Changes in Rhizosphere Soil Microorganisms and Metabolites during the Cultivation of Fritillaria cirrhosa

Fritillaria cirrhosa is an important cash crop, and its industrial development is being hampered by continuous cropping obstacles, but the composition and changes of rhizosphere soil microorganisms and metabolites in the cultivation process of Fritillaria cirrhosa have not been revealed. We used metagenomics sequencing to analyze the changes of the microbiome in rhizosphere soil during a three-year cultivation process, and combined it with LC-MS/MS to detect the changes of metabolites. Results indicate that during the cultivation of Fritillaria cirrhosa, the composition and structure of the rhizosphere soil microbial community changed significantly, especially regarding the relative abundance of some beneficial bacteria. The abundance of Bradyrhizobium decreased from 7.04% in the first year to about 5% in the second and third years; the relative abundance of Pseudomonas also decreased from 6.20% in the first year to 2.22% in the third year; and the relative abundance of Lysobacter decreased significantly from more than 4% in the first two years of cultivation to 1.01% in the third year of cultivation. However, the relative abundance of some harmful fungi has significantly increased, such as Botrytis, which increased significantly from less than 3% in the first two years to 7.93% in the third year, and Talaromyces fungi, which were almost non-existent in the first two years of cultivation, significantly increased to 3.43% in the third year of cultivation. The composition and structure of Fritillaria cirrhosa rhizosphere metabolites also changed significantly, the most important of which were carbohydrates represented by sucrose (48.00-9.36-10.07%) and some amino acid compounds related to continuous cropping obstacles. Co-occurrence analysis showed that there was a significant correlation between differential microorganisms and differential metabolites, but Procrustes analysis showed that the relationship between bacteria and metabolites was closer than that between fungi and metabolites. In general, in the process of Fritillaria cirrhosa cultivation, the beneficial bacteria in the rhizosphere decreased, the harmful bacteria increased, and the relative abundance of carbohydrate and amino acid compounds related to continuous cropping obstacles changed significantly. There is a significant correlation between microorganisms and metabolites, and the shaping of the Fritillaria cirrhosa rhizosphere's microecology by bacteria is more relevant.

Total alkaloids of bulbus of Fritillaria cirrhosa alleviate bleomycin-induced inflammation and pulmonary fibrosis in rats by inhibiting TGF-β and NF-κB signaling pathway

Background

Bulbus of Fritillaria cirrhosa is a medicinal and edible plant that has the functions of clearing away heat and moisturizing the lungs, resolving phlegm, and relieving coughs. Its ethanol extract has been proven to have a therapeutic effect on lung diseases. Pulmonary fibrosis is a respiratory disease that forms scars in lung tissue, leading to severe respiratory problems. However, the therapeutic effect of total alkaloids of bulbus of Fritillaria cirrhosa (BFC-TA) on pulmonary fibrosis has not been confirmed.

Objective

This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic effect of total alkaloids of Fritillaria cirrhosa on pulmonary fibrosis rat model and explore its potential mechanism.

Design

The total alkaloids in the bulbus of Fritillaria cirrhosa were purified using cation exchange resin. The alkaloids contained in the BFC-TA were identified, and the concentration of alkaloids was determined by High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Diode Array Detector-Evaporative Light Scattering Detector (HPLC-DAD-ELSD). Bleomycin (BLM) (5.0 mg/kg) was instilled into the trachea of 60 rats to establish a pulmonary fibrosis model. After 7 days, BFC-TA (34.2, 68.4, and 136.8 mg/kg) was administered continuously for 21 days. During this period, the body weight changes of the rats were measured, the levels of hydroxyproline (HYP) and inflammatory factors were measured in the collected serum, and the histological analysis of the lung tissue was performed by staining technology. Western blotting and quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) were used to assess the protein and gene composition of inflammation and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling pathways.

