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Silene viscidula Franch is mainly produced in southwest China. The region has a vast area and rich climate, which has an impact on the quality of the plants due to the differences in distribution between the origins. There is a lack of systematic research on its chemical compounds in the existing literature, and fewer studies have been reported for the active compounds of this plant. Therefore, high-resolution liquid mass spectrometry was used in this study. Sixty batches of Silene viscidula Franch samples from twenty origins in three provinces were analyzed for compounds. A database of chemical compounds of Silene viscidula Franch was established through node-to-node information in the GNPS molecular network, as well as literature records. The ion fragmentation information obtained was compared with the literature data and analyzed and identified by importing the mass spectrometry software PeakView 1.2. Then, the MarkerView t -test was applied to analyze and identify the compounds of Silene viscidula Franch from different origins. Afterwards, the antioxidant activity of Silene viscidula Franch from different origins was preliminarily evaluated using DPPH and ABTS free radical scavenging assays. The results showed a total of 78 compounds, including 34 steroids, 14 triterpenoid saponins, 30 flavonoid glycosides, and other classes of compounds, such as alkaloids. The cleavage patterns of steroids, triterpenoid saponins, and flavonoids in positive-ion mode were also summarized. Based on the p -value of the t -test ( p < 0.05), 29 differential compounds were screened out. The relative contents of saponins and steroidal compounds in these samples were found to be associated with antioxidant activity. This study provided a preliminary reference for the establishment of a comprehensive evaluation system for the quality of Silene viscidula Franch.

Coleus scutellarioides (L.) Benth. is a globally spread species, known for its characteristic spectacularly colorful leaves of decorative value. Thanks to its rich chemical composition, the plant is used in ethnopharmacology, and it is also regarded as having high medicinal potential. The application of in vitro cultures enables the acquisition of homogeneous certified material of high quality. Additionally, excluding the effect of biotic and abiotic factors on the plants is a way to fully recognize the influence of phytohormones on the plant morphology and the biosynthetic pathways of compound production. The best way to grow C. scutellarioides "Electric Lime" under in vitro conditions is to use the basic MS medium (Murashige and Skoog medium), enriched with naphthyl-1-acetic acid at a concentration of 0.5 mg dm -3 . The analysis of volatile compounds demonstrated that the content of volatile compounds in the plants cultivated under in vivo conditions was expressed at a level of 2848.59 µg g -1 , whereas in the plants bred in vitro without supplementation with phytohormones, the level was 8191.47 µg g -1 . The highest content was noted for copaene, α-pinene, 1-octene-3-ol, α-selinene, sabinen, γ- and δ-cadinene, 3-octanol, and β-pinene. Aroma profiling revealed a lack of boranyl acetate, 2-hexenal, and 2-hexen-1-ol in the plants cultivated under in vivo conditions. Differences were found in the volatile composition between plants bred in vivo and in vitro, with the most significant recorded for the contents of 1-octen-3-ol and 3-octanol. The addition of plant growth regulators into the basic medium under in vitro conditions affected the percentage ratio and contents of specific compounds in plant tissues. The most intense biosynthesis of volatile compounds took place in the plants cultivated on the medium enriched with NAA at 10,579.11 µg g -1 , whereas the least intense was noted for plants cultivated on the medium supplemented with BA, where it was recorded at the level of 5610.02 µg g -1 . So far, there has been no research published which would pertain to the profiling of volatile compounds performed using the SPME (solid-phase microextraction) technique. Moreover, the very few studies conducted on the chemical composition of these compounds do not mention the specific variety of C. scutellarioides under analysis.

The gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS) method is a new technology for detecting volatile organic compounds. This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of volatile aroma compounds of Curcuma essential oils (EOs) after 60 Co radiation by GC-IMS. Dosages of 0, 5, and 10 kGy of 60 Co were used to analyze EOs of Curcuma after 60 Co irradiation (named EZ-1, EZ-2, and EZ-3). The odor fingerprints of volatile organic compounds in different EOs of Curcuma samples were constructed by headspace solid-phase microextraction and GC-IMS after irradiation. The differences in odor fingerprints of EOs were compared by principal component analysis (PCA). A total of 92 compounds were detected and 65 compounds were identified, most of which were ketones, aldehydes, esters, and a small portion were furan compounds. It was found that the volatile matter content of 0 kGy and 5 kGy was closer, and the use of 10 kGy 60 Co irradiation would have an unstable effect on the EOs. In summary, it is not advisable to use a higher dose when using 60 Co irradiation for sterilization of Curcuma. Due to the small gradient of irradiation dose used in the experiment, the irradiation dose can be adjusted appropriately according to the required sterilization requirements during the production and storage process of Curcuma to obtain the best irradiation conditions. GC-IMS has the advantages of GC's high separation capability and IMS's fast response, high resolution, and high sensitivity, and the sample requires almost no pretreatment; it can be widely used in the analysis of traditional Chinese medicines containing volatile components. It is shown that irradiation technology has good application prospects in the sterilization of traditional Chinese medicines, but the changes in irradiation dose and chemical composition must be paid attention to.

The pitaya (dragon fruit) Hylocereus is a genus which belongs to the Cactaceae family. It is native to Mexico, occurring also in other regions of Central and South America. Pitaya fruit is mainly intended for consumption and for this reason the species is grown commercially. The fruit is a rich source of vitamins, biologically active compounds, and dietary fibre. Using in vitro culture can accelerate the process of reproduction and growth of pitaya plants. Profiling of volatile compounds contained in the stem of Hylocereus undatus was carried out using the SPME-GC-MS technique. The main compounds present were hexanal, 2-hexenal and 1-hexanol. The results showed differences in the occurrence of volatile compounds between plants grown in media with an addition of BA (6-benzylaminopurine) and IAA (indole-3-acetic acid), which have been used as plant growth regulators. Statistically significant differences between the contents of volatile compounds were observed in the case of 2-hexenal and 1-hexanol. The effect of BA on reducing the amount of volatile compounds was observed. However, introduction of IAA to the in vitro medium resulted in more compounds being synthesized. This study is the first to describe the volatile compounds in the pitaya stem. The results indicate that plant hormones are able to modify the profile of volatile compounds.

Tyrosinase is a key enzyme target to design new chemical ligands against melanogenesis. In the current review, different chemical derivatives are explored which have been used as anti-melanogenic compounds. These are different chemical compounds naturally present in plants and semi-synthetic and synthetic compounds inspired by these natural products, such as kojic acid produced by several species of fungi; arbutin-a glycosylated hydroquinone extracted from the bearberry plant; vanillin-a phenolic aldehyde extracted from the vanilla bean, etc. After enzyme inhibition screening, various chemical compounds showed different therapeutic effects as tyrosinase inhibitors with different values of the inhibition constant and IC 50 . We show how appropriately designed scaffolds inspired by the structures of natural compounds are used to develop novel synthetic inhibitors. We review the results of numerous studies, which could lead to the development of effective anti-tyrosinase agents with increased efficiency and safety in the near future, with many applications in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries.

Siraitia grosvenorii (Swingle) C. Jeffrey ex Lu et Z. Y. Zhang is a unique economic and medicinal plant of Cucurbitaceae in Southern China. For hundreds of years, Chinese people have used the fruit of S. grosvenorii as an excellent natural sweetener and traditional medicine for lung congestion, sore throat, and constipation. It is one of the first species in China to be classified as a medicinal food homology, which has received considerable attention as a natural product with high development potential. Various natural products, such as triterpenoids, flavonoids, amino acids, and lignans, have been released from this plant by previous phytochemical studies. Phar- macological research of the fruits of S. grosvenorii has attracted extensive attention, and an increasing number of extracts and compounds have been demonstrated to have antitussive, expectorant, antiasthmatic, antioxidant, hypoglycemic, immunologic, hepatoprotective, antibacte- rial, and other activities. In this review, based on a large number of previous studies, we summarized the related research progress of the chemical components and pharmacological effects of S. grosvenorii , which provides theoretical support for further investigation of its biological functions and potential clinical applications.

