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Pulmonary fibrosis is common in a variety of inflammatory lung diseases, there is currently no effective clinical drug treatment. It has been reported that the ethanol extract of Eclipta prostrata L. can improve the lung collagen deposition and fibrosis pathology induced by bleomycin (BLM) in mice. In the present study, we studied whether wedelolactone (WEL), a major coumarin ingredient of E. prostrata , provided protection against BLM-induced pulmonary fibrosis. ICR or C57/BL6 strain mice were treated with BLM to establish lung fibrosis model. WEL (2 or 10 mg/kg) was given daily via intragastric administration for 2 weeks starting at 7-day after intratracheal instillation. WEL at 10 mg/kg significantly reduced BLM-induced inflammatory cells infiltration, pro-inflammatory factors expression, and collagen deposition in lung tissues. Additionally, treatment with WEL also impaired BLM-induced increases in fibrotic marker expression (collagen I and α-SMA) and decrease in an anti-fibrotic marker (E-cadherin). Treatment with WEL significantly prevented BLM-induced increase in TGF-β1 and Smad2/3 phosphorylation in the lungs. WEL administration (10 mg/kg) also significantly promoted AMPK activation compared to model group in BLM-treated mice. Further investigation indicated that activation of AMPK by WEL can suppressed the transdifferentiation of primary lung fibroblasts and the epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) of alveolar epithelial cells, the inhibitive effects of WEL was significantly blocked by an AMPK inhibitor (compound C) in vitro. Together, these results suggest that activation of AMPK by WEL followed by reduction in TGFβ1/Raf-MAPK signaling pathways may have a therapeutic potential in pulmonary fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study focuses on the biological synthesis, characterization, and antibacterial activities of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using extracellular extracts of Aspergillus japonicus PJ01.The optimal conditions of the synthesis process were: 10 mL of extracellular extracts, 1 mL of AgNO3 (0.8 mol/L), 4 mL of NaOH solution (1.5 mol/L), 30 °C, and a reaction time of 1 min. The characterizations of AgNPs were tested by UV-visible spectrophotometry, zeta potential, scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and thermogravimetric (TG) analyses. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis showed that Ag+ was reduced by the extracellular extracts, which consisted chiefly of soluble proteins and reducing sugars. In this work, AgNO3 concentration played an important role in the physicochemical properties and antibacterial properties of AgNPs. Under the AgNO3 concentration of 0.2 and 0.8 mol/L, the diameters of AgNPs were 3.8 ± 1.1 and 9.1 ± 2.9 nm, respectively. In addition, smaller-sized AgNPs showed higher antimicrobial properties, and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values against both E. coli and S. aureus were 0.32 mg/mL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six new C 21 steroidal glycosides ( 1 – 6 ) and one dideoxysaccharide ( 7 ), named atratcynosides A–F and atratcynose A, were isolated from the 80% ethanol extract of the root of Cynanchum atratum , together with three known compounds ( 8 – 10 ). The structures of the new compounds were determined on the basis of extensive spectral analyses and qualitative chemical methods. All compounds were subjected to detect the immunosuppressive activities by an in vitro model of concanavalin A-induced proliferation of T-lymphocytes from mice. Compounds 1 – 3 showed significant immunosuppressive activities in dose-dependent manners with the IC 50 values from 3.3 to 7.0 μM. Moreover, the structure–activity relationship of the steroidal glycosides on the immunosuppression was analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]