Glehnia littoralisis an important medicinal halophyte—the dried root of which is used as Chinese herbal medicine. However, the use, selection and stability of reference genes are rarely verified in studies ofG. littoralis, which hampers investigation of its salt tolerance and metabolism. In this study, we selected 13 candidate reference genes from the transcriptome data ofG. littoralis—serine/threonine-protein phosphatase PP2A (PP2A), polyubiquitin 10 (UBQ10), actin (ACT), elongation factor 1-α (EF1-α), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), α-tubulin (α-TUB), β-tubulin (β-TUB), polypyrimidine tract-binding protein 1 (PTBP1), expressed protein 1 (EXP1), expressed protein 2 (EXP2), TIP41-like (TIP41), SAND family (SAND), and cyclophilin 2 (CYP2), and used qRT-PCR to analyse their expression levels in roots ofG. littoralistreated with NaCl, polyethylene glycol (PEG), abscisic acid (ABA), and methyl jasmonate (MeJA), as well as in various organs ofG. littoralis. The ΔCt, geNorm, NormFinder, and BestKeeper algorithms were used to assess the expression stability of the candidate reference genes and the results were then used to generate a comprehensive rank list with the RankAggreg R package. The most stable reference genes for normalisation wereEXP1andPP2Ain response to NaCl,EXP2andPP2Ain response to ABA,CYP2andα-TUBin response to MeJA, andACTandEXP1in the PEG and the organ subsets.GAPDH,β-TUB, andUBQ10exhibited low stability and so were unsuitable for normalisation. This study is the first systematic analysis of candidate reference genes inG. littoralisand will facilitate further investigation of normalisation of gene expression inG. littoralis.

Allium tuberosum is a well-known spice as well as a herb in traditional Chinese medicine, used for increasing libido and treating erectile dysfunction. However, not many studies have been done to evaluate the sexual enhancing properties of A. tuberosum. The aim of this study was to evaluate the aphrodisiac and vasorelaxant properties of A. tuberosum on corpus cavernosum smooth muscle (CCSM) as well as checking the effect on enhancing male rat sexual behavior, libido, potency as well as its spermatogenic properties. The seeds were powdered and sequentially extracted with hexane, ethyl acetate and butanol. Male Wistar rats were administered with graded doses of the n-BuOH extracts (ATB) of A. tuberosum (50, 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg) and Viagra was used as the positive control drug. The extract/drug was administered by gastric probe once daily for 45 days and the sexual behavior was analyzed by exposing the male rats to female rats in the estrus period. ATB relaxed corpus cavernosum smooth muscle (68.9%) at a concentration of 200 μg/ml. The results obtained from the animal studies indicated that ATB significantly increased mount frequency (MF), intromission frequency (IF), ejaculation frequency (EF), ejaculation latency (EL) and markedly reduced post ejaculatory interval (PEI), mount latency (ML), and intromission latency (IL). Furthermore, a remarkable increase in the test for potency was observed as witnessed by marked increase in erections, quick flips, long flips and total reflex. In addition, ATB significantly improved the sperm viability and count as well as increased the concentrations of testosterone, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), and phosphatases in the treated animals. Thus our results suggest that A. tuberosum could stimulate sexual arousal and enhance sexual execution in male rats, thus providing valuable experimental evidence that A. tuberosum possesses sexual enhancing properties.

Soil salinity is one of the major environmental stresses affecting plant growth, development, and reproduction. Salt stress also affects the accumulation of some secondary metabolites in plants. Glehnia littoralis is an endangered medicinal halophyte that grows in coastal habitats. Peeled and dried Glehnia littoralis roots, named Radix Glehniae, have been used traditionally as a Chinese herbal medicine. Although Glehnia littoralis has great ecological and commercial value, salt-related mechanisms in Glehnia littoralis remain largely unknown. In this study, we analysed the transcriptome of Glehnia littoralis in response to salt stress by RNA-sequencing to identify potential salt tolerance gene networks. After de novo assembly, we obtained 105,875 unigenes, of which 75,559 were annotated in public databases. We identified 10,335 differentially expressed genes (DEGs; false discovery rate <0.05 and |log₂ fold-change| ≥ 1) between NaCl treatment (GL2) and control (GL1), with 5,018 upregulated and 5,317 downregulated DEGs. To further this investigation, we performed Gene Ontology (GO) analysis and the Kyoto Encyclopaedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis. DEGs involved in secondary metabolite biosynthetic pathways, plant signal transduction pathways, and transcription factors in response to salt stress were analysed. In addition, we tested the gene expression of 15 unigenes by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) to confirm the RNA-sequencing results. Our findings represent a large-scale assessment of the Glehnia littoralis gene resource, and provide useful information for exploring its molecular mechanisms of salt tolerance. Moreover, genes enriched in metabolic pathways could be used to investigate potential biosynthetic pathways of active compounds by Glehnia littoralis.

The objective of this study was to explore the gastroprotective properties of the aerial part of Lycium chinense Mill (LCA) against ethanol-induced gastric mucosa lesions in mice models. Administration of LCA at doses of 50, 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight prior to ethanol consumption dose dependently inhibited gastric ulcers. The gastric mucosal injury was analyzed by gastric juice acidity, glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), myeloperoxidase (MPO) activities. Furthermore, the levels of the inflammatory mediators, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in serum were also analyzed using ELISA. Pathological changes were also observed with the aid of hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining. Our results indicated that LCA significantly reduced the levels of MPO, MDA and increased SOD and GSH activities. Furthermore, LCA also significantly inhibited the levels of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β in the serum of ulcerated mice in a dose dependent manner. Immunohistological analysis indicated that LCA also significantly attenuated the overexpression of nuclear factor-κB in pretreated mice models. This findings suggests Lycium chinense Mill possesses gastroprotective properties against ethanol-induced gastric injury and could be a possible therapeutic intervention in the treatment and management of gastric ulcers.