5^th International Conference and Exhibition on Pharmacognosy, Phytochemistry & Natural Products July 24-25, 2017 Melbourne, Australia

Ms. Minori Shoji was born in Hiroshima city. Hiroshima is a peace city that is attracted attention as the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama visited in 2016. Now, she belong to Graduate School of System Engineering, Kindai University in Japan, and then she research plants and other natural products. Until now, she presented a paper about antibacterial activity and deodorizing activity for the seed oil of both Loquat and Bayberry at an academic conference in Japan. In the future, she would love to work in the cosmetics industry.

The climate of Setouchi region in Japan where is warm and has ample rainfall is suitable for fruit cultivation, and many citrus fruits (oranges, lemons etc.) are cultivated. Especially in Akitsu district of Hiroshima prefecture, there is a long tradition of growing loquats.previous reserches reported on components and physiological function loquat seeds. However, there are limited studies on oil extracted from the loquat seed. In this study, we extracted 35.3 g of loquat seed oil from 15.1 kg of Tanaka Biwa (a variety of loquats) which is easy to obtain. Then, we analyzed fatty acid composition of seed oil and examined its utilization. As a result, we found oil components similar to beef tallow and cocoa butter, and the main components were behenic acid lignoceric acid. In the modern society, problems caused by malodor are considered to be one of major issues. Therefore, we examined deodorizing effect of the loquat seed oil on malodor. In consequence, the extracted oil components demonstrated high deodorizing effect on malodor elements including ammonia, trimethylamine, isovaleric acid and nonenal. In adiition, we found high deodorizing effect on allyl methyl sulfide exhibits very high deodorizing activity by considering the mixing ratio of linoleric acid and lignoceric acid. At the present time, pharmacological activity tests of loquat seed oil components are now being examined

Su, Chen-Wei had completed bachelor degree at the age of 22 years from Pharmacy ＆ Science of Chia Nan University. He is major in pharmacy and go on a field trip to a hospital for four months. After he graduated, he continues to study at Taipei Medical University for master degree. He is major in natural product analysis about the insect metabolomics. He will graduate in June in 2017.

Hermetia illucens L. (HI), the species of Stratiomyidae insects, which lives by livestock manure and kitchen waste. The abundance of protein can be used to produce high-value animal protein feed. In addition, there are many advantages, i.e., reproduce rapidly, euryphagous except human food, raise easily and low cost. Based on the above, HI is a good media for resource transformation. In this study, we applied LC-MS technique combined with statistical analysis (PCA, OPLS-DA) to explore the different growth stages of HI. The growth stages of the larvae are five, the freshly hatched larvae were sacrificed and freeze-dried as the blank of zero stage. The rest of larvae were reared and fed on Sesamum indium (SI), and they would enter the next stage by each peeling. We took the second, fourth and fifth stages by each peeling a week for analysis. According to the LC-MS data, we run the database software-Compound discoverer 2.0 to get predicted compounds information like retention time, chemical formula, and area under the curve. After we get these information, we also run statistical software-SIMCAP to analysis the difference among SI and HI, HI with fed SI. In summary, the results from LC-MS technique combined with statistical analysis can be speculated that the use of energy insects Hermetia illucens L. is not only amino acids, but also free fatty acids.

Shu-Han Yang has completed her master at the age of 24 years from National Taiwan Normal University. She is an assistant researcher at research and development department of Power Nature Company and school of pharmacy of Taipei Medical University. She has published 1 paper in reputed journal.

Antrodia camphorata (AC), a highly valued polypore mushroom native only to Taiwan, has been traditionally used as a medicine for the treatment of liver-related cancer, and inflammation syndromes. Compound S3 was isolated from the mycelium of AC. In this study we found that S3 displayed potent anti-influenza A virus activity. Influenza A (H1N1) virus is the subtype of influenza A virus that was the most common cause of human influenza (flu) in 2009. Now the Influenza A (H1N1) treatment is Tamiflu®. However, Tamiflu® has a lot of side effects, for example users may have mental illness symptoms. The cytotoxicity evaluation of S3 against baby hamster kidney cell lines (BHK-21) showed that S3 was slightly higher active than Tamiflu® (cell viability still has more than 80%), but S3 treatment effect better than Tamiflu®. In addition, the animals no adverse effects after long-term use S3. It was a potent inhibitor of Influenza A (H1N1) virus, with higher activity than the reference compound Tamiflu®. However, the content of S3 is rarely in the mycelium of AC. To synthesis the key chemical S3 in our laboratory as long as one step and easy purify. It was prepared through the AlCl3 followed by demethylation. The yield was 23% in one step. This paper offers the first report of the anti-influenza A virus activity by S3. Moreover the key benzenoid component S3 was prepared only one step.

