Analysis and bioactive evaluation of the compounds absorbed into blood after oral administration of the extracts of Vaccinium vitis-idaea in rat.
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In order to screen the active constituents of Vaccinium vitis-idaea L., the compounds absorbed into the rat blood after oral administration of ethanol extract of the stems and leaves of V. vitis-idaea (EEV) have been analyzed. Two compounds were detected in the plasma and identified as arbutin and fraxin, which are originally existed in the crude drug. Furthermore, the pharmacological effects of the two compounds involving EEV for curing acute and chronic respiratory tract infection were tested. The results showed that both arbutin and fraxin have the anti-inflammatory, anti-coughing and phlegm-removing effects. Therefore, it was ascertained that the arbutin and fraxin would be the main active constituents of V. vitis-idaea L. (+info)
Distribution of triterpene acids and their derivatives in organs of cowberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.) plant.
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Wild berries of the genus Vaccinium have become increasingly popular in human health promotion due to their nutritional and medicinal properties. Some striking divergence of opinion about the content of triterpenoids in these plants still exists, meanwhile, this very large class of natural isoprenoids exhibits a wide range of biological activities and hence is of growing research interest. An investigation of triterpenoidal constituents from the cowberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.) plant led to the isolation of two isomeric acids: oleanolic and ursolic and the occurrence of their derivatives in this plant was demonstrated for the first time. Free triterpene acids as well as small amounts of their bound forms (presumable glycosides and glycoside esters) occur in fruits and the vegetative part of the plant, however, in various amounts and different ratios. The total content of both acids was the highest in organs regarded as traditional herbal resources, namely fruits and leaves (1 and 0.6% of dry mass, respectively), whereas it was markedly lower in stems and rhizomes. However, the rhizomes were in turn the plant organ containing relatively the highest amount of the bound forms of both acids (0.01% of dry mass). Ursolic acid was dominant in the whole plant, but the ratio of oleanolic to ursolic acid was significantly different in individual organs, decreasing from the upper (fruits 1:2.4, leaves 1:2) to the lower (stems 1:3.5, rhizomes 1:5.2) parts of the plant. This pattern of distribution of triterpenoids in the plant may have an important physiological and ecological meaning. (+info)
Application of fungistatics in soil reduces N uptake by an arctic ericoid shrub (Vaccinium vitis-idaea).
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In arctic tundra soil N is highly limiting, N mineralization is slow and organic N greatly exceeds inorganic N. We studied the effects of fungistatics (azoxystrobin [Quadris] or propiconazole [Tilt]) on the fungi isolated from ericaceous plant roots in vitro. In addition to testing the phytotoxicity of the two fungistatics we also tested their effects on growth and nitrogen uptake of an ericaceous plant (Vaccinium uliginosum) in a closed Petri plate system without root-associated fungi. Finally, to evaluate the fungistatic effects in an in vivo experiment we applied fungistatics and nitrogen isotopes to intact tundra soil cores from Toolik Lake, Alaska, and examined the ammonium-N and glycine-N use by Vaccinium vitis-idaea with and without fungistatics. The experiments on fungal pure cultures showed that Tilt was more effective in reducing fungal colony growth in vitro than Quadris, which was highly variable among the fungal strains. Laboratory experiments aiming to test the fungistatic effects on plant performance in vitro showed that neither Quadris nor Tilt affected V. uliginosum growth or N uptake. In this experiment V. uliginosum assimilated more than an order of magnitude more ammonium-N than glycine-N. The intact tundra core experiment provided contrasting results. After 10 wk of fungistatic application in the growth chamber V. vitis-idaea leaf %N was 10% lower and the amount of leaf 15N acquired was reduced from labeled ammonium (33%) and glycine (40%) during the 4 d isotope treatment. In contrast to the in vitro experiment leaf 15N assimilation from glycine was three times higher than from 15NH4 in the treatments that received no-fungistatics. We conclude that the function of the fungal communities is essential to the acquisition of N from organic sources and speculate that N acquisition from inorganic sources is mainly inhibited by competition with complex soil microbial communities. (+info)
Comparative study of the leaf volatiles of Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (L.) Spreng. and Vaccinium vitis-idaea L. (Ericaceae).
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A C-repeat binding factor transcriptional activator (CBF/DREB1) from European bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) induces freezing tolerance when expressed in Arabidopsis thaliana.
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