Volume 77, Issue 5-6

This study aims to determine the effects of essential oils of Origanum dubium (DUB) , Origanum vulgare subsp. hirtum (HIR), and Lavandula angustifolia (LAV) on lipid profiles and liver biomarkers in athletes. Thirty-four trained athletes were randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups or the control group (CON). The concentrations of serum lipids and liver biomarkers were assessed before and after the 14-day essential oil intervention. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis showed 68.0 and 82.1% carvacrol in DUB and HIR, respectively, and 34.50% linalyl acetate and 33.68% linalool in LAV essential oils. One-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) indicated a significant difference ( p  = 0.001) among the groups for high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) when the associated preintervention values were used as a covariate. The related pairwise comparisons revealed that DUB ( p  = 0.001) and HIR ( p  = 0.024) had greater HDL-C values than CON. From the two-way ANOVA, an interaction between time (before vs. after) and the groups (DUB vs. HIR vs. LAV vs. CON) was found for HDL-C ( p  = 0.030). Findings indicated a significant increase in DUB ( p  = 0.0001) and HIR ( p  = 0.010) for HDL-C, and there was a significant decrease in DUB ( p  = 0.023) for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. However, there was no difference in total cholesterol, triglycerides, and all liver biomarkers.

This study aimed to investigate the wound-healing efficacy of Hypericum perforatum and pomegranate seed extract oil combined with curcumin as an anti inflammatory agent. A series of experiments were carried out to determine effective concentrations for H. perforatum oil, pomegranate seed extract oil, and curcumin. Ibuprofen was used as a positive control. The wound-healing effects of the applied compounds were tested according to the migration experiment model performed in HaCaT cells. A real-time cell analyzer (xCELLigence) was used to determine the cytotoxic/proliferative effects of H. perforatum , pomegranate seed oil, ibuprofen, and curcumin in HaCaT cells alone and their combined use at specified concentrations. After examining the noncytotoxic concentrations of H. perforatum oil, pomegranate seed oil, curcumin, and ibuprofen, migration experiments were performed to examine the wound healing properties. According to the results, the wound-healing efficacy of curcumin and H. perforatum combination was better than ibuprofen combinations. Also, according to the results, the wound-healing efficacy of curcumin and pomegranate seed oil combination was better than ibuprofen combinations. It was concluded that both oils had improved wound-healing properties in combination with curcumin or Ibuprofen.

The aim is to establish a model of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) caused by feeding with high-fat, high-fructose, and high-cholesterol diet (HFFCD) in golden hamsters, and to investigate the characteristics of the NAFLD model and metabolite changes of liver tissue. Golden hamsters were fed HFFCD or control diets for six weeks. Body weight, abdominal fat index, and liver index was assessed, serum parameters, hepatic histology, and liver metabolites were examined. The results showed that body weight, abdominal fat, and liver index of hamsters were significantly increased in the model group, the level of serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) were significantly increased in model group as well, and high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) was significantly decreased. In addition, lipid deposition in liver tissue formed fat vacuoles of different sizes. Metabonomics analysis of the liver showed that the metabolic pathways of sphingolipid, glycerophospholipids, and arginine biosynthesis were disordered in the NAFLD model. The modeling method is simple, short time, and uniform. It can simulate the early fatty liver caused by common dietary factors, and provides an ideal model for the study of the initial pathogenesis and therapeutic drugs for NAFLD.

Phytochemical investigation applying GC (gas chromatography)-MS (mass spectrometry)/GC-FID (flame ionization detection) on the hydro-distilled essential oils of the Vietnamese medicinal plant Uvaria boniana leaf and twig lead to the detection of 35 constituents (97.36%) in the leaf oil and 52 constituents (98.75%) in the twig oil. Monoterpenes, monoterpenoids, sesquiterpenes, and sesquiterpenoids were characteristic of U. boniana essential oils. The leaf oil was represented by major components ( E )-caryophyllene (16.90%), bicyclogermacrene (15.95%), α -humulene (14.96%), and linalool (12.40%), whereas four compounds α -cadinol (16.16%), epi - α -muurolol (10.19%), α -pinene (11.01%), and β -pinene (8.08%) were the main ones in the twig oil. As compared with the leaf oil, the twig oil was better in antimicrobial activity. With the same MIC value of 40 mg/mL, the twig oil successfully controlled the growth of Gram (+) bacterium Bacillus subtilis , Gram (−) bacterium Escherichia coli , fungus Aspergillus niger , and yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae . In addition, both two oil samples have induced antiinflammatory activity with the IC 50 values of 223.7–240.6 mg/mL in NO productive inhibition when BV2 cells had been stimulated by LPS. Docking simulations of four major compounds of U. boniana twig oil on eight relevant antibacterial targets revealed that epi - α -muurolol and α -cadinol are moderate inhibitors of E. coli DNA gyrase subunit