Results

Nine main components (Peimisine, Imperialine-3-β-D-glucoside, Yibeinoside A, Imperialine, Peiminine, Isopeimine, Hupehenine, Delavinone, Ebeiedinone) were determined by HPLC-DAD-ELSD, and the contents of Peimisine, Imperialine-3-β-D-glucoside and Imperialine were determined. BFC-TA (34.2, 68.4, and 136.8 mg/kg) reduced the levels of pro-inflammatory factors, increased the levels of anti-inflammatory factors, dose-dependently improved the morphology of lung tissue. And during epithelial-mesenchymal transition process, BFC-TA dose-dependently reduced the expression of E-cadherin, dose-dependently increased the expression of Fibronectin. In addition, Western blot analysis and qPCR results showed that inhibiting NF-κB and TGF-β-related signaling pathways effectively slowed down the occurrence of BLM-induced pulmonary fibrosis in rats. And the therapeutic effect of BFC-TA (136.8 mg/kg) is better than that of pirfenidon (PFD) (150 mg/kg).

Conclusion

BFC-TA effectively alleviates the progression of the BLM-induced pulmonary fibrosis rat model by regulating the inflammatory response in the lungs and the expression of the TGF-β signaling pathway.

Network pharmacology and experimental validation for deciphering the action mechanism of Fritillaria cirrhosa D. Don constituents in suppressing breast carcinoma

Fritillaria cirrhosa D. Don is a well-known medicinal plant of Kashmir Himalaya. Traditionally, it has been used to treat several diseases, including cancer. However, the molecular mechanism behind anticancer activity remains unclear. Therefore, in the present study, we have performed high performance-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HR-LC/MS), network pharmacology, molecular docking and molecular dynamic (MD) simulation methods were used to explore the underlying molecular mechanism of F. cirrhosa for the treatment of breast cancer (BC). The targets of F. cirrhosa for treating BC were predicted using databases like SwissTargetPrediction, Gene Cards and OMIM. Protein-protein interaction analysis and network construction were performed using the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes/Proteins programme, and analysis of Gene Ontology term enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment was done using the Cytoscape programme. In addition, molecular docking was used to investigate intermolecular interactions between the compounds and the proteins using the Autodock tool. MD simulations studies were also used to explore the stability of the representative AKT1 gene peiminine and Imperialine-3-β-glucoside. In addition, experimental treatment of F. cirrhosa was also verified. HR-LC/MS detected the presence of several secondary metabolites. Afterward, molecular docking was used to verify the effective activity of the active ingredients against the prospective targets. Additionally, Peiminine and Imperialine-3-β-glucoside showed the highest binding energy score against AKT-1 (-12.99 kcal/mol and -12.08 kcal/mol). AKT1 with Peiminine and Imperialine-3-β-glucoside was further explored for MD simulations. During the MD simulation study at 100 nanoseconds, a stable complex formation of AKT1 + Peiminine and Imperialine-3-β-glucoside was observed. The binding free energy calculations using MM/GBSA showed significant binding of the ligand with protein (ΔG: -79.83 ± 3.0 kcal/mol) between AKT1 + Peiminine was observed. The principal component analysis exhibited a stable converged structure by achieving global motion. Lastly, F. cirrhosa extracts also exhibited momentous anticancer activity through in vitro studies. Therefore, present study revealed the molecular mechanism of F. cirrhosa constituents for the effective treatment of BC by deactivating various multiple gene targets, multiple pathways particularly the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. These findings emphasized the momentous anti-BC activity of F. cirrhosa constituents.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

[Cloning and prokaryotic expression of FcLEA-D29 gene of Fritillaria cirrhosa]

Fritillaria cirrhosa, the most valuable source of the precious Chinese medicinal material Fritillariae Cirrhosae Bulbus, suffers from various stresses during growth which influence the yield and quality of the medicinal part. This study aims to explore the genes related to stress resistance in this medicinal species. To be specific, based on the transcriptome data of F. cirrhosa, a gene encoding the late embryogenesis abundant(LEA) protein was obtained, which was named as FcLEA-D29. The gene sequence and protein structure were analyzed with bioinformatics methods and qRT-PCR was used to detect the expression of the gene in different tissues and in response to temperature stress. The low-temperature tolerance of FcLEA-D29 was verified by the prokaryotic expression system. The results showed that FcLEA-D29 contained an open reading frame of 777 bp, encoding 258 amino acids. Multiple sequence alignment revealed that FcLEA-D29 protein belonged to LEA-D29 subfamily of LEA3 family. qRT-PCR results showed that FcLEA-D29 was specifically expressed in bulbs and responded to low temperature. The strain with the recombinant plasmid demonstrated better growth status than the control strain in the instance of low temperature stress, suggesting that FcLEA-D29 may play a role in bulb development and low temperature response of F. cirrhosa. This study laid a basis for further research on the role of FcLEA-D29 in the accumulation of secondary metabolites in F. cirrhosa, especially alkaloids, under low temperature and provided evidence for the low-temperature adaptation of F. cirrhosa.