Mei-Hsien Lee is a professor in Graduate Institute of Pharmacognosy in Taipei Medical University. In their laboratory, they use Chinese herbal medicine and Taiwanese endemic plants as material to develop natural products. Their laboratory has developed models for identifying active constituents, assigning an activity index to each constituent extracted.They set up in vitro and in vivo models, like human osteoblast cells and ovariectomized rats induced osteoporosis, to investigate bioactivities.

Turpinia formosana belongs to Staphyleaceae family, it is endemic to Taiwan and is found in the hilly areas. The plant is a small evergreen shrub. The following study starts with the extraction, which was done by using 95% ethanol from the leaves of the plant and later the fractionation was done using various solvents n-hexane, ethyl acetate (EtOAc) and n-butanol (n-BuOH). The isolated compounds were identified by using different physical and spectroscopic properties. Six compounds including one new ellagic acid derivative from EtOAc layer and five known compounds classified as hydrolysable tannins from n-BuOH layer were obtained. Effects of isolated compounds were determined on the human osteoblast (HOb) cells and the compounds giving the viability more than 80% were taken into positive consideration. Further, ALP activity and mineralization ability of the CP-1 (new compound) and CP-2 was evaluated in order to elucidate their effect and efficacy on HOb cells. And we observed that the new compound which is an ellagic acid derivative (CP-1) showed more ALP activity as well as mineralization which was found to be 119.58% and 128.99% respectively. Because of all these properties which prove to be more promising in CP-1, it seems that CP-1 can be the potential therapeutic target for further research and can prove to be another milestone in the treatment of osteoporosis.

Yi-Tzu Lin completed her master degree in 2013, and now she is a PhD student in Taipei Medical University. Her major research is isolation, identification and purification of the active compounds and investigation the bioactivities as well as the related mechanisms.

Osteoblasts and osteoclasts are two main cells of bone remodeling. While osteoblasts play an important role in bone formation via different signaling pathways, osteoclasts are responsible for bone resorption. Osteogenesis is characterized by the presence of a number of markers like: alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and type I collagen at the differentiation stage of osteoblasts, while osteopontin and osteocalcin are actively expressed during mineralization (the mature stage). Uraria crinita (L.) Desv. ex DC. (Fabaceae) has been used for long as an herbal medicine to treat bone dysplasia in children in Taiwan and China. In the present study, we investigated the active constituents of the root from U. crinita by bio-guided isolation in primary human osteoblast (HOb) cells. Cell viability was determined using the WST-8 assay. Osteogenic activity was evaluated in HOb cells using ALP assay and Alizarin red S staining for mineralization. Gene expression was analyzed using real-time PCR. The results showed that 50% ethanolic extract of U. crinita roots increased ALP and mineralization activities. Six compounds were purified by chromatography and identified to be as: one phenolic acid, two flavone glycosides, and three isoflavones from the active ethyl acetate fraction. Compound 4 (isoflavone) exhibited significantly increasing ALP and mineralization activities in HOb cells. It also up-regulated the osteogenesis-related gene expression. It may be considered to be the potential target for enhancing osteogenic activity in the future.

Lin is an associate professor of Institute of Oral Sciences, Chung Shan Medical University, Taiwan. She has received the Ph.D. degree in molecular biology. In particular, her researches have been focused on pharmacology, cancer metastasis, apoptosis and autophagy in oral cancer. She has published more than 40 papers in reputed journals.

