The aging retarding effect of 'Long-Life CiLi'

Wild Rosa roxburghii Tratt Juices Grown at Different Altitudes Regulate Blood Glucose in Type 1 Diabetic Mice via the PI3K/Akt Pathway

To explore hypoglycemic effect of wild Rosa roxburghii tratt (RRT) juice at different altitudes on type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). The T1DM mouse model was induced by streptozotocin (STZ), and the experiment included a normal group (NC), model group (MC), wild RRT juice groups high (HF), medium (MF), low altitude (DF) and cultivated control group (PC). During experiment, food intake, water intake, body weight, and fasting blood glucose were measured. After 28 days of administration, glucose tolerance, glycogen level, lipid profiles, and antioxidation levels in serum and liver were measured, and histomorphological changes of liver and kidney were observed by hematoxylin and eosin staining. The results showed that wild RRT juice reduced blood glucose level, alleviated liver and kidney tissue damage, improved glucose and lipid metabolism disorders and attenuated oxidative damage in T1DM mice. Western blot showed that wild RRT juice at grown at different altitudes significantly increased protein abundance of PI3K, Akt, and GLUT2 in liver of T1DM mice. In conclusion, wild RRT juice from different altitudes improved glucose and lipid metabolism disorders and oxidative damage in T1DM mice, which may be attributed to activation of PI3K/Akt pathway. Overall effect: MF > PC > HF > DF.

Recent advances in polysaccharides from Rose roxburghii Tratt fruits: isolation, structural characterization, and bioactivities

Rosa roxburghii Tratt fruit (RRF), known commonly as Cili in China, is a highly valued fruit that contains abundant functional and nutritional constituents with a variety of health-promoting benefits. Polysaccharides (RRFPs) are regarded as one of the crucial biological compounds in RRF. Existing literature has shown that RRFPs possess various remarkable biological activities, such as antioxidant, hypoglycemic, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, and gut microbiota modulation capabilities. In recent years, isolation and purification methods, structural characteristics, and biological activities of RRFPs have been drawing increasing attention. However, there is no up-to-date review of research progress on this front. In this review, recent advances in RRFPs, including their isolation, purification, structural characterization, biological activity, and the structure-activity relationship are summarized and discussed. In addition, this review highlights the challenges and prospects of RRFPs. Overall, this review provides useful research underpinnings and updated information for the further development and utilization of RRFPs in the fields of health, food, and medicine.

Superfruits in China: Bioactive phytochemicals and their potential health benefits - A Review

The term "superfruit" usually refers to certain fruits, which are rich in antioxidant components, therefore, are beneficial to human health. In China, there has been the concept of health preservation and dietary therapy through food intake in a long history. However, some other superfruits growing mainly in China have not attracted extensive attention, such as Cili, Goji berry, and sea buckthorn. Many studies suggested all of these superfruits showed strong antioxidant effects and anti-inflammatory activity in common. However, there are various other advantages and functions in different fruits. This article reviewed the research findings from the existing literature published about major antioxidant bioactive compounds and the potential health benefits of these fruits. The phytochemicals from superfruits are bioaccessible and bioavailable in humans with promising health benefits. More studies are needed to validate the health benefits of these superfruits. It would provide essential information for further research and functional food development.

Botanical characteristics, phytochemistry and related biological activities of Rosa roxburghii Tratt fruit, and its potential use in functional foods: a review

Due to the growing global population, reduction in arable land and effects of climate change, incongruity between food supply and demand has become increasingly severe. Nowadays, with awareness of the elementary nutrients required for human growth, increasing attention is being paid to the health and medical functions of food. Along with increased food production achieved by modern agricultural techniques, underutilised functional foods are an important strategy for solving food security problems and maintaining the nutritional quality of the human diet. Rosa roxburghii Tratt (RRT) is a natural fruit that contains unique functional and nutritional constituents, which are characterised by a high anti-oxidant potential. This review summarises the biological characteristics, chemical composition, health-promoting properties and development status of RRT products to inspire investigations on the use of RRT fruit as a functional food, dietary supplement and pharmaceutical additive. The nutrients and functional ingredients of RRT fruit are described in detail to provide more reference information for nutritionists and pharmacists.

