Previous clinical study showed that aged garlic extract (AGE) has a preventive effect of vascular calcification in patients with coronary artery diseases. It has been reported that vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) ...Previous clinical study showed that aged garlic extract (AGE) has a preventive effect of vascular calcification in patients with coronary artery diseases. It has been reported that vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) and inflammatory cells including macrophages and lymphocytes migrate to sub-intimal region where atherosclerotic plaques are formed, and VSMC can differentiate into osteoblast-like cells, which are represented by the induction of alkaline phosphatase (ALP). We found that primary human coronary artery smooth muscle cells (HCASMC) showed the increased ALP activity, when cultured in the medium containing ascorbic acid, β-glycerophosphate, dexamethasone (IM), and supplemented with conditioned medium from macrophages (MCM). Then we tested the effect of AGE subdivided fractions and several compounds found in AGE, and then found that ((+)-(2S,3R)-Dehydrodiconiferyl alcohol, a dilignol compound existed in hydrophobic fraction of AGE, inhibited ALP activity in HCASMC.展开更多
Enzyme-induced carbonate precipitation (EICP) is an emerging technique to improve the soil and most studies are carried out at room temperature. However, considering some foundations are in high-temperature environmen...Enzyme-induced carbonate precipitation (EICP) is an emerging technique to improve the soil and most studies are carried out at room temperature. However, considering some foundations are in high-temperature environments (>40 ℃), the higher urease activity at high temperature results in the solidification inhomogeneity, limiting the application of EICP. The higher urease activity at high temperature hampers the application of EICP because of solidification inhomogeneity. The garlic extract has been used as a type of urease inhibitor in medical science and food engineering. Here, we propose to use it to control urease activity for sand solidification at high temperature. The effects of garlic extract addition on urease activity and precipitation rates for calcium carbonate (CaCO_(3)) were studied. Extra tests were conducted to study the effect of garlic extract addition on the solidification homogeneity. The results showed that the garlic extract addition significantly decreased urease activity. To reduce the rate of CaCO3 precipitation at different temperatures, a suitable concentration of garlic extract was necessary to obtain a suitable urease activity. In the sand solidification test, garlic extract addition resulted in a smaller difference in sonic time values or CaCO_(3) contents at different parts of samples. The improved solidification homogeneity can achieve higher strength. The correlation between sonic time values and CaCO_(3) content was higher than that between CaCO3 content and strength. Appropriate concentrations of garlic extract were obtained at 35 ℃, 40℃, 45 ℃, 50 ℃, and 55 ℃. The proposed garlic extract addition method was significant to improve the homogeneity of solidified soil in practical engineering applications.展开更多
This study compared the antioxidant properties of Hibiscus sabdariffa extract (HSE), commercial aged garlic extract (AGE, Kyolic) and garlic tablet (GT). The results indicate that HSE, AGE and GT are effective antioxi...This study compared the antioxidant properties of Hibiscus sabdariffa extract (HSE), commercial aged garlic extract (AGE, Kyolic) and garlic tablet (GT). The results indicate that HSE, AGE and GT are effective antioxidant as xanthine/xanthine oxidase generated superoxide ions are significantly inhibited in the presence of 20% (v/v) diethyl ether extract of HSE, AGE and GT by 100%, 66.39% and 18.61% respectively, while uric acid production is not affected byAGEand GT. However, at 2.5% and 5.0% (v/v) reaction volumes,HSEsignificantly inhibits uric acid production by 9.5% and 33.0% respectively, and this suggests that components ofHSEinhibit xanthine oxidase activity while AGE and GT scavenge superoxide. In addition, it is also found that the three extracts scavenge ABTS radical cations in dose-dependent manner. In all cell free assays, HSE is found to be more effective as an antioxidant when compared with AGE and GT under the same experimental conditions. Chromatographic and colorimetric analyses suggest thatHSEhas numerous different types of phenolic compounds with higher amount of phenolic compounds (14.9 mg/g) when compared withAGE(2.8 mg/g) and GT (3.6 mg/g) catechin equivalent respectively. Therefore, the effectiveness of antioxidant activities of these three extracts may be related to their phenolic content.展开更多
文摘Previous clinical study showed that aged garlic extract (AGE) has a preventive effect of vascular calcification in patients with coronary artery diseases. It has been reported that vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) and inflammatory cells including macrophages and lymphocytes migrate to sub-intimal region where atherosclerotic plaques are formed, and VSMC can differentiate into osteoblast-like cells, which are represented by the induction of alkaline phosphatase (ALP). We found that primary human coronary artery smooth muscle cells (HCASMC) showed the increased ALP activity, when cultured in the medium containing ascorbic acid, β-glycerophosphate, dexamethasone (IM), and supplemented with conditioned medium from macrophages (MCM). Then we tested the effect of AGE subdivided fractions and several compounds found in AGE, and then found that ((+)-(2S,3R)-Dehydrodiconiferyl alcohol, a dilignol compound existed in hydrophobic fraction of AGE, inhibited ALP activity in HCASMC.
