Passion fruit seed extract (PFSE), a product rich in stilbenes such as piceatannol and scirpusin B, has various physiological effects. It is unclear whether PFSE and its stilbene derivatives inhibit cancer cell proliferation via human glyoxalase I (GLO I), the rate-limiting enzyme for detoxification of methylglyoxal. We examined the anticancer effects of PFSE in two types of human cancer cell lines with different GLO I expression levels, NCI–H522 cells (highly-expressed GLO I) and HCT116 cells (lowly-expressed GLO I). PFSE and its stilbenes inhibited GLO I activity. In addition, PFSE and its stilbenes supressed the cancer cell proliferation of NCI–H522 cells more than HCT116 cells. These observations suggest that PFSE can provide a novel anticancer strategy for prevention and treatment.
Immune dysfunction has been proposed as a mechanism for the pathophysiology of autistic-spectrum disorders. The selectin family of adhesion molecules plays a prominent role in immune/inflammatory responses. We determined the serum levels of three types of soluble-form selectin (sP, sL and sE) in 15 men with high-functioning autism and 22 age-matched healthy controls by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Levels of sP-selectin and sL-selectin were significantly lower in patients than in controls. Furthermore, sP-selectin levels were negatively correlated with impaired social development during early childhood.
Night break effect is widely used in chrysanthemum production by applying incandescent (INC) lamps to inhibit flowering of chrysanthemum in order to obtain longer shoots. To save energy, LED lamps had been developed as a new light source and used in agriculture. Since there is limited research on chrysanthemums grown in LED light culture, we studied the night break effect by using several different wavelengths of LED lamps. Red (R) light from LED-630 and LED-660 had perfect inhibition on floral bud differentiation in 'Jimba,' but could not inhibit that in 'Iwa no hakusen' chrysanthemums. The far-red (FR) light of LED-735 had no effect on the inhibition of floral bud differentiation in 'Jimba,' but it was delayed in 'Iwa no hakusen.' Treatments of LED-690 and INC lamps inhibited floral bud differentiation in 'Jimba' and strongly delayed that in 'Iwa no hakusen.' Treatments of a combination of R light of LED-660 and FR light of LED-735 inhibited floral bud differentiation in both the cultivars.
Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat 'Jimba' and 'Iwa no hakusen' were used as the plant materials. They flower in September and June under natural conditions in Japan. Shoots that were 10 cm in length were planted in plastic cases (32 cm 43 cm 10 cm) filled with BM2 (Berger Peat Moss Ltd., Canada). Each plastic case was divided
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