Preparative separation of C19-diterpenoid alkaloids from Aconitum carmichaelii Debx by pH‑zone-refining counter-current chromatography

The technique of pH-zone-refining counter-current chromatography was successfully applied to preparatively separate three C19-diterpenoid alkaloids from the crude extracts of Aconitum carmichaelii for the first time using a two-phase solvent system of petroleum ether-ethyl acetate-methanol-water (5:5:1:9, v/v/v/v). Mesaconitine (I), hypaconitine (II), and deoxyaconitine (III) were obtained from 2.5 g of the crude alkaloids in a one-step separation; the yields were 4.16%, 16.96%, and 5.05%, respectively. The purities of compounds I, II, and III were 93.0%, 95%, and 96%, respectively, as determined by HPLC. The chemical structures of the three compounds were identified by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and NMR.

A proposito de los generos Aconitum L. y Consolida (DC.) S.F.Gray en la Peninsula Iberica.

Seguimos para este taxon, en lo nomenclatural, a TAMURA & LAUENER (1979:459), mientras no se tipifique de forma adecuada A. lycoctonum L., considerado nom. ambig. ya por TUTIN (1964:212), con pocas posibilidades de que no sea diverso de A. vulparia. A. pyrenaicum L. es también algo muy distinto del taxon que nos ocupa y, en caso de no ser aceptada la proposición de que se lo considere ñamen rejiciendum, hecha por TAMURA & LAUENER (Le.: 447), seria el nombre correcto para A. barbatum Pers. (=A. squarrosum DC.) de Siberia. Otro nombre que aún podría ser prioritario, A. altissimum Miller (WARNCKE, 1964:30; TAMURA & LAUENER, l.c), no puede usarse en tanto no se localice algún material de aquel en que se basó la descripción un tanto ambigua de Miller....

Seed morphology of Iberian Species of the genus Aconitum L.

Es presenta un estudi morfològic-biomètric de les granes deis taxons del genere Aconitum L. presents a la Península Ibérica. Es tracten aspectes que fan referencia a: 1) disposició de les granes al fol-licle, 2) definido de paramètres (forma general i ornamentado de l'episperma), 3) biometria i 4) descripció de les granes deis représentants ibérics. Els microcaràcters relacionats fonamentalment amb el relleu epispérmic, forma i ornamentado de la base d'inserció (hílum i cél-lules umbil-licals), son els que es mostren mes utils per discriminar els taxons i els que proporcionen mes informado filogenética. Els résultats que s'exposen coincideixen, en línies generals, amb els d'altres autors (SEITZ, 1969; CAPPELETTI & POLDINI, 1984). Es presenten, tanmateix, discrepancies importants pel que fa a la morfología seminal, en especial de l'ornamentació de l'episperma, en les especies A. anthora, A. napellus s.l., A. burnatii i A. vulparia subsp. ranunculifoiium. Es presenta, sovint, polimorfisme seminal en les diferentes poblacions, aïllades geogràficament, d'una mateixa especie o subspècie, tant en el context ibèric com d'Europa central i meridional. Es conclou que aquest polimorfisme és una manifestado mes de la plasticitat fenotípica del genere, particularment intensa en les especies colonitzadores d'àmplia valencia ecológica (A. napellus, s.l.; A. vulparia, s.l.), possiblement conseqiiència de la deriva genética de les poblacions.

Mixed intoxication with Aconitum nappellans (monkshood) and Digitalis grandiflora (large yellow foxglove)

Intoxications are frequent and relevant medical problems in emergency units.

Blattformen : 1. Alchemilla vulgaris - 2. Trollius europaeus - 3. Aconitum napellus - 4. Saxifraga - 5. Saxifraga caespitosa - 6. Hydrophyllum virginicum - 7. Alchemilla alpina - 8. Artemisia absinthium

AR

Eisenhut - Braut in Haaren - Aconitum lycoctonum - Aconitum napellus - Nigella damascena

AR

Uebersicht der Gattung Aconitum, Grundzüge einer Monographie derselben.

Mode of access: Internet.

Immunomodulating Chinese herbal medicines

Traditional Chinese medicine always pays close attention to the strengthening of the patient"s general resitence against illness, ther are many Chinese herbs used for thousands of years are considered as tonics. Animal experiments and modern clinica; trails have shown that quite a number herbs are immunologically active, and most of the tonics are excellent immunomodulating agents, such as polysaccharides or saponins isolated from Astragalus mongholicus, Acanthopanax senticosus and Panax notoginseng, which stimulated mactophages, promoted antibody formation, actived complement and increased T lymphocyte proliferation. Moreover, some of them were proved to be anti-irradiative and protected animals from liver intoxications. On the other hand, some anti-inflammative or anti-pyretic hervs such as Tripterygium wilfordii, Aconitum and Artemiasiae species were proved to have immunosuppressive principles, some of them were now used clinically for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, chronic nephritis, systemic lupus erythematosis and various skin disorders. Pharmacological studies revealed that they have depressant effect on most of the humoral-immunity but not on the cell-mediated immunity. Some of them stimulated adrenal cortex functions and prolonged the survival time of transplanted allograft tissues.

