Asymbiotic germination of immature seeds, plantlet development and ex vitro establishment of plants of Dendrobium tosaense Makino - A medicinally important orchid

Shi-hu (Dendrobium spp. or Dendrobii Herba) is one of the important traditional Chinese medicines. The commercially available crude drug in the traditional medicine market is composed mainly of three species: Dendrobium tosaense, D. nobile, and D. moniliforme. An efficient method of propagation has been developed via asymbiotic germination of seeds in vitro for the medicinally important D. tosaense. Seeds from capsules of D. tosaense collected 8-14 wk after artificial pollination germinated after being cultured on full-strength or half-strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium devoid of plant growth regulators and with 3% sucrose. Germination of seeds varied with the medium type and seed maturity. Germinated seedlings after transfer to MS medium with 1.5% sucrose and 8% banana homogenate or potato juice or coconut water and 20 wk of incubation developed into healthy plantlets. Well-developed plantlets were transplanted to moss or moss and tree fern or tree fern as substrates in plastic trays and transferred to a greenhouse for hardening. All plants survived, attained maturity, and developed normal flower and capsule after one and a half years. This protocol of successful plant regeneration by asymbiotic seed germination should permit rapid propagation and conservation of this medicinally important Dendrobium species

In vitro micropropagation and ex vitro acclimation of Bupleurum kaoi - An endangered medicinal plant native to Taiwan

This study reports an improved protocol for in vitro-shoot multiplication and ex vitro acclimation of Bupleurum kaoi, an endangered medicinal herb. Nodal segments were cultured in half-strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal medium supplemented with different concentrations of benzyladenine (BA) and kinetin. The presence of 0.25 mg l(-1) BA induced the highest number of shoots per explant after 8 wk of culture. Although BA was more effective than kinetin on shoot multiplication, it induced hyperhydric shoots at all concentrations tested. The use of dispense paper (DP) instead of aluminum foil (AF) for container closure was found to reduce hyperhydricity and improve ex vitro acclimation. The best survival rate (61%) was obtained when plantlets were grown in MS basal medium containing 0.5 mg l(-1) indole-3-butyric acid and 0.1-0.2 mg l(-1) alpha-naphthaleneacetic acid using DP as container closure. Leaves of the plant treated with AF6 (two layers of AF as container closure and 6 wk of incubation) lacked epicuticular wax and possessed larger stomata, higher stomata density, and fewer functional stomata compared to those of plants treated with AF2+DP4 (two layers of AF for 2 wk, then replaced AF by three layers of DP for 4 wk) and ex vitro-acclimated plantlets

Risk profiles and one-year outcomes of patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation in India: Insights from the GARFIELD-AF Registry.

BACKGROUND: The Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF) is an ongoing prospective noninterventional registry, which is providing important information on the baseline characteristics, treatment patterns, and 1-year outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). This report describes data from Indian patients recruited in this registry. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 52,014 patients with newly diagnosed AF were enrolled globally; of these, 1388 patients were recruited from 26 sites within India (2012-2016). In India, the mean age was 65.8 years at diagnosis of NVAF. Hypertension was the most prevalent risk factor for AF, present in 68.5% of patients from India and in 76.3% of patients globally (P < 0.001). Diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD) were prevalent in 36.2% and 28.1% of patients as compared with global prevalence of 22.2% and 21.6%, respectively (P < 0.001 for both). Antiplatelet therapy was the most common antithrombotic treatment in India. With increasing stroke risk, however, patients were more likely to receive oral anticoagulant therapy [mainly vitamin K antagonist (VKA)], but average international normalized ratio (INR) was lower among Indian patients [median INR value 1.6 (interquartile range {IQR}: 1.3-2.3) versus 2.3 (IQR 1.8-2.8) (P < 0.001)]. Compared with other countries, patients from India had markedly higher rates of all-cause mortality [7.68 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval 6.32-9.35) vs 4.34 (4.16-4.53), P < 0.0001], while rates of stroke/systemic embolism and major bleeding were lower after 1 year of follow-up. CONCLUSION: Compared to previously published registries from India, the GARFIELD-AF registry describes clinical profiles and outcomes in Indian patients with AF of a different etiology. The registry data show that compared to the rest of the world, Indian AF patients are younger in age and have more diabetes and CAD. Patients with a higher stroke risk are more likely to receive anticoagulation therapy with VKA but are underdosed compared with the global average in the GARFIELD-AF. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION-URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01090362

The production of imperatorin from angelica dahurica var Formosana by cell suspension culture

Bai-Zhi (Angelica dahurica) is a valuable medicinal plant used as source of curatives for headache and skin disease in China. The purpose of this study was to establish cell suspension culture as alternative source of imperatorin, the major active ingredient of the species. The formulation of MS basic salts, modified by increasing the phosphate concentration to 2 mM and using an ammonium to nitrate ratio of 2:1, provided the best imperatorin production. Glucose was a better carbon source than sucrose and fructose. The addition of 0.5-1 mg/l of BA to the culture medium increased imperatorin yield, whereas auxins produced only negative effects. Supplementing the medium with 20g/l of the adsorbent Amberlite XAD-7 increased imperatorin yield 140-fold

Tissue-culture technique and its application in major agronomic crops

The application of tissue culture technique to the production of major agronomic crops can be categorized into the following fields. (1)The combination of meristem/shoot-tip culture and heat treatment can produce seedlings free from the transmission of viruses. (2)Cross incompatibility between distantly-related species can be overcome by test-tube fertilization and embryo culture, (3)Breeding efficiency can be improved by the utilization of haploid plants from anther culture. (4)Mass propagation of plants can be achieved by the adoption of meristem and shoot-tip culture. (5)Liquid suspension culture is valuable in mass propagation, mutation breeding, and production of artificial seeds and secondary products. (6)Techniques of tissue culture and suspension culture can be applied to the preservation of plant germplasms. (7)The success of protoplast culture and protoplast fusion provides the opportunity of producing somatic hybrids and materials for genetic engineering studies. (8)Gene transfer through vectors such as Agrobacterium tumefaciens and A. rhizogenes followed by plant regeneration with tissue culture technique are essential in the recombinant DNA studies. This paper summarizes the application of tissue culture technique in these fields with representing examples

Cytochemical studies of callus development from microspore in cultured anther of rice

Cytochemical studies of androgenic anthers of Oryza sativa picked from the culture at 2 day intervals from 0 to 40 days have been carried out. Glutaradehyde-OsO4-fixed and plastic-embedded sections were stained with TBO, SBB and PAS for acidic polymers, lipids and polysaccharides respectively. Among the population only 4% of microspores, which accumulate abundant amorphous lipid in the first few days of culture, are androgenic. Less than 30%, which have many lipid granules and some amorphous lipid, become nutritive microspores. Starch grains also accumulate in these nutritive microspores which degenerate at the stage when the androgenic multicellular microspores are in rapid development. The remaining microspores, which have no or little lipid, degenerate early. At about the 100-cell stage, each multicellular unit consists of two cell types, large and small. The large cells contain abundant amorphous lipid and starch grains which the small ones stain intensely with TBO. Our results indicate that the epidermis and endothecium of the cultured anthers are not quiescent. They can accumulate and transport lipid and polysaccharides at certain stages during the cultural period. Globular embryoid appearing structures and leaf-like protrusions can be observed at the surface of the callus in about 40-day old culture, indicating that both embryogenesis and organogenesis may take place in rice callus