In order to understand the antifungal activity of some derivatives of sanguinarine (S) and chelerythrine (C) and their structure-activity relationships, sixteen derivatives of S and C were prepared and evaluated for in vitro antifungal activity against seven phytopathogenic fungi by the mycelial growth rate method. The results showed that S, C and their 6-alkoxy dihydro derivatives S₁–S ₄, C₁–C ₄ and 6-cyanodihydro derivatives S₅, C₅ showed significant antifungal activity at 100 µg/mL against all the tested fungi. For most tested fungi, the median effective concentrations of S, S₁, C and C₁ were in a range of 14–50 µg/mL. The structure-activity relationship showed that the C=N⁺ moiety was the determinant for the antifungal activity of S and C. S₁–S₅ and C₁–C₅ could be considered as the precursors of S and C, respectively. Thus, the present results strongly suggested that S and C or their derivatives S₁–S₅ and C₁–C₅ should be considered as good lead compounds or model molecules to develop new anti-phytopathogenic fungal agents.

The SUMO-activating enzyme SAE1 is indispensable for protein SUMOylation. A dysregulation of SAE1 expression involves in progression of several human cancers. However, its biological roles of SAE1 in glioma are unclear by now. The differential proteome between human glioma tissues and para-cancerous brain tissues were identified by LC-MS/MS. SAE1 expression was further assessed by immunohistochemistry. The patient overall survival versus SAE1 expression level was evaluated by Kaplan–Meier method. The glioma cell growth and migration were evaluated under SAE1 overexpression or inhibition by the CCK8, transwell assay and wound healing analysis. The SUMO1 modified target proteins were enriched from total cellular or tissue proteins by incubation with the anti-SUMO1 antibody on protein-A beads overnight, then the SUMOylated proteins were detected by Western blot. Cell apoptosis and cell cycle were analyzed by flow cytometry. The nude mouse xenograft was determined glioma growth and tumorigenicity in vivo. SAE1 is identified to increase in glioma tissues by a quantitative proteomic dissection, and SAE1 upregulation indicates a high level of tumor malignancy grade and a poor overall survival for glioma patients. SAE1 overexpression induces an increase of the SUMOylation and Ser473 phosphorylation of AKT, which promotes glioma cell growth in vitro and in nude mouse tumor model. On the contrary, SAE1 silence induces an obvious suppression of the SUMOylation and Ser473 phosphorylation of Akt, which inhibits glioma cell proliferation and the tumor xenograft growth through inducing cell cycle arrest at G2 phase and cell apoptosis driven by serial biochemical molecular events. SAE1 promotes glioma cancer progression via enhancing Akt SUMOylation-mediated signaling pathway, which indicates targeting SUMOylation is a promising therapeutic strategy for human glioma.

In this study, a validated quality evaluation method with peony flower fingerprint chromatogram combined with simultaneous determination of sixteen bioactive constituents was established using UPLC-DAD-MS/MS. The results demonstrated that the method was stable, reliable, and accurate. The UPLC chemical fingerprints of 12 different varieties of peonies were established and comprehensively evaluated by similarity evaluation (SE), hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), principal component analysis (PCA), and quantification analysis. The results of SE indicated that similar chemical components were present in these samples regardless of variety, but there were significant differences in the content of chemical components and material basis characteristics. The results of HCA and PCA showed that 12 varieties of samples were divided into two groups. Four flavonoids (11, 12, 13, and 16), five monoterpenes and their glycosides (3, 4, 6, 14, and 15), three tannins (7, 9, and 10), three phenolic acids (1, 2, and 5), and one aromatic acid (8) were identified from sixteen common peaks by standards and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS). The simultaneous quantification of six types of components was conducted with the 12 samples, it was found that the sum contents of analytes varied obviously for peony flower samples from different varieties. The content of flavonoids, tannins, and monoterpenes (≥19.34 mg/g) was the highest, accounting for more than 78.45% of the total compounds. The results showed that the flavonoids, tannins, and monoterpenes were considered to be the key indexes in the classification and quality assessment of peony flower. The UPLC-DAD-MS/MS method coupled with multiple compounds determination and fingerprint analysis can be effectively applied as a feature distinguishing method to evaluate the compounds in peony flower raw material for product quality assurance in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. Moreover, this study provides ideas for future research and the improvement of products by these industries.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, with ferroptosis emerging as critical pathogenic mechanisms. Recent evidence suggests that STING activation can induce neuronal ferroptosis through autophagic degradation of GPX4. Taurochenodeoxycholic acid (TCDCA), a naturally occurring bile acid, has demonstrated neuroprotective properties through activation of Takeda G protein-coupled receptor 5 (TGR5). However, whether TCDCA can improve PD by modulating the cGAS-STING-ferroptosis axis remains unexplored. We investigated the effects of TCDCA treatment on motor function, dopaminergic neuronal survival, oxidative stress markers, ferroptosis-related proteins (GPX4, SLC7A11, ACSL4), and cGAS-STING signaling components in the substantia nigra of male mice subjected to 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) administration and in MPP⁺-treated SH-SY5Y cells. Behavioral assessments demonstrated that TCDCA significantly improved motor dysfunction in both open field and pole tests. TCDCA treatment markedly increased tyrosine hydroxylase-positive neurons and reduced oxidative stress markers including malondialdehyde and ferrous iron levels while restoring superoxide dismutase activity and glutathione content in the substantia nigra. Results showed that TCDCA upregulated TGR5 expression and concurrently suppressed cGAS and STING activation in both in vivo and in vitro PD models. Importantly, TCDCA treatment significantly enhanced the expression of anti-ferroptotic proteins GPX4 and SLC7A11 while reducing pro-ferroptotic ACSL4. These neuroprotective effects were associated with TGR5 upregulation and cGAS-STING pathway suppression. Our findings demonstrate that TCDCA alleviates PD-related neurodegeneration by inhibiting cGAS-STING-mediated ferroptosis through TGR5 activation, suggesting that TCDCA holds promise as a candidate drug for the treatment of PD.