Volume 73, Issue 9-10

Chemical investigation of the Red Sea soft coral Sarcophyton glaucom collected at the coasts of Hurghada, Egypt, led to the isolation of one new naturally occurring 4-oxo-1,1′-pentanoic acid anhydride ( 1 ), along with four diterpenes; sarcophinone ( 2a ), 8- epi -sarcophinone ( 2b ), (+)-7 α ,8 β -dihydroxydeepoxysarcophine ( 3 ), sinumaximol G ( 4 ), (+)-sarcophine ( 5 ), sesquiterpene; prostantherol ( 6 ), sterol; 3 β ,24 S -ergost-5-en-ol ( 7 ) and hexadecanoic acid. The structures of the obtained compounds were established using diverse spectroscopic techniques including 1D and 2D NMR and HRMS. Biologically, in vitro cytotoxic activities of diterpenes 2–5 and prostantherol ( 6 ) were studied against the liver cancer HEPG2 cell line in comparison with the soft coral extract and doxorubicin as reference (IC 50 : 4.28 μg/mL). Compounds 2–6 exhibited potent–moderate cytotoxicity of IC 50 between 9.97 μg/mL [for sinumaximol G ( 4 )] and 17.84 μg/mL [for (+)-7 α ,8 β -dihydroxydeepoxysarcophine ( 3 )], whereas that for soft coral extract was determined at 24.71 μg/mL.

Phytochemical investigation of dichloromethane neutral phase of stem bark of Nauclea pobeguinii led to the isolation of a new monoterpene indole alkaloid, pobeguinine 1 along with 14 known compounds including (−)-naucleofficine D ( 2a ), (+)-naucleofficine D ( 2b ), naucleidinal ( 3 ), quafrinoic acid ( 4 ), betulinic acid ( 5 ), ursolic acid ( 6 ), quinovic acid ( 7 ), quinovic acid 3- O -α-L-rhamnopyranoside ( 8a ), quinovic acid 3- O -β-D-fucopyranoside ( 8b ), β-sitosterol ( 9 ), β-sitosterol 3- O -β-D-glucopyranoside ( 10 ), benzoic acid ( 11 ), lacceroic acid ( 12 ) and n -heptacosane ( 13 ). The structure of compound 1 was unambiguously assigned on the basis of single-crystal X-ray diffraction technique. The Hirshfeld surface analysis was further carried out to quantitatively analyze the role of various types of hydrogen bonding in crystal stability. These structures were elucidated using spectroscopic methods. The isolates were evaluated for their radical scavenging properties as well as inhibitory activities against urease and tyrosinase enzymes with IC 50 values ranging from 13.4 to 58.9, 46.0 to 86.7 and 39.4 to 87.1 μg/mL, respectively. Compound 6 exhibited maximum radical scavenging activity with IC 50 13.4 μg/mL, while compound 4 exhibited maximum tyrosinase with IC 50 39.4 μg/mL. All the isolates showed moderate urease inhibition.

The dependence of the activity of acetylcholinesterase from electric eel at a pH value range of 4.8–9.8 (phosphate buffer), regarding acetylcholine and acetylthiocholine hydrolysis, was determined at 25 °C, ionic strength of 0.11 M, and initial substrate concentration of 4 mM. At a pH range of 4.8–9.8, the dependences A (pH) form a sigmoid increasing curve with the maximum catalytic activity at a pH range 8–9.5. For acetylcholine hydrolysis, the kinetic reason for such an increase in A consists mainly of an increase in the rate constant k 2 (Michaelis-Menten) model with increasing pH of the reaction mixture. For acetylthiocholine hydrolysis, the kinetic explication of the determined dependence A (pH) is more complicated.

Lavandula stoechas subsp. stoechas and Mentha spicata subsp. spicata are used for the treatment of sinusitis in Turkish folk medicine. The components of essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation were determined by gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID), gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), and thin layer chromatography (TLC). Major components of L. stoechas and M. spicata oils were determined as camphor (46.7%) and carvone (60.6%), respectively. The antibacterial activity of essential oils and their main components were tested against the common selected sinusitis pathogens Streptococcus pneumoniae , Streptococcus pyogenes , Staphylococcus aureus , Haemophilus influenzae , Moraxella catarrhalis , and Pseudomonas aeruginosa using in vitro agar diffusion, microdilution, and vapor diffusion methods. As a result, the tested plant materials, which are locally and natively used against sinusitis, were relatively mild antibacterial (in vitro MICs 310–1250 μg/mL) in action. To use essential oils and their components safely in sinusitis therapy, further detailed in vivo experiments are needed to support their efficacy.