Oral cancer is the most prevalent cancer for middle-aged men in Taiwan, and its delayed diagnosis has been shown to be associated with poor survival rates. Therefore, developing a novel natural drug or drug therapy is vital. Dihydromyricetin (DHM), also called ampelopsin, is the most abundant flavonoid in Ampelopsis grossedentata. However, the anticancer effects and related molecular mechanism of DHM in human oral cancer cells have not been reported. In this study, we investigated the effect of DHM on SCC-9 and SAS oral cancer cells and examined the potential inhibitory mechanisms involved. The results showed that DHM significantly inhibited cell migration and invasion in two oral cancer cell lines. In addition, real-time PCR and western blot analyses suggested that DHM inhibited MMP-2 mRNA and protein expression. Luciferase assay showed that MMP-2 promoter activity was inhibited after DHM treatment. Moreover, a microRNA (miRNA) analysis showed that miRNA-29a was predominantly upregulated after DHM treatment. Inhibition of miRNA-29a significantly relieved MMP-2 and motility suppression imposed by DHM treatment. Furthermore, ectopic miRNA-29a expression in highly invasive cells decreased MMP-2 expression and invasive abilities. Taken together, our results provide new insights into the role of DHM-induced molecular and epigenetic regulation in suppressing oral cancer metastasis.

Yang is a professor of Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taiwan. He has received the Ph.D. degree in molecular biology. In particular, his researches have been focused on pharmacology, head and neck cancer metastasis, cancer biology, genetic polymorphism and environment risk factors in cancer

Oral cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide, and metastasis is recognized as a major factor causing its low survival rate. It is a critical research objective to inhibit the metastasis progress and improve the survival rate for oral cancer. Dehydroandrographolide is the principal component of Andrographis paniculata (Burm.f.) Nees and is the main contributors to its therapeutic properties. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the anticancer effect induced by dehydroandrographolide remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the effect of dehydroandrographolide on SCC-9 oral cancer cells and examined the potential inhibitory mechanisms involved. The results indicated that dehydroandrographolide attenuated the migration and invasion abilities of SCC-9 cells by reducing the activity and protein expression of matrix metalloproteinases-2 (MMP-2). Dehydroandrographolide inhibited the phosphorylation of ERK1/2, p38, and JNK 1/2 in SCC-9 cells. According to the mRNA levels detected using real-time PCR, dehydroandrographolide inhibited MMP-2 expression in SCC-9 cells. In addition, dehydroandrographolide administration effectively suppressed MMP-2 expression and tumor metastases in the oral carcinoma xenograft mouse model in vivo. These data indicate that dehydroandrographolide could be a potent therapeutic agent for the prevention and treatment of oral cancer and a prominent plant source for anticancer research in the future.

Chen Chia-Yu obtained her bachelor degree from the Department of Biochemical Science and Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. She is now studying in the Aquatic Microbial Metabolomics Laboratory in the Institute of Fisheries Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

Marine natural products were the secondary metabolites of marine organisms with highly diversified structural features and varied bioactivities that keep the chemists and pharmacologists being intrigued. Among the great diversified species in the ocean, endophytic fungi remained to be less investigated so far. It was shown that marine-derived fungi were a rich source of structurally unique chemical entities. Thus, a number of endophytic fungal strains were isolated from marine algae collected from northeastern coast of Taiwan. In the preliminary antimicrobial screening against bacteria and fungi, including Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, and Cryptococcus neoformans, the ethyl acetate extracts of liquid (potato dextrose broth) and solid (brown rice) fermented products of Acremonium sp. NTU492, a derived fungus from the red alga Mastophora rosea, were found to exhibit significant growth inhibitory activity against C. albicans and C. neoformans. A series of bioassay-guided fractionation and separation was thus undertaken, and which has resulted in the isolation and purification of six peptides (1–6) along with a trichothecene (7). Of these, new compounds 1–4 were determined to be one depsipeptide and three highly N-methylated linear peptides, respectively, by spectral data and in comparison with literatures.

Tsai-Yen Shih was graduated from the Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan. She is studying for the master degree in the Institute of Fisheries Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, and is doing the research of the natural products from marine algae-associated fungi in Aquatic Microbial Metabolomics Laboratory led by Prof. Tzong-Huei Lee.

The discovery of new natural products from marine-derived fungi has increased dramatically over the last few decades, and some of them revealed great potentials for drug developments. In our preliminary screening, the bioactivities of 300 fungal strains, isolated from marine algae collected from northeast coast of Taiwan, were tested intensively. Of these, the ethyl acetate extract of the fermented broth of Albifimbria terrestris #LTH945, isolated from marine brown alga Sarrassum fulvellum, was found to exhibit significant antifungal activity against Candida albicans. Therefore, bioassay-guided separation of the active principles from this extract were carried out, and which has resulted in the isolation and identification of compounds 1−10. Their structures were elucidated to be myrochromanic acid (1), roridin A (2), roridin D (3), roridin J (4), epiisororidin E (5), verrucarin A (6), verrucarin B (7), verrucarin J (8), verrucarin H (9), and trichoverrin A (10) by spectroscopic analysis, and myrochromanic acid (1) was previously unreported.