Bougainvillea × buttiana is a plant widely used in traditional Mexican medicine and other parts of the world for the treatment of various health disorders. In this study, the antioxidant and cytoprotective activities of three ethanolic extracts of B . × buttiana (BxbO (Orange), BxbR1 (Rose1) and BxbR2 (Rose2)) were investigated. Antioxidant activities were determined by the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), DPPH free radicals scavenging activity, and radical scavenging effects on nitric oxide (NO). The in vitro cytoprotective effect of the extracts against oxidative stress induced by hydrogen peroxide-(H 2 O 2 ) in a model of L929 cells was also determined as well as NO uptake with or without H 2 O 2 through the MTT assay. The results revealed that there was a difference between the compounds present in each of the extracts, with the 2-Hydroxycinnamic acid compound being observed in all the extracts. The 2-Hydroxycinnamic acid compound was tested in silico to predict its biological (PASSonline) and toxicological (Osiris Property Explorer) activity. All extracts with 1 to 4 mg/mL inhibited the activity of the NO radical. In cells exposed to 1 mg/mL of extracts followed by H 2 O 2 exposure, cell protection ranged from 66.96 to 83.46%. The treatment of the cells with extracts prevented the morphological changes caused by H 2 O 2 . The 2-Hydroxycinnamic acid compound showed a probability of in silico antioxidant and cytoprotective activity greater than 0.5 and 0.6, respectively. Therefore, the results demonstrated that Bxb extracts exert antioxidant and protective activities against H 2 O 2 -induced oxidative stress in L929 cells.

Philadelphus coronarius is a versatile plant and its use in folk medicine has a long tradition; however, scientifically, the medical utilization of the herb is a less explored research field. The aim of our study was to identify and determine the quantity of the bioactive compounds of both the leaf and the flower and prepare a lyophilized product of them, from which medical ointments were formulated, since the topical application of P. coronarius has also not been studied. In vitro drug release, texture analysis and biocompatibility experiments were carried out, as well as the investigation of microbiological, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. According to our results the composition and the selected excipients of the ointments have a great impact on the drug release, texture and bioavailability of the preparation. During the microbiological testing, the P. coronarius leaf was effective against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus , but it did not significantly decrease IL-4 production when it was tested on HaCaT cells. P. coronarius is a promising herb, and its topical application in antimicrobial therapy can be a useful addition to modern medical therapy.

The idea of popularity/abundance of chemical compounds is widely used in non-target chemical analysis involving environmental studies. To have a clear quantitative basis for this idea, frequency distributions of chemical compounds over indicators of their popularity/abundance are obtained and discussed. Popularity indicators are the number of information sources, the number of chemical vendors, counts of data records, and other variables assessed from two large databases, namely ChemSpider and PubChem. Distributions are approximated by power functions, special cases of Zipf distributions, which are characteristic of the results of human/social activity. Relatively small group of the most popular compounds has been denoted, conventionally accounting for a few percent (several million) of compounds. These compounds are most often explored in scientific research and are practically used. Accordingly, popular compounds have been taken into account as first analyte candidates for identification in non-target analysis.

It is thought that the therapeutic efficacy of Morus alba L. is determined by its biological compounds. We investigated the chemical differences in the medicinal parts of M. alba by analyzing a total of 57 samples (15 root barks, 11 twigs, 12 fruits, and 19 leaves). Twelve marker compounds, including seven flavonoids, two stilbenoids, two phenolic acids, and a coumarin, were quantitatively analyzed using a high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector and chemometric analyses (principal component and heatmap analysis). The results demonstrated that the levels and compositions of the marker compounds varied in each medicinal part. The leaves contained higher levels of six compounds, the root barks contained higher levels of four compounds, and the twigs contained higher levels of two compounds. The results of chemometric analysis showed clustering of the samples according to the medicinal part, with the marker compounds strongly associated with each part: mulberroside A, taxifolin, kuwanon G, and morusin for the root barks; 4-hydroxycinnamic acid and oxyresveratrol for the twigs and skimmin; chlorogenic acid, rutin, isoquercitrin, astragalin, and quercitrin for the leaves. Our approach plays a fundamental role in the quality evaluation and further understanding of biological actions of herbal medicines derived from various medicinal plant parts.

