Gardenine

Planta Med. 1991 Dec;57(6):536-42.

Formation of nitrogen-containing metabolites from geniposide and gardenoside by human intestinal bacteria.[Pubmed: 1818345]

METHODS AND RESULTS:
During the course of our studies on the metabolism of iridoid glycosides by human intestinal bacteria, we found that geniposide (1) and gardenoside (4) were transformed to new nitrogen-containing compounds, genipinine (3) and Gardenine (6), respectively, along with the known aglycones. Although the amounts of new metabolites were somewhat lower than those of the aglycones, they were quantitatively analyzed by means of liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS).
CONCLUSIONS:
Of 25 strains of human intestinal bacteria, Peptostreptococcus anaerobius, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Fusobacterium nucleatum, and Bacteroides fragilis ssp. thetaotus produced appreciable amounts of 3, while a bacterial mixture of human feces produced 10 times or more higher amounts of 3, as compared to the individual strains.

Zhongguo Zhong Xi Yi Jie He Za Zhi. 2005 Jan;25(1):42-4.

Effect of gardenin on gene expression profile in brain of rats with focal cerebral ischemia[Pubmed: 15719750]

Total RNAs were isolated from rats with FCI and those treated with gardenin.
METHODS AND RESULTS:
The mRNAs were reversely transcribed to cDNA with incorporation of fluorescent Cy5- or Cy3-dUTP to prepare hybridization probes. The PCR products of 4096 genes were spotted on the chip after a serial treatment. The mixed probes were hybridized to the cDNA microarray. Axon Genepix 4000B and GenePixPro 3.0 software were used to scan and analyze the fluorescent signals. In the group treated with gardenin, there were 70 genes had expression profiles different to that in the model group in the focal cerebral ischemic brain tissue, in which 68 were up-regulated and 2 down-regulated.
CONCLUSIONS:
Gardenin has regulatory effect on the gene expression in rats with focal cerebral ischemia, which elucidates part of the pharmacologic mechanism of Qingkailing in molecular level.