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A phytochemical investigation of the steroidal saponins from the rhizomes of Paris polyohylla var. latifolia led to the discovery and characterization of three new spirostanol saponins, papolatiosides A–C (1–3), and nine known compounds (4–12). Their structures were established via extensive spectroscopic data analysis and chemical methods. Interestingly, compounds 1 and 2 possessed a fructosyl in their oligosaccharide moiety, which is rare in natural product and was firstly reported in family Melanthiaceae. The cytotoxicity of these saponins against several human cancer cell lines was evaluated by a CCK-8 experiment. As a result, compound 1 exhibited a significant cytotoxic effect on LN229, U251, Capan-2, HeLa, and HepG2 cancer cells with IC50 values of 4.18 ± 0.31, 3.85 ± 0.44, 3.26 ± 0.34, 3.30 ± 0.38 and 4.32 ± 0.51 μM, respectively. In addition, the result of flow cytometry analysis indicated that compound 1 could induce apoptosis of glioma cells LN229. The underlying mechanism was explored by network pharmacology and western bolt experiments, which indicated that compound 1 could induce glioma cells LN229 apoptosis by regulating the EGFR/PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A phytochemical investigation of the steroidal saponins from the rhizomes of Paris polyohylla var. latifolia led to the discovery and characterization of three new spirostanol saponins, papolatiosides A–C (1–3), and nine known compounds (4–12). Their structures were established via extensive spectroscopic data analysis and chemical methods. Interestingly, compounds 1 and 2 possessed a fructosyl in their oligosaccharide moiety, which is rare in natural product and was firstly reported in family Melanthiaceae. The cytotoxicity of these saponins against several human cancer cell lines was evaluated by a CCK-8 experiment. As a result, compound 1 exhibited a significant cytotoxic effect on LN229, U251, Capan-2, HeLa, and HepG2 cancer cells with IC50 values of 4.18 ± 0.31, 3.85 ± 0.44, 3.26 ± 0.34, 3.30 ± 0.38 and 4.32 ± 0.51 μM, respectively. In addition, the result of flow cytometry analysis indicated that compound 1 could induce apoptosis of glioma cells LN229. The underlying mechanism was explored by network pharmacology and western bolt experiments, which indicated that compound 1 could induce glioma cells LN229 apoptosis by regulating the EGFR/PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway.

Reducing sediment in green tea concentrate utilized for tea production is an important process. In this study, the effect of saccharides on sediment formation in green tea concentrate was investigated. The results show that the amount of tea sediment significantly decreased (31.4%–86.4%) with the addition of fructose or sucrose and that the ratios of polyphenols and caffeine in the sediment sharply decreased (24.1%–49.7% and 2.4%–6.2%) while the proportion of total sugars markedly increased (20.9%–56.5%) in the sediment. Moreover, fructosyl was found to be a highly effective functional group for preventing sediment formation, on the basis of experimental results for a series of sugars with different numbers of fructosyl groups. This phenomenon was elucidated from the energies of interaction between typical sugars, polyphenols, and caffeine calculated by density functional theory method. Our results open new applications for tea concentrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fructan:fructan fructosyl transferase (FFT, EC 2.4.1.100) was purified 61.4-fold from roots of Taraxacum officinale Weber. The enzyme is a glycoprotein with an apparent molecular weight of 49000 as determined by SDS-polyacrylarnide gel electrophoresis. FFT activity was detected by 1-kestose-dependent nystose production. The enzyme was most active at pH 6.5 and was stable at 30 °C (1 h). Separation by preparative iso-electric focusing yielded four different forms with iso-electric points around pH 4.8. The purified enzyme was active on different oligofructans of the inulin series, but not on melezitose, 6-kestose, neokestose, maltopentaose or sucrose as the sole substrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]