Zerumin A (ZA) is one of the potential components of Curcuma amada rhizomes, and it has been shown to possess a variety of pharmacological activities. This study deals with the beneficial activity of ZA in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated inflammation in H9c2 cardiomyoblasts. Herein, H9c2 cells were preincubated with ZA for 1 h and stimulated with LPS for 24 h. The cells were analyzed for the expression of various pro-inflammatory mediators and signaling molecules. Results showed that the cell viability was significantly improved and reactive oxygen species production was alleviated remarkably with ZA pretreatment. We also found that ZA pretreatment significantly suppressed the upregulation of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) protein levels, and nitric oxide (NO) release in LPS-stimulated cells. In addition, ZA significantly ameliorated LPS-elicited overexpression of pro-inflammatory chemokines and cytokines such as monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interferon-γ (IFN-γ), and interleukin-1 (IL-1) in H9c2 cells, and it upregulated the synthesis of the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-10 (IL-10). Moreover, pretreatment with ZA and the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) pathway inhibitors also reduced the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNK), and p38. ZA significantly inhibited IKB-a phosphorylation and nuclear factor (NF)-KB p65 subunit translocation into nuclei. Overall data demonstrated that ZA protects cardiomyocytes against LPS injury by inhibiting NF-KB p65 activation via the MAPK signaling pathway in vitro. These findings suggest that ZA may be a promising agent for a detailed study for the prevention or treatment of myocardial dysfunction in sepsis.

A new series of indole appended dihydronaphthalenone hybrid analogs (5a-t) have been synthesized through the Lewis acid catalyzed Michael addition of indoles to the arylidene/hetero arylidene ketones. All the synthesized derivatives are well characterized through the H-NMR, C-NMR, HRMS spectroscopic techniques, compound 5r was further confirmed through single crystal X-ray analysis and screened for antibacterial and antitubercular activities. Among the synthesized compounds, the minimum inhibition concentration of 5l (against Escherichia coli) and 5o & 5p (against E. coli & Staphylococcus aureus) was found to be as low as 3.12 μg/ml as compared to the standard antibacterial drug ciprofloxacin 2.5 μg/ml. In antitubercular activity, compounds 5o and 5p with minimum inhibition concentration 6.25 μg/ml were found to be comparable with that of the drugs Pyrazinamide 5 μg/ml and Streptomycin 5 μg/ml. Compounds 5i, 5j, 5m, 5n, 5q, and 5r also showed promising activity against group of organisms tested.