Abstract This work aimed to prepare breviscapine from Erigeron breviscapus and investigate its protection mechanism on uterine ischemia-reperfusion injury (UIRI) in rats. Breviscapine was extracted and separated from Erigeron breviscapus. Sixty female SD rats were randomly divided into sham-operated, model and breviscapine groups. The breviscapine group was treated with 5 mg/kg breviscapine for three days. Then, the UIRI model was established in model and breviscapine groups via uterine artery ischemia for 30 min followed by reperfusion for 60 min. At the end of reperfusion, compared with model group, in breviscapine group the uterine tissue superoxide dismutase activity was increased, and the malondialdehyde level was decreased; the uterine tissue tumor necrosis factor α, interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6 levels were decreased, and the IL-10 level was increased; the uterine tissue adenosine triphosphate, adenosine diphosphate, adenosine monophosphate and total adenine nucleotides levels were increased; the uterine cell apoptosis rate was decreased, the Bcl-2 protein expression level was increased, and the Bax protein expression level was decreased. In conclusion, breviscapine from Erigeron breviscapus can reduce the oxidative stress, inflammatory reaction, energy metabolism disorder and apoptosis in uterine tissue, thus exerting the protective effect on UIRI in rats.

ABSTRACT Water-saving cultivation in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is an important technique for achieving high yield and high water use eficiency (WUE) in the North China Plain (NCP) where water resources are in shortage. In order to determine the effects of supplemental irrigation based on soil water content on crop evapotranspiration (ET), DM, grain yield and WUE in wheat, treatments were designed to vary the relative soil water content at jointing and anthesis stages: I70 (70%, 70%) and I75 (75%, 75%) with rain-fed (I0) and traditional irrigation (Ick) as contrasts. The results indicated that the irrigation amount of I70 and I75 were significantly lower than that of Ick by 45.1 to 132.4 mm, but soil water depletion increased by 23.5 to 35.4 mm. Although the total ET throughout the growing season (ETt) of I75 was less than that of Ick, the ratio to ETt from anthesis to maturity increased significantly. The DM partitioning ratio was decreased in vegetable organs, but increased in grain for I75 compared with Ick. The grain yield for I75 was significantly higher than that of I0 and I70, whereas nonsignificant difference was observed between I75 and Ick, and the WUE and irrigation water use efficiency of I75 were higher than those of Ick by 11.0% and 87.4% in 2008-2009 and 3.5% and 34.0% in 2009-2010. Thus, I75 can be developed as an optimal water-saving irrigation regimes in the NCP

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate whether anaerobic metabolites could induce volatile compounds and improve aroma of dried jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Miller). Jujube fruits were incubated in a polyvinyl chloride bag containing 5% CO2 and 95% N2 for up to 168 h at 25 °C and 3 samples were randomly removed every 6 h and oven dried to a moisture content of ≅ 20%. The volatile compounds of control and 5% CO2-pretreated Chinese jujube fruits were extracted by simultaneous distillation extraction and identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS). The acetaldehyde and ethanol contents were determined by gas chromatography (GC). The results indicated that a large accumulation of acetaldehyde and ethanol caused changes in aroma composition of dried jujube products and 5% CO2 pretreatment led to an increase in the levels of some compounds, particularly esters, acetaldehydes, and ethanol, whereas the amount of acids were decreased significantly. Principal component analysis showed that integrative scores of 5% CO2 pretreatment at 120 h were the highest, and aroma quality was better than that of the control. Relatively low concentrations of anaerobic respiration metabolites are good for jujube fruit aroma composition.