Primary Investigation of Phenotypic Plasticity in Fritillaria cirrhosa Based on Metabolome and Transcriptome Analyses

Phenotypic plasticity refers to the adaptability of an organism to a heterogeneous environment. In this study, the differential gene expression and compositional changes in Fritillaria cirrhosa during phenotypic plasticity were evaluated using transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses. The annotation profiles of 1696 differentially expressed genes from the transcriptome between abnormal and normal phenotypes revealed that the main annotation pathways were related to the biosynthesis of amino acids, ABC transporters, and plant-pathogen interactions. According to the metabolome, the abnormal phenotype had 36 upregulated amino acids, including tryptophan, proline, and valine, which had a 3.77-fold higher relative content than the normal phenotype. However, saccharides and vitamins were found to be deficient in the abnormal phenotypes. The combination profiles demonstrated that phenotypic plasticity may be an effective strategy for overcoming potential stress via the accumulation of amino acids and regulation of the corresponding genes and transcription factors. In conclusion, a pathogen attack on F. cirrhosa may promote the synthesis of numerous amino acids and transport them into the bulbs through ABC transporters, which may further result in phenotypic variation. Our results provide new insights into the potential mechanism of phenotypic changes.

Efficacy, chemical composition, and pharmacological effects of herbal drugs derived from Fritillaria cirrhosa D. Don and Fritillaria thunbergii Miq

Fritillaria cirrhosa D. Don and F. thunbergii Miq. belong to the genus Fritillaria within the Liliaceae family. They are used in traditional Chinese medicines that are often administered in clinical settings as they have notable effects on cough, bronchitis, pneumonia, lung injury, cancer, and other diseases. In this review, we focus on the history, origin, similarities, and differences in efficacy, chemical composition, and pharmacological outcomes of the drugs obtained from F. cirrhosa (FRC) and F. thunbergii (FRT). We list various valuable pharmacological effects of FRC and FRT, including antitussive, expectorant, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticancer effects. Thus, this review offers a basis for the medical application of and further research into the pharmacological impacts of these two drugs. We believe that new drugs derived from the phytoconstituents of F. cirrhosa and F. thunbergii that have specific therapeutic properties can be developed in the future.

Integrative analysis of the steroidal alkaloids distribution and biosynthesis of bulbs Fritillariae Cirrhosae through metabolome and transcriptome analyses

Background

Bulbus Fritillariae Cirrhosae (BFC) is an endangered high-altitude medicine and food homology plant with anti-tumor, anti-asthmatic, and antitussive activities as it contains a variety of active ingredients, especially steroidal alkaloids. Bulbus Fritillariae Thunbergia (BFT) is another species of Fritillaria that grows at lower altitude areas. Production of plant-derived active ingredients through a synthetic biology strategy is one of the current hot topics in biological research, which requires a complete understanding of the related molecular pathways. Our knowledge of the steroidal alkaloid biosynthesis in Fritillaria species is still very limited.

Results

To promote our understanding of these pathways, we performed non-target metabolomics and transcriptome analysis of BFC and BFT. Metabolomics analysis identified 1288 metabolites in BFC and BFT in total. Steroidal alkaloids, including the proposed active ingredients of Fritillaria species peimine, peimisine, peiminine, etc., were the most abundant alkaloids detected. Our metabolomics data also showed that the contents of the majority of the steroidal alkaloids in BFC were higher than in BFT. Further, our comparative transcriptome analyses between BFC and BFT identified differentially expressed gene sets among these species, which are potentially involved in the alkaloids biosynthesis of BFC.

Conclusion

These findings promote our understanding of the mechanism of steroidal alkaloids biosynthesis in Fritillaria species.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12864-022-08724-0.

