Yakıotunun Ksenobiyotik Metabolizması Üzerine Etkilerinin ve İlaç-Diyet Etkileşim Potansiyelinin Proteomik ve Moleküler Yaklaşımlar ile Aydınlatılması

TÜBİTAK TBAG Proje15.05.201

The bear in Eurasian plant names: Motivations and models

Ethnolinguistic studies are important for understanding an ethnic group's ideas on the world, expressed in its language. Comparing corresponding aspects of such knowledge might help clarify problems of origin for certain concepts and words, e.g. whether they form common heritage, have an independent origin, are borrowings, or calques. The current study was conducted on the material in Slavonic, Baltic, Germanic, Romance, Finno-Ugrian, Turkic and Albanian languages. The bear was chosen as being a large, dangerous animal, important in traditional culture, whose name is widely reflected in folk plant names. The phytonyms for comparison were mostly obtained from dictionaries and other publications, and supplemented with data from databases, the co-authors' field data, and archival sources (dialect and folklore materials). More than 1200 phytonym use records (combinations of a local name and a meaning) for 364 plant and fungal taxa were recorded to help find out the reasoning behind bear-nomination in various languages, as well as differences and similarities between the patterns among them. Among the most common taxa with bear-related phytonyms were Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (L.) Spreng., Heracleum sphondylium L., Acanthus mollis L., and Allium ursinum L., with Latin loan translation contributing a high proportion of the phytonyms. Some plants have many and various bear-related phytonyms, while others have only one or two bear names. Features like form and/or surface generated the richest pool of names, while such features as colour seemed to provoke rather few associations with bears. The unevenness of bear phytonyms in the chosen languages was not related to the size of the language nor the present occurence of the Brown Bear in the region. However, this may, at least to certain extent, be related to the amount of the historical ethnolinguistic research done on the selected languages

Allium ekimianum: a new species (Amaryllidaceae) from Turkey

Allium ekimianum is described here as a new species. This taxon belongs to the genus Allium section Allium and grows in Elazığ Province (East Anatolia, Turkey). It is a narrowly distributed species and morphologically most similar to A. asperiflorum and A. sintenisii, and A. erzincanicum but it is clearly differentiated due to the curved stem, smooth pedicel surfaces, bracteole arrangements at pedicel bases, tepal lengths and surfaces. In this study, a comprehensive description, distribution map of A. ekimianum, identification key, and detailed illustrations are provided for A. ekimianum and related taxa

CUPANIOSCORDUM SEKSİYONUNA AİT ÜÇ ALLIUM L. (AMARYLLIDACEAE) TÜRÜNÜN YAPRAK VE SKAPUS ANATOMİSİ

Amaç:Allium L. (Amaryllidaceae) cinsi Türkiye’de doğal yayılış gösteren en geniş monokotil cinslerdendir. Soğan, sarımsak ve diğer Allium türleri geçmişte ve günümüz tedavi sistemlerinde yer alan önemli terapötik ajanlardır. Antioksidan, antikanser, antitrombotik, antidiyabetik, antimikrobiyal, antihipertansif, antigangren, aterosklerotik, hipokolesterolemik, antimutajenik, antiastmatik, antiaterojenik, bağışıklık düzenleyici ve prebiyotik olarak, birçok kronik hastalığı iyileştirici etkilerinden dolayı dünya genelinde yaygın olarak kullanılmaktadır. Cinsinin taksonomisinin aydınlatılması, biyoaktivite çalışmaları için son derece önemlidir. Bu çalışmada, Allium cinsine ait Cupanioscordum seksiyonundan yakın akraba üç türün, A. callidyction, A. peroninianum ve A. hirtovaginatum, yaprak ve skapus anatomilerinin karşılaştırmalı olarak değerlendirilmesi amaçlanmıştır.Gereç ve Yöntem:Doğal ortamlarından toplanan canlı bitkilere ait skapus ve yaprak kısımları anatomik çalışma yapmak üzere %70’lik alkol içinde muhafaza edilmiştir. Skapus ve yaprak örneklerinden elle alınan enine kesitler sartur reaktifi ile muamele edilerek preparatlar hazırlanmıştır. Hazırlanan preparatların anatomik fotoğrafları 4x, 10x veya 40x büyültmelerde, mikroskoba bağlı Leica CME kullanılarak çekilmiştir.Sonuç ve Tartışma:A. callidyction, A. peroninianum ve A. hirtovaginatum yakın türleri anatomik olarak birbirlerinden yaprakların ventral ve dorsalindeki iletim demetlerinin sayısı büyüklüğü bakımından ayrılırlar

