Inhibitory Effect of Filipendula ulmaria on Mammary Carcinogenesis Induced by Local Administration of Methylnitrosourea to Target Organ in Rats.[Pubmed: 29607788]

The meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria (L.) Maxim.) may have a cancer prophylactic activity, since its extracts exhibits antioxidant, antiinflammatory and other effects. We investigated the ability of a meadowsweet decoction to inhibit mammary carcinogenesis induced by intramammary injections of methylnitrosourea (MNU) to the target organ in rats.

Climate change accelerates local disease extinction rates in a long-term wild host-pathogen association.[Pubmed: 29485725]

Pathogens are a significant component of all plant communities. In recent years, the potential for existing and emerging pathogens of agricultural crops to cause increased yield losses as a consequence of changing climatic patterns has raised considerable concern. In contrast, the response of naturally occurring, endemic pathogens to a warming climate has received little attention. Here, we report on the impact of a signature variable of global climate change - increasing temperature - on the long-term epidemiology of a natural host-pathogen association involving the rust pathogen Triphragmium ulmariae and its host plant Filipendula ulmaria. In a host-pathogen metapopulation involving approximately 230 host populations growing on an archipelago of islands in the Gulf of Bothnia we assessed changes in host population size and pathogen epidemiological measures over a 25-year period. We show how the incidence of disease and its severity declines over that period and most importantly demonstrate a positive association between a long-term trend of increasing extinction rates in individual pathogen populations of the metapopulation and increasing temperature. Our results are highly suggestive that changing climatic patterns, particularly mean monthly growing season (April-November) temperature, are markedly influencing the epidemiology of plant disease in this host-pathogen association. Given the important role plant pathogens have in shaping the structure of communities, changes in the epidemiology of pathogens have potentially far-reaching impacts on ecological and evolutionary processes. For these reasons, it is essential to increase understanding of pathogen epidemiology, its response to warming, and to invoke these responses in forecasts for the future.

Targeted and Untargeted Metabolic Profiling of Wild Grassland Plants identifies Antibiotic and Anthelmintic Compounds Targeting Pathogen Physiology, Metabolism and Reproduction.[Pubmed: 29374230]

Plants traditionally used by farmers to manage livestock ailments could reduce reliance on synthetic antibiotics and anthelmintics but in many cases their chemical composition is unknown. As a case study, we analyzed the metabolite profiles of 17 plant species and 45 biomass samples from agricultural grasslands in England using targeted and untargeted metabolite profiling by liquid-chromatography mass spectrometry. We identified a range of plant secondary metabolites, including 32 compounds with known antimicrobial/anthelmintic properties which varied considerably across the different plant samples. These compounds have been shown previously to target multiple aspects of pathogen physiology and metabolism in vitro and in vivo, including inhibition of quorum sensing in bacteria and egg viability in nematodes. The most abundant bioactive compounds were benzoic acid, myricetin, p-coumaric acid, rhamnetin, and rosmarinic acid. Four wild plants (Filipendula ulmaria (L.) Maxim., Prunella vulgaris L., Centuarea nigra L., and Rhinanthus minor L.) and two forage legumes (Medicago sativa L., Trifolium hybridium L.) contained high levels of these compounds. Forage samples from native high-diversity grasslands had a greater abundance of medicinal compounds than samples from agriculturally improved grasslands. Incorporating plants with antibiotic/anthelmintic compounds into livestock feeds may reduce global drug-resistance and preserve the efficacy of last-resort drugs.

Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and gastroprotective activity of Filipendula ulmaria (L.) Maxim. and Filipendula vulgaris Moench.[Pubmed: 29132911]

Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria (L.) Maxim.) and dropwort (Filipendula vulgaris Moench) are herbaceous perennials employed in folk medicine for their antirheumatic, antipyretic and anti-ulcer properties.

Filipendula ulmaria extracts attenuate cisplatin-induced liver and kidney oxidative stress in rats: In vivo investigation and LC-MS analysis.[Pubmed: 27871982]

None