Comparative transcriptome analysis infers bulb derived in vitro cultures as a promising source for sipeimine biosynthesis in Fritillaria cirrhosa D. Don (Liliaceae, syn. Fritillaria roylei Hook.) - High value Himalayan medicinal herb

Fritillaria cirrhosa D. Don (Liliaceae, syn. Fritillaria roylei Hook.) is a critically endangered medicinal herb of immense importance due to its pharmaceutical bioactive compound, especially sipeimine, used for the treatment of chronic respiratory disorders. However, the industrial demand for sipeimine solely depends on its endangered natural habitat. Therefore; there is an utmost need for its biodiversity conservation as well as for the sustainable utilization of phytochemicals. Plant cell culture and transcriptomics-based molecular bioprospection of key regulatory genes involved in sipeimine biosynthesis as such will play a crucial role in exploring the unexplored traits, that are in supply crisis or nearly in extinction stage. De novo comparative transcriptome sequencing of the bulb (in vivo), callus, and regenerated plantlets (in vitro) resulted in more than 150 million high-quality paired-end clean reads that assembled into final 31,428 transcripts. Functional annotation and unigenes classification with multiple public databases such as KEGG, Refseq, Uniprot, TAIR, GO, and COG, etc. along with chemical structures and functional biocatalytic activity analysis of different steroidal alkaloids facilitated the identification of 30 unigenes specific to sipeimine biosynthesis. Additionally, ABC transporters and TFs like bHLH, MYC, MYB, and WRKY suggests their possible role in metabolite translocation and regulation in vivo as well as in vitro tissues. Differential gene expression and quantitative analysis revealed that the MVA pathway probably the predominant route for 5C intermediate (IPP & DMAPP) biosynthesis. Further, the genes involved in the downstream biosynthesis pathway viz. SQLE, CAS1, SMT1, SMO1, SMO2, SC5DL, DHCR7, DHCR24, CYP710A, 3β-HSD, CYP90D2, and CYP374A6 shown similar expression pattern with RNA-Seq and qRT-PCR findings. The positive correlation between higher expression of proposed biosynthetic pathway genes and relatively higher accumulation of sipeimine in differentiated naturally grown bulb tissues (in vivo), undifferentiated cells (callus), and de-differentiated tissues i.e. regenerated plantlets (in vitro) has been evident from the present study. Comprehensive genomic resources created in F. cirrhosa will provide strong evidence of bulb derived in vitro culture as an alternative promising source for steroidal alkaloids biosynthesis and metabolite upscaling through genetic and metabolic engineering.

In vitro propagation of bulblets and LC-MS/MS analysis of isosteroidal alkaloids in tissue culture derived materials of Chinese medicinal herb Fritillaria cirrhosa D. Don

BACKGROUND

Fritillaria cirrhosa, an important Chinese medicinal herb, is a Class-III protected and highly exploited species by pharmaceutical industry. Dwindling wild populations of species are unable to meet market demand. Therefore, this study was carried out to develop an in vitro propagation method for bulblet production. Also, the study aimed to carry out LC-MS/MS analysis of tissue culture-derived bulblets and callus for the presence of isosteroidal alkaloids (peimissine, verticine, and verticinone), and compare its quantities with commercially available crude drug samples.

RESULTS

In vitro seed germination (91%) of F. cirrhosa was achieved on Murashige and Skoog's basal medium (MSBM) supplemented with 6-benzylaminopurine (1 mg L^-1) and α-naphthalene-acetic-acid (0.4 mg L^-1). On transfer of germinated seeds from Petri-dishes to glass bottles containing hormone-free MSBM, 37.5% of seedlings developed bulblets after 3 months of incubation. Regeneration and multiplication of bulblets were achieved by culture of transverse sections of bulblets on 1/2 X MSBM. By repeated subcultures at an interval of 2 months, 3072 bulblets weighing 1270 g could be produced at the end of 5th subculture. LC-MS/MS analysis showed a significant presence of peimissine in in vitro bulblets while callus incubated in the dark showed presence of peimissine and verticine.

