€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€ *****JOURNAL OF BACTERIOLOGY***** Akers HA Abrego VA Garland E Thujaplicins from Thuja plicata as iron transport agents for Salmonella typhimurium. In: J Bacteriol (1980 Jan) 141(1):164-8 ISSN: 0021-9193 Strains of Salmonella typhimurium which are unable to synthesize their normal iron transport agent, enterobactin, and which must be supported with an exogenous chelator (siderophore) on certain media, were used to examine various types of wood for the presence of chelators. Western red cedar wood, Thuja plicata, was observed to contain large amounts of three substances that in low concentration would serve as chelators for S. typhimurium. The chelators from T. plicata were characterized and found to be alpha-, beta-, and gamma- thujaplicin. Other planar cyclic alpha-hydroxyketones were examined, and several were found to function as chelators for S. typhimurium. Registry Numbers: 533-75-5 (Tropolone) €€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€ *****BIULLETEN EKSPERIMENTALNOI BIOLOGII I MEDITSINY***** Gan OI Drize NI Gola S Shrum S Net R [Effects of polysaccharide from Thuja occidentale L. on stromal precursor cells of hematopoietic microenvironment in mice] Deistvie polisakharida iz Thuja occidentale L na stromal'nye kletki- predshestvenniki krovetvornogo mikrookruzheniia myshi. In: Biull Eksp Biol Med (1991 Dec) 112(12):635-7 ISSN: 0365-9615 (Published in Russian) The effect of high molecular polysaccharide subfraction from Thuja occidentale L. (TPS) on stromal precursor cells of hematopoietic microenvironment under the "steady-state" conditions and after sublethal irradiation was investigated. The stromal precursor cells of different stages of differentiation were detected by the implantation of mouse bone marrow under the renal capsule of syngeneic intact recipients and chimeras. It was shown that TPS did not occur the toxic influence on the stromal precursor cells and provided the defense effect on them under the strong (6 Gy) radiation damages. €€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€ *****HAMATOLOGIE UND BLUTTRANSFUSION***** Gohla SH Haubeck HD Schrum S Soltau H Neth RD Activation of CD4-positive T cells by polysaccharide fractions isolated from the Cupressaceae Thuja occidentalis L. (Arborvitae). In: Hamatol Bluttransfus (1989) 32:268-72 ISSN: 0440-0607 [No Abstract Available] €€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€ *****IMMUNOLOGY LETTERS***** Hassan HT Drize NJ Sadovinkova EYu Gan OI Gohla S Schrum S Neth RD TPSg, an anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) agent, isolated from the Cupressaceae Thuja occidentale L. (Arborvitae) enhances in vivo hemopoietic progenitor cells recovery in sublethally irradiated mice. In: Immunol Lett (1996 Apr) 50(1-2):119-22 ISSN: 0165-2478 [No Abstract Available] €€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€ *****JOURNAL OF CLINICAL LABORATORY ANALYSIS***** Elsasser-Beile U Willenbacher W Bartsch HH Gallati H Schulte Monting J von Kleist S Cytokine production in leukocyte cultures during therapy with Echinacea extract. In: J Clin Lab Anal (1996) 10(6):441-5 ISSN: 0887-8013 We measured the levels of the cytokines IL-1-alpha, IL-1-beta, IL-2, IL-6, TNF-alpha, and IFN-gamma in culture supernatants of stimulated whole blood cells derived from 23 tumor patients undergoing a 4-week oral treatment with a spagyric extract from Echinacea angustifolia, Eupatorium perfoliatum, and Thuja occidentalis (Echinacea complex). All patients had had curative surgery for a localized solid malignant tumor. Blood was taken before treatment and after 2 and 4 weeks of therapy. Twelve untreated tumor patients at the same clinical stage, also after curative surgery, served as a control group. In the blood cell cultures of all patients, a rather wide range of cytokine levels was found. After therapy with Echinacea complex, no significant alteration in the production of the cytokines could be seen in comparison to the controls, and also the leukocyte populations remained constant. We conclude that at this application and dosage, the therapy with Echinacea complex has no detectable effect on tumor patients' lymphocytes activity as measured by their cytokine production Registry Numbers: 82115-62-6 (Interferon Type II) €€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€ *****JOURNAL OF ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY***** Chen CP Lin CC Namba T Screening of Taiwanese crude drugs for antibacterial activity against Streptococcus mutans. In: J Ethnopharmacol (1989 Dec) 27(3):285-95 ISSN: 0378-8741 Preliminary antibacterial screening of local crude drugs was carried out using the cariogenic bacterium, Streptococcus mutans. Of 79 aqueous extracts tested, 6 crude drugs were shown to have significant antibacterial activity with minimal inhibitory concentration equal to or lower than 7.8 mg/ml (expressed in terms of dry starting material). Of these effective crude drugs, Morus australis, Ludwigia octovalvis and Thuja orientalis were very effective in inhibiting the growth of serotypes c and d of S. mutans (MIC less than or equal to 2.0-7.8 mg/ml). Elephantopus scaber, Artemisia vulgaris, Mosla chinensis and Orthosiphon aristatus also exhibited considerable antibacterial activity (MIC = 7.8-23.4 mg/ml) against both serotypes. In the presence of 5% sucrose, the antibacterial potency of the majority