In vivo effects of o-coumaric acid on rat liver flavin-containing monooxygenase (fmo) activity and expression

Phenolic compounds are biologically active molecules and suggested to have some disease-preventive properties such as cardiovascular and certain types of cancer. Coumaric acid has been known as a phenolic compound and found in a wide variety of plants such as peanuts, tomatoes, carrots, and garlic and form the part of human diet; function as antioxidant and chemopreventive agents. 1-2 Flavin-containing monooxygenases (FMOs, EC 1.14.13.8) are phase I enzymes, responsible for oxygenation of a wide range of nucleophilic heteroatom-containing xenobiotics such as drugs, pesticides, neurotoxins, and other chemicals. They contain FAD in their structure and use NADPH as cofactor and molecular oxygen for their reactions. FMOs can be affected by hormonal and dietary components.3 The aim of this study was to determine the in vivo effects of o-coumaric acid on rat liver FMO activity, protein and mRNA expressions. 30 mg/kg of body weight of o-coumaric acid was intraperitonally injected to 14 albino Wistar rats, while 8 rats were used as control. After 9 days of injection, the rats were decapitated and microsomal fractions of livers were prepared using homogenization and differential centrifugation. FMO enzyme activity of microsomal samples was assayed by using methimazole as substrate. Protein and mRNA expressions were carried out by Western Blot and quantitative Real-Time PCR techniques respectively. The results showed that FMO activity and protein expression were increased 48% and 34%, respectively, by o-coumaric acid injection compared to controls (p<0.05). In addition, o-coumaric acid injection increased the mRNA expression of FMO as 2.1-fold compared to controls (p<0.05). In conclusion, our data suggest that o-coumaric acid found in diet may induce FMO expression and FMO activity enhanced metabolism of drugs, pesticides, and other xenobiotics

Effects of medicinal plant viscum album l. on rat liver flavin-containing monooxygenase activity and expression

Viscum album L., a species of mistletoe, contains lectins, polypeptides, mucilage, sugar alcohols, flavonoids, lignans, triterpenes, and phenylallyl alcohols1. The leaves and twigs of Viscum album L., taken as tea, have been traditionally used for hypertension, stomachache, diarrhea, dysuria and also as analgesic and cardiotonic agent in Anatolia, Turkey2. In addition, in Europe, sterile extracts of Viscum album L. are among the most common herbal extracts applied in cancer treatment and have been used as prescription drugs, while in US, considered as dietary supplement3. Flavin-containing monooxygenases (FMOs, EC 1.14.13.8) are FAD-containing phase I enzymes and responsible for the oxidation of wide-range of nucleophilic nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, and selenium heteroatom-containing drugs such as tamoxifen, methimazole and imipramine, pesticides, neurotoxins, and other chemicals by using NADPH as cofactor4. The aim of this study was to determine the in vivo effects of Viscum album L. on FMO activity, mRNA and protein expression in rat liver. The water extract of Viscum album was injected intraperitonally (i.p) into 15 wistar albino rats as 10 mg/kg of body weight for 9 consecutive days, while 11 rats were used as control. Then, following the decapitation, the livers were removed and microsomal fractions were prepared. FMO activity using methimazole as substrate, mRNA expression by quantitative Real-Time PCR, and protein expression by Western Blot were determined. The results showed that extract of Viscum album L. decreased mRNA, and protein expressions as well as enzyme activity of FMO with respect to controls. Liver microsomal FMO activity was decreased from 5.1±0.9 to 4.1±1.1 nmol/min/mg (p<0.05). mRNA expression of FMO in extract injected animals was found to be 2.6 fold lower compared to controls (p<0.0001). In addition, the plant extract decreased the FMO protein level 28% with respect to controls (p<0.05). In conclusion, the metabolism of xenobiotics by FMO-catalyzed reactions may be altered due to the changes in FMO expression and activity by Viscum album L. extract