CONCLUSION

The study reports an efficient in vitro propagation method of bulblets production of F. cirrhosa and presence of some isosteroidal alkaloids in tissue culture-derived bulblets and callus. The study could be of immense help in production of F. cirrhosa bulblets and callus under laboratory conditions round the year. Also, these results can be used further to investigate production of isosteroidal alkaloids in bioreactors at commercial scale using liquid and cell suspension cultures. Thus, we not only can reduce our dependence on collections from natural habitats, but also can help in in situ conservation of this important species.

High altitude species, high profits: Can the trade in wild harvested Fritillaria cirrhosa (Liliaceae) be sustained?

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Fritillaria cirrhosa D. Don bulbs contain alkaloids and are one of the most intensively exploited alpine Himalayan medicinal species. In terms of proprietary medicines, our study shows that 210 F. cirrhosa products are offered by 46 suppliers, most of which (44) are situated in China and two in Nepal. A widespread commercial use is as one of the main ingredients in cough syrups. A well known example is "Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa Herbal Cough & Throat Syrup", which typically contains more F. cirrhosa than any other herbal ingredient in the formulation. The biggest market for F. cirrhosa bulbs is China, where demand exceeds supply of this wild harvested species for use in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Cross-border trade from Nepal to China occurs in significant quantities. Bhutan also imports F. cirrhosa bulbs from Nepal. In addition, F. cirrhosa is registered as an active ingredient in traditional herbal medicinal preparations in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong SAR, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. There is also an export trade in F. cirrhosa to Europe. Assessing how much F. cirrhosa is traded is complex, however, due to a "look-alike" challenge, as nine Chinese Fritillaria species are traded in Europe (Fritillaria cirrhosa, F. delavayi, F. hupehensis, F. pallidiflora, F. przewalskii, F. thunbergii, F. unibracteata, F. ussuriensis and F. walujewii).

AIMS OF THE STUDY

The aims of this review were to assess the scale of the global trade in F. cirrhosa, and to synthesise studies of the impacts of wild harvest on F. cirrhosa populations and on the extent of emerging cultivation initiatives as an alternative to wild harvest.

METHODS

Firstly, we reviewed published information on studies on impacts of wild F. cirrhosa harvest from across the geographic range of this species. Secondly, global trade data for F. cirrhosa were analysed.

RESULTS

The principal demand for F. cirrhosa bulbs is in China, where hundreds of different companies produce Fritillaria preparations. Trade data also show that in 2013, China exported over 44 tonnes of F. cirrhosa bulbs to Taiwan and 26.7 tonnes to the Republic of Korea. Extensive commercial use and limited wild stocks result in a high price (2000 - 3800 CNY per kg (around US$ 303 -560 per kg in 2017)) for F. cirrhosa bulbs. Prices of cultivated Fritillaria bulbs are much lower (600-680 CNY per kg in 2017) than wild harvested bulbs. But due to very specific growth requirements of F. cirrhosa, cultivation is not yet able to meet total demand. The consequence is continued exploitation of wild stocks. At the same time, however, an increasing proportion of the demand is met by cultivation of alternative Fritillaria species that are easier to grow than F. cirrhosa. The air-dry mass of F. cirrhosa bulbs varies between 0.0917 and 0.1116 g per bulb. This represents 8960 - 10,900 bulbs/kg or 8.9 - 10.9 million bulbs per tonne. Current demand therefore represents billions of bulbs per year.

CONCLUSIONS

Demand for F. cirrhosa bulbs, particularly from China, makes this species one of the most intensively harvested alpine Himalayan medicinal bulbs. Although F. cirrhosa is listed as a Class III protected species in China, billions of these tiny, wild harvested bulbs are sold per year. Due to demand exceeding supply, the price of F. cirrhosa bulbs has increased dramatically. Between 2002 and 2017, for example, the price of wild harvested F. cirrhosa bulbs increased over nine-fold, from the equivalent of US$60 in 2002 to US$560 per kg in 2017. To date, cultivation has been unable to meet the entire market demand for F. cirrhosa bulbs, although other Fritillaria species are successfully cultivated on a larger scale.