Investigation of In Vivo and In Vitro Pharmacokinetic Characteristics of Kaji-ichigoside F1 in Rats

Kaji-ichigoside F1, a pentacyclic triterpenoid saponin, exhibits various beneficial pharmacological effects. In this study, a simple, rapid, and specific high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for rapid quantification of kaji-ichigoside F1 in rat biological matrix was developed. Plasma was prepared by a single-step protein precipitation followed by separation of the analyte using an Inertsil ODS-3 column with a gradient mobile phase. Positive ion electrospray was used and selected reaction monitoring transitions were m/ z 673.27 → 511.15 for kaji-ichigoside F1 and m/ z 429.19 → 267.29 for morroniside, respectively. The developed method was validated with linear range of 20 to 10 000 ng/mL. All validation parameters were well within the acceptance limit based on the guidance of FDA. The validated method was successfully applied to analyze samples from the in vivo and in vitro pharmacokinetic studies in rats.

Characterization of the Rosa roxburghii Tratt transcriptome and analysis of MYB genes

Rosa roxburghii Tratt (Rosaceae) has a fruit that is flavorful, economically valuable, and highly nutritious, providing numerous health benefits. Myeloblastosis (MYB) proteins play key roles in the development and fruit quality of R. roxburghii. However, there is little available genomic and transcriptomic information for R. roxburghii. Here, a normalized cDNA library was constructed from five tissues, including the stem, leaf, flower, young fruit, and mature fruit, using the Illumina HiSeq 3000 platform. De novo assembly was performed, and 470.66 million clean reads were obtained. In total, 63,727 unigenes, with an average GC content of 42.08%, were discovered, 60,406 of which were annotated. In addition, 9,354 unigenes were assigned to Gene Ontology categories, and 20,202 unigenes were assigned to 25 Eukaryotic Ortholog Groups. Additionally, 19,508 unigenes were classified into 140 pathways of the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes database. Based on the transcriptome, 163 unigenes associated with MYBs were detected. Among these genes, 75 genes were significantly expressed in the various tissues, including 10 R1 MYB, 42 R2R3 MYB, one R1R2R3 MYB, three R4 MYB and 19 atypical MYB-like proteins. The expression levels of the 12 MYB genes randomly selected for quantitative real-time PCR analysis corroborated the RNA sequencing results. A total of 37,545 microsatellites were detected, with an average expressed sequence tag–simple sequence repeat frequency of 0.59 (37,545/63,727). This transcriptome data improves our understanding of the role of MYB in R. roxburghii and will be valuable for identifying genes of interest.

Ultrasound-assisted extraction, characterization, and antioxidant activity in vitro and in vivo of polysaccharides from Chestnut rose (Rosa roxburghii tratt) fruit

In this study, the response surface methodology was utilized to determine optimum conditions for extracting the polysaccharides from Rosa roxburghii Tratt fruit (RRTPs) using ultrasonic-assisted extraction, and the characterization and antioxidant activities of the RRTPs were discussed. RRTPs yield was 6.59 ± 1.34%, which was well consistent with the predicted value of 6.716%, under the following optimum conditions: ratio of water to raw material 40.18 mL/g, extraction temperature 78.8 °C, ultrasonic power 148 W, and extraction time 32.8 min. The monosaccharide composition analysis indicated that RRTPs were composed of mannose (Man), rhamnose (Rha), glucuronic acid (GlcA), galacturonic acid (GalA), glucose (Glc), galactose (Gal), arabinose (Ara) and xylose (Xyl). The molecular weight distribution analysis showed that RRTPs had four main components with molecular weights of 332.56, 183.96, 11.92 and 5.95 kDa, respectively. In vitro antioxidant studies revealed RRTPs exhibited significant antioxidant potential on hydroxyl, superoxide and DPPH radicals. In addition, antioxidant assays in vivo demonstrated that RRTPs can significantly increase the superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and catalase (CAT) activities, and total antioxidant capacity (TAOC) to some extent, as well as decrease the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) in both serum and liver of d-Gal aging-induced mice. These data suggested that RRTPs could be a potential candidate of natural antioxidants for applications in functional food, pharmaceuticals or cosmetic industries. In summary, this work provided an effective method for the exploitation and utilization of value-added R. roxburghii Tratt fruit which would be useful to fully utilize this resource.

