Integrating Ethnobotany, Phytochemistry, and Pharmacology of Cotinus coggygria and Toxicodendron vernicifluum: What Predictions can be Made for the European Smoketree?

The smoketree (Cotinus coggygria) is a historically known medicinal plant from Southeast Europe. Its ethnomedicinal use in skin and mucosal lesions is commonly accepted across countries. Other utilizations reported locally include fever reduction, cardiac diseases, hypertension, urinary diseases, cough, asthma, hemorrhoids, diabetes, numbness of arm, liver disease, and cancer. Departing from the smoketree’s traditional uses, this review summarizes investigations on the phytochemistry and bioactivity of the plant. In vitro and in vivo experiments supporting wound-healing, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, cytotoxic, antioxidative, hepatoprotective, and antidiabetic effects are presented. Metabolites from smoketree that are responsible for the main pharmacological effects of smoketree are pointed out. Furthermore, the review performs a comparison between C. coggygria and the lacquer tree (Toxicodendron vernicifluum). The latter is a comprehensively studied species used in Asian phytotherapy, with whom the European smoketree shares a consistent pool of secondary metabolites. The comparative approach aims to open new perspectives in the research of smoketree and anticipates an optimized use of C. coggygria in therapy. It also points out the relevance of a chemosystematic approach in the field of medicinal plants research.

Comprehensive analysis of the isozyme composition of laccase derived from Japanese lacquer tree, Toxicodendron vernicifluum

We performed an analysis using isoelectric focusing to comprehensively clarify the isozyme composition of laccase derived from Japanese lacquer tree, Toxicodendron vernicifluum. When water extracts of acetone powder obtained from lacquer were subjected to isoelectric focusing, five bands within pI 7.35–9.30 and nine bands within pI 3.50–5.25 were detected using Coomassie staining. Similarly, laccase activity staining using guaiacol showed five bands within pI 7.35–9.30 and three bands within pI 3.50–4.25. However, laccase activity staining using gallic acid showed remarkable staining within pI 3.50–5.85, whereas staining was very weak within pI 7.35–9.30. When the water extracts of acetone powder were fractionated into the fractions containing bands within pI 7.35–9.30 and pI 3.50–5.85 by SP-Sepharose column chromatography, the former had a blue color and the latter a yellow color. The laccase activity was measured for each of the fractions in buffer solution in the pH range of 2.5–8.0. When syringaldazine, guaiacol, and 2,6-dimethoxyphenol were used as substrates, the yellow fraction showed considerably higher activity than the blue fraction for pH 5.5–7.5. When 3-methylcatechol and 4-methylcatechol were used as substrates, the yellow fraction showed higher activity for pH 4.5–6.5, and the blue fraction showed higher activity for pH 7.0–8.0. When 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) was used as the substrate, both fractions showed maximum activity at optimum pH of 3.0–4.0. Conventionally, in research on blue laccase derived from lacquer, the non-blue fraction corresponding to the yellow fraction lower than pI 6 has been removed during the purification process and thus has not been analyzed. Our results indicated that yellow laccase was present in the non-blue components of lacquer and that it may play a role in urushiol polymerization with previously reported blue laccase.

HPLC and ToF‒SIMS Analyses of Toxicodendron vernicifluum Tree Sap Mixed with Other Natural Lacquers

Lacquer sap has been used by humans from antiquitywhen it was treated as a luxury item because of its desirable physical properties. In modern times, although access barriers are lower, lacquer is still considered to be rare and valuable. Thus, low quality, inexpensive Vietnamese and Myanmarese lacquers and cashew nutshell liquid are frequently added to the costly Toxicodendron vernicifluum lacquer sap from Korea, China, and Japan. However, these blended lacquers can diminish the quality of artisan works. The Toxicodendron vernicifluum lacquer saps mixed with other natural lacquers were characterized using time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectrometry (ToF−SIMS) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). ToF-SIMS provided the chemical structure of the lacquer monomer, copolymerized dimers, trimers, etc. HPLC provided quantitative analysis of the components of a randomly mixed lacquer. These techniques can be used to control the quality of commercial lacquer sap for the Asian lacquer industry and the traditional conservation of ancient objects.

Toxicodendron vernicifluum Stokes extract inhibits solid tumor growth and lung metastasis of 4T1 murine mammary carcinoma cells in BALB/c mice

Toxicodendron vernicifluum Stokes has long been used as a food supplement and traditional herbal medicine in East Asia. We applied a new extraction method to produce Toxicodendron vernicifluum Stokes extract (TVSE), that doesn’t contain urushiol (an allergenic toxin) but dose have higher levels of some flavonoids such as fustin and fisetin. This study was conducted to investigate the anticancer effects of TVSE in an in vivo system. Fifty BALB/c mice were acclimated for one week and then injected with 4T1 murine mammary carcinoma cells in mammary fat pads. After 7 days, the mice were randomly divided into 5 groups, and orally administered with 0, 50, 100, 200 or 400 mg of TVSE/kg body weight (BW)/day for 20 days. TVSE reduced tumor volume and weight dose-dependently. The expression of Ki67 was significantly reduced and the number of TUNEL-positive apoptotic cells was significantly increased in the TVSE-treated group over 100 mg/kg BW/day. While tumor nodules were not found in the liver, but only in lungs, the number of tumor nodules was reduced in a dose-dependent manner in the TVSE treated groups compared to the control group. In breast tumors, expression of platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule (PECAM-1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was reduced by TVSE treatment. TVSE treatment significantly suppressed mRNA expression in tumors of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1, urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA), intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1, and vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM)-1 while increasing plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI)-1. These results suggest that TVSE is potentially beneficial for the suppression of breast cancer growth and its-associated lung metastasis.