Transcriptome analysis reveals in vitro-cultured regeneration bulbs as a promising source for targeted Fritillaria cirrhosa steroidal alkaloid biosynthesis

The bulbs of Fritillaria cirrhosa is wildly used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat lung-related disease, which has recently been found to have antitussive, anti-inflammatory, antihypertensive and anti-tumor activity. Steroidal alkaloids are the major effective ingredients of F. cirrhosa. In the current study, we demonstrated an efficient strategy for F. cirrhosa bulb regeneration in vitro by cytokinin/auxin induction. Our data showed that the regenerated bulbs accumulated higher alkaloid content that the wild ones. We further performed RNA-seq and bioinformatics analysis to study the gene expression profile, especially those related to alkaloids biosynthesis. KEGG pathway annotation identified genes related to "Metabolic pathways" were the most abundant (2644, 26.0%), followed by those for "Biosynthesis of secondary metabolites" (1319, 13.0%) among the 113,865 unigenes identified. Further analysis suggested MEP pathway, other than MVA pathway, might be the major route for steroidal alkaloid biosynthesis of F. cirrhosa, as all the key genes in this pathway were found to be unregulated in our study. We also showed that accumulation of different phytochemicals was linked to plant hormone addition. Our current study demonstrated that in vitro cultivation is a promising strategy for mass production of F. cirrhosa steroidal alkaloids for pharmacological industry.

Heavy collecting induces smaller and deeper Fritillariae Cirrhosae Bulbus in the wild

Fritillariae Cirrhosae Bulbus is a well-known traditional Chine medicinal herb. However, the demand for this herb is leading to over-collection and its decline in the wild. This study aims to investigate the ecological conditions of Fritillaria cirrhosa under the influence of human disturbance, biotic species interactions and climatic conditions. We established a total of 78 plots at 14 sites of F. cirrhosa in its distribution center, the Hengduan Mountains area. At each site, we estimated the abundance of F. cirrhosa at different distances from roads. The diameter and height of F. cirrhosa fruit and bulbs were measured and compared to underground bulb depth. We then analyzed the effects of environmental conditions and human disturbance on the abundance of F. cirrhosa using variance partitioning. We found that (1) abundance of F. cirrhosa and their underground bulb depth showed a significant linear increase with the distance from the main road; (2) the diameter/height of fruits and the diameter/height of fruits/bulbs showed significantly different responses to the human disturbance; (3) the community associates, climate and spatial conditions can explain 58%, 22% and 27%, respectively, of the variance in the F. cirrhosa abundance. These results highlight the fact that human disturbance and biotic factors have a great influence on the survival of F. cirrhosa, even more than climate conditions.

The Complete Chloroplast Genome Sequences of Fritillaria ussuriensis Maxim. and Fritillaria cirrhosa D. Don, and Comparative Analysis with Other Fritillaria Species

The genus Fritillaria belongs to the widely distributed Liliaceae. The bulbs of Fritillaria, F. ussuriensis and F. cirrhosa are valuable herbaceous medicinal ingredients. However, they are still used indiscriminately in herbal medicine. Identification and molecular phylogenic analysis of Fritillaria species are therefore required. Here, we report the complete chloroplast (CP) genome sequences of F. ussuriensis and F. cirrhosa. The two Fritillaria CP genomes were 151,524 and 151,083 bp in length, respectively, and each included a pair of inverted repeated regions (52,678 and 52,156 bp) that was separated by a large single copy region (81,732 and 81,390 bp), and a small single copy region (17,114 and 17,537 bp). A total of 111 genes in F. ussuriensis and 112 in F. cirrhosa comprised 77 protein-coding regions in F. ussuriensis and 78 in F. cirrhosa, 30 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and four ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. The gene order, content, and orientation of the two Fritillaria CP genomes exhibited the general structure of flowering plants, and were similar to those of other Fritillaria species. Comparison of the six Fritillaria species’ CP genomes indicated seven highly divergent regions in intergenic spacers and in the matK, rpoC1, rpoC2, ycf1, ycf2, ndhD, and ndhF coding regions. We established the position of the six species through phylogenic analysis. The complete chloroplast genome sequences of the two Fritillaria species and a comparison study are useful genomic information for identifying and for studying the phylogenetic relationship among Fritillaria species within the Liliaceae.

