Sensitivity-dependent hierarchical receptor codes for odors. (1/7)

In order to comprehend the strategy of odor encoding by odorant receptors, we isolated 2740 mouse receptor neurons from four olfactory epithelial zones and classified them in terms of their sensitivities and tuning specificities to a chiral pair of odorants, S(+)-carvone (caraway-like odor) and R(-)-carvone (spearmint-like odor). Our approach revealed that the majority of receptors at the lowest effective stimulus concentration represented the principal odor qualities characteristic of each enantiomer by means of the principal odor qualities of the odorants for which the receptors were most sensitive. The chiral-non-discriminating receptors were newly recruited 3.7 times of R(-)-carvone-sensitive receptors and totally became 2.8 times (39/14) of R(-)carvone-sensitive receptors in the subpopulations when the stimulus concentration was increased 10-fold [corrected]. More than 80% of the responsive receptors (an estimated 70 +/- alpha types) exhibited overlapping sensitivities between the enantiomers. The signals from the non-discriminating receptors may be reduced to decode the characteristic odor identity for R(-)-carvone in the brain over an adequate range of stimulus strengths. The information processing of odors appears to involve the selective weighting of the signals from the most sensitive receptors. An analysis of the overall receptor codes to carvones indicated that the system employs hierarchical receptor codes: principal odor qualities are encoded by the most sensitive receptors and lower-ranked odor qualities by less sensitive receptors.  (+info)

Suppression of neutrophil recruitment in mice by geranium essential oil. (2/7)

BACKGROUND: In aromatherapy, essential oils are used as anti-inflammatory remedies, but experimental studies on their action mechanisms are very limited. AIMS OF THE STUDY: To assess their anti-inflammatory activities, the effects of essential oils on neutrophil recruitment in mice were examined in vivo. METHOD: The effect of essential oils on leukocyte and neutrophil recruitment induced 6 h after intraperitoneal injection of casein in mice was examined. RESULTS: Leukocyte recruitment into the peritoneal cavity in mice was suppressed by intraperitoneal injections of geranium, lemongrass and spearmint oils at the dose of 5 microl/mouse, but was not by tea tree oil. This recruitment was inhibited dose-dependently by geranium oil. The suppression of leukocyte recruitment resulted from inhibition of neutrophil accumulation. CONCLUSION: Some essential oils used as anti-inflammatory remedies suppress neutrophil recruitment into the peritoneal cavity in mice.  (+info)

Monoterpene metabolism. Cloning, expression, and characterization of (-)-isopiperitenol/(-)-carveol dehydrogenase of peppermint and spearmint. (3/7)

The essential oils of peppermint (Mentha x piperita) and spearmint (Mentha spicata) are distinguished by the oxygenation position on the p-menthane ring of the constitutive monoterpenes that is conferred by two regiospecific cytochrome P450 limonene-3- and limonene-6-hydroxylases. Following hydroxylation of limonene, an apparently similar dehydrogenase oxidizes (-)-trans-isopiperitenol to (-)-isopiperitenone in peppermint and (-)-trans-carveol to (-)-carvone in spearmint. Random sequencing of a peppermint oil gland secretory cell cDNA library revealed a large number of clones that specified redox-type enzymes, including dehydrogenases. Full-length dehydrogenase clones were screened by functional expression in Escherichia coli using a recently developed in situ assay. A single full-length acquisition encoding (-)-trans-isopiperitenol dehydrogenase (ISPD) was isolated. The (-)-ISPD cDNA has an open reading frame of 795 bp that encodes a 265-residue enzyme with a calculated molecular mass of 27,191. Nondegenerate primers were designed based on the (-)-trans-ISPD cDNA sequence and employed to screen a spearmint oil gland secretory cell cDNA library from which a 5'-truncated cDNA encoding the spearmint homolog, (-)-trans-carveol-dehydrogenase, was isolated. Reverse transcription-PCR amplification and RACE were used to acquire the remaining 5'-sequence from RNA isolated from oil gland secretory cells of spearmint leaf. The full-length spearmint dehydrogenase shares >99% amino acid identity with its peppermint homolog and both dehydrogenases are capable of utilizing (-)-trans-isopiperitenol and (-)-trans-carveol. These isopiperitenol/carveol dehydrogenases are members of the short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase superfamily and are related to other plant short-chain dehydrogenases/reductases involved in secondary metabolism (lignan biosynthesis), stress responses, and phytosteroid biosynthesis, but they are quite dissimilar (approximately 13% identity) to the monoterpene reductases of mint involved in (-)-menthol biosynthesis. The isolation of the genes specifying redox enzymes of monoterpene biosynthesis in mint indicates that these genes arose from different ancestors and not by simple duplication and differentiation of a common progenitor, as might have been anticipated based on the common reaction chemistry and structural similarity of the substrate monoterpenes.  (+info)

Antioxidant activity measured in different solvent fractions obtained from Mentha spicata Linn.: an analysis by ABTS*+ decolorization assay. (4/7)

Antioxidant compounds are abundantly available in plants and play an important role in scavenging free radicals, thus providing protection to humans against oxidative DNA damage. Mentha spicata Linn., commonly called spearmint, belongs to the family lamiaceae. It was selected in the present study because Mentha extracts have antioxidant properties due to the presence of eugenol, caffeic acid, rosmarinic acid and alpha-tocopherol. Four solvent fractions (hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and water) of ethanolic extract of dried leaves powder of M. spicata were analyzed for total antioxidant activity (TAA) and relative antioxidant activity (RAA) and compared with standard antioxidants such as Quercetin, beta-carotene, L-ascorbic acid and glutathione using ABTS*+ decolorization assay (ABTS/Potassium persulphate). The antioxidant activity was assumed to be from the total phenolic content of the ethanolic extract. Total phenolics are found to be highest in ethyl acetate fraction (54 mg/g) and least in hexane fraction (13 mg/g) and more or less similar in water and chloroform fractions (30-32 mg/g). TAA is found to be less in hexane and chloroform fractions (<53% at 50 microg/ml) and highest in ethyl acetate (95% at 20 microg/ml) and water (84% at 30 microg/ml) fractions. The RAA of ethyl acetate fraction is 1.1 compared to quercetin (at 5 microM/ml), but greater when compared to beta-carotene (15 microM/ml), L-ascorbic acid (15 microM/ml) and glutathione (15 microM/ml). The RAAs with these antioxidants are in the range of 1.31 -1.6. The values of RAAs for water fraction also show similar trend and are in the range of 1.0-1.4. The antioxidant activities of the solvent factions are closely related to the content of total phenolics present in them.  (+info)

Structure of limonene synthase, a simple model for terpenoid cyclase catalysis. (5/7)

The crystal structure of (4S)-limonene synthase from Mentha spic ata, a metal ion-dependent monoterpene cyclase that catalyzes the coupled isomerization and cyclization of geranyl diphosphate, is reported at 2.7-A; resolution in two forms liganded to the substrate and intermediate analogs, 2-fluorogeranyl diphosphate and 2-fluorolinalyl diphosphate, respectively. The implications of these findings are described for domain interactions in the homodimer and for changes in diphosphate-metal ion coordination and substrate binding conformation in the course of the multistep reaction.  (+info)

Protection against LPS-induced cartilage inflammation and degradation provided by a biological extract of Mentha spicata. (6/7)

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Antibacterial effects of the essential oils of commonly consumed medicinal herbs using an in vitro model. (7/7)

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