scholarly journals Agrimonia procera Wallr. Extract Increases Stress Resistance and Prolongs Life Span in Caenorhabditis elegans via Transcription Factor DAF-16 (FoxO Orthologue)

Antioxidants ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Saier ◽  
Inge Gommlich ◽  
Volker Hiemann ◽  
Sabrina Baier ◽  
Karoline Koch ◽  
...  

Agrimonia procera is a pharmacologically interesting plant which is proposed to protect against various diseases due to its high amount of phytochemicals, e.g., polyphenols. However, in spite of the amount of postulated health benefits, studies concerning the mechanistic effects of Agrimonia procera are limited. Using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, we were able to show that an ethanol extract of Agrimonia procera herba (eAE) mediates strong antioxidative effects in the nematode: Beside a strong radical-scavenging activity, eAE reduces accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and protects against paraquat-induced oxidative stress. The extract does not protect against amyloid-β-mediated toxicity, but efficiently increases the life span (up to 12.7%), as well as the resistance to thermal stress (prolongation of survival up to 22%), of this model organism. Using nematodes deficient in the forkhead box O (FoxO)-orthologue DAF-16, we were able to demonstrate that beneficial effects of eAE on stress resistance and life span were mediated via this transcription factor. We showed antioxidative, stress-reducing, and life-prolonging effects of eAE in vivo and were able to demonstrate a molecular mechanism of this extract. These results may be important for identifying further molecular targets of eAE in humans.

Plants ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Saier ◽  
Christian Büchter ◽  
Karoline Koch ◽  
Wim Wätjen

Extracts of the Chinese plant Polygonum multiflorum (PME) are used for medicinal purposes as well as food supplement due to anti-aging effects. Despite of the common use of these food supplements, experimental data on physiological effects of PME and its underlying molecular mechanisms in vivo are limited. We used the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans to analyze anti-aging-effects of PME in vivo (life span, lipofuscin accumulation, oxidative stress resistance, thermal stress resistance) as well as the molecular signaling pathways involved. The effects of PME were examined in wildtype animals and mutants defective in the sirtuin-homologue SIR-2.1 (VC199) and the FOXO-homologue DAF-16 (CF1038). PME possesses antioxidative effects in vivo and increases oxidative stress resistance of the nematodes. While the accumulation of lipofuscin is only slightly decreased, PME causes a significant elongation (18.6%) of mean life span. DAF-16 is essential for the reduction of thermally induced ROS accumulation, while the resistance against paraquat-induced oxidative stress is dependent on SIR-2.1. For the extension of the life span, both DAF-16 and SIR-2.1 are needed. We demonstrate that PME exerts protective effects in C. elegans via modulation of distinct intracellular pathways.


Molecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 915 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herbenya Peixoto ◽  
Mariana Roxo ◽  
Emerson Silva ◽  
Karla Valente ◽  
Markus Braun ◽  
...  

Endopleura uchi (Huber) Cuatrec (Humiriaceae), known as uxi or uxi-amarelo in Brazil, is an endemic tree of the Amazon forest. In traditional medicine, its stem bark is used to treat a variety of health disorders, including cancer, diabetes, arthritis, uterine inflammation, and gynecological infections. According to HPLC analysis, the main constituent of the bark extract is the polyphenol bergenin. In the current study, we demonstrate by in vitro and in vivo experiments the antioxidant potential of a water extract from the stem bark of E. uchi. When tested in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, the extract enhanced stress resistance via the DAF-16/FOXO pathway. Additionally, the extract promoted an increase in the lifespan of the worms independent from caloric restriction. It also attenuated the age-related muscle function decline and formation of polyQ40 plaques, as a model for Huntington’s disease. Thus, these data support anti-aging and anti-oxidant properties of E. uchi, which has not yet been described. More studies are needed to assess the real benefits of E. uchi bark for human health and its toxicological profile.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Weizhang Jia ◽  
Qina Su ◽  
Qiong Cheng ◽  
Qiong Peng ◽  
Aimin Qiao ◽  
...  

Palmatine is a naturally occurring isoquinoline alkaloid that has been reported to display neuroprotective effects against amyloid-β- (Aβ-) induced neurotoxicity. However, the mechanisms underlying the neuroprotective activities of palmatine remain poorly characterized in vivo. We employed transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans models containing human Aβ1-42 to investigate the effects and possible mechanisms of palmatine-mediated neuroprotection. Treatment with palmatine significantly delayed the paralytic process and reduced the elevated reactive oxygen species levels in Aβ-transgenic C. elegans. In addition, it increased oxidative stress resistance without affecting the lifespan of wild-type C. elegans. Pathway analysis suggested that the differentially expressed genes were related mainly to aging, detoxification, and lipid metabolism. Real-time PCR indicated that resistance-related genes such as sod-3 and shsp were significantly upregulated, while the lipid metabolism-related gene fat-5 was downregulated. Further studies demonstrated that the inhibitory effects of palmatine on Aβ toxicity were attributable to the free radical-scavenging capacity and that the upregulated expression of resistance-related genes, especially shsp, whose expression was regulated by HSF-1, played crucial roles in protecting cells from Aβ-induced toxicity. The research showed that there were significantly fewer Aβ deposits in transgenic CL2006 nematodes treated with palmatine than in control nematodes. In addition, our study found that Aβ-induced toxicity was accompanied by dysregulation of lipid metabolism, leading to excessive fat accumulation in Aβ-transgenic CL4176 nematodes. The alleviation of lipid disorder by palmatine should be attributed not only to the reduction in fat synthesis but also to the inhibition of Aβ aggregation and toxicity, which jointly maintained metabolic homeostasis. This study provides new insights into the in vivo neuroprotective effects of palmatine against Aβ aggregation and toxicity and provides valuable targets for the prevention and treatment of AD.