of the extracts did not change for type c, while the potency decreased about one-half for type d. €€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€ *****JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL AND BIOMEDICAL ANALYSIS***** Gocan S Cimpan G Muresan L Automated multiple development thin layer chromatography of some plant extracts. In: J Pharm Biomed Anal (1996 Jun) 14(8-10):1221-7 ISSN: 0731-7085 The separation of ten plant extracts using automated multiple development thin-layer chromatography (AMD -TLC) is described. Alcoholic extracts were obtained from Cinchona succirubra, Aesculus hippocastanum, Berberis vulgaris. Artemisia abrotanum, Carduus marianus, Thuja occidentalis, Baptisia tinctoria, Paulinia cupana, Lycopus europaeus and Echinacea angustifolia. The separation was performed on silica plates (Sil G-50 UV 254 (Macherey-Nagel), 10 x 20 cm). AMD was achieved in 25 steps using methanol, ethyl acetate, toluene, 1,2-dichloroethane, 25% ammonia solution and anhydrous formic acid as modifiers. The chromatograms were evaluated with a Shimadzu CS-9000 dual-wavelength flying-spot scanner. Better separations were obtained using AMD than isocratic elution. €€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€ *****LEUKEMIA***** Offergeld R Reinecker C Gumz E Schrum S Treiber R Neth RD Gohla SH Mitogenic activity of high molecular polysaccharide fractions isolated from the cuppressaceae Thuja occidentalis L. enhanced cytokine-production by thyapolysaccharide, g-fraction (TPSg). In: Leukemia (1992) 6 Suppl 3:189S-191S ISSN: 0887-6924 Thuja polysaccharide g fraction (TPSg) was shown to be an inducer of the CD4+ fraction of the human peripheral blood T-cell subset (1,2). Furthermore, it could be demonstrated that TPSg is a potent inhibitor of the expression of HIV-1-specific antigens and of the HIV-1- specific reverse transcriptase (3). This report deals with the cytokine pattern induced by TPSg in human peripheral blood lymphocyte (PBL) and purified monocyte/macrophage cultures. In addition, a further characterization of the CD4+ T-cell fraction stimulated by TPSg was performed by FACS analysis. TPSg is induces IL-1 beta, IL-2, IL-3, IL-6, gamma-IFN, G-CSF, GM-CSF, and TNF-beta production in PBL cultures; and IL-1 beta and IL-6 in monocyte/macrophage cultures. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) demonstrated that no IL-4 was produced by PBL cultures under TPSg influence. €€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€ Gohla SH Haubeck HD Neth RD Mitogenic activity of high molecular polysaccharide fractions isolated from the Cupressaceae Thuja occidentale L. I. Macrophage- dependent induction of CD-4-positive T-helper (Th+) lymphocytes. In: Leukemia (1988 Aug) 2(8):528-33 ISSN: 0887-6924 The arborvitae or Thuja occidentale L., one of the Cupressaceae, has rarely been investigated until now. Several authors have demonstrated that allopathic extracts of this plant could be used as strong antiviral agents directed against plant and animal viruses. Polysaccharide fractions with molecular weights ranging between 20,000 and 1,000,000 and higher have been isolated from the aqueous alkaline extract of the herbal parts of T. occidentale L. by ethanol precipitation and fractionation by ultrafiltration. High molecular subfractions of Thujapolysaccharides (TPS) proved to be highly mitogenic on peripheral blood leukocytes. It was demonstrated by the alcalic immune phosphatase-antiphosphatase and Pappenheim staining methods that the mitogenic and cluster-forming activity of TPS cause T cell induction, in particular, of CD 4-positive T-helper/inducer cells as opposed to B cells. The CD-4+ T-helper/inducer cell induction is connected to an increased production of IL-2. The cluster-forming ability and mitogenity of TPS correlates well with the 3H-thymidine uptake and seems to be IL-1 and IFN-gamma dependent as could be shown by blocking the mitogenic effect using anti-IL-1- and anti-IFN antibodies. Whether it is possible to use these polysaccharide fractions as an adjuvant in the therapy of immune deficiency syndromes and cancer must now be further investigated. Registry Numbers: 82115-62-6 (Interferon Type II) €€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€ *****PLANTA MEDICA***** Egert D Beuscher N Studies on antigen specifity of immunoreactive arabinogalactan proteins extracted from Baptisia tinctoria and Echinacea purpurea. In: Planta Med (1992 Apr) 58(2):163-5 ISSN: 0032-0943 In a series of experiments the cross-reactivity of antibodies raised against arabinogalactan proteins from Baptisia tinctoria and Echinacea purpurea was studied in order to prove the antigen specificity of the extracted glycoproteins/polysaccharides. Using the antigen-antibody reaction in a competitive ELISA it was evident that antibodies against glycoproteins from Baptisia tinctoria were specific because none of the other antigens like those from Echinacea purpurea, Thuja occidentalis, arabinogalactan from larch, LPS from E. coli 055:B5, and from Salmonella typhimurium were able to inhibit the antigen-antibody reaction. The same results were obtained from ELISA experiments with Echinacea purpurea. From these studies it was concluded that the antigenic regions of immunoreactive proteins from both medicinal plants show structural differences. Registry Numbers: 9036-66-2 (arabinogalactan) €€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€