Although plasma corticosterone is considered the main glucocorticoid involved in regulation of stress responses in rodents, the presence of plasma cortisol and whether its level can be used as an indicator for rodent activation of stress remain to be determined. In this study, effects of estrous cycle stage, circadian rhythm, and acute and chronic (repeated or unpredictable) stressors of various severities on dynamics and correlation of serum cortisol and corticosterone were examined in mice. A strong (r = 0.6–0.85) correlation between serum cortisol and corticosterone was observed throughout the estrous cycle, all day long, and during acute or repeated restraints, chronic unpredictable stress and acute forced swimming or heat stress. Both hormones increased to the highest level on day 1 of repeated-restraint or unpredictable stresses, but after that, whereas the concentration of cortisol did not change, that of corticosterone showed different dynamics. Thus, whereas corticosterone declined dramatically during repeated restraints, it remained at the high level during unpredictable stress. During forced swimming or heat stress, whereas cortisol increased to the highest level within 3 min., corticosterone did not reach maximum until 40 min. of stress. Analysis with HPLC and HPLC-MS further confirmed the presence of cortisol in mouse serum. Taken together, results (i) confirmed the presence of cortisol in mouse serum and (ii) suggested that mouse serum cortisol and corticosterone are closely correlated in dynamics under different physiological or stressful conditions, but, whereas corticosterone was a more adaptation-related biomarker than cortisol during chronic stress, cortisol was a quicker responder than corticosterone during severe acute stress.

It is well known that during mammalian ovarian follicular development, the majority of follicles undergo atresia at various stages of their development. However, the mechanisms controlling this selection process remain unknown. In this study, we investigated apoptosis in granulosa cells during goat follicular atresia by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL). The changes in the levels of steroids, insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) and IGF receptors were studied by radioimmunoassay (RIA) and semi-quantitative reverse transcription-PCR. We found that the percentage of apoptotic granulosa cells in the atretic (A) follicles was significantly higher than that in the slightly atretic (SA) and healthy (H) follicles. The level of estradiol and the ratio of estradiol to progesterone in H follicles were significantly higher than those in A follicles. On the other hand, the level of progesterone was not significantly different among these follicle types. We also found that the level of IGF-I in H follicles was higher than in SA and A follicles, whereas the amount of IGF-II did not vary significantly. The expression of IGF receptor also decreased in A follicles as compared to that in H and SA follicles. These results suggested that estradiol and IGF-I might be involved in controlling apoptosis in granulosa cells during follicular atresia.

With the aim to discuss the similarities and differences of phytochemicals in Moringa oleifera leaves collected from China (CML) and India (IML) in mind, comparative ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS) analysis was performed in this study. A screening analysis based on a UNIFI platform was first carried out to discuss the similarities. Next, untargeted metabolomic analysis based on multivariate statistical analysis was performed to discover the differences. As a result, a total of 122 components, containing 118 shared constituents, were characterized from CML and IML. The structure types included flavonoids, alkaloids, glyosides, organic acids and organic acid esters, iridoids, lignans, and steroids, etc. For CML, 121 compounds were characterized; among these, 18 potential biomarkers with higher contents enabled differentiation from IML. For IML, 119 compounds were characterized; among these, 12 potential biomarkers with higher contents enabled differentiation from CML. It could be concluded that both CML and IML are rich in phytochemicals and that CML is similar to IML in the kinds of the compounds it contains, except for the significant differences in the contents of some compounds. This comprehensive phytochemical profile study provides a basis for explaining the effect of different growth environments on secondary metabolites and exists as a reference for further research into or applications of CML in China.

Aiming at further systematically comparing the similarities and differences of the chemical components in ginseng of different ages, especially comparing the younger or the older and mountain-cultivated ginseng (MCG), 4, 5, 6-year-old cultivated ginseng (CG) and 12, 20-year-old MCG were chosen as the analytical samples in the present study. The combination of UPLC-QTOF-MS E , UNIFI platform and multivariate statistical analysis were developed to profile CGs and MCGs. By the screening analysis based on UNIFI, 126 chemical components with various structural types were characterized or tentatively identified from all the CG and MCG samples for the first time. The results showed that all the CG and MCG samples had the similar chemical composition, but there were significant differences in the contents of markers. By the metabolomic analysis based on multivariate statistical analysis, it was shown that CG 4-6 years , MCG 12 years and MCG 20 years samples were obviously divided into three different groups, and a total of 17 potential age-dependent markers enabling differentiation among the three groups of samples were discovered. For differentiation from other two kinds of samples, there were four robust makers such as α-linolenic acid, 9-octadecenoic acid, linoleic acid and panaxydol for CG 4-6 years , five robust makers including ginsenoside Re 1 , -Re 2 , -Rs 1 , malonylginsenoside Rb 2 and isomer of malonylginsenoside Rb 1 for MCG 20 years , and two robust makers, 24-hydroxyoleanolic acid and palmitoleic acid, for MCG 12 years were discovered, respectively. The proposed approach could be applied to directly distinguish MCG root ages, which is an important criterion for evaluating the quality of MCG. The results will provide the data for the further study on the chemical constituents of MCG.Molecules 2019, 24, 33 2 of 24 distinct [4,5], and more aged ginseng is usually of higher economic value. In an investigation of the characteristic components for distinguishing CG (4-7-year of age) and MCG (with 15-years of growth), 12 compounds, including ginsenoside Ra 3 /isomer, gypenoside XVII, quinquenoside R 1 , ginsenoside Ra 7 , notoginsenoside Fe, ginsenoside Ra 2 , ginsenoside Rs 6 /Rs 7 , malonyl ginsenoside Rc, malonyl ginsenoside Rb 1 , malonyl ginsenoside Rb 2 , palmitoleic acid, and ethyl linoleate were regarded as the characteristic chemical markers for the discrimination [6]. Recently, a UPLC/QTOF-MS-based metabolomics approach was applied to the global metabolite profiling of MCG leaf samples aged from 6 to 18 years, and the authors claimed that the approach could also be applied to discriminate MCG root ages indirectly [7]. It is undoubted that the developed method can be used as a standard protocol for discriminating and predicting MCG leaf ages directly, but there might be some inaccuracy and uncertainty when discriminating MCG root ages indirectly.In the past decades, some analytical methods focusing on ginsenosides had been used to distinguish MCG from CG, such as thin layer chromatography (TLC), or high p...

Paeoniflorin, the main active component of the peony plant, exerts various pharmacological effects. Recently, research on the effect of paeoniflorin on the nervous system has gained more attention. The aim of the present study was to determine whether paeoniflorin exerts a protective effect that improves Alzheimer's disease (AD) via inflammation and apoptosis in the cerebral cortex of a transgenic mouse model of AD. Transgenic mice were used to construct the model of AD and were treated with paeoniflorin. The Morris water maze test was used to analyze cognitive function in AD mice. The protein expression levels of nuclear factor‑κB, tumor necrosis factor‑α, interleukin (IL)‑1β, IL‑6 and caspase‑3 were examined with commercial kits. Expression levels of B‑cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl‑2), Bcl‑2‑associated X protein (Bax), phosphorylated (p)‑Akt and p‑p38 mitogen‑activated protein kinase (p‑p38 MAPK) in AD were evaluated by western blotting. The neuroprotective effects of paeoniflorin significantly improved cognitive function and ameliorated patterns of escape distance and escape latency in AD mice. Furthermore, the effects of paeoniflorin decreased inflammation and caspase‑3 activity, and inhibited cell death via increasing the Bcl‑2/Bax ratio and p‑Akt expression levels, and downregulating p‑p38 MAPK expression in AD mice.

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