Evaluation of herb pastures for New Zealand dairy systems : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Animal Sciences at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand

Chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) and plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.) sown in pure swards or both herbs sown with red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) and white clover (T. repens L.) are able to produce large amounts of high-quality forage in summer and autumn, when production and quality of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) are often limited. There have been many cases of poor persistence of chicory with current management practices, but there is limited information for plantain and the herb-clover mix pastures when grazed in dairy systems. Additionally, the presence of bioactive compounds in plantain has created interest in their potential effect on rumen fermentation. The objectives of this research were to evaluate the effect of grazing frequency, two and four weeks, on the agronomic characteristics and diet selection of chicory, plantain, and herb-clover mix pastures, with dairy cows during two growing seasons (2011-2012; 2012-2013) and to examine the effect of the bioactive compounds in plantain on in vitro rumen fermentation. Chicory plants grazed every two weeks, rather than every four weeks, did not develop large taproots, and consequently stored less carbohydrate reserves (fructan and fructose) and failed to develop extra shoots. Chicory grazed every two weeks failed to persist, while chicory grazed every four weeks persisted only for the two growing seasons. For plantain the grazing frequency did not affect its plant density nor taproot diameter; however, the number of shoots per plant increased when grazed every two weeks compared to every four weeks. Overall, plantain and herb-clover mix pastures were more productive and persistent than chicory. The three pastures produced high-quality feed for dairy cows. Dairy cows preferred the herb-clover mix pasture, rather than pure chicory or plantain swards, and selected indiscriminately between chicory, plantain, and red clover. The diet selection for chicory and plantain varied between seasons and was affected by the vertical access and horizontal distribution of the species in the swards. The presence of bioactive compounds, aucubin and acteoside in plantain reduced the ammonia concentration during fermentation and probably causes less urea to be excreted in the cow‘s urine when grazing plantain. In conclusion, the herb-clover mix performed best due to its high herbage production and nutritive value and greater grazing preference by dairy cows, plus its potential to reduce the nitrogen lost from dairy systems

Inhibitory Effect of Acteoside Isolated from Cistanche tubulosa on Chemical Mediator Release and Inflammatory Cytokine Production by RBL-2H3 and KU812 Cells

The immediate-type allergic reaction is involved in many allergic diseases such as asthma, allergic rhinitis, and sinusitis. In this study, we investigated the effect of acteoside extracted from Cistanche tubulosa (Schrenk) R. Wight on the basophilic cell-mediated allergic reaction. The effect of acteoside on β-hexosaminidase release and intracellular [Ca2+]i level from rat basophilic leukemia (RBL-2H3) cells was determined. Also, ELISA was used to determine the level of histamine, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and interleukin (IL)-4 on human basophilic (KU812) cells. The effect of acteoside on basophilic cell viability was determined using the 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazolyl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. These results indicated that 0.1-10.0 µg/mL acteoside inhibits the release of β-hexosaminidase and [Ca2+]i influx from IgE-mediated RBL-2H3 cells. Moreover, acteoside inhibited histamine release, TNF-α, and IL-4 production in a dose-dependent manner from calcium ionophore A23187 plus phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) or compound 48/80-stimulated KU812 cells. Our findings provide evidence that acteoside inhibits basophilic cell-derived immediate-type and delayed-type allergic reactions. This is the first report describing antiallergic activity of acteoside extracted from Cistanche tubulosa on basophilic cells

Comprehensive metabolite profiling of Plantaginis Semen using ultra high performance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry coupled with elevated energy technique

Plantaginis Semen is commonly used in traditional medicine to treat edema, hypertension, and diabetes. The commercially available Plantaginis Semen in China mainly comes from three species. To clarify the chemical composition and distinct different species of Plantaginis Semen, we established a metabolite profiling method based on ultra high performance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry coupled with elevated energy technique. A total of 108 compounds, including phenylethanoid glycosides, flavonoids, guanidine derivatives, terpenoids, organic acids, and fatty acids, were identified from Plantago asiatica L., P. depressa Willd., and P. major L. Results showed significant differences in chemical components among the three species, particularly flavonoids. This study is the first to provide a comprehensive chemical profile of Plantaginis Semen, which could be involved into the quality control, medication guide, and developing new drug of Plantago seeds

Phenolic profiling of Veronica spp. grown in mountain, urban and sand soil environments

Veronica (Plantaginaceae) genus is widely distributed in different habitats. Phytochemistry studies are increasing because most metabolites with pharmacological interest are obtained from plants. The phenolic compounds of V. montana, V. polita and V. spuria were tentatively identified by HPLC-DAD-ESI/MS. The phenolic profiles showed that flavones were the major compounds (V. montana: 7 phenolic acids, 5 flavones, 4 phenylethanoids and 1 isoflavone; V. polita: 10 flavones, 5 phenolic acids, 2 phenylethanoids, 1 flavonol and 1 isoflavone; V. spuria: 10 phenolic acids, 5 flavones, 2 flavonols, 2 phenylethanoids and 1 isoflavone), despite the overall predominance of flavones. V. spuria presented the highest contents in all groups of phenolic compounds, except flavones, which did not show differences among the assayed species. The detected differences proved to be significant, as confirmed by objects distribution obtained in PCA. Overall, these species might be considered good sources of phenolic compounds for industrial or pharmacological applications

