The data given in the literature published during 1976-1986 Table!. concerning antimicrobial activities of essential oils are treated from an experimental point of view and with regard to a possible practical application. Attention is paid to four factors which are important when testing essential oils: the assay technique; the growth medium; the microorganism; the essential oil.

A recent phase 1 trial of the fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) inhibitor BIA 10-2474 led to the death of one volunteer and produced mild-to-severe neurological symptoms in four others. Although the cause of the clinical neurotoxicity is unknown, it has been postulated, given the clinical safety profile of other tested FAAH inhibitors, that off-target activities of BIA 10-2474 may have played a role. Here, we use activity-based proteomic methods to determine the protein interaction landscape of BIA 10-2474 in human cells and tissues. This analysis revealed that the drug inhibits several lipases that are not targeted by PF04457845, a highly selective and clinically tested FAAH inhibitor. BIA 10-2474, but not PF04457845, produced substantial alterations in lipid networks in human cortical neurons, suggesting that promiscuous lipase inhibitors have the potential to cause metabolic dysregulation in the nervous system.

The essential oils from fresh and dried rhizomes of ALPINIA GALANGA showed an antimicrobial activity against gram-positive bacteria, a yeast and some dermatophytes, using the agar overlay technique. The main components of the oils were also tested and terpinen-4-ol was found most active. An N-pentane/diethyl ether extract of dried rhizomes was active against TRICHOPHYTON MENTAGROPHYTES. 1'-Acetoxychavicol acetate, 1'-acetoxyeugenol acetate and 1'-hydroxychavicol acetate identified by MS and NMR were found in the antifungally active fractions obtained by LSC. Acetoxychavicol acetate was active against the seven fungi tested and its MIC value for dermatophytes ranged from 50 to 250 microg/ml. Dried sliced rhizomes contained 1.5% of this compound. The compound was not found in rhizomes of ALPINIA OFFICINARUM, ZINGIBER OFFICINALE and KAEMPFERIA GALANGA.

In recent years, lipids have come to the foreground as signaling mediators in the central nervous system (CNS) 1,2 . While classical neurotransmitters are stored in synaptic vesicles and released on fusion with the plasma membrane of neurons, due to their lipophilic nature, lipids readily diffuse through membranes and are not stored in vesicles. It is, therefore, generally accepted that signaling lipids are produced 'on demand' and are rapidly metabolized to terminate their biological action 3 . In particular, NAEs, including N-palmitoylethanolamine (PEA), N-oleoylethanolamine (OEA) and the endocannabinoid anandamide (N-arachidonoylethanolamine, AEA) have emerged as key lipid signaling molecules. Genetic deletion or pharmacological inhibition of the main NAE hydrolytic enzyme, fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), revealed elevated anandamide, PEA and OEA levels in brain and implicated these molecules in the modulation of various physiological processes such as pain, stress, anxiety, appetite, cardiovascular function and inflammation [4][5][6][7] . The physiological effects resulting from perturbation of the production of anandamide and other NAEs in living systems are, however, poorly studied, partly because of a lack of pharmacological tools to modulate their biosynthetic enzymes 8 . NAPE-PLD is generally considered a principal NAE biosynthetic enzyme 9,10 . Biochemical and structural studies have demonstrated that NAPE-PLD is a membrane-associated, constitutively active zinc hydrolase with a metallo-β-lactamase fold 11 . The enzyme generates a broad range of NAEs by hydrolysis of the phosphodiester bond between the phosphoglyceride and the NAE in N-acylphosphatidylethanolamines (NAPEs) 12 . Knockout (KO) studies have shown that the Ca 2+ -dependent conversion of NAPE to NAEs bearing both saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acyl groups are fivefold reduced in brain lysates from mice that genetically lack Napepld 13 . In accordance, reduced levels of saturated and mono-unsaturated NAEs were observed in the brains of NAPE-PLD KO mice [13][14][15] . Anandamide levels were not reduced in the transgenic model reported by Leung et al., which suggested the presence of compensatory mechanisms 13 . Indeed, multiple alternative biosynthetic pathways for anandamide have been discovered since 10 .

Endocannabinoids, an important class of signaling lipids involved in health and disease, are predominantly synthesized and metabolized by enzymes of the serine hydrolase superfamily. Activity-based protein profiling (ABPP) using fluorescent probes, such as fluorophosphonate (FP)-TAMRA and β-lactone-based MB064, enables drug discovery activities for serine hydrolases. FP-TAMRA and MB064 have distinct, albeit partially overlapping, target profiles but cannot be used in conjunction due to overlapping excitation/emission spectra. We therefore synthesized a novel FP-probe with a green BODIPY as a fluorescent tag and studied its labeling profile in mouse proteomes. Surprisingly, we found that the reporter tag plays an important role in the binding potency and selectivity of the probe. A multiplexed ABPP assay was developed in which a probe cocktail of FP-BODIPY and MB064 visualized most endocannabinoid serine hydrolases in mouse brain proteomes in a single experiment. The multiplexed ABPP assay was employed to profile endocannabinoid hydrolase inhibitor activity and selectivity in the mouse brain.

The interpretation of high-dimensional structure–activity data sets in drug discovery to predict ligand–protein interaction landscapes is a challenging task. Here we present Drug Discovery Maps (DDM), a machine learning model that maps the activity profile of compounds across an entire protein family, as illustrated here for the kinase family. DDM is based on the t -distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE) algorithm to generate a visualization of molecular and biological similarity. DDM maps chemical and target space and predicts the activities of novel kinase inhibitors across the kinome. The model was validated using independent data sets and in a prospective experimental setting, where DDM predicted new inhibitors for FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3), a therapeutic target for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia. Compounds were resynthesized, yielding highly potent, cellularly active FLT3 inhibitors. Biochemical assays confirmed most of the predicted off-targets. DDM is further unique in that it is completely open-source and available as a ready-to-use executable to facilitate broad and easy adoption.

Fifty-three essential oils were tested against five micro-organisms (Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans) using the agar overlay technique. The essential oils were randomly selected and not on the basis of a supposed activity. It was found that all oils showed an activity against at least one micro-organism, and that substantial activities against P. aeruginosa were scarce. Combined activities against C. albicans, the Gram-positive bacteria and E. coli, and an activity against C. albicans were most often observed. Secondly a combined activity against C. albicans, B. subtilis and S. aureus was found. The differences between the inhibition zones were too small for a differentiation of the antimicrobial activities of the essential oils. A correlation matrix shows the relationships of the micro-organisms as to the activity patterns of the essential oils. High correlations were found for all the micro-organisms, except for P. aeruginosa.

No abstract