Efforts to produce bioethanol with higher productivity in a batch submerged fermentation were made by evaluating the bioethanol production of the five different strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae , namely, NCYC 4109 (traditional bakery yeast), SFO6 (industrial yeast), TTCC 2956 (hybrid baking yeast) and two wild yeasts, PTCC 5052 and BY 4743. The bioethanol productivity and kinetic parameters for all five yeasts at constant fermentation conditions, during 72 h, were evaluated and monitored. The obtained results indicated that compared to the wild yeasts, both traditional bakery (NCYC 4109) and industrial (SFO6) yeasts had higher bioethanol productivity (0.9 g/L h). Significant (p<0.05) differences between biomass concentration of NCYC 4109 yeast and those of other yeasts 30 h after start of fermentation, and its high bioethanol concentration (59.19 g/L) and yield over consumed sugars (77.25%) were highlighted among all the studied yeasts. Minimum bioethanol productivity was obtained using yeasts PTCC 5052 (0.7 g/L h) and TTCC 2956 (0.86 g/L h). However, maximum yield over consumed sugar was obtained using the yeast TTCC 2956 (79.41%).

This study aims to determine the effects of inulin and fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS) on the probiotic properties of five Lactobacillus spp. isolated from human milk. Lactobacillus spp. were isolated and identified, and the growth characteristics, acid and bile salt tolerance, antagonistic effects, and cholesterol assimilation of Lactobacillus strains were investigated in the presence of inulin and FOS. Lactobacillus casei L1 was able to utilize inulin and FOS as carbon source as well as glucose even other strains were able to use, including Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG. This strain also showed high tolerance to acid and bile salt, even at pH 2.5 and 0.5% bile salt levels, respectively. Inulin and FOS promoted the antimicrobial activity of L. casei L1 against pathogenic bacteria. Cholesterol assimilation was higher than in the other and control probiotic strains in the presence inulin and FOS, which were measured as 14 and 25 mg/dL, respectively. In conclusion, L. casei L1 can use both inulin and FOS to maintain its viability both at digestive conditions and also the relevant prebiotics, and show broad antagonistic activity and cholesterol assimilation.

The formation of adventitious roots (ARs) is an important process for lotus ( Nelumbo nucifera ), which does not have a well-formed main root. In lotus, the removal of leaves above the waterline significantly promoted AR formation, while the removal of leaves below the waterline inhibited AR formation. Proteins were identified using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantization technique. The number of proteins decreased with increasing sequencing coverage, and most of the identified proteins had fewer than 10 peptides. In the A1/A0 and A2/A1 stages, 661 and 154 proteins showed increased abundance, respectively, and 498 and 111 proteins showed decreased abundance, respectively. In the B1/B0 and B2/B1 stages, 498 and 436 proteins showed increased abundance, respectively, and 358 and 348 proteins showed decreased abundance, respectively. Among the proteins showing large differences in abundance, 17 were identified as being related to AR formation. Proteins involved in the glycolytic pathway and the citrate cycle showed differences in abundance between the two types of leaf removal. The transcriptional levels of nine genes encoding relevant proteins were assessed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The results of this study illustrate the changes in metabolism after different types of leaf removal during AR formation in lotus.

In this study, we show that INS-1 pancreatic β-cells treated for 2 h with hemolymph of larvae of rhinoceros beetle, Allomyrina dichotoma , secreted about twice as much insulin compared to control cells without such treatment. Activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3) was the highest upregulated gene in DNA chip analysis. The A. dichotoma hemolymph dose-dependently induced increased expression levels of genes encoding ATF3 and insulin. Conversely, treatment with ATF3 siRNA inhibited expression levels of both genes and curbed insulin secretion. These results suggest that the A. dichotoma hemolymph has potential for treating and preventing diabetes or diabetes-related complications.

This work reports the isolation of the three known compounds, smenotronic acid ( 1 ), ilimaquinone ( 2 ), and pelorol ( 3 ), from the 85% methanol (MeOH)-soluble fraction of the sponge Hyrtios erectus . The structures of the isolated compounds were determined with the help of modern spectroscopic techniques, and the resulting compounds were then subjected to in vitro screening to determine their antimalarial potential against the chloroquine-resistant Dd2 strain of Plasmodium falciparum . Amongst the three compounds, pelorol ( 3 ) showed significant activity against P. falciparum with an IC 50 value of 0.8 μM. For smenotronic acid ( 1 ) and ilimaquinone ( 2 ), moderate activities were observed with IC 50 values of 3.51 and 2.11 μM, respectively.

Laurus nobilis leaves contain flavored and bioactive components with relevant biological properties for human health that are attributed to an abundant presence of highly bioactive secondary metabolites. However, the separation process for these bioactive molecules from plant matrix is seriously limited by the presence of a physical barrier (cell wall). Thus, the use of novel extraction procedures to enhance their release is particularly important. In this work, the potential use of microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) as a tool to improve the extraction efficiency of bioactive compounds from bay leaves and their characterization was evaluated. The effects of irradiation time (3, 6 and 9 min) and aqueous ethanol concentration (0, 25 and 50%) on the extraction of phenolic compounds were evaluated. A response surface methodology was applied to determine the best extraction conditions by MAE. The maximum total phenolic compound under the best conditions (9 min time irradiation and aqueous ethanol 50%) was 10.63±0.91 mg gallic acid equivalent/g plant using MAE. Also, the antioxidant potential of the extracts obtained was evaluated.