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Maca plant belongs to Brassicaceae such as broccoli, cabbage and radish, and has a tuberous root. With the declaration of The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that maca is a forgotten and disappearing plant, the fresh, dried, powder and organic forms of it take part in nutrition as a food supplement worldwide. Studies have focused on antioxidant effects depending on its bioactive components such as phenols, glucosinolates, alkamides and polysaccharides. Antioxidant enzymes and their ability of inhibition the free radicals in blood and tissues were measured to determine the antioxidant effects. The research results have suggested that these compounds present the antioxidant effect by increasing enzyme activity and scavenging free radicals. Yet further experiments are needed to understand this relation between antioxidant activity and maca's antioxidants. The objective of this chapter is to carry out the possible antioxidant activity of maca in human and animal nutrition related to its active compounds such as: phenols, glucosinolates, alkamides and polysaccharides.

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Our previous studies have revealed that the aminated 1,4-quinone scaffold can be used for the development of novel antibacterial and/or antifungal agents. In this study, the aminated quinolinequinones (AQQ1−9) were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their antimicrobial activity against a panel of seven bacterial strains (three Gram-positive and four Gramnegative bacteria) and three fungal strains. The structure−activity relationship (SAR) for the QQs was also summarized. The antibacterial activity results indicated that the two aminated QQs (AQQ6 and AQQ9) were active against Enterococcus faecalis (ATCC 29212) with a MIC value of 78.12 μg/mL. Besides, the two aminated QQs (AQQ8 and AQQ9) were active against Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 29213) with MIC values of 4.88 and 2.44 μg/mL, respectively. The most potent aminated QQs (AQQ8 and AQQ9) were identified as promising lead molecules to further explore their mode of action. The selected QQs (AQQ8 and AQQ9) were further evaluated in vitro to assess their potential antimicrobial activity against each of 20 clinically obtained methicillin-resistant S. aureus isolates, antibiofilm activity, and bactericidal activity using time-kill curve assay. We found that the molecules prevented adhesion of over 50% of the cells in the biofilm. Molecular docking studies were performed to predict the predominant binding mode(s) of the ligands. We believe that the molecules need further investigation, especially against infections involving biofilm-forming microbes.

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Male reproductive problems may derive from many reasons including the environmental toxicants which may either intaken by occupational exposure, nutrition or bad air quality. The increased exposure to these substances due to rapid industrial development and technology has raised the questions: Is there a relationship between sperm parameters and these substances, and if so, in what extent? Results of studies on the subject reported conflicting results, many of which were not investigated in the seminal plasma. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the relationship between 23 metals and trace elements in human seminal plasma and semen parameters many of

The effects of solutions of maca (Lepidium meyenii) powder as a food/feed supplement on the viability of murine macrophage cells by digital image analysis ABSTRACT Maca (Lepidium meyenii) is a tuber root plant and belong to Brassicaceae family and recently used as a supplement in human and animal nutrition. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the cytotoxicity of two solutions (aqueous and ethanol) of maca root powder by digital image analysis. Maca powder was mixed in ultra distilled water and ethanol (1:2 w/v) for 24 h at 4 °C. The mixtures were centrifuged and the supernatants were ten-fold diluted for cytotoxic analysis of Raw 264.7 murine macrophage cells. After seeded the cell cultures in microplates, ten-fold dilutions (from 10 -1 to 10 -7 ) of both maca solutions were added as six replicates for 24 h. While the aqueous maca solution increased the number of dead cells at 10 -1 (50 mg mL -1 ), the ethanolic solution statistically increased the number of dead cells at 10 -1 , 10 -2 and 10 -3 (50, 5 and 0.5 mg mL -1 ) (P<0.01). In conclusion, the alcoholic preparation of maca powder caused a higher cytotoxic effect on the murine macrophage cells than the aqueous preparation due to the solvents and the dilution factor in this study.

Multidrug resistance (MDR) causes difficulties in the treatment of infections and cancer. Research and development studies have become increasingly important for the strategy of preventing MDR. There is a need for new multitarget drug research and advancement to reduce the development of drug resistance in drug‐drug interactions and reduce cost and toxic effects. This study aimed to determine the effects of multi‐target triazene compounds on antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, cytotoxic, and larvicidal activities were investigated in vitro. A series of 12 novel of 1,3‐diaryltriazene‐substituted sulfadiazine (SDZ) derivatives were synthesized, and the obtained pure products characterized in detail by spectroscopic and analytic methods (FT‐IR, 1H‐NMR, 13C‐NMR, and melting points). The antibacterial and antifungal activities of these derivatives (AH1‐12) were determined by broth microdilution method. All derivatives have been evaluated in cell‐based assays for cytotoxic and antiviral activities against Modified Vaccinia Virus Ankara. The larvicidal efficacy of these chemical compounds was also investigated by using Lucilia sericata (L. sericata) larvae. Twelve 1,3‐diaryltriazene‐substituted SDZ derivatives (AH1‐12) were designed and developed as potent multitargeted compounds. Among them, the AH1 derivative showed the most antibacterial and antifungal activity. Besides, synthesized derivatives AH2, AH3, AH5, and AH7 showed higher antiviral activity than SDZ. All synthesized derivatives showed higher cytotoxic activity than SDZ. Also, they showed larvicidal activity at 72 h of the experiment. As a result, these compounds might be great leads for the development of next‐generation multitargeted agents.