Lifestyle chemistries from phones for individual profiling

Imagine a scenario where personal belongings such as pens, keys, phones, or handbags are found at an investigative site. It is often valuable to the investigative team that is trying to trace back the belongings to an individual to understand their personal habits, even when DNA evidence is also available. Here, we develop an approach to translate chemistries recovered from personal objects such as phones into a lifestyle sketch of the owner, using mass spectrometry and informatics approaches. Our results show that phones' chemistries reflect a personalized lifestyle profile. The collective repertoire of molecules found on these objects provides a sketch of the lifestyle of an individual by highlighting the type of hygiene/beauty products the person uses, diet, medical status, and even the location where this person may have been. These findings introduce an additional form of trace evidence from skin-associated lifestyle chemicals found on personal belongings. Such information could help a criminal investigator narrowing down the owner of an object found at a crime scene, such as a suspect or missing person.

Inhibition of metastasis and invasion of ovarian cancer cells by crude polysaccharides from rosa roxburghii tratt in vitro

BACKGROUND

Rosa Roxburghii Tratt is a promising wild fruit crop in Southwest China. Its extracts have been used as traditional Chinese medicine, which benefit immune responses and cure various health disorders. However, whether Rosa Roxburghii Tratt polysaccharides could inhibit metastasis and invasion of ovarian cancer cells remains unknown.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Effects of crude polysaccharides from Rosa Roxburghii Tratt on the viability of ovarian cancer A2780 cells were detected by MTT assay. Ovarian carcinoma cell migration and invasion after exposure to Rosa Roxburghii Tratt polysaccharides were quantified by wound healing and Transwell assays, respectively. Western blotting was applied to assess protein levels of MMP-9.

RESULTS

The results indicated that Rosa Roxburghii Tratt polysaccharides significantly reduced wound closure rate of A2780 cells, inhibited their migration and invasion, and suppressed the expression of MMP-9.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings indicated that Rosa Roxburghii Tratt polysaccharides have potential for develop as anti-metastatic cancer drug preparations for ovarian cancer patients.

The effects of rose hip (Rosa canina) on plasma antioxidative activity and C-reactive protein in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and normal controls: a prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVES

Rose hip (Rosa canina) has been used as an herbal remedy against a wide range of ailments including inflammatory disorders. The anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of rose hips have been evaluated in vitro and active constituents have been isolated. Rose hip contains antioxidant nutrients and an anti-inflammatory galactolipid. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory disease where activated cells release reactive oxygen substances. Thus it could be relevant to investigate if rose hip had an anti-inflammatory and/or antioxidant effect in this situation.

METHODS

In this open case-control study 20 female patients with RA and 10 female controls were given 10.5 g rose hip powder daily (Litozin®) for 28 days. Blood samples were analysed at baseline and follow-up for the capacity of the antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase and catalase and the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP). The participants kept a food diary for the first 3 days and the last 3 days of the intervention period. The RA-patients completed The Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire at baseline and follow-up.

RESULTS

CRP-concentrations of both patients and healthy controls did not change. Nor was any effect found on the activity of antioxidant enzymes. There was no difference in food intake at baseline, but in the last week the RA-group reduced their energy intake.

CONCLUSIONS

10.5 g Litozin® in 28 days had neither effect on clinical symptoms or laboratory measurements in patients with RA or healthy controls. This is in contrast to previous intervention studies with rose hip powder that found a reduction in the concentration of CRP. The results of the present study indicate that a daily amount of approximately 10 g rose hip powder for one month has no anti-inflammatory and/or antioxidant effect.

Cloning and phylogenetic analyses of serine/threonine kinase class defense-related genes in a wild fruit crop 'chestnut rose'

Background

Chestnut rose (Rosa roxburghii Tratt) is a promising wild fruit crop in Southwest China. However, chestnut rose suffers from several important diseases such as powdery mildew and black spot. Cloning and phylogenetic analysis of plant immunity related genes will strengthen the evolutionary knowledge of plant immune system and will facilitate the utilization of candidate genes in disease resistance breeding programs.

Findings

Serine/threonine kinase (STK) genes, encoding one of the important proteins for defense signal transduction, were cloned from 'chestnut rose'. Fifteen STK sequences were obtained by degenerate PCR. Sequence analysis showed that nine of them have continued open reading frames, and they are separated into five classes based on sequence analysis. Interestingly, one of the classes (STK V) showed less than 40% similarity to any other class, possibly representing new type genes from chestnut rose. Southern blotting analysis revealed that the new type STK V genes are single copy, while all the other genes have several copies in the genome. Phylogenetic analysis of STK genes from chestnut rose and 21 plant species revealed that most chestnut rose genes show close relationship with Rosaceae homologs, while the STK V genes are rather ancient and form a unique clade distantly from plant homologs.

