For more than 420 million years, plants, insects and their predators have co-evolved based on a chemical arms race including deployment of refined chemical defence systems by each player. Cyanogenic glucosides are produced by numerous plants and by some specialized insects and serve an important role as defence compounds in these intimate interactions. Burnet moth larvae are able to sequester c...

It is well known that specific antibody, under appropriate conditions, will prevent viral infections, but thorough knowledge concerning how this is accomplished is incomplete. Andrewes (1929) after working with virus III in tissue cultures suggested the possibility that immune serum acts by preventing the virus from entering the cells; if the serum fails to do this, invasion of cells occurs. Sa...

The cytosolic phospholipase A2α(cPLA2α) is one of the potential targets for anti-inflammatory drugs, since this enzyme plays a key role in the inflammation processes seen in health disorders, like asthma, allergic reactions, arthritis and neuronal diseases. In this study, cPLA2α inhibition by 43 methanol extracts from medicinal plants rich in polyphenols was determined. The eight most active ex...

Our previous studies reported that methanol extract of Sanguisorbae radix from Sanguisorba officinalis L. (Rosaceae) prevented neuronal cell damage induced by Abeta (25-35) in vitro. The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of gallic acid isolated from Sanguisorbae radix on Abeta (25-35)-induced neurotoxicity using cultured rat cortical neurons. Gallic acid (0.1, 1 microM) sh...

Sanguisorbae Radix (SR) is well known as herbal medicine named "Zi-Yu" in Korea, which is the dried roots of Sanguisorba officinalis L. (Rosacease). We investigated the underlying mechanism on the inhibition of atopic dermatitis (AD) of an ethanol extract of SR (ESR) using 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene- (DNCB-) induced AD mice model. Oral administration of ESR significantly suppressed DNCB-induced A...

Radix Sanguisorbae, the root of Sanguisorba officinalis L. is used as traditional Chinese medicine. In recent decades, it has been reported to be clinically effective against myelosuppression induced by chemotherapy and/ or radiotherapy. However, the underlining mechanism has not been well studied. In this work, we evaluated the hematopoietic effect of total saponins from S. officinalis L. on m...

Using a bioassay-directed chromatographic separation, two ellagic acids were obtained from the ethyl acetate extract of the roots of Sanguisorba officinalis L. On the basis of chemical and spectroscopic methods, the two ellagic acids were identified as 3,3',4-tri-O-methylellagic acid-4'-O-β-d-xyloside and 3,3',4-tri-O-methylellagic acid. Stimulation of cell proliferation was assayed in hematopo...

Possible control options are investigated for the introduced Hieracium weeds, particular problems in South Island high country, New Zealand. In a pot experiment regression of input to output ratios of above ground biomass over successive harvests, from binary mixtures was used to determine the competitive interaction between 13 pasture species and two Hieracium species, H. pilosella and H. prae...

After the Burnet School at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne changed its focus from influenza to immunology, the influenza research program moved with Frank Fenner's group to ANU, where it was anchored by Stephan Fazekas de St. Groth. There the pioneering influenza work of Sir MacFarlane Burnet continued, with Graeme Laver as biochemist and Stephan Fazekas as the mathematical mod...

Leonard Hayflick [3] in the US during the early 1960s showed that normal populations of embryonic cells divide a finite number of times. He published his results as "The Limited In Vitro Lifetime of Human Diploid Cell Strains" in 1964. Hayflick performed the experiment with WI-38 fetal lung cells, named after the Wistar Institute, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where Hayflick worked. Frank MacF...