations of the five Mc part extracts were tested on NHDF for gene expression related to the aforementioned activities, COL1A1, COL1A2, and COL3A1, FGF1 and FGF7 by qRT-PCR. The results showed various expression levels, both stimulatory and inhibitory, with different concentrations of plant parts and genes. Similar results were revealed when the experiments were performed with Morus alba (Ma), which was found to contain 20.48 g protein p/100 g leaves at concentrations of 3.11 mg/mL. The studied Mc parts seem to have advantages based on the stated objectives, gene type and level of activity of each plant part. Rawfs and leaves supplemented with Ma samples were selected for toxicity tests with PBMCs. The lack of both cell and DNA toxicity from the rawfs indicated that they can be used safely.

To expand the genomic information of Hypericaceae, particularly on Cratoxylum, we characterized seven novel complete plastid genomes (plastomes) of five Cratoxylum and two of its allied taxa, including C. arborescens, C. formosum subsp. formosum, C. formosum subsp. pruniflorum, C. maingayi, C. sumatranum, Hypericum hookerianum, and Triadenum breviflorum. For Cratoxylum, the plastomes ranged from 156,962 to 157,792 bp in length. Genomic structure and gene contents were observed in the five plastomes, and were comprised of 128–129 genes, which includes 83–84 protein-coding (CDS), 37 tRNA, and eight rRNA genes. The plastomes of H. hookerianum and T. breviflorum were 138,260 bp and 167,693 bp, respectively. A total of 110 and 127 genes included 72 and 82 CDS, 34 and 37 tRNA, as well as four and eight rRNA genes. The reconstruction of the phylogenetic trees using maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) trees based on the concatenated CDS and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences that were analyzed separately have revealed the same topology structure at genus level; Cratoxylum is monophyletic. However, C. formosum subsp. pruniflorum was not clustered together with its origin, raising doubt that it should be treated as a distinct species, C. pruniflorum based on molecular evidence that was supported by morphological descriptions.