Development of natural products as drugs acting on central nervous system

We have recenty studied several natural product constituents which have effects on the CNS. (1) Tetrahydropalmatine (THP) and its analogues were isolated from Corydalis ambigua and various species of Stephania. (+)-THP and (-)-THP posses not only analgesic activity, but also exert sedative-tranquillizing and hypnotic actions. Results of receptor binding assay and their pre-and post-synaptic effects on dopaminergic system indicate that (-)-THP and (-)-stepholidine are dopamine receptor antagonists while (+)-THP is a selective dopamine depletor. (2) 3-Acetylaconitine (AAC) is an alkaloid isolated from Aconitum flavum. The relative potency of analgesic action of AAC was 5.1-35.6 and 1250-3912 times that of morphine and aspirin, respectively. The analgesic effect of AAC was antagonized by naloxone, but was eliminated by reserpine. In monkeys, after AAC was injected for 92 days, no abstinence syndrome was seen after sudden AAC withdrawal or when challenged with nalorphine. (3) Huperzine A (Hup-A) is an alkaloid isolated from Huperzia serrata which was found to be a selective ChE inhibitor and could improve learning and retrieval process. Preliminary clinical studies showed that Hup-A improve short-and long-term memory in patients of cerebral arteriosclerosis with memory impairment. (4) Ranamargarin is a new tetradecapeptide isolated from the skin of the Chines frog Rana margaratae. This peptide may mainly act on NK-1 receptor.

Bioactive glycosides from Chinese medicines

Glycosides are the bioactive components of many famous Chinese medicines. Here reported are some bioactive glycosides we discovered from Chinese medicines in recent years. (1) Pheolic glycosides from Chinese medicines: Gastrodia elata, acontium austroynanense and Helicia erratica, three bioactive phenolic glycosides were discovered and two of them have been developed into new drugs. (2) Terpenoidal glycosides: a) Monoterpenoid: the sweroside from Swertia mollensis has been developed intro an anti-hepatitis drug; b) Diterpenoid: Phlomis betonicoides contains sweet glycoides; c) Triterpenoid: many biologically active triterpenoid glycosides were isolated from Panax plants and Siraitia grosvenorii. (3) Steroidal glycosides: a) C21-steroid: Cynanchum otophyllum and C. atratrum contain anti-epilepsy and-tumor glycosides; b) C27-steroid Hemostatic saponins were found in Paris polyphylla.

Corologia de la flora vascular d'interès de conservació al Parc Natural del Montseny

Presentem els resultats dels estudis realitzats des del 2009 al 2012, amb la finalitat de millorar la informació corològica disponibled'espècies de flora vascular considerades d'interès de conservació al Parc Natural del Montseny. S'han tingut en compte un total de 125tàxons. D'aquests, 3 corresponen a tàxons nous per la flora del massís (Aconitum vulparia, Botrychium matricariifolium i Polystichumlonchitis), 7 han estat retrobats i 13 corresponen a novetats per algun dels quadrats UTM 10 × 10 prospectats. Tot i les troballes, moltesespècies no han sigut localitzades durant el treball de camp. En alguns casos, atribuïm aquest fet a la reducció de les poblacions o fins i tota la desaparició, fet que afecta principalment a aquelles espècies vinculades majoritàriament a ambients oberts, que han patit una recessióimportant durant les darreres dècades. Aquest fenomen ha estat especialment rellevant al massís del turó de l'Home, sobretot a la vall deSanta Fe

A 700-year paleoecological record of boreal ecosystem responses to climatic variation from Alaska

Recent observations and model simulations have highlighted the sensitivity of the forest - tundra ecotone to climatic forcing. In contrast, paleoecological studies have not provided evidence of tree-line fluctuations in response to Holocene climatic changes in Alaska, suggesting that the forest - tundra boundary in certain areas may be relatively stable at multicentennial to millennial time scales. We conducted a multiproxy study of sediment cores from an Alaskan lake near the altitudinal limits of key boreal-forest species. Paleoecological data were compared with independent climatic reconstructions to assess ecosystem responses of the forest - tundra boundary to Little Ice Age (LIA) climatic. uctuations. Pollen, diatom, charcoal, macrofossil, and magnetic analyses provide the first continuous record of vegetation -. re - climate interactions at decadal to centennial time scales during the past 700 years from southern Alaska. Boreal-forest diebacks characterized by declines of Picea mariana, P. glauca, and tree Betula occurred during the LIA ( AD 1500 - 1800), whereas shrubs ( Alnus viridis, Betula glandulosa/nana) and herbaceous taxa (Epilobium, Aconitum) expanded. Marked increases in charcoal abundance and changes in magnetic properties suggest increases in. re importance and soil erosion during the same period. In addition, the conspicuous reduction or disappearance of certain aquatic ( e. g., Isoetes, Nuphar, Pediastrum) and wetland ( Sphagnum) plants and major shifts in diatom assemblages suggest pronounced lake-level. uctuations and rapid ecosystem reorganization in response to LIA climatic deterioration. Our results imply that temperature shifts of 1 - 2 degrees C, when accompanied by major changes in moisture balance, can greatly alter high-altitudinal terrestrial, wetland, and aquatic ecosystems, including conversion between boreal-forest tree line and tundra. The climatic and ecosystem variations in our study area appear to be coherent with changes in solar irradiance, suggesting that changes in solar activity contributed to the environmental instability of the past 700 years.

