Our study revealed the inhibitory effect of Vitis coignetiae Pulliat, known as Yamabudo in Japan, at the stages of multi-step carcinogenesis. The juice of Vitis coignetiae (Y-grape juice) was antimutagenic toward dimethylbenzo[a]anthracene (DMBA), aflatoxin B1, and benzo[a]pyrene in the Ames test. The Y-grape juice was also antigenotoxic in the micronucleus test using HepG2 cells toward DMBA and aflatoxin B1. Topical and oral administration of the Y-grape juice to mice inhibited the induction of inflammation of 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA). Topical and oral administration of the Y-grape juice significantly decreased the incidence and mean number of tumors in mice skin with the 2-stage tumorigenesis protocol. To elucidate the mechanisms underlying the antiinflammatory and antitumor promotion activity of the Y-grape juice, the effect of Y-grape juice on cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) activity in mouse ear treated with TPA was studied. Both topical and oral application of the Y-grape juice inhibited the TPA-induced increase in COX-2 activity. Caftaric acid, isolated and identified from the Y-grape juice, was antimutagenic toward DMBA and prevented TPA-induced inflammation in mice, suggesting caftaric acid participates in chemopreventive effect/activities of Y-grape juice.
Zuili plum (Prunus salicina L.) trees usually set fruit poorly, although they produce high quality fruit. To elucidate the causes of the poor fruit set, pollen tube growth into pistils and fruit set percentage were investigated after cross-, self- and open-pollination. Ovule development in Zuili pistils was also investigated. Pollen tube penetration into the ovules via the obturator and micropyle was best when Zuili pistils were pollinated by cv. Black Amber (P. domestica) pollen grains, although cross-pollinations with Hongxinli and Miili (P. salicina) pollen were more effective than self- and open-pollination. The fruit set percentage was also highest in pistils pollinated with Black Amber pollen grains. Morphological observation of Zuili pistils revealed that the trees produce "double pistils", developing two ovaries from a basal pistil, at a rate as high as 28%. In such abnormal pistils, most ovules were lacking an embryo sac or were entirely degenerated. The percentage of normally developed ovules was 24.3% and 8.9% in normal and double pistils, respectively. From these results, we conclude that the main causes of poor fruit set of Zuili plums are a lack of effective cross-pollination and the production of high percentages of double pistils in which normally developed ovules are scarcely formed.
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