Mincheol Kang is currently a Master’s student in College of Pharmacy at Gachon University, South Korea. He has been investigating the underlying mechanism of the development of atopic dermatitis. Especially, he is interested in the identification of natural products that regulate skin inflammation, hoping that his efforts will contribute to drug development for patients suffering from dermatitis.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that has characterized by pruritic eczematous lesions and skin barrier dysfunction. AD develops from a complex interplay between genetic, environmental, immunologic factors lead multiple changes of immune system to eczematous and itchy lesion. Resveratrol is a natural polyphenol found in various types of fruits and vegetables, mainly found in red grapes and berries. Several studies indicated that bioactivities of resveratrol have anticancer, antioxidant, antiangiogenic and anti-inflammatory effect. Resveratrol-enriched rice (RR) was developed using genetic engineering technique and contains high level of the resveratrol, might have biological effects synergistically similar to each resveratrol or normal rice alone in skin disorder. Previous study has already shown RR might regulate metabolic syndrome and related disease such as skin pigmentation with UVB exposure. Furthermore, each resveratrol and rice had anti-inflammation and improving skin condition, we expected that RR might be effective treatment for pruritic skin disease such as AD. We evaluated the effect of RR on pruritic skin inflammation in AD-like skin lesions using DNCB-induced NC/Nga mice and 3D skin model. RR significantly reduced scratching frequency, also inhibited increased dermatitis score, TEWL and improved skin hydration. Both level of IL-31 and serum IgE production were significantly reduced by treatment of RR. Furthermore, RR treatment suppressed the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6 in keratinocytes and 3D skin model. Therefore, RR may have potential effects as treatment for improving epidermal skin barrier function and modulated AD disease severity.

Su-Jung is a ph. D. candidate from the Department of Food Science, National Chiayi University, co-advised by Professor Ching-Kuo Lee, School of Pharmacy, Taipei Medical University. Her research works in doctoral dissertation are focused on nutraceutical properties of alfalfa, including bioactive components purification, structure identification and bio-function evaluation. Under supervision of Professor Lee, Su-Jung acquires expertise in purification and chemical structure identification of natural products. She has purified and identified numbers of biologically functional components, especially compounds possessing tyrosinase and xanthine oxidase inhibition activity, from a variety of natural resources. She also conducted studies to investigate bioavailability of the active compounds from alfalfa extract in Dr. Lin’s laboratory. Her recent research interest is to study metabolomics of Alfalfa extract, using in vitro cell co-culture model comprising enterocytes and hepatocytes in tandem with UPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS / MS technology.

Xanthine oxidase (XO) is a key enzyme that catalyzes the oxidation of xanthine and hypoxanthine to the end product (uric acid) in purine metabolism and is the major target enzyme for the hyperuricemia treatment and gout arthritis prevention. For the past five decades, allopurinol is the only available XO inhibitor for hyperuricemia treatment. It is of great interest to search for other natural XO inhibitors. Recent pharmacological studies demonstrated that alfalfa extract exhibits a variety of bioactivities, including neuroprotective, hypocholesterolemic, antioxidant, antiulcer, antimicrobial, hypolipidemic, and estrogenic activity. It has been shown to be effective for treating atherosclerosis, heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and menopausal symptoms. The aims of our study were to investigate the XO inhibiting potential and to identify the corresponding active components in alfalfa extract. The alfalfa extract was first combined with xanthine oxidase before applying to UPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS / MS for fingerprint analysis and structure identification of active compounds. The potential XO inhibitors from alfalfa extract were identified, including tricin and chrysoeriol. The XO inhibition and antioxidant activities of these compounds were further predicted using molecular docking software. The results revealed that tricin showed the lowest inhibition constant value (Ki) which means that this compound was predicted as the strongest inhibitor of XO. The method established in this study, LC-MS technique combined with Molecular Docking, might be also applied to rapid identification of anti-oxidative compounds and enzyme inhibiting agents from other natural resources in addition to alfalfa.

