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Purpose: To evaluate the relationship between the serum calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) level and severity of coronary stenosis.Methods: A total of 233 eligible patients who underwent coronary angiography were divided into two groups: a control and a coronary heart disease (CHD) group. The angiographic severity of coronary stenosis was evaluated by SYNTAX and Gensini scores. The incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events within two years was collected.Results: A negative correlation between serum CGRP levels and Gensini scores was observed in all patients (r=-0.352, p<0.001), the control group (r=-0.422, p<0.001) and the CHD group (r=-0.393, p<0.001). Serum CGRP levels were negatively associated with SYNTAX scores in the CHD group (r=-0.522, p<0.001). The area under the curve of CGRP for identifying high SYNTAX scores (>22) was 0.772 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.673-0.870, p<0.001], and for identifying high Gensini scores was 0.744 (95% CI: 0.646-0.842, p<0.001). A CGRP concentration of 25.05 pg/ml was selected as the cutoff point. A low CGRP level (<25.05 pg/ml) was an independent predictor of severe coronary stenosis, a SYNTAX score >22 [odds ratio (OR) =5.819, 95% CI: 2.240-15.116; p<0.001] and a high Gensini score (>64) (OR=4.943, 95% CI: 2.020-12.095; p<0.001). The low CGRP group had a higher incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events within two years (11.1 vs. 3.1%, p=0.031).Conclusion: In coronary atherosclerosis patients without acute myocardial injury, serum CGRP levels were negatively associated with the severity of coronary stenosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Type 2 diabetes was usually caused by inadequate secretion of insulin or insulin resistance in tissues and organs. About 90% diabetes belongs to type 2 diabetes, which is seriously harmful to human health. Dipeptidyl Peptidase‐IV (DPP‐IV) target have attracted much attention because of its ability to prevent type 2 diabetes (T2D). Clinical application of chemical synthetic medicines has different degrees of side effects. Therefore, the present evaluation aims to seek DPP‐IV inhibitors as the source of natural products. DPP‐IV inhibitory activities of eight natural products and a structural modification of mangostin (eight chromone of 1–8 and iridoid glycoside for 9) were evaluated by this manuscript at the enzyme level. As a result, three chromones of 2 (a modified mangostin), 3 (mangiferin) and 5 (breviscapin) showed moderate DPP‐IV inhibitory activities with IC50 values of 69.27 μM, 44.19 μM, and 49.53 μM via the use of the fluorescence‐based method (0.25 mM, 0.34 mM and 0.85 mM for the chromogenic substrate method). This study suggests that natural products, which mainly consist by chromone that generated from Mango and Scutellaria baicalensis may have beneficial effects on treating T2D. Two natural products which derived from Mango and Scutellaria baicalensis showed inhibitory activities against DPP‐IV. A modified mangostin was also identified with inhibitory activity. The results indicated that these natural products can play prophylactic or therapeutic roles against T2D (type 2 diabetes) and provided structurally different skeletons to develop new drugs in the treatment of T2D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four new dihydrophenanthrenofuran, bleochranols A–D ( 1 – 4 ), along with 21 known compounds including phenanthrenes ( 5 – 14 ) and bibenzyls ( 15 – 25 ) were isolated and elucidated from the rhizomes of Bletilla ochracea . Combination of 1D/2D NMR techniques and the Electronic Circular Dichroism (ECD) spectroscopy based on the empirical helicity rules, chemical structure of those isolates were determined. All the compounds were evaluated for cytotoxicity against HL-60, SMMC-7721, A-549, MCF-7 and SW480 human cancer cell lines by MTS assay and anti-inflammatory activity by nitric oxide (NO) production in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages. Among the 25 tested compounds, bleochranol A ( 1 ) showed remarkable cytotoxic activity against HL-60, A-549, and MCF-7 with IC 50 values of 0.24 ± 0.03, 3.51 ± 0.09 and 3.30 ± 0.99 μM respectively. The anti-inflammatory assay showed that compound 12 exhibited most potential activity against NO production in RAW 264.7 macrophages with IC 50 2.86 ± 0.17 μM. The results indicated that the main chemical constituents of B. ochracea were phenanthrene and bibenzyl and similar to that of B. striata . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new bibenzyl derivative, dendrocandin V ( 1 ) and a new sesquiterpene amino ether, wardianumine A ( 2 ), together with eleven known compounds, including phenanthrenes (denbinobin ( 3 ), 9,10-dihydro-denbinobin ( 4 ), mostatin ( 5 ), loddigesiinols A ( 6 )), bibenzyls (moscatilin ( 7 ), 5-hydroxy-3,4′-dimethoxybibenzyl ( 8 ), 3,4-dihydroxy-5,4′-dimethoxy bibenzyl ( 9 ), dendrocandin A ( 10 ), gigantol ( 11 ), dendrocandin U ( 12 )) and an alkaloids (dihydroshihunine, 13 ) were isolated from the EtOH extraction of stems of Dendrobium wardianum Warner. Isolation of the new compound 2 indicated that N , N -dimethylethanolamine as the key adduction in the synthesis of dendroxine and its analogs in Dendrobium species. The hypothetical biosynthetic pathway of 2 was then postulated. Inspired by literature and traditional usage of the herbal medicine, some compounds were sent for cytotoxic activity and the results indicated that compounds 1 , 3 , 4 , 5 showed cytotoxic activities against five human cancer cell lines (HL-60, A-549, SMMC-7721, MCF-7, and SW-480) with IC50 from 2.33–38.48 μM. Among those compounds, 3 and 4 showed cell line selectivity with strong activity comparable to DDP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]