Insecticides and other agrochemicals have become indispensable components of the agricultural system to ensure a notable increase in crop yield and food production. As a natural consequence, chemical residues result in significantly increased contamination of both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The present study evaluated the teratogenic, genotoxic, and oxidative stress effects of residual-level lufenuron exposure on pregnant rats during the organogenesis gestational period of both mother and fetus. The tested dams were divided into three groups; control (untreated), low-dose group (orally administered with 0.4 mg/kg lufenuron) and high-dose group (orally administered with 0.8 mg/kg lufenuron). The dams of the two treatment groups showed teratogenic abnormalities represented by the asymmetrical distribution of fetuses in both uterine horns, accompanied by observed resorption sites and intensive bleeding in the uterine horns, whereas their fetuses suffered from growth retardation, morphologic malformations, and skeletal deformations. Histologic examination of the liver and kidney tissues obtained from mothers and fetuses after lufenuron exposure revealed multiple histopathologic changes. DNA fragmentation and cell cycle perturbation were also detected in the liver cells of lufenuron-treated pregnant dams and their fetuses through comet assay and flow cytometry, respectively. Moreover, lufenuron-induced oxidative stress in the liver of mothers and fetuses was confirmed by the increased malondialdehyde levels and decreased levels of enzymatic antioxidants (glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase). Taken together, it can be concluded that lufenuron has a great potential in exerting teratogenic, genotoxic, and oxidative stresses on pregnant rats and their fetuses upon chronic exposure to residual levels during the organogenesis gestational period. The obtained results in the present study imply that women and their fetuses may have the same risk.

The most challenging threat facing the global community today is the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Despite global efforts to develop suitable treatments, very few specific antiviral agents have been suggested and the virus remains a serious global health risk. In vivo animal experiments have demonstrated that bioactive mycochemical constituents of Inonotus obliquus have immunomodulatory, antimicrobial, and antiviral properties. The present study investigates the antiviral potential of I. obliquus terpenoids against COVID-19 using a molecular docking study. The in silico study elucidates the ability of most of the terpenoid components to interact with the receptor-binding domain of SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein with excellent affinity. Additionally, we found that both betulinic acid and inonotusane C could bind and stably interact with the spike protein near the host cell recognition site of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2.

The novel coronavirus (SARS‐CoV‐2) has caused large‐scale global outbreaks and mainly mediates host cell entry through the interaction of its spike (S) protein with the human angiotensin‐converting enzyme‐2 (ACE‐2) receptor. As there is no effective treatment for SARS‐CoV‐2 to date, it is imperative to explore the efficacy of new compounds that possess potential antiviral activity. In this study, we assessed the potential binding interaction of the beneficial components of Chaga mushroom, a natural anti‐inflammatory and immune booster with that of the SARS‐CoV‐2 receptor‐binding domain (RBD) using molecular docking, MD simulation, and phylogenetic analysis. Beta glycan, betulinic acid, and galactomannan constituents of Chaga mushroom exhibited strong binding interaction (−7.4 to −8.6 kcal/mol) forming multivalent hydrogen and non‐polar bonds with the viral S1‐carboxy‐terminal domain of the RBD. Specifically, the best interacting sites for beta glycan comprised ASN‐440, SER 373, TRP‐436, ASN‐343, and ARG 509 with average binding energy of −8.4 kcal/mol. The best interacting sites of galactomannan included ASN‐437, SER 373, TRP‐436, ASN‐343, and ALA 344 with a mean binding energy of −7.4 kcal/mol; and the best interacting sites of betulinic acid were ASN‐437, SER 373, TRP‐436, PHE 342, ARG 509, and ALA 344 that strongly interacted with the S‐protein (ΔG = −8.1 kcal/mol). The docking results were also compared with an S‐protein binding analog, NAG and depicted similar binding affinities compared with that of the ligands (−8.67 kcal/mol). In addition, phylogenetic analysis using global isolates depicted that the current SARS‐CoV‐2 isolates possessed a furin cleavage site (NSPRRA) in the RBD, which was absent in the previous isolates that indicated increased efficacy of the present virus for enhanced infection through increased interaction with ACE‐2. The results showed that Chaga could be an effective natural antiviral that can supplement the current anti‐SARS‐CoV‐2 drugs.

The continuously growing food and beverage industry relies on food additives as a main component in their products. Such increased reliance on processed food, lead to neglectance of the harmful effects of the food additives on human health; among these are hypersensitivity, allergic reactions, genotoxicity, mutagenicity and more.  This study investigates genotoxic effects of three food preservatives commonly consumed in daily meals; sodium sulphite, boric acid, and benzoic acid using the somatic mutation and recombination test (SMART) and comet assay in Drosophila melanogaster system. All of the tested compounds showed significantly high levels of tumor induction and frequency compared to a negative control in SMART assay. They also showed high amount of DNA damage in the comet assay indicating their high potential of being genotoxic materials.

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