Title: Acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity and neuroprotection in vitro, molecular docking, and improved learning and memory functions of demethylcurcumin in scopolamine-induced amnesia ICR mice Liu YH, Lee CJ, Chen LC, Lee TL, Hsieh YY, Han CH, Yang CH, Huang WJ, Hou WC Ref: Food Funct, 11:2328, 2020 : PubMed
In this study, demethylcurcumin (DC), a minor constituent in curcuminoids, showed better anti-acetylcholinesterase (anti-AChE) activities, anti-amyloid beta peptide aggregation, neuroprotective activities in 6-hydroxydopamine-treated SH-SY5Y cell models, and anti-nitric oxide production in lipopolysaccharide-treated RAW 264.7 macrophages than those of curcumin. Based on molecular docking analyses with AChE, the meta-hydroxyl group in DC, nonexistent in curcumin, showed the formation of hydrogen bonds with Ser293 and Tyr341 in the binding sites of AChE. For animal experiments, scopolamine-induced amnesia ICR mice were used to analyze the learning and memory functions of DC in comparison with the positive control donepezil. Mice fed with DC (50 mg kg-1) or donepezil (5 mg kg-1) showed improvement and a significant difference compared to those in the control group (P < 0.05, 0.01, or 0.001) in a passive avoidance test and in a water maze probe test. The brain extracts of the mice in the DC or donepezil group showed reduced AChE activities and higher ORAC activities and also showed a significant difference compared to those in the control group (P < 0.05, 0.01, or 0.001). DC might be beneficial for developing functional foods or as a lead compound for the treatment of degenerative disorders.
Title: Co-Expression of ORFCma with PHB Depolymerase (PhaZCma ) in Escherichia coli Induces Efficient Whole-Cell Biodegradation of Polyesters Lee MC, Liu EJ, Yang CH, Hsiao LJ, Wu TM, Li SY Ref: Biotechnol J, 13:e1700560, 2018 : PubMed
Whole-cell degradation of polyesters not only avoids the tedious process of enzyme separation, but also allows the degraded product to be reused as a carbon source. In this study, Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) harboring phaZCma , a gene encoding poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) depolymerase from Caldimonas manganoxidans, is constructed. The extra-cellular fraction of E. coli/pPHAZ exhibits a fast PHB degradation rate where it only took 35 h to completely degrade PHB films, while C. manganoxidans takes 81 h to do the same. The co-expression of ORFCma (a putative periplasmic substrate binding protein that is within the same operon of phaZCma ) further improves the PHB degradation. While 28 h is needed for E. coli/pPHAZ to cause an 80% weight loss in PHB films, E. coli/pORFPHAZ needs only 21 h. Furthermore, it is able to degrade at-least four different polyesters, PHB, poly(lactic acid) (PLA), polycaprolactone (PCL), and poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate) (PBSA). Testing of the time course of 3-hydroxybutyrate concentration and the turbidity of the degradation solutions over time shows that PhaZCma has both exo- and endo-enzymatic activity. The whole-cell E. coli/pORFPHAZ can be used for recycling various polyesters while ORFCma can potentially be a universal element for enhancing the secretion of recombinant protein.
Title: Illicit drug ketamine induces adverse effects from behavioral alterations and oxidative stress to p53-regulated apoptosis in medaka fish under environmentally relevant exposures Liao PH, Yang WK, Yang CH, Lin CH, Hwang CC, Chen PJ Ref: Environ Pollut, 237:1062, 2018 : PubMed
With increasing problems of drug abuse worldwide, aquatic ecosystems are contaminated by human pharmaceuticals from the discharge of hospital or municipal effluent. However, ecotoxicity data and related toxic mechanism for neuroactive controlled or illicit drugs are still lacking, so assessing the associated hazardous risk is difficult. This study aims to investigate the behavioral changes, oxidative stress, gene expression and neurotoxic or apoptosis effect(s) in larvae of medaka fish (Oryzias latipes) with environmentally relevant exposures of ketamine (KET) solutions for 1-14 days. KET exposure at an environmentally relevant concentration (0.004 muM) to 40 muM conferred specific patterns in larval swimming behavior during 24 h. At 14 days, such exposure induced dose- and/or time-dependent alteration on reactive oxygen species induction, the activity of antioxidants catalase and superoxide dismutase, glutathione S-transferase and malondialdehyde contents in fish bodies. KET-induced oxidative stress disrupted the expression of acetylcholinesterase and p53-regulated apoptosis pathways and increased caspase expression in medaka larvae. The toxic responses of medaka larvae, in terms of chemical effects, were qualitatively analogous to those of zebrafish and mammals. Our results implicate a toxicological impact of waterborne KET on fish development and human health, for potential ecological risks of directly releasing neuroactive drugs-containing wastewater into the aquatic environment.
Title: Clinical compliance of donepezil in treating Alzheimer's disease in taiwan Chang YP, Yang CH, Chou MC, Chen CH, Yang YH Ref: Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen, 30:346, 2015 : PubMed
BACKGROUND/RATIONALE: Adherence to cholinesterase inhibitor (ChEI) is associated with treatment effectiveness in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We investigated the clinical adherence to donepezil in Taiwan. METHODS: This was a retrospective study. Patients treated with donepezil were recruited from Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital and Kaohsiung Municipal Ta-Tung Hospital from February 2004 to April 2013. We analyzed their treatment duration in months. RESULTS: A total of 273 patients were included in our analysis. Sixty-seven patients withdrew from donepezil treatment with mean treatment duration of 28.0 +/- 25.9 months. Better initial scores on the Mini-Mental Status Examination (P = .007), Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument (P = .003), and the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR) Sum of Boxes (P = .011) were positively associated with clinical adherence. The clinical adherent rate was higher in the CDR-0.5 group than in the CDR-2.0 group with significant difference. CONCLUSION: Although there are some limitations in our study, these findings indicate that early intervention with ChEI in patients with AD should be emphasized and may lead to a better clinical adherence.
Dickeya dadantii is a plant-pathogenic enterobacterium responsible for the soft rot disease of many plants of economic importance. We present here the sequence of strain 3937, a strain widely used as a model system for research on the molecular biology and pathogenicity of this group of bacteria.
Title: Heterologous expression of thermostable acetylxylan esterase gene from Thermobifida fusca and its synergistic action with xylanase for the production of xylooligosaccharides Huang YC, Chen GH, Chen YF, Chen WL, Yang CH Ref: Biochemical & Biophysical Research Communications, 400:718, 2010 : PubMed
The axe gene which encodes an acetylxylan esterase from Thermobifida fusca NTU22, was cloned, sequenced and expressed in Escherichia coli. The gene consists of 786 base pairs and encodes a protein of 262 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence of the acetylxylan esterase axe exhibited a high degree of similarity with BTA-hydrolase from T. fusca DSM43793, esterase from Thermobifida alba and lipase from Streptomyces albus. The optimal pH and temperature of the purified esterase were 7.5 and 60 degrees C, respectively. Cooperative enzymatic treatment of oat-spelt xylan by transformant xylanase and acetylxylan esterase significantly increased the xylooligosaccharides production compared with the xylanase or acetylxylan esterase action alone. The synergy of transformant acetylxylan esterase and xylanase cannot increase the production of reducing sugars from lignocellulolytic substrate, bagasse.
