and colleagues, in which they addressed, on the basis of their previous work, the underlying mechanisms for the protective eff ect of a small component of traditional Chinese herbs, sodium ferulate (SF), on osteoarthritis (OA) [1]. Utilizing the classical in vitro OA chondrocyte model induced by IL-1β, they provided lines of evidence that SF does make a big diff erence to the OA model in a dose...

INTRODUCTION Sodium ferulate (SF) is a natural component of traditional Chinese herbs. Our previous study shows that SF has a protective effect on osteoarthritis (OA). The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of SF on the TNF/TNF receptor (TNFR) signal transduction pathway of rat OA chondrocytes. METHODS Primary rat articular chondrocytes were co-treated with IL-1β and SF. Ch...

Five compounds comprising 8-O-4’-neolignan (7), two arylnaphthalene lignans (5, 8), aryldihydrobenzofuran neolignan (4), and lignan (6) were synthesised by enzymatic coupling reaction using horseradish peroxidase (HRP) between vanillin (1) with methyl ferulate (2) or sinapate (3). All of these compounds, as well previously palladium-catalysed products (9), 8-O-4'-neolignan (10), arylcoumarin (1...

Three propolis samples from Austria, Germany and France were investigated by GC/MS, where eleven compounds were being new for propolis. The samples showed some similarities in their qualitative composition. Phenylethyl-trans-caffeate, benzyl ferulate and galangin were predominant in German propolis. Benzyl caffeate was predominant in French sample. Pinocembrin was predominant in French and Aust...

The gene encoding stilbene synthase is frequently used to modify plant secondary metabolism with the aim of producing the self-defence phytoalexin resveratrol. In this study, strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) was transformed with the NS-Vitis3 gene encoding stilbene synthase from frost grape (Vitis riparia) under the control of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S and the floral filament-specific fi...

4-Coumarate:CoA ligase (4CL; EC 6.2.1.12) has a pivotal role in the biosynthesis of plant secondary compounds at the divergence point from general phenylpropanoid metabolism to several major branch pathways. In Arabidopsis thaliana, we have identified a previously undetected, fourth and final member of the At4CL gene family. The encoded enzyme, At4CL4, exhibits the rare property of efficiently ...