Dr. Youngsook Yun has completed PhD from Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences and postdoctoral studies from Korea Institute Biosciencs and Biotechnology and National Institute of Health Science (Japan). Recently, her researches have been focused on natural chemistry related to cancer and neurosciences

The transcription factor CHOP, also known as GADD 153, increases expression level and induces apoptosis in response to endoplasmic reticulum stress caused by various factors including genetic mutation, pathogens, and active oxygen. In order to search for natural compounds that induce CHOP expression, we screened about 6,000 kinds of methanol extracts from various higher plants and their different parts using a luciferase reporter gene assay with CHOP promoter in Mia PaCA-2 cells. In the first screening, 121 extracts showed induction of 2-fold or more luciferse activity compared to the control. By a second screening on the 121 extracts, 6 extracts showing 3-fold or more luciferase inducing activity were selected. Among them, the extract of Macleaya cordata (Willd.) was separated on silica gel column chromatography and then HPLC. Two compounds were thereby isolated, then identified as dihydrosanguinarine and 6-methoxydihydrosanginarine based on NMR and MS spectral data. Both compounds were found to induce CHOP promoter-driven luciferase expression in the reporter gene assay, but did not significantly affect endogenous CHOP protein levels. Dihydrosanguinarine increased the levels of cleaved-PARP and cleaved-caspase-3 known as apoptosis markers. This suggests that dihydrosanguinarine may induce apoptosis not only through the ER stress pathway but also through other pathways. Although sanguinarine was reported to be a major compound of M. cordata, it was not isolated in this study. This may have been due to conversion of sanguainarine to 6-methoxysanguinarine during extraction with MeOH.

Yukiko Matsuo received her Ph. D. degree in 2014 from Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences. She has been an assistant professor in the Depertment of Medicinal Pharmacognosy at Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences since 2014. Her current research includes isolation and structural determination of plant natural products with tumor-selective cytotoxic activities

Vetiveria zizanioides (Gramineae) is a perennial grass that grows widely in India and Indonesia. V. zizanioides has deep complex root systems, and it is widely used to prevent red soil erosion and soil contamination. The volatile matter obtained from steam distillation of the roots of V. zizanioides, which is commonly called vetiver oil, shows antibacterial, antioxidant, and antifungal activities1 and is used in aromatherapy and perfumery. The roots of V. zizanioides contain sesquiterpenoids,2 such as -vetivone, -vetivone, and isovalencenol, and several flavonoids. However, no systematic phytochemical investigation has been carried out on V. zizanioides roots. During our continuous search for bioactive secondary metabolites of higher plants that yield essential oils, we performed a chemical examination of a methanolic extract of V. zizanioides roots and isolated three new sesquiterpenoids, named vetiverianines A (1), B (2), and C (3), and a known eudesmane sesquiterpenoid, identified as (+)-1,4,6-trihydroxyeudesmane (4). In particular, vetiverianine A (1) has a unique carbon framework of a rigid tricyclic ring system, designated here as the neo-eremophilane skeleton. Vetiverianines B (2) and C (3) are new eremophilane sesquiterpenoids. The structures of 1–3 including their absolute configurations were determined by analysis of NMR, X-ray crystallography, and vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) data. Furthermore, the cytotoxic activity of 1–4 against HL-60 cells is briefly presented. 1) Gupta, S.; Dwivedi, G. R.; Darokar, M. P.; Srivastava, S. K. Med. Chem. Res. 2012, 21, 1283-1289. 2) Filippi, J. J.; Belhassen, E.; Baldovini, N.; Brevard, H.; Meierhenrich, U. J. J. Chromatogr. A 2013, 1288, 127-148

Dr. SungYeon Kim has completed PhD from Seoul University of Pharmacy. She is active in research activities in the field of medicinal plants. Several studies have been published in various journals and presented various research papers by oral / poster at the national and international seminars

