Background:Isolation and structure elucidation of flavan-3-ol constituents from the leaves of Ficus spragueana and their cytotoxic activity.Materials and Methods:Different open silica gel column chromatographic techniques with different solvent systems were used for the separation of the constituents of the ethyl acetate-soluble fraction of the alcoholic extract of Ficus spragueana leaves. The structures of these compounds were assigned on the basis of spectroscopic analyses and comparison with literature data. MTT colorimetric assay method (Viability assay) was used for the evaluation of cytotoxic activity of compound 1 against human breast cancer (MCF-7) and human liver cancer (HepG2) cell lines.Results:The isolation of one flavan-3-ol dimer and was identified as (-)-afzelechin-(4α→8)-epicatechin 1, and two flavan-3-ol monomers and were identified as (-)-epiafzelechin 2 and (-)-epicatechin 3. Compound 1 was relatively inactive against human breast cancer (MCF-7) cell line at the tested concentrations as compared with the standard. However, at a concentration (50 ΅g) it was found to give inhibition upon the proliferation of examined human liver (HepG2) tumor cell line.Conclusions:Compound 1 is a new flavan-3-ol dimer and it showed a potent cytotoxic activity against human liver (HepG2) tumor cell line.
Total 40 natural compounds were selected to perform the molecular docking studies to screen and identify the potent antiviral agents specifically for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The key targets of COVID-19, protease (PDB ID: 7BQY) and RNA polymerase (PDB ID: 7bV2) were used to dock our target compounds by Molecular Operating Environment (MOE) version 2014.09. We used 3 different conformations of protease target (6M0K, 6Y2F and 7BQY) and two different score functions to strengthen the probability of inhibitors discovery. After an extensive screening analysis, 20 compounds exhibit good binding affinities to one or both COVID-19 targets. 7 out of 20 compounds were predicted to overcome the activity of both targets. The top 7 hits are, flacourticin (3), sagerinic acid (16), hordatine A (23), hordatine B (24), N-feruloyl tyramine dimer (25), bisavenanthramides B-5 (29) and vulnibactins (40). According to our results, all these top hits was found to have a better binding scores than remdesivir, the native ligand in RNA polymerase target (PDB ID: 7bV2). Hordatines are phenolic compounds present in barley, were found to exhibit the highest binding affinity to both protease and polymerase through forming strong hydrogen bonds with the catalytic residues, as well as significant interactions with other receptor-binding residues. These results probably provided an excellent lead candidate for the development of therapeutic drugs against COVID-19. Eventually, animal experiment and accurate clinical trials are needed to confirm the preventive potentials of these compounds. Graphic Abstract
Virtual screening of the potential lead chemotherapeutic phytochemicals from medicinal plants has useful application in the field of in-silico modelling and computer-based drug design by orienting and scoring ligands in the active binding site of a target protein. The phytochemical investigation of the Pterocephalus frutescens extract in n-butanol resulted in the isolation and structure elucidation of three iridoids and four flavonoids which were identified as Geniposide (1), Geniposidic acid (2), Nepetanudoside C (3), Isovitexin (4), Luteolin-7-O-glucoside (5) Isoorientin (6) and Orientin (7), respectively. Molecular docking studies were used to compare the binding energies of the isolated phytochemicals at four biological cancer-relevant targets; namely, aromatase, carbonic anhydrase IX, fatty acid synthase, and topoisomerase II-DNA complex. The docking study concluded that the isolated compounds have promising cytotoxic activities, in particular, Luteolin-7-O-glucoside (5) and Orientin (7) which exhibited high binding affinities among the isolated compounds at the active sites of the target enzymes; Aromatase (−8.73 Kcal/mol), and Carbonic anhydrase IX (−8.92 Kcal/mol), respectively, surpassing the corresponding binding scores of the co-crystallized ligands and the reference drugs at these target enzymes. Additionally, among the isolated compounds, Luteolin-7-O-glucoside (5) showed the most outstanding binding affinities at the active sites of the target enzymes; Fatty acid synthase, and Topisomerase II-DNA complex with binding scores of −6.82, and −7.99 Kcal/mol, respectively. Finally, the SwissADME online web tool predicted that most of these compounds possessed acceptable oral bioavailability and drug likeness characteristics.