2009 ◽  
Vol 189 ◽  
pp. S235
Author(s):  
Andreas Kampkötter ◽  
Stephan Tanner ◽  
Holger Bosbach ◽  
Christian Büchter ◽  
Maren Sack ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (39) ◽  
pp. 6976-6990 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana María González-Paramás ◽  
Begoña Ayuda-Durán ◽  
Sofía Martínez ◽  
Susana González-Manzano ◽  
Celestino Santos-Buelga

: Flavonoids are phenolic compounds widely distributed in the human diet. Their intake has been associated with a decreased risk of different diseases such as cancer, immune dysfunction or coronary heart disease. However, the knowledge about the mechanisms behind their in vivo activity is limited and still under discussion. For years, their bioactivity was associated with the direct antioxidant and radical scavenging properties of phenolic compounds, but nowadays this assumption is unlikely to explain their putative health effects, or at least to be the only explanation for them. New hypotheses about possible mechanisms have been postulated, including the influence of the interaction of polyphenols and gut microbiota and also the possibility that flavonoids or their metabolites could modify gene expression or act as potential modulators of intracellular signaling cascades. This paper reviews all these topics, from the classical view as antioxidants in the context of the Oxidative Stress theory to the most recent tendencies related with the modulation of redox signaling pathways, modification of gene expression or interactions with the intestinal microbiota. The use of C. elegans as a model organism for the study of the molecular mechanisms involved in biological activity of flavonoids is also discussed.


Development ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 147 (14) ◽  
pp. dev190330
Author(s):  
Brett R. Lancaster ◽  
James D. McGhee

ABSTRACTWe define a quantitative relationship between the affinity with which the intestine-specific GATA factor ELT-2 binds to cis-acting regulatory motifs and the resulting transcription of asp-1, a target gene representative of genes involved in Caenorhabditis elegans intestine differentiation. By establishing an experimental system that allows unknown parameters (e.g. the influence of chromatin) to effectively cancel out, we show that levels of asp-1 transcripts increase monotonically with increasing binding affinity of ELT-2 to variant promoter TGATAA sites. The shape of the response curve reveals that the product of the unbound ELT-2 concentration in vivo [i.e. (ELT-2free) or ELT-2 ‘activity’] and the largest ELT-XXTGATAAXX association constant (Kmax) lies between five and ten. We suggest that this (unitless) product [Kmax×(ELT-2free) or the equivalent product for any other transcription factor] provides an important quantitative descriptor of transcription-factor/regulatory-motif interaction in development, evolution and genetic disease. A more complicated model than simple binding affinity is necessary to explain the fact that ELT-2 appears to discriminate in vivo against equal-affinity binding sites that contain AGATAA instead of TGATAA.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-183
Author(s):  
Idorenyin Nwaehujor ◽  
Samuel Akande ◽  
Olubunmi Atolani ◽  
Gabriel Olatunji

Inflammation has stimulated significant worldwide scientific interest because of its implication in many human diseases. Most inflammations are caused by reactive oxygen species or free radicals. Annona muricataleaf extracts were investigated for their in-vitroantioxidant and anti-inflammatory potentials. Annona muricataleavesweredried at room temperature, blended using a mill.and extracted with solvents of varying degree of polarities. The solventsused were hexane, ethyl acetate,and ethanol. After sequential extraction, the crude extracts were examined for their in-vitroanti-inflammatory activities on lipoxygenase inhibition, proteinase inhibition, albumin denaturation inhibition,and red blood cell membrane stabilization assays,while the antioxidant activities were examined using DPPH, ABTS and hydrogen peroxide assays. The results showed that the ethanol extract had significantlyhigher albumin denaturation inhibition activity at 500 μg/mL (p < 0.01). The activity of all the extracts on proteinase inhibition decreased with the increase in concentration of the extracts. Indomethacin (standard), ethanol extract,and ethyl acetate extract exhibited a dose dependent increase in lipoxygenase activity. The ethanol extract showed highred blood cell membrane stabilization activity at 500 μg/mL and the activity was comparable with that of the standard (diclofenac). Hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity of the extracts and standard (Vitamin C) were comparable at 20 –100 μg/mL. The ethanol extract showed significantly higher(p < 0.01) DPPH radical scavenging activity compared with other extracts. A similar trend was also observed for ABTS radical scavenging activity. Generally,the ethanol extract exhibited higher anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities in most of the assays, this could be attributed to the polar compounds present in the extract.