基金funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.51578147)the Science and Technology Department of Ningxia(Grant No.2020BFG02014)the Trans-portation Department of Ningxia(Grant No.202000173).
文摘Enzyme-induced carbonate precipitation (EICP) is an emerging technique to improve the soil and most studies are carried out at room temperature. However, considering some foundations are in high-temperature environments (>40 ℃), the higher urease activity at high temperature results in the solidification inhomogeneity, limiting the application of EICP. The higher urease activity at high temperature hampers the application of EICP because of solidification inhomogeneity. The garlic extract has been used as a type of urease inhibitor in medical science and food engineering. Here, we propose to use it to control urease activity for sand solidification at high temperature. The effects of garlic extract addition on urease activity and precipitation rates for calcium carbonate (CaCO_(3)) were studied. Extra tests were conducted to study the effect of garlic extract addition on the solidification homogeneity. The results showed that the garlic extract addition significantly decreased urease activity. To reduce the rate of CaCO3 precipitation at different temperatures, a suitable concentration of garlic extract was necessary to obtain a suitable urease activity. In the sand solidification test, garlic extract addition resulted in a smaller difference in sonic time values or CaCO_(3) contents at different parts of samples. The improved solidification homogeneity can achieve higher strength. The correlation between sonic time values and CaCO_(3) content was higher than that between CaCO3 content and strength. Appropriate concentrations of garlic extract were obtained at 35 ℃, 40℃, 45 ℃, 50 ℃, and 55 ℃. The proposed garlic extract addition method was significant to improve the homogeneity of solidified soil in practical engineering applications.
文摘This study compared the antioxidant properties of Hibiscus sabdariffa extract (HSE), commercial aged garlic extract (AGE, Kyolic) and garlic tablet (GT). The results indicate that HSE, AGE and GT are effective antioxidant as xanthine/xanthine oxidase generated superoxide ions are significantly inhibited in the presence of 20% (v/v) diethyl ether extract of HSE, AGE and GT by 100%, 66.39% and 18.61% respectively, while uric acid production is not affected byAGEand GT. However, at 2.5% and 5.0% (v/v) reaction volumes,HSEsignificantly inhibits uric acid production by 9.5% and 33.0% respectively, and this suggests that components ofHSEinhibit xanthine oxidase activity while AGE and GT scavenge superoxide. In addition, it is also found that the three extracts scavenge ABTS radical cations in dose-dependent manner. In all cell free assays, HSE is found to be more effective as an antioxidant when compared with AGE and GT under the same experimental conditions. Chromatographic and colorimetric analyses suggest thatHSEhas numerous different types of phenolic compounds with higher amount of phenolic compounds (14.9 mg/g) when compared withAGE(2.8 mg/g) and GT (3.6 mg/g) catechin equivalent respectively. Therefore, the effectiveness of antioxidant activities of these three extracts may be related to their phenolic content.