Development, validation, and application of HPLC method for quantification of antihyperuricemic compounds from Lippia nodiflora in rat plasma

AbstractAn HPLC method for simultaneous determination of arenarioside (1 ), verbascoside (2), 6-hydroxyluteolin (3), 6-hydroxyluteolin-7-O-glycoside (4), and nodifloretin (5) from Lippia nodiflora in rat plasma was developed and validated. The optimal chromatographic separation was achieved with a gradient mobile phase comprising 0.1% aqueous acetic acid and acetonitrile. The limit of detection was 78.1 ng/mL for 3 and 39.1 ng/mL for the other compounds (signal-to-noise ratio=3), whereas the limit of quantification was 312.5 ng/mL for 3 and 156.3 ng/mL for the other compounds (signal-to-noise ratio=12). The recovery values of compounds 1–5 ranged from 89.37–100.92%. Their accuracy values were between 96.48 and 105.81%, while their corresponding precision values were in the range of 0.75–9.06% for both intraday and inter-day analysis. The method was then applied in the first pharmacokinetic study of 1–5. Following intravenous administration, 1–5 were eliminated slowly from the body with a mean clearance value of 0.11, 0.13, 0.30, 0.09, and 0.23 L/kg h, respectively. Meanwhile, their peak plasma concentration upon oral administration was 8.97, 1.07, 1.06, 0.65, and 0.38 µg/mL, respectively. Compound 3 (5.97%) exhibited the highest absolute oral bioavailability value, followed by 1 (5.22%), 4 (3.13%), 2 (2.10%), and 5 (0.93%)

Chemical Profiling and Assessment of Antineurodegenerative and Antioxidant Properties of Veronica teucrium L. and Veronica jacquinii Baumg.

Neuroprotective potential of V. teucrium and V. jacquinii methanol extracts was analyzed. Chemical analysis of investigated extracts showed the presence of phenolic acid derivatives, flavonoids and one secoiridoid. The detected flavonoids derived from flavones (luteolin and isoscutellarein in V. jacquinii; apigenin, isoscutellarein and luteolin in V. teucrium) and flavonol (quercetin in V. jacquinii). Acteoside was the dominant compound in V. jacquinii, while plantamajoside and isoscutellarein 7-O-(6‴-O-acetyl)-ß-allosyl (1‴?2‴)-ß-glucoside were the major phenolics in V. teucrium. Additionally, the antineurodegenerative activity was tested at concentrations of 25, 50, and 100 µg/ml using acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and tyrosinase (TYR) assays. The inhibition of both enzymes was achieved with the investigated extracts, ranging from 22.78 to 35.40% for AChE and from 9.57 to 16.38% for TYR. There was no statistical difference between the activities of the analyzed extracts. Our data indicate that V. teucrium and V. jacquinii may have beneficial effects against Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.The authors are grateful to Fundac ~ao para a Ci^encia e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) for financial support to CIMO (strategic project PEst-OE/AGR/UI0690/2011). J. C. M. Barreira and M. I. Dias thank FCT, POPH-QREN, and FSE for their grants (SFRH/BPD/72802/2010 and SFRH/BD/84485/2012, respectively). The GIP-USAL is financially supported by the Spanish Government through the project AGL2015-64522-C2-2-R. The authors are also grateful to the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development for financial support (Grant Numbers 173032, 173029, and 46013).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pharmacokinetic Evaluation of Clozapine in Concomitant Use of Radix Rehmanniae, Fructus Schisandrae, Radix Bupleuri, or Fructus Gardeniae in Rats

Abstract: Radix Rehmanniae, Fructus Schisandrae, Radix Bupleuri, and Fructus Gardeniae are often used alongside with clozapine (CLZ) for schizophrenia patients in order to reduce side effects and enhance therapeutic efficacy. However, worse outcomes were observed raising concern about a critical issue, herb-drug interactions, which were rarely reported when antipsychotics were included. This study aims to determine whether the concomitant use of these herbal medicines affects the pharmacokinetic characteristics of CLZ in rat models. Rats were given a single or multiple intraperitoneal injections of 10 mg/kg CLZ, either alone or with individual herbal water extracts administered orally. CLZ and its two inactive metabolites, norclozapine and clozapine N-oxide, were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. In the acute treatment, the formation of both metabolites was reduced, while no significant change was observed in the CLZ pharmacokinetics for any of the herbal extracts. In the chronic treatment, none of the four herbal extracts significantly influenced the pharmacokinetic parameters of CLZ and its metabolites. Renal and liver functions stayed normal after the 11-day combined use of herbal medicines. Overall, the four herbs had limited interaction effect on CLZ pharmacokinetics in the acute and chronic treatment. Herb-drug interaction includes both pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic mechanisms. This result gives us a hint that pharmacodynamic herb-drug interaction, instead of pharmacokinetic types, may exist and need further confirmation.published_or_final_versio