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The COVID-19 pandemic caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a massive viral disease outbreak of international concerns. The present study is mainly intended to identify the bioactive phytocompounds from traditional antiviral herb Houttuynia cordata Thunb. as potential inhibitors for three main replication proteins of SARS-CoV-2, namely Main protease (Mpro), Papain-Like protease (PLpro) and ADP ribose phosphatase (ADRP) which control the replication process. A total of 177 phytocompounds were characterized from H. cordata using GC-MS/LC-MS and they were docked against three SARS-CoV-2 proteins (receptors), namely Mpro, PLpro and ADRP using Epic, LigPrep and Glide module of Schrödinger suite 2020-3. During docking studies, phytocompounds (ligand) 6-Hydroxyondansetron (A104) have demonstrated strong binding affinity toward receptors Mpro (PDB ID 6LU7) and PLpro (PDB ID 7JRN) with G-score of − 7.274 and − 5.672, respectively, while Quercitrin (A166) also showed strong binding affinity toward ADRP (PDB ID 6W02) with G-score -6.788. Molecular Dynamics Simulation (MDS) performed using Desmond module of Schrödinger suite 2020-3 has demonstrated better stability in the ligand-receptor complexes A104-6LU7 and A166-6W02 within 100 ns than the A104-7JRN complex. The ADME-Tox study performed using SwissADMEserver for pharmacokinetics of the selected phytocompounds 6-Hydroxyondansetron (A104) and Quercitrin (A166) demonstrated that 6-Hydroxyondansetron passes all the required drug discovery rules which can potentially inhibit Mpro and PLpro of SARS-CoV-2 without causing toxicity while Quercitrin demonstrated less drug-like properties but also demonstrated as potential inhibitor for ADRP. Present findings confer opportunities for 6-Hydroxyondansetron and Quercitrin to be developed as new therapeutic drug against COVID-19.Sanjib Kumar Das and Saurov Mahanta have contributed equally to this work.

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Borneol is a commonly used flavouring substance in traditional Chinese medicine, which possesses several pharmacological activities including analgesic, antiinflammatory, and antioxidant properties. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of borneol on cerulein‐induced acute pancreatitis (AP) model. Swiss albino mice were pretreated with borneol (100 and 300 mg/kg) daily for 7 days, before six consecutive injections of cerulein (50 μg/kg/hr, intraperitoneally). The protective effect of borneol was studied by biochemical, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay, histological, immunoblotting, and immunohistochemical analysis. Oral administration of borneol significantly attenuated pancreatic damage by reducing amylase, lipase levels and histological changes. Borneol attenuated cerulein‐induced oxidative‐nitrosative stress by decreasing malondialdehyde, nitrite levels, and elevating reduced glutathione levels. Pancreatic inflammation was ameliorated by inhibiting myeloperoxidase activity and pro‐inflammatory cytokine (Interleukins and TNF‐α) levels. Furthermore, borneol administration significantly increased nuclear factor E2‐related factor 2 (Nrf2), superoxide dismutase (SOD1) expression and reduced phospho‐NF‐κB p65 expression. Treatment with borneol significantly inhibited TNF‐α, IL‐1β, IL‐6, and inducible nitric oxide synthase expression in cerulein‐induced AP mouse model. Together, these results indicate that borneol which is currently used as US‐FDA approved food adjuvant has the potential to attenuate cerulein‐induced AP possibly by reducing the oxidative damage and pancreatic inflammation by modulating Nrf2/NF‐κB pathway.

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The genus Henckelia Spreng. (Gesneriaceae), in the sense of Weber et al. (2011), presently includes about 73 species, distributed from China and N India to S India and Sri Lanka and from W India to Vietnam. In India, it is represented by 37 species, of which 21 species occur in western, eastern Himalaya and northeast India, and 16 species in the Western Ghats.During the authors' work on the floristic diversity of the Eastern Himalayan state Arunachal Pradesh, India, specimens of two Henckelia species were collected in the Lower Subansiri and Kurung Kumey districts (Figure 1), that proved new on closer inspection. They are formally described here as new species. | MATERIAL AND METHODSSpecimens of the two new species of Henckelia were collected during plant collection trips to Arunachal Pradesh from 2017 to 2019. Type specimens were deposited at ARUN and ASSAM. For comparison, material was studied from ARUN, ASSAM, BM, CAL, E, G, K, L, MH, P and PE. The number of mature individuals found in the type locality was recorded for both species for assessment of the conservation status.