Terpenes are the primary constituents of essential oils and are responsible for the aroma characteristics of cannabis. Together with the cannabinoids, terpenes illustrate synergic and/or entourage effect and their interactions have only been speculated in for the last few decades. Hundreds of terpenes are identified that allude to cannabis sensory attributes, contributing largely to the consumer’s experiences and market price. They also enhance many therapeutic benefits, especially as aromatherapy. To shed light on the importance of terpenes in the cannabis industry, the purpose of this review is to morphologically describe sources of cannabis terpenes and to explain the biosynthesis and diversity of terpene profiles in different cannabis chemovars.

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Cellulose from Asparagus officinalis stalk end was extracted and synthesized to carboxymethyl cellulose (CMCas) using monochloroacetic acid (MCA) via carboxymethylation reaction with various sodium hydroxide (NaOH) concentrations starting from 20% to 60%. The cellulose and CMCas were characterized by the physical properties, Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). In addition, mechanical properties of CMCas films were also investigated. The optimum condition for producing CMCas was found to be 30% of NaOH concentration for the carboxymethylation reaction, which provided the highest percent yield of CMCas at 44.04% with the highest degree of substitution (DS) at 0.98. The melting point of CMCas decreased with increasing NaOH concentrations. Crystallinity of CMCas was significantly deformed (p < 0.05) after synthesis at a high concentration. The L* value of the CMCas was significantly lower at a high NaOH concentration compared to the cellulose. The highest tensile strength (44.59 MPa) was found in CMCas film synthesized with 40% of NaOH concentration and the highest percent elongation at break (24.99%) was obtained in CMCas film treated with 30% of NaOH concentration. The applications of asparagus stalk end are as biomaterials in drug delivery system, tissue engineering, coating, and food packaging.

This study developed the interests of low-methoxyl pectin (LMP) together with plasticizers for the preparation of elastic thin films. The effect of different plasticizer types (glycerol: Gly; sorbitol: Sor; propylene glycol: PG; and polyethylene glycol 300: PEG 300) and concentrations (20-40% w/w) on mechanical and thermal properties of LMP films as well as on in vitro release of indomethacin were evaluated. Without any plasticizer, a brittle LMP film with low tensile strength and % elongation at break was obtained. Addition of plasticizers from 20% to 40% caused reduction in the tensile strength and Young's modulus values, whereas percent elongation was increased. Forty percent Gly-plasticized and PG-plasticized films were selected to deliver indomethacin in comparison with non-plasticized film. No significant difference in indomethacin release profiles was displayed between the films. The analysis of indomethacin release model indicated that more than one drug release mechanism from the film formulation was involved and possibly the combination of both diffusion and erosion. Even though indomethacin incorporated in non-plasticized film showed similar release profile, Gly or PG should be added to enhanced film flexibility and decrease film brittleness.

Nine phenolic compounds, including two phenolic carboxylic acids, 1 and 2, seven hydrolyzable tannins, 3-9, eight triterpenoids, including four oleanane-type triterpene acids, 10-13, and four of their glucosides, 14-17, isolated from a MeOH extract of the gall of Terminalia chebula Retz. (myrobalan tree; Combretaceae), were evaluated for their inhibitory activities against melanogenesis in B16 melanoma cells induced by α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH), against the Epstein-Barr virus early antigen (EBV-EA) activation induced by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA) in Raji cells, and against TPA-induced inflammation in mice. Their 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging activities and cytotoxic activities against four human cancer cell lines were also evaluated. Compounds 6-9 and 12 exhibited potent inhibitory activities against melanogenesis (39.3-66.3% melanin content) with low toxicity to the cells (74.5-105.9% cell viability) at a concentration of 10 μM. Western-blot analysis revealed that isoterchebulin (8) reduced the protein levels of MITF (=microphtalmia-associated transcription factor), tyrosinase, and TRP-1 (=tyrosine-related protein 1), mostly in a concentration-dependent manner. Eight triterpenoids, 10-17, showed potent inhibitory effects on EBV-EA induction with the IC50 values in the range of 269-363 mol ratio/32 pmol TPA, while these compounds exhibited no DPPH scavenging activities (IC50 >100 μM). On the other hand, the nine phenolic compounds, 1-9, exhibited potent radical-scavenging activities (IC50 1.4-10.9 μM) with weak inhibitory effects on EBV-EA induction (IC50 460-518 mol ratio/32 pmol TPA). The tannin 6 and seven triterpenoids, 10-16, have been shown to inhibit TPA-induced inflammation (1 μg/ear) in mice with the ID50 values in the range of 0.06-0.33 μmol/ear. Arjungenin (10) exhibited inhibitory effect on skin-tumor promotion in an in vivo two-stage mouse-skin carcinogenesis test based on 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) as initiator and with TPA as promoter. Compounds 1, 2, 4, 5, 7-9, 12, and 13, against HL60 cell line, compounds 1 and 4, against AZ521 cell line, and compounds 1, 11, and 12, against SK-BR-3 cell line, showed moderate cytotoxic activities (IC50 13.9-73.2 μM).

Extrusion-based 3D printing technology is a relatively new technique that has a potential for fabricating pharmaceutical products in various dosage forms. It offers many advantages over conventional manufacturing methods, including more accurate drug dosing, which is especially important for the drugs that require exact tailoring (e.g., narrow therapeutic index drugs). In this work, we have successfully fabricated phenytoin-loaded orodispersible films (ODFs) through a syringe extrusion 3D printing technique. Two different grades of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC E5 and HPMC E15) were used as the film-forming polymers, and glycerin and propylene glycol were used as plasticizers. The 3D-printed ODFs were physicochemically characterized and evaluated for their mechanical properties and in vitro disintegration time. Then, the optimum printed ODFs showing good mechanical properties and the fastest disintegration time were selected to evaluate their drug content and dissolution profiles. The results showed that phenytoin-loaded E15 ODFs demonstrated superior properties when compared to E5 films. It demonstrated a fast disintegration time in less than 5 s and rapidly dissolved and reached up to 80% of drug release within 10 min. In addition, it also exhibited drug content uniformity within United States Pharmacopeia (USP) acceptable range and exhibited good mechanical properties and flexibility with low puncture strength, low Young’s modulus and high elongation, which allows ease of handling and application. Furthermore, the HPMC E15 printing dispersions with suitable concentrations at 10% w/v exhibited a non-Newtonian (shear-thinning) pseudoplastic behavior along with good extrudability characteristics through the extrusion nozzle. Thus, HPMC E15 can be applied as a 3D printing polymer for a syringe extrusion 3D printer.

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The aqueous extract of galls from Terminalia chebula Retz. (Combretaceae) was fractionated on Diaion and refractionated on octadecyl silica column. Six phenolic compounds were isolated and identified as gallic acid (1), punicalagin (2), isoterchebulin (3), 1,3,6-tri-O-galloyl-β-D-glucopyranose (4), chebulagic acid (5) and chebulinic acid (6). All of the compounds showed stronger 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging and melanin inhibitory activities than ascorbic acid, butylated hydroxytoluene, α-tocopherol, arbutin and kojic acid, the reference compounds. Gallic acid (1) exhibited inhibitory activity against nitric oxide production in lipopolysaccharide-activated macrophages. However, all isolated compounds exhibited less activity than the reference compounds in mushroom tyrosinase inhibition and human tumour cytotoxicity assays. This study has demonstrated that the phenolic compounds isolated from galls of T. chebula might contribute significantly due to their antioxidant and whitening activities.