Objective: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 causes both health and economic crises and up till now no drug or vaccine has yet been approved. There is an increased demand to explore other complementary methods to protect the world. Eucalyptus essential oil; a popular off-label drug used to relieve nasal congestion via inhalation with promising effects on the upper respiratory diseases including viral infections. Methods: In order to provide review-based hypotheses demonstrating eucalyptus essential oil beneficial role; several published studies were retrieved from different databases and websites till June 2020. The retrieved data declared the antiviral potentials against viruses of same subgenus or with same pattern and the beneficial effects on respiratory system, immunity and overall health improvement, along with declaring the application methods and safety. Results: Off-label use of Eucalyptus essential oil by inhaling 12drops /150mL or 1.5% v/v solution boiling water may relief COVID-19 mild and moderate symptoms as pain, cough, respiratory inflammation, cytokine storm and dyspnea. Conclusions: Experimental and clinical data proved that inhalation of eucalyptus essential oil may provide the ability to reduce COVID-19 patients symptoms and morbidity risk factors and may play a role as a preventative technique complementary to WHO guidance for beating COVID-19 virulence and transmission spread. Peer Review History: Received 28 June 2020; Revised 20 July; Accepted 10 August, Available online 15 September 2020 UJPR follows the most transparent and toughest ‘Advanced OPEN peer review’ system. The identity of the authors and, reviewers will be known to each other. This transparent process will help to eradicate any possible malicious/purposeful interference by any person (publishing staff, reviewer, editor, author, etc) during peer review. As a result of this unique system, all reviewers will get their due recognition and respect, once their names are published in the papers. We expect that, by publishing peer review reports with published papers, will be helpful to many authors for drafting their article according to the specifications. Auhors will remove any error of their article and they will improve their article(s) according to the previous reports displayed with published article(s). The main purpose of it is ‘to improve the quality of a candidate manuscript’. Our reviewers check the ‘strength and weakness of a manuscript honestly’. There will increase in the perfection, and transparency. Received file Average Peer review marks at initial stage: 6.5/10 Average Peer review marks at publication stage: 8.5/10 Reviewer(s) detail: Name: Dr. Dalia Kamal Zaffar Ali Affiliation: Modern University for technology and information, Egypt E-mail: dr.moda88@gmail.com Name: Prof. Dr. Mahadeva Rao US Affiliation: Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia E-mail: raousm@gmail.com Name: Francesco Ferrara Affiliation: USL Umbria 1, Perugia, Italy E-mail: francesco.ferrara@uslumbria1.it Comments of reviewer(s): Similar Articles: THE RISKS AND ADVANTAGES OF ANTI-DIABETES THERAPY IN THE POSITIVE COVID-19 PATIENT
Background and Objectives: Fibrotic lung disease is one of the main complications of many medical conditions. Therefore, the use of anti-fibrotic agents may provide a chance to prevent, or at least modify, such complication. The aim of this study was to evaluate the protective pulmonary anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory effects of Dinebra retroflexa. Materials and methods: Dinebra retroflexa methanolic extract and its synthesized silver nanoparticles were tested on bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. Pulmonary fibrosis was induced by intratracheal instillation of bleomycin (5 mg/5 mL/kg-Saline) as a supposed model for induced lung fibrosis. The weed evaluation was performed by intratracheal instillation of Dinebra retroflexa methanolic extract and its silver nanoparticles (35 mg/100 mL/kg-DMSO, single dose). Results: The results showed that both Dinebra retroflexa methanolic extract and its silver nanoparticles had a significant pulmonary fibrosis retraction potential, with Ashcroft scores of three and one, respectively, and degrees of collagen deposition reduction of 33.8 and 46.1%, respectively. High-resolution UHPLC/Q-TOF-MS/MS metabolic profiling and colorimetrically polyphenolic quantification were performed for further confirmation and explanation of the represented effects. Such activity was believed to be due to the tentative identification of twenty-seven flavonoids and one phenolic acid along with a phenolic content of 57.8 mg/gm (gallic acid equivalent) and flavonoid content of 22.5 mg/gm (quercetin equivalent). Conclusion: Dinebra retroflexa may be considered as a promising anti-fibrotic agent for people at high risk of complicated lung fibrosis. The results proved that further clinical trials would be recommended to confirm the proposed findings.
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