Climatic effects are predicted to include crowding, famine, water contamination, human migration, and alterations in vector ecology, all of which increase infectious diseases. The innate immune system, play a crucial part in the initiation and subsequent direction of adaptive immune responses, as well as participating in the removal of pathogens that have been targeted by an adaptive immune response. Moreover, because there is a delay of 4–7 days before the initial adaptive immune response takes effect, the innate immune response has a critical role in controlling infections during this period. We evaluated that Morus alba extract enhance immunostimulating activity and defense effects of Morus alba extract and pomace on bacteria infection mice model. The present study was carried out to investigate the immunomodulating activity of Morus alba L. on the expression of nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and phagocytic uptake in macrophages. Multiple signaling molecules of the TLR4 signaling pathway were also detected. We have chosen experimental bacterial infection with S. Typhimurium. Morus alba extract stimulated the production of NO and TNF-α and phagocytic activity in RAW 264.7. Morus alba activated macrophages through the mitogen-activated protein kinase and nuclear factor-κB signaling pathways downstream from TLR4. Morus alba extract and pomace enhances the survival rate of salmonella infected mice by augmenting the phagocytosis activity of macrophages. The observed activation of macrophage and induction of cytokines results on fruit of Morus alba L. treatment are the most probable reasons for the reduced mortality of bacteria. The reported data clearly support the hypothesis that Morus alba L. acts as an immunomodulator.

Da Eun Kim has completed MS from Chosun University of Pharmacy. She is active in research activities in the field of medicinal plants. Several studies have been published in various journals and presented various research papers by oral / poster at the national and international seminars

These days, the demands for the effective and safe whitening and anti-aging agents of the skin have increased due to the medical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic reasons. Mesembryanthemum crystallinum(MC) is a facultative halophyte, adapted to extreme environmental conditions by synthesis of protective substances and antioxidant molecules such as β-cyanins and other flavonoids. MC has been reported to show anti-diabetic activity to inhibit various cancers to show antioxidation activity and to promote lipid metabolism. In this study, we investigated effects of MC extracts (water, methanol, ethyl acetate, hexane, chloroform, buthnol and methylene chloride) on the improvement of anti-oxidant, anti-aging and whitening effects. MC-methylene chloride extract(MCMC) showed the most prominent free radical DPPH, super oxide dismutase (SOD) like activities. We used mushroom and cellular tyrosinase activity and cellular and secreted melanin content assays. MCMC did not exhibit any inhibitory effect on the tyrosinase activity in cell-free condition. Interestingly, the cellular tyrosinase and melanin content in B16F10 cells stimulated by α-MSH was significantly inhibited by treatment with MCMC in a dose-dependent manner. MCMC on elastase inhibitory activity, procollagen synthesis and TNF-α induced Matrix Metalloproteinase-1(MMP-1) expression in human dermal fibroblasts. At 50, 100 μg/ml concentrations, the procollagen biosynthesis effect of MCMC was 110.6 and 112.2%. However, elastase inhibitory activity and MMP-1 expression was not changed. All these findings suggested that MC extract have great potential as cosmeceutical ingredients with anti-aging and whitening effects.

Yi-Chen Liu is a Ph.D. student from National Chung-Hsing University.

Scrophularia yoshimurae (Scrophulariaceae) is a Taiwan endemic plant. It has been proved that its main active compounds are higher than Scrophularia ningpoensis (Chinese figwort, xuán cān). Transformed hairy root which grows rapidly is used to produce large quantity of active compounds for many medicinal plants. However, there is no research about different wavelengths of light influence transformed hairy root. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of different wavelengths of light on S. yoshimurae hairy root. In this study, S. yoshimurae hairy roots were inducted by Agrobacterium rhizogenes LBA1334. Different combinations of various wavelength light-emitting diodes (LEDs) were used to irritate S. yoshimurae hairy root for 4 weeks. The content of harpagoside and cinnamic acid in the hairy root were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography. We found that S. yoshimurae hairy root irritated by Red light and Infrared light increase both fresh and dry weight, but reduce the amounts of harpagoside and cinnamic acid compared to dark-culture. On the other hand, S. yoshimurae hairy root irritated by Blue light, Green light and UV light reduce both fresh and dry weight, but increase the amounts of harpagoside and cinnamic acid. The results of this study is the first time showed that different wavelengths of light affect transformed hairy root growth and secondary metabolites production of S. yoshimurae. These findings can be applied in the large production of harpagoside and cinnamic acid.

Rashida Bashir has recently submitted her Ph.D thesis in the area of natural products and bioanalytical chemistry under the supervision of Dr Peter Mahon and Prof. Enzo Palombo.She has previously completed Masters of Biotechnology and Bachelor of Pharmaceutical sciences.