Extract of bulbus Fritillaria cirrhosa perturbs spindle assembly checkpoint, induces mitotic aberrations and genomic instability in human colon epithelial cell line

BACKGROUND

Bulbus Fritillaria cirrhosa D. Don (BFC) has been used in China as a folk medicine for the treatment of cough and asthma for more than 2000 years. The antitussive and antiasthmatic effects of BFC have been reported before, nevertheless its toxicity and safety have not been documented. This study investigated the possible effects of BFC on spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), mitotic fidelity and genomic stability in human NCM460 colon epithelial cells.

METHODS

Cells were treated with BFC (0, 20, 40, 80 and 160μg/ml) for 24, 48 and 72h and harvested differently according to the biomarkers observed. Mitotic aberrations were assessed by the biomarkers of chromosome misalignment (CMA), chromosome lagging (CL) and chromatin bridge (CB). Frequencies of micronuclei (MN), nucleoplasmic bridge and nuclear bud (NB) in cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay were used as indicators of genomic instability (GIN). SAC activity was determined by anaphase to metaphase ratio (AMR) and the expression of several SAC genes, including CENP-E, Mps1, Bub1, Mad-1, BubR1 and Mad-2.

RESULTS

Compared with the control, cells in BFC treated groups (80 and 160μg/ml) showed: 1) increased AMR (p<0.05), up-regulated expression of Mps1, Bub1 and Mad-1 (p<0.05) and down-regulated expression of CENP-E, BubR1 and Mad-2 (p<0.05); 2) increased frequencies of CMA, CL and CB (p<0.01); 3) increased incidences of MN and NB (p<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

This study revealed for the first time that BFC causes mitotic aberrations and GIN in human colon epithelial cells and these effects maybe the result of SAC dysfunction.

The total alkaloid fraction of bulbs of Fritillaria cirrhosa displays anti-inflammatory activity and attenuates acute lung injury

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Bulb of Fritillaria cirrhosa D.Don (BFC) has been wildly used in China for a long time for folk medicine since its significant therapeutic effects on respiratory diseases, such as cough, expectoration, pneumonia and bronchial inflammation, which are related to respiratory inflammatory response. However, there is a lack of investigation on the in vivo anti-inflammatory properties of BFC.

AIM OF THE STUDY

The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vivo anti-inflammatory activity of the purified total alkaloid fraction of BFC (TAF) by using different animal models of inflammation to provide scientific evidence for its traditional use.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The total alkaloid fraction from BFC was prepared by using H-103 resin column. Anti-inflammatory effect of TAF was evaluated by models of acetic acid-induced capillary permeability accentuation, carrageenan-induced rat paw edema, cotton pellet-induced granuloma formation and LPS-induced acute lung injury (ALI). The level of cytokines (TNF, IL-6, IL-4 and IL-10) was measured by ELISA. Histopathological analyses were performed by using hematoxylin and eosin staining.

RESULTS

TAF can inhibit acetic acid-induced capillary permeability accentuation, carrageenan-induced paw edema, cotton pellet-induced granuloma formation, suppress inflammatory cells recruitment and cytokine production in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from LPS-induced ALI mice, and attenuate pathological changes in the lung tissues of ALI mice.

CONCLUSION

This study provides scientific evidence for bulb of F. cirrhosa to treat respiratory inflammation.

[Differential textual research and analysis on the evolution of fritillaria species in successive dynasties]

Rhizoma bolbostemmae was the earliest applied fritillaria species during the period of pre-Qin to Han Dynasties in China. In the period of Wei-Jin, the fritillaria species presented diversities, with Zhejiang-fritillary also appeared for the first time. During the period of the Tang Dynasty to late Ming Dynasty, the fritillaria species kept expanding, Fritillaria hupehensis and Zhejiang-fritillary were deemed authentic species all the time. To the end of the Ming Dynasty, Fritillaria hupehensis withdrew from the stage of history gradually, Fritillaria cirrhosa came into being and then Fritillaria cirrhosa and Zhejiang-fritillary both appeared and became two important species of medicinal fritillarias after late Ming dynasty until today. In the period of the Qing Dynasty, the cognition of Fritillaria cirrhosa, Zhejiang-fritillary and rhizoma bolbostemmae became more and more clear. The fritillaria species continued to expand, and counterfeit and local species began to appear in large numbers.