Extraordinary Accumulations Of Physiologically Active Compounds In Ammopiptanthus Mongolicus (Maxim.) And Tetraena Mongolica (Maxim.) Zygophyllaceae And Their Interferences On Aging Processes

Ammopiptanthus mongolicus (Maxim.) S. H. Cheng Leguminosae and Tetraena mongolica (Maxim.) Zygophyllaceae are distinctively distributed in the northwestern Gobi and desert areas of China. Their environments involve seasonally extreme drought and temperatures, extraordinarily high UV radiation and poor soil qualities with high salinity. A. mongolicus remains evergreen for all four seasons and has been traditionally used as anti-inflammatory, anti-infectious and pain-killing medicines.All the extracts prepared from the two species exhibited significantly higher scavenging activities against the O₂^- than a control. Five selected extracts also showed wider spectra of antioxidative capacities. An activity-guided fractionation led to identification of four major compounds. Resveratrol, a super strong antioxidant, accounted for as high as 0.05% of the dried weight of A. mongolicus. Two isoflavones isolated are also reported to be antioxidative and anti-inflammatory.Our results imply that plant species living in the extremely stressful environments may become an abundant natural resource of strong antioxidants. Considering the fact that oxidation is involved in the processes of infections, inflammation and other disorders, these results collectively suggest that efficacies of A. mongolicus in treating infections, inflammatory disorders and in killing pains may be attributed, at least partly, to its significantly larger non-enzymatic antioxidative capacities.Interference of the extracts on the lifespan of D. melanogaster was determined and the activities of SOD and CAT were monitored. The lifespan was significantly extended in treated groups while activities of the enzymes were significantly decreased correspondingly. The result indicates that the extension in the lifespan could be attributed, at least partly, to increased antioxidative action in the treated D. melanogaster.The thymocyte was used as a cellular model to examine the effect of resveratrol on the apoptosis. The effect was determined by staining thymocytes with PI and analyzing the cell cycle by flow cytometry. The results showed that 100, 50 and 20μM resveratrol had preventive effect on the spontaneous apoptosis of primary mouse thymocytes within the period of a 48-hour incubation. However, an increased rate of apoptosis was observed in the group treated with 50μM 48 hours after incubation. In the group treated with 100μM resveratrol, a significant inhibited spontaneous apoptosis on thymocytes was detected, with inhibition rates of 7.86%,12.23% and 11.23% respectively 48, 72 and 120 hours after incubation...