No abstract

Averrhoa bilimbi L. belongs to family Oxalidaceae. Traditionally, people use this plant (root, bark, leaves and fruits) for treating several illnesses include itches, boils, syphilis, whooping cough, hypertension, fever and inflammation. The aim of the study was to evaluate the nitric oxide (NO) scavenging activity and GC-MS analysis of A. bilimbi L. fruit extract. Averrhoa bilimbi L. fruits were collected for the preliminary phytochemical analysis, antioxidant scavenging activity and biologically important compounds were identified by GC-MS analysis. The preliminary phytochemicals, GC-MS, total phenolic content and NO scavenging activity of the plant were analysed. In the present investigation, the A. bilimbi L. fruit extract has major phytochemicals. Among the 151 compounds identified in GC-MS, 15 compounds are found to have diverse biological activity. We also observed that the A. bilimbi L. fruit extract has high level of total phenolic compounds at a concentration of 209.25 GAE mg/g. Presence of phenolic compound apparently explains the antioxidant activity of the plant. Antioxidant activity of A. bilimbi L. fruit extract is proven from its high level of NO scavenging activity of potent IC50 value of 108.10. From the above study, it is apparent that the A. bilimbi L. fruit extract is a rich source of phytochemicals (natural products) with biological activity. The GC-MS report on this fruit proves that natural products have pharmacologically and biologically active compounds. A high phenolic content is observed in our study. A. bilimbi L. fruit extract is also found to have NO scavenging activity in our study.

Diabetes mellitus is referred as common metabolic abnormalities characterized as hyperglycemia, mainly caused due to insufficient production of insulin at cellular level or/and defects in insulin action. Such an endocrine disorder is responsible for serious health problems and its worldwide prevalence is rapidly increasing. Common management of diabetes by oral administration of drugs without creating any side effects is still considered a challenging task and increasing cost of conventional medicine in developing countries is another matter of concern. To address these issues, traditional preparations of herbal plant extracts in the form of medicines already gained immense attention. Swertia chirayita is one among such plants which is known for its hypoglycemic potential. Numerous chemical constituents with promising pharmacological properties have been identified from such plant extracts but still, such compounds have not been well characterized, specifically against human application. Hence, more research efforts are necessitated to understand exact mechanism of such compounds and to develop overall safety of such plant formulations. Present review clearly represents antidiabetic properties of Swertia chirayita extract, strategies to be taken to strengthen its safety application on humans and biotechnological interventions that ensure conservation of such endangered species to promote its future application in modern medicine. Graphic Abstract

Cancer is life threatening disease which decrease the quality of the human life and the available medicine to treat the cancer has adverse side effects. The current investigation is to uncover natural products to treat cancer without any side effects. Punica granatum L. (Pomegranate) belongs to the family fruit-bearing deciduous small plants with unique flavour, taste, nutritionally rich and popular in health promoting characteristics. P. granatum L peels were collected and extracted for phytochemicals analysis using solvent ethanol and the preliminary analysis revealed the presence of phytochemicals. The analytical GC-MS was carried out to confirm the phytochemicals with pharmacologically and biologically active compounds. The anticancer activity of the extract was carried out against oral cancer cell line (KB 3-1) and this peel extract exhibited promising anticancer property. The MTT assay showed 94.53% inhibition on the oral cancer cell line and clonogenic assay showed decrease in the colonies after treating with the peel extract. These showed positive and encouraging results with efficient anticancer properties and further studies can help identify novel compounds with pharmacological properties for effective cancer treatment.

A variety of amines have been employed to functionalize isobenzofuran-1,3-dione to obtain isoindoline-1,3-dione derivatives in the base free conditions. All the synthesized compounds are screened for their bioactivity through molecular docking, cytotoxicity (against HeLa) and antioxidant activity. ABTS and DPPH are employed to assess the antioxidant activity. Among the synthesized isoindoline-1,3-dione derivatives (3a-k), compound 3e has showed the best antioxidant activity and also exhibited better binding energy when docked with caspase-3 protein. Cytotoxicity of the synthesized compounds was studied against cervical cancer cell line (HeLa) and compound 3e has displayed better activity than other isoindoline derivatives.