• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.427-435
• /
• 2003

Growth and pigment responses to different levels of solar radiation with or without ultraviolet (UV)-B component $({\lambda}=280-315nm)$ were investigated in Antarctic rhodophytes, Kallymenia antarctica and Palmaria decipiens, collected around King George Island during the summer of 2000. In K. antarctica specific growth rate, based on thallus area or fresh weight, decreased with increasing solar irradiances while P. decipiens were relatively insensitive to the effects of light. It is noticeable that the presence or absence of UV-B had no significant effect on growth for either species. However, K. antarctica showed a more pronounced reduction in chlorophyll (Chl a) concentrations at higher irradiances in the presence of UV-B. In P. decipiens, Chl a concentrations did not differ despite radiation level fluctuations being lower albeit than initial measurements. Thallus thickness was greater in K. antarctica than in P. decipiens. There were higher relative amounts of UV-absorbing pigments (UVAPs) in P. decipiens than in K, antarctica. The single absorbance peak obtained from the methanol extracts was resolved into three (316,332 and 346nm) in K. antarctica and four peaks (315,326,333 and 349 nm) in Palmaria as a result of the fourth-derivative. After 7 days exposure to solar radiation, the amount of UVAPs in K. antarctica was significantly reduced to a similar degree at all light levels, whereas that of P. decipiens remained unchanged except at 5% of surface irradiance. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of purified extracts indicated that P. decipiens possesses porphyra-334 in addition to three other mycosporine-like anlino acids (MAAs; asterina-330, palythine, shinorine), which are commonly present in K. antarctica. Significantly lower tolerance of K. antarctica to high levels of solar radiation may be connected with its usual absence in the eulittoral, while the active growth and elastic pigment responses of P. decipiens over a wide range of solar irradiance levels up to full sunlight seems to correspond well with its wide vertical distribution from rock pools down to 25-30m.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.242-251
• /
• 2014

The objective of this study was to isolate a photosensitizer from Pueraria thunbergiana leaves that induces apoptosis in SK-HEP-1 cells. Column chromatography and thin layer chromatography were used to isolate active compounds from extracts of P. thunbergiana leaves. The structures of the isolated compounds were determined by 1D-NMR, 2D-NMR, and FAB-mass spectroscopy. A substance, named M4-3, was purified from the leaves of P. thunbergiana using various chromatography methods, and the absorbance of the substance was measured. The absorbance was highest at 410 nm, suggesting that the M4-3 substance was a different compound from chlorophyll a and b, which absorb at 410, 502, 533, and 607 nm. Further analyses revealed that the M4-3 compound was a $13^2$-hydoxy pheophorbide, a methyl ester with a molecular weight of 662. M4-3 was identified as a derivative compound of pheophorbide, with a structure that magnesium comes away from the porphyrin ring. The results of the analysis of the cytotoxicity of the M4-3 substance against the SK-HEP-1 cells revealed that it inhibited rates of cell growth by 40% and 80% at a concentration of 0.04 ${\mu}M$ and 0.08 ${\mu}M$, respectively. The M4-3 compound was found to be a photosensitizer for cytotoxicity because it was appeared only in light condition as examining activity in different irradiation conditions (light condition and nonlight condition) under the same concentration. Analysis of morphological changes in the cells following cell death induced by exposure to the M4-3 substance reveled representative phenomena of apoptosis (nuclear condensation, vesicle formation, and fragmentation of DNA). The induction of apoptosis was attributed to the compound's photodynamic activity.