Cordyceps, caterpillar fungi growing on insect larvae, has long been known as an exotic medicinal fungi. Commercially available Chinese Cordycep species are very expensive and known to treat cancer , asthma , TB, diabtes, erectile dysfunstion and hepatitis. However, the Australian native Cordycep species, especially Cordycep gunnii, have not been investigated in detail. Recent investigations of biologically active metabolites of Australian native Cordycep gunnii fungi has indicated their tremendous potential as a source of new medicines and nutraceuticals. LC-ESI-MS analysis of Cordycep gunnii has demonstrated the presence of pharmacologically active nucleosides which are known to be responsible for the regulation and modulation of various physiological and pharmacological actions .They elevate cAMP which results in increase energy levels and protect the body from cardio and neuropathies. Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) derivitisation followed by GC MS analysis has showed that stearic acid, linoleic acid, oleic acid, ergosterol and its derivatives, lanosterol and squalene are the main components of natural Cordycep gunnii. Ergosterol is a provitamin form of vitamin D2 and squalene has superior antioxidant activity which plays a preventive role against several types of carcinogenesis. A reaction flow-post column derivitisation (RF-PCD) FRAP assay has indicated the presence of strong antioxidant peaks, which will be further investigated for the characterisation of bioactive compounds. Hence, current studies have demonstrated that Australian native Cordycep gunnii is a promising source of nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals.

Subongkoch Subtaeng is a senior researcher and head of research and development group of Thai herbal products in the Department of Science Service, the Ministry of Science and Technology, Thailand.

Thai sappan wood and pomegranate peel were extracted by maceration technique with water and ethanol as a solvent. The total phenolic content with Folin-Ciocalteau colorimetric method and antimicrobial activity were studied in these extracts. The result showed that the ethanol extract of pomegranate peel had the highest total phenolic content (73.53 ± 0.04 mg GAE/g) followed by the water extract of pomegranate peel (70.29 ± 0.04 mg GAE/g), the ethanol extract of sappan wood and the water extract of sappan wood (61.71 ± 0.02 mg GAE/g and 56.36 ± 0.06 mg GAE/g), respectively. The agar well diffusion method followed with macro-broth dilution were employed to evaluate the antimicrobial activity against four strains of bacteria (Micrococcus sedentarius DMST 9365, Micrococcus sedentarius DMST 37451, Corynebacterium xerosis DMST 17001, and Propionibacterium acnes DMST 14914) and one strain of yeast (Candida albicans ATCC 10231). Moreover, the results also presented that both water and ethanol extract of sappan wood had better antimicrobial activities against all four strains of bacteria than the water extract and the ethanol extract of pomegranate peel. Meanwhile, the water extract and the ethanol extract of pomegranate peel showed the higher antimicrobial activity against Candida albicans than the water extract and the ethanol extract of sappan wood.

Nai-Wen Mei has completed his PhD from National Tsinghua University. He is the Director of Bioscience Division of Gincare International Enterprises Co., Ltd., and has been working in this company for about 9 years to investigate the bioactivities of ginseng in cooperation with various institutes and universities.

Ginseng has been proved to be a precious herbal medicine due to its multiple bioactive compounds such as ginsenosides, polyphenols and flavonoids to promote health. With a lack of effective medicinal treatment for poor sperm quality, this study aims to investigate the effectiveness of ginseng supplement on improving sperm quality. Rats were orally gavaged with ginseng powder (100 mg/kg/day) provided by Gincare International Enterprises Co., Ltd., for 49 days before sacrifice. The serum total testosterone was measured and the sperm collected from epididymis was quantified and its activity is determined. The sperm was also subjected to YE stain for morphological observation. DNA content of testicular cells was differentiated into haploid (H), diploid (D), tetraploid (T) and S-phase. In addition, haploid cells were further divided into round spermatids (RS) and elongating spermatids (ES). The results indicated that the experimental groups demonstrated a significantly higher ratio of sperms with normal type morphology than the control groups (62.4±3.5% to 54.7±2.8%). Amongst the different types of morphological abnormalities, the ratio of sperms with abnormal tail (28.0±3.8% to 34.2±3.6%) and multiple abnormalities (1.8±0.5% to 3.2±1.3%) was especially reduced. The DNA content in testicular cells on the other hand, showed higher percentage of diploid type, which indicated spermatogonium, primary spermatocytes and meiotic prophase of spermatocytes as the preferable cell types after ginseng supplement. In conclusion, our study suggests a potential advance in ginseng supplement to produce more normal sperms for reproduction purpose.