Plant-derived substances have been considered as important sources of drugs, including antineoplasic agents. Babassu mesocarp is popularly used in Brazil as a food additive, and in popular medicine against several conditions, such as inflammations, menstrual pains and leukaemia. From babassu Orbignya speciosa (Mart.) Barb. Rodr. [Arecaceae (Palmae)] epicarp/mesocarp, an ethanol extract was prepared and named OSEME, which was tested on the viability, morphology and metabolism of several cell lines, such as the leukaemic cell lines, HL-60, K562 and the latter multidrugresistant counterpart K562-Lucena 1, the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7, the mouse fibroblast cell line 3T3-L1 and fresh human lymphocytes. OSEME promoted a dose-dependent decrease on the viability of all cells. This effect was much more pronounced on the tumoral cell lines than on non-tumoral cells, a phenomenon revealed by the dose of OSEME which promotes half of maximal effect (ID 50 ). The decrease on viability was followed by shrinkage of cells, alteration on their morphology, and a markedly nuclear condensation. Curiously, stimulation of 6-phosphofructokinase activity (6.6-times) was observed on HL-60 cells, treated with OSEME, when compared to control treated with ethanol (vehicle). These results support evidences to suggest OSEME as a promising source of novel antineoplasic agents.
Abstract:The Indian clove (Syzygium aromaticum, Myrtaceae) is a well appreciated spice since the ancient times not only by its flavor and culinary qualities, but also because of its therapeutic uses. Several popular and traditional applications have been reported in literature as well as numerous scientific studies on its activities. In this work we present a synopsis and discussion on S. aromaticum to provide the readers some useful information on the historical aspects, the chemical composition and its large variety of potential applications for the treatment of a number of illnesses.Keywords: Syzygium aromaticum; essential oil of Indian cloves; eugenol.
ResumoO cravo-da-índia (Syzygium aromaticum, Myrtaceae) é uma especiaria muito apreciada desde a antiguidade, não só por seu sabor e qualidades culinárias, mas também por suas utilizações terapêuticas. Várias aplicações desta especiaria na cultura popular têm sido relatadas na literatura bem como diversos estudos científicos sobre esses usos. Neste trabalho, apresentamos uma sinopse e discussão dos relatos da literatura nos últimos 20 anos (tendo o SCOPUS como principal base de dados) sobre o óleo essencial do S. aromaticum, com o objetivo de proporcionar aos leitores algumas informações úteis sobre os aspectos históricos, a composição química e a grande variedade de suas aplicações potenciais no tratamento de uma série de doenças.Palavras-chave: Syzygium aromaticum; óleo de cravo; eugenol.
The literature has reported that ferriprotoporphyrin IX (hematin) intoxicates the malarial parasite through competition with NADH for the active site of the enzyme lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). In order to avoid this, the parasite polymerizes hematin to hemozoin. The quinoline derivatives are believed to form complexes with dimeric hematin, avoiding the formation of hemozoin and still inhibiting LDH. In order to investigate this hypothesis we calculated the docking energies of NADH and some quinoline derivatives (in the free forms and in complex with dimeric hematin) in the active site of the Plasmodium falciparum LDH (PfLDH). Ours results showed better docking score values to the complexes when compared to the free compounds, pointing them as more efficient inhibitors of Pf_LDH. Further we performed Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations studies on the best docking conformation of the complex chloroquine-dimeric hematin with PfLDH. Our in silico results corroborate experimental data suggesting a possible action route for the quinoline derivatives in the inhibition of PfLDH.
In order to contribute to a better understanding of the mechanism of action of oximes, we evaluated the affinities of 10 new oximes, derived from pyridine-imidazol bicycled systems, for human acetylcholinesterase (HssAChE) complexed with tabun, by estimating their docking energy values and comparing of the values obtained to known oximes using the software Molegro Virtual Docker (MVD) ®. We evaluated the influence of the position of the oxime group as substituent in the structures and, also, the influence of the oxime group syn-anti isomery on the docking score values for all the molecules studied. Results suggest that: the affinities of the 10 new oximes for the tabun inhibited HssAChE active site are better than pralidoxime's and similar to trimedoxime's; the meta-pralidoxime could have more affinity for the HssAChE active site and the oximes' anti isomers could present slightly better affinities for the HssAChE active site than the syn isomers.
In this work a theoretical methodology for evaluation of the association and kinetic reactivation constants of oximes using the Molegro and Spartan softwares was proposed and validated facing in vitro data previously reported in the literature. Results showed a very good agreement between the theoretical binding free energies of the reactivators and experimental data, suggesting that the proposed methodology could work well in the prediction of kinetic and thermodynamics parameters for oximes that might be helpful for the design and selection of new and more effective oximes.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.