Conclusions

We cloned nine STK genes from a wild fruit crop 'chestnut rose', of which a new type of STK genes was identified. The new type STK genes exist as single copies in the genome, and they are phylogenetically distant to plant homologs. The polymorphic STK genes, combined with other plant immunity genes, provide plenty of resources to be utilized to defend against pathogens attack.

[Is there any scientific evidence supporting antiaging medicine?]

The objective of antiaging medicine is to interfere in the normal human biological aging process. Is there any scientific basis to justify classifying antiaging medicine as a medical specialty and not a branch of basic biological science? This review evaluated 110 papers, nine of which (8.2% of the total) reported studies involving human subjects. Only one of these studies was randomized and double-blinded (Jadad 2). In accordance with their classification of recommendations and level of evidence, these studies were considered CII. Three of the nine articles were published in journals with an impact factor over 1.110. Therefore, there does not appear to be any solid scientific and/or clinical evidence that would justify the application of antiaging medicine in current medical practice.

Genomic organization, rapid evolution and meiotic instability of nucleotide-binding-site-encoding genes in a new fruit crop, "chestnut rose"

From chestnut rose, a promising fruit crop of the Rosa genus, powdery mildew disease-resistant and susceptible genotypes and their F(1) progeny were used to isolate nucleotide-binding-site (NBS)-encoding genes using 19 degenerate primer pairs and an additional cloning method called overlapping extension amplification. A total of 126 genes were harvested; of these, 38 were from a resistant parent, 37 from a susceptible parent, and 51 from F(1) progeny. A phylogenetic tree was constructed, which revealed that NBS sequences from parents and F(1) progeny tend to form a mixture and are well distributed among the branches of the tree. Mapping of these NBS genes suggested that their organization in the genome is a "tandem duplicated cluster" and, to a lesser extent, a "heterogeneous cluster." Intraspecific polymorphisms and interspecific divergence were detected by Southern blotting with NBS-encoding genes as probes. Sequencing on the nucleotide level revealed even more intraspecific variation: for the R4 gene, 9.81% of the nucleotides are polymorphic. Amino acid sites under positive selection were detected in the NBS region. Some NBS-encoding genes were meiotically unstable, which may due to recombination and deletion events. Moreover, a transposon-like element was isolated in the flanking region of NBS genes, implying a possible role for transposon in the evolutionary history of resistance genes.

Phylogenetic and evolutionary analysis of NBS-encoding genes in Rosaceae fruit crops

Phylogenetic relationships of the nucleotide binding site (NBS)-encoding resistance gene homologues (RGHs) among 12 species in five genera of Rosaceae fruit crops were evaluated. A total of 228 Rosaceous RGHs were deeply separated into two distinct clades, designated as TIR (sequences within this clade containing a Toll Interleukin-1 Receptor domain) and NonTIR (sequences lacking a TIR domain). Most Rosaceous RGH genes were phylogenetically distinct from Arabidopsis, Rice or Pine genes, except for a few Rosaceous members which grouped closely with Arabidopsis genes. Within Rosaceae, sequences from multiple species were often phylogenetically clustered together, forming heterogenous groups, however, apple- and chestnut rose-specific groups really exist. Gene duplication followed by sequence divergence were proposed as the mode for the evolution of a large number of distantly or closely related RGH genes in Rosaceae, and this mode may play a role in the generation of new resistance specificity. Positively selected sites within NBS-coding region were detected and thus nucleotide variation within NBS domain may function in determining disease resistance specificity. This study also discusses the synteny of a genomic region that encompass powdery mildew resistance locus among Malus, Prunus and Rosa, which may have potential use for fruit tree disease breeding and important gene cloning.

Extraction of High Quality of RNA and Construction of a Suppression Subtractive Hybridization (SSH) Library from Chestnut Rose (Rosa roxburghii Tratt)

Chestnut rose (Rosa roxburghii Tratt) is a rare fruit crop of promising economical importance in fruit and ornamental exploitation in China. Isolation of high quality RNA from chestnut rose is difficult due to its high levels of polyphenols, polysaccharides and other compounds, but a modified CTAB extraction procedure without phenol gave satisfactory results. High concentrations of PVP (2%, w/v), CTAB (2%, w/v) and beta-mercaptoethanol (4%, v/v) were used in the extraction buffer to improve RNA quality. The average yield was about 200 microg RNA g(-1) fresh leaves. The isolated RNA was of sufficient quality for construction of suppression subtraction hybridization (SSH) library, which allowed the isolation of several pathogen-induced defense genes.