Can homeopathic verum and placebo globules be distinguished by UV spectroscopy?

Purpose: Homeopathic preparations are used in homeopathy and anthroposophically extended medicine. Previous studies described differences in UV transmission between homeopathic preparations of CuSO4 and controls. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether statistically significant differences can be found between homeopathic verum and placebo globules by UV spectroscopy. Methods: Verum (aconitum 30c, calcium carbonate/quercus e cortice) and placebo globules used in two previous clinical trials were dissolved in distilled water at 10mg/ml 20-23h prior to the measurements. Absorbance was measured at 190 – 340nm with a Shimadzu UV-1800 double beam spectrophotometer. Duplicates of each sample were measured in a randomized order 4 times on each of the 5 measurement days. To correct for differences between measurement days, average absorbance of all samples on one day was deduced from absorbance of the individual samples. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to determine group differences between the samples, and finally the coding of the samples was revealed. Results: First analysis showed significant differences (p≤0.05) in average UV absorbance at 200 – 290nm between the samples and a tendency of a correlation (p≤0.1) between absorbance and globule weight. More results will be presented at the conference. Conclusion: Since the absorbance of the samples at the wavelengths between 200 and 290nm was small, a number of aspects had to be considered and should be corrected for if they are present when performing UV spectroscopy on homeopathic globules: 1. Exact weighing of the globules. 2. Measurement error of the spectrophotometer at small absorbances. 3. Drift of the spectrophotometer during a measurement day. 4. Differences between measurement days. The question remains what caused the differences in absorbance found in these experiments: the use of the original material for the production of the verum globules, differences in the production of verum and placebo globules, or other context factors.

Comparison of globules prepared from high dilutions of various starting materials by ultraviolet light spectroscopy

Background: High and ultra-high dilutions of various starting materials, e.g. copper sulfate, Hypericum perforatum and sulfur, showed significant differences in ultraviolet light (UV) transmission from controls and amongst different dilution levels [1,2]. Verum and placebo globules of Aconitum napellus 30c or calcium carbonate/quercus e cortice 6x from the same packs as used in previous clinical trials and dissolved in water could be distinguished by UV spectroscopy [3]. However, it was unclear whether the differences in UV absorbance originated from specific characteristics of the starting materials, from differences in the production of verum and placebo globules, and/or other unknown interference factors. Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate whether globules produced with high and ultra-high dilutions (6x, 12x, 30c, 200c, 200CF (centesimal discontinuous fluxion), 10,000CF) of various starting materials (Aconitum napellus, Atropa belladonna, phosphorus, sulfur, Apis mellifica, quartz) could be distinguished by UV spectroscopy. Methodology: The globules were specially produced for this study by Spagyros AG (Gümligen, Switzerland) and differed only in the starting materials of the dilutions (but not in the batch of globules or ethanol used). Globules were dissolved in water at 10 mg/ml, in quadruplicates, approximately 22 h prior to the measurements. Absorbance of the samples in the UV range (from 190 to 340 nm) was measured in a randomized order with a Shimadzu double beam UV-1800 spectrophotometer equipped with an auto sampler. Samples of each starting material were prepared and measured on 5 independent days. The daily variations of the spectrophotometer as well as the drift during the measurements were corrected for. The average absorbance from 200 to 340 nm was compared among various starting materials within equal dilution levels using a Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: Statistically significant differences were found among 30c (Figure 1), 200c and 200CF dilutions of the various starting materials. No differences were found among 6x, 12x and 10,000CF dilutions. Conclusions: Globules prepared from high dilutions of various starting materials may show significantly different UV absorbance when dissolved in water. References [1] Wolf U, Wolf M, Heusser P, Thurneysen A, Baumgartner S. Homeopathic preparations of quartz, sulfur and copper sulfate assessed by UV-spectroscopy. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2011;2011:692798. [2] Klein SD, Sandig A, Baumgartner S, Wolf U. Differences in median ultraviolet light transmissions of serial homeopathic dilutions of copper sulfate, Hypericum perforatum, and sulfur. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2013;2013:370609. [3] Klein SD, Wolf U. Investigating homeopathic verum and placebo globules with ultraviolet spectroscopy. Forsch Komplementmed. 2013, accepted.