Oxidative stress plays an important role in cellular processes. Consequently, oxidative stress also affects etiology, progression, and response to therapeutics in various pathological conditions including malignant tumors. Oxidative stress and associated outcomes are often brought about by excessive generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Accumulation of ROS occurs due to dysregulation of homeostasis in an otherwise strictly controlled physiological condition. In fact, intracellular ROS levels are closely associated with the pathological status and outcome of numerous diseases. Notably, mitochondria are recognized as the critical regulator and primary source of ROS. Damage to mitochondria increases mitochondrial ROS (mROS) production, which leads to an increased level of total intracellular ROS. However, intracellular ROS level may not always reflect mROS levels, as ROS is not only produced by mitochondria but also by other organelles such as endoplasmic reticulum and peroxisomes. Thus, an evaluation of mROS would help us to recognize the biological and pathological characteristics and predictive markers of malignant tumors and develop efficient treatment strategies. In this review, we describe the pathological significance of mROS in malignant neoplasms. In particular, we show the association of mROS-related signaling in the molecular mechanisms of chemically synthesized and natural chemotherapeutic agents and photodynamic therapy.

The fruits, leaves and root barks of L. barbarum plant are widely used as functional foods and as ingredients in traditional Chinese prescriptions and patent medicines. They are considered to have different pharmacological activities and health benefits because of their diverse constituents. Here, the chemical constituents of the extracts from fruits, leaves and root barks of L. barbarum were compared by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry (UPLC-HR-MS). A total of 131 compounds were identified and seven of them were quantified. Among them, 98, 28 and 35 constituents were detected in fruits, leaves and root barks respectively. Dicaffeoylspermidine/spermine derivatives were the most detected compounds (74/131); among them, dicaffeoylspermine isomers and propionyl-dicaffeoylspermidine were found in root barks in very large amounts (e.g., kukoamine B = 10.90 mg/g dry powder); dicaffeoyl-spermidine isomers were detected in fruits/leaves in a high amount, and many of their glycosylated derivatives were mainly detected in fruits. In addition, six saponins from L. barbarum fruits were reported for the first time, and 5,6-dihydrosolasonine was reported for the first time in plants. The activity assays showed that the root bark extract possessed the strongest antioxidative activity and cytotoxicity, which was presumed due to the large amount of dicaffeoylspermine/spermidines in root barks. Fourteen potential bioactive components from fruits were identified by a target cell-based screening method. These results will help to understand the different biological activities of these three parts of L. barbarum plant and will benefit the discovery of new functional components.

This study aimed to determine the chemical composition, fatty acids, volatile profile and phenolic compounds profiles from five wild edible mushrooms ( Agaricus bisporus, Pleurotus ostreatus, Cantharellus cibarius, Boletus edulis, Lactarius piperatus ) from Romania. The results indicated that the dried fruiting bodies of selected mushrooms were rich in proteins (36.24 g/100 g dw- Boletus edulis ) and carbohydrates (62.45 g/100 g dw- Lactarius piperatus ). 4-Hydroxybenzoic acid and cinnamic acid, were the main phenolic compound present in all selected species. Additionally, the fatty acid pattern included polyunsaturated acids in more than 60% of all fatty acids followed by monounsaturated fatty acids (30%). For the studied mushroom samples, the main volatile compounds identified by the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry were hexanal, benzaldehyde and dodecanoic acid. According to the obtained results, the fruiting bodies of selected Romanian mushrooms are a rich source of bioactive molecules indicating that they may be further exploited as functional ingredients in the composition of innovative food products.