The present study was designed to evaluate antioxidant and cytotoxic effect of selenium nanoparticles (Se NPs) biosynthesized by a newly isolated marine bacterial strain Bacillus sp. MSh-1. An organic-aqueous partitioning system was applied for purification of the biogenic Se NPs and the purified Se NPs were then investigated for antioxidant activity using DPPH scavenging activity and reducing power assay. Cytotoxic effect of the biogenic Se NPs and selenium dioxide (SeO2) on MCF-7 cell line was assesed by MTT assay. Tranmission electron micrograph (TEM) of the purified Se NPs showed individual and spherical nanostructure in size range of about 80-220nm. The obtained results showed that, at the same concentration of 200μg/mL, Se NPs and SeO2 represented scavenging activity of 23.1±3.4% and 13.2±3.1%, respectively. However, the data obtained from reducing power assay revealed higher electron-donating activity of SeO2 compared to Se NPs. Higher IC50 of the Se NPs (41.5±0.9μg/mL) compared to SeO2 (6.7±0.8μg/mL) confirmed lower cytotoxicity of the biogenic Se NPs on MCF-7 cell line.

Tribulus terrestris has been used in traditional medicine for relieving rheumatic pain and as an analgesic plant for a long time. In this investigation the analgesic effect of methanolic extract of this plant on male albino mice was evaluated by formalin and tail flick test. Extraction of the fruits of the plant was done by two different methods (suxheletion and percolation) with methanol 80%. The percolated extract was injected intraperitoneally in mice at 50, 100, 200, 400, and 800 mg/kg. The results showed that a dose of 100 mg/kg of percolated extract had the highest significant analgesic effect compared to the control group (P < 0.01) in formalin and tail flick test. There is no significant difference in the analgesic effect of suxheleted and percolated extract. The analgesic effect of the extract was lower than morphine, 2.5 mg/kg in both tests, and higher than ASA 300 mg/kg in chronic phase of pain in formalin test (P < 0.05). Pretreatment of animal with naloxone did not change the analgesia induced by the plant extract in both tests, therefore the involvement of opioid receptor in the analgesic effect of this plant was excluded. The results of ulcerogenic studies indicate that the gastric ulcerogenecity of plant extract is lower than the indomethacin in the rat's stomach. It can therefore be concluded that T. terrestris extract has a suitable analgesic effect and further studies are required to produce a more effective product of this plant to substitute for conventional analgesic drugs.

Helicobacter pylori infection causes lifelong chronic gastritis, which can lead to peptic ulcer, mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma and gastric cancer. The growing problem of antibiotic resistance by the organism demands the search for novel candidates from plant-based sources. In the present study, we evaluated the in vitro anti-H. pylori activity of some selected medicinal plants on clinical isolates of H. pylori. Gastric biopsy samples were obtained from patients presenting with gastroduodenal complications. Helicobacter pylori was isolated from the specimens following standard microbiology procedures. The disc-diffusion method was used to determine the susceptibility of three H. pylori isolates to methanol extracts of 23 Iranian plants. All tests were performed in triplicate. Among them, the extracts of Punica granatum and Juglans regia had remarkable anti-H. pylori activity with mean of inhibition zone diameter of 39 and 16 mm at 100 µg disc⁻¹, respectively. In view of the results obtained with P. granatum (pomegranate), the peel extracts of nine cultivars of pomegranate (Shirin-e-Pust Sefid, Agha Mohammad Ali-e-Shirin, Sefid-e-Shomal, Sefid-e-Torsh, Shirin-e-Malase, Tabestani-e-Torsh, Shirin-e-Saveh Malase, Alak-e-Shirin, Pust Siyah) were further assayed against the clinical isolates of H. pylori. The results revealed that all Iranian pomegranate cultivars, except for Alak-e-Shirin, showed significant in vitro anti-H. pylori activity against the clinical isolates of H. pylori (mean of inhibition zone diameter ranging from 16 to 40 mm at 50 µg disc⁻¹).

Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials IRCT2013121415790N1.

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Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) is an established therapeutic target in myriad autoimmune disorders, but no TLR7 antagonist is available for clinical use to date. Herein, we report a purine scaffold TLR7 antagonist, first-of-its-kind to our knowledge, which was developed by rationally dissecting the structural requirements for TLR7-targeted activity for a purine scaffold. Specifically, we identified a singular chemical switch at C-2 that could make a potent purine scaffold TLR7 agonist to lose agonism and acquire antagonist activity, which could further be potentiated by the introduction of an additional basic center at C-6. We ended up developing a clinically relevant TLR7 antagonist with favorable pharmacokinetics and 70.8% oral bioavailability in mice. Moreover, the TLR7 antagonists depicted excellent selectivity against TLR8. To further validate the in vivo applicability of this novel TLR7 antagonist, we demonstrated its excellent efficacy in preventing TLR7-induced pathology in a preclinical murine model of psoriasis.

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