Isolation of TIR and non-TIR NBS--LRR resistance gene analogues and identification of molecular markers linked to a powdery mildew resistance locus in chestnut rose (Rosa roxburghii Tratt)

Toll and interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) and non-TIR nucleotide binding site-leucine rich repeat (NBS-LRR) resistance gene analogues (RGAs) were obtained from chestnut rose (Rosa roxburghii Tratt) by two PCR-based amplification strategies (direct amplification and overlap extension amplification) with degenerate primers designed to the conserved P-loop, kinase-2, and Gly-Leu-Pro-Leu (GLPL) motifs within the NBS domain of plant resistance gene (R gene) products. Thirty-four of 65 cloned PCR fragments contained a continuous open reading frame (ORF) and their predicted protein products showed homology to the NBS-LRR class R proteins in the GenBank database. These 34 predicted protein sequences exhibited a wide range (19.5--99.4%) of sequence identity among them and were classified into two distinct groups by phylogenetic analysis. The first group consisted of 23 sequences and seemed to belong to the non-TIR NBS-LRR RGAs, since they contained group specific motifs (RNBS-A-non-TIR motif) that are often present in the coiled-coil domain of the non-TIR NBS-LRR class R genes. The second group comprised 11 sequences that contained motifs found in the TIR domain of TIR NBS-LRR class R genes. Restriction fragment length polymorphic (RFLP) markers were developed from some of the RGAs and used for mapping powdery mildew resistance genes in chestnut rose. Three markers, RGA 22 C, RGA 4 A, and RGA 7 B, were identified to be linked to a resistance gene locus, designated CRPM 1 for chestnut rose powdery mildew resistance 1, which accounted for 72% of the variation in powdery mildew resistance phenotype in an F1 segregating population. To our knowledge, this is the first report on isolation, phylogenetic analysis and potential utilization as genetic markers of RGAs in chestnut rose.

Rosa roxburghii supplementation in a controlled feeding study increases plasma antioxidant capacity and glutathione redox state

BACKGROUND

Rosa roxburghii (RR) is a plant of which the fruit juice has been used as a medicinal remedy for a variety of diseases. It has been proposed that the putative beneficial properties are related to its antioxidant potential.

AIM OF STUDY

We investigated the contribution of a supplemented RR fruit sample on the antioxidant status in a cohort of healthy humans.

METHODS

A total of 36 young, healthy and non-smoking individuals were recruited for this randomised placebo-controlled, single-blind trial. The study was diet controlled over a five-week period with a two week run-in period before participants daily received a placebo or an encapsulated supplement of RR sample. Total antioxidant capacity, glutathione redox state, glutathione reductase, glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase and 8-OHdG levels were measured.

RESULTS

RR supplementation significantly increased plasma antioxidant capacity (p = 0.04) and GSH:GSSG ratios in blood (p = 0.03). No significant changes in 8-OHdG levels, total glutathione levels or antioxidant modulating enzymes were detected suggesting that the observed shift of the glutathione redox state probably occurs via the antioxidant mediated protection of GSH.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude that these findings support the putative beneficial properties that have been linked to Rosa roxburghii as a dietary supplement that can enhance antioxidant status.

Current issues concerning the role of oxidative stress in aging: a perspective

The main tenet of the oxidative stress hypothesis of aging is that accrual of molecular oxidative damage is the principal causal factor in the senescence-related loss of ability to maintain homeostasis. This hypothesis has garnered a considerable amount of supportive correlational evidence, which is now being extended experimentally in transgenic Drosophila over-expressing antioxidative defense enzymes. Some of these studies have reported extensions of life span, while others have not. Interpretation of life spans in poikilotherms is complicated by a number of factors, including the interrelationship between metabolic rate and longevity. The life spans of poikilotherms can be extended multi-fold by reducing the metabolic rate but without affecting the metabolic potential, i.e., the total amount of energy expended during life. A hypometabolic state in poikilotherms also enhances stress resistance and activities of antioxidative enzymes. It is emphasized that extension of life span without simultaneously increasing metabolic potential is of questionable biological significance.