2014 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 401-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ksenija Mileski ◽  
Ana Dzamic ◽  
Ana Ciric ◽  
Slavica Grujic ◽  
M. Ristic ◽  
...  

This study was undertaken to determine the antioxidant and antimicrobial effect of essential oil and extracts of Echinophora sibthorpiana Guss. (fam. Apiaceae) collected in Macedonia. The chemical composition of E. sibthorpiana essential oil was characterized by the presence of methyl eugenol (60.40%), p-cymene (11.18%) and ?-phellandrene (10.23%). The free radical scavenging activity of extracts and essential oil was evaluated by DPPH and ABTS assays. The aqueous extract of aerial parts exhibited the strongest scavenging activity (IC50=1.67 mg/ml); results of the ABTS test showed that the most effective was the ethanol extract of aerial parts (1.11 mg vit. C/g). The essential oil showed stronger antioxidant activity compared to hydroxyanisole, ascorbic acid and quercetin that were used in the DPPH and ABTS tests, respectively. The total phenolic and flavonoid concentrations in the extracts ranged between 38.65-60.72 mg GA/g, and 3.15-19.00 mg Qu/g, respectively. The antimicrobial properties of the extracts and essential oil were investigated using a micro-well dilution technique against human pathogenic strains. The results were comparable with the effects of the positive controls, streptomycin and fluconazole. These findings indicate that E. sibthorpiana extracts and oil can be used in preventive treatments and as an alternative for synthetic preservatives.


2021 ◽  
Vol 119 ◽  
pp. 04001
Author(s):  
Khaled Abdu ◽  
Rahma Erahioui ◽  
Khadija Khedid ◽  
Hefdhal deen ◽  
Maha Elhawary ◽  
...  

This paper presents a comparative study about the evaluation of antioxidant activity and corrosion inhibition in Kenitra, Marrakesh and Taiz. An interesting topic, indeed polyphenols can improve or help to reduce oxidative stress in the treatment of digestive problems, weight management difficulties, diabetes, hypertension, arteriosclerosis and damage fatty tissue. Therefore, the authors deal with the measurement of polyphenol content and evaluation of the antioxidant activity of lemon peels in Kenitra , Marrakesh and Taiz.The authors performs empirical analyzes on lemon peels. The total polyphenol contents of the ethanolic extract of lemon peels were measured. It was to be 30. 23, 26. 346 and 20.961 mg/CE/g in Kenitra, Marrakech, and Taiz, respectively. Moreover, the DPPH radical scavenging activity of ethanolic extract of dried lemon peels was higher than 200μg/ml concentration. They were 73.47%, 47.36%, and 32.09in Kenitra, Marrakech, and Taiz, respectively. Also, the IC50 values of ethanolic extracts calculated from the percentage inhibitions at the same concentration. Inhibition (IC50) which obtained in Kenitra was 123.089 μg/ml. It was lower compared to the ethanol extract of Marrakech and Taiz that were 197.418, 276.750μg/mL, respectively. Therefore, the extract which is containing a high amount of phenolic is showed high radical scavenging activity. In addition, the maximum inhibition efficiencies for 2 mL L-1 of the inhibitor at 298 k were 98, 12% and 84, 85 % in Kenitra and Taiz, respectively. These values obtained through polarization curve measurements.


Author(s):  
Tania Islam ◽  
Md Nazrul Islam ◽  
Wahidu Zzaman ◽  
Md Morsaline Billah

An attempt has been made to evaluate antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxicity properties of extracts from onion (Allium cepa L.), garlic (Allium sativum), leaves of guava (Psidium guajava), papaya (Carica papaya), tea (Camellia sinensis), baen (Avicennia alba) and keora (Sonneratia apetala), respectively to apply as natural preservatives for tomatoes. The air-dried plant materials of the respective plant species were subjected to ethanol-methanol extraction, concentrated and stored at 4 °C before use. The extracts were dissolved in 95% ethanol for analysis of antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. Of the extracts tested, tea extracts showed the highest zone of inhibition against several pathogenic bacteria (E. coli 35.0±3.2 mm; P. aeruginosa 29.3±2.6 mm; S. typhi 28.4±2.1 mm and S. pyogenes 27.7±3.7 mm) using the disc diffusion method. In regard to DPPH free radical scavenging assay, keora and guava extracts showed the highest percentage of radical scavenging activity with the values of 89.64± 0.18 and 89.39± 0.88, respectively, which were in agreement with higher total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of these extracts obtained by the phosphomolybdenum method. Brine shrimp lethality bioassay for cytotoxicity assessment showed LC50 of 132.54 ± 18.99 µg/mL for the leaf extract of keora which was found to be most toxic among all studied extracts. The initial results indicated that the extracts could be used for food preservative applications based on the antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxicity properties of the tested extracts. However, efficacy, stability and safety issues need to be addressed with both in vitro and in vivo studies.


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