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Piper betle L., is an evergreen perennial creeper belonging to family Piperaceae and is known to possess numerous medicinal properties. Current study focuses on evaluating antioxidant and antimicrobial potential of betel leaf. For the present study, distilled water, hexane, acetone and ethanolic extracts of two varieties of betel leaves: Meetha paan and Banarasi paan were used. Biochemical tests such as proximate analysis (moisture, ash, protein, lipids, minerals viz., sodium and potassium), antioxidant activity tests (DPPH radical scavenging activity, total phenolics, ascorbic acid, reducing power) and antimicrobial test (antibacterial and antifungal susceptibility test) against four pathogens viz., B. subtilis, E. coli, A. niger and S. cerevisiae were determined. Ethanolic extract had the highest antioxidant activity (89.46% inhibition), while the aqueous extract exhibited lowest antioxidant activity (62.03% inhibition). With increasing concentration (5, 10, 25 and 50 µg/mL), the reducing power of leaf extracts also increased. The ascorbic acid was not significant in Banarasi paan (5.21mg/100 g) and Meetha paan (5.20mg/100 g). The highest antibacterial activity of ethanolic extract (Banarasi paan) may be attributed to the presence of phytosterols in the leaf varieties. Antioxidant and antimicrobial potential study will help to build a database and promote the utilization of betel leaf as a medicinal herb.

The eradication of malaria remains challenging due to the complex life cycle of Plasmodium and the rapid emergence of drug-resistant forms of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax. New, effective, and inexpensive antimalarials against multiple life stages of the parasite are urgently needed to combat the spread of malaria. Here, we synthesized a set of novel hydroxyethylamines and investigated their activities in vitro and in vivo. All of the compounds tested had an inhibitory effect on the blood stage of P. falciparum at submicromolar concentrations, with the best showing 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC50) of around 500 nM against drug-resistant P. falciparum parasites. These compounds showed inhibitory actions against plasmepsins, a family of malarial aspartyl proteases, and exhibited a marked killing effect on blood stage Plasmodium. In chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium berghei and P. berghei ANKA infected mouse models, treating mice with both compounds led to a significant decrease in blood parasite load. Importantly, two of the compounds displayed an inhibitory effect on the gametocyte stages (III–V) of P. falciparum in culture and the liver-stage infection of P. berghei both in in vitro and in vivo. Altogether, our findings suggest that fast-acting hydroxyethylamine-phthalimide analogs targeting multiple life stages of the parasite could be a valuable chemical lead for the development of novel antimalarial drugs.

Purpurin is a naturally occurring anthraquinone isolated from the roots of Rubia cordifolia. Historically, it has been used as a red dye. However, its photosensitizing property and biological effects have deciphered its novel application. Purpurin shows antigenotoxic, anticancer, neuromodulatory, and antimicrobial potential associated with antioxidant action in in vivo and in vitro experiments. A robust antioxidant nature of purpurin is responsible for the majority of its pharmacological effects. It produces anti-inflammatory activity by reducing oxidative stress, which is a fundamental property to target diseases involving endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondrial stress. It can cross the blood-brain barrier and produce neuroprotective effects, including antidepressant and anti-Alzheimer action. It shows antimutagenic property via inhibiting essential CYP-450 enzymes. Interestingly, it gets photosensitized by UVlight and produces target-specific ROS-dependent apoptosis in cancer cells. Therefore, it owns cell killing and cell survival potential subject to the influence of external conditions. Hitherto, limited research studies are performed with purpurin to understand its therapeutic potential. Hence, this review describes and discusses different in vivo, in vitro, and in silico studies performed using purpurin. It also covers physicochemical, pharmacokinetics, and toxicology aspects of purpurin. Moreover, in the end, the prospect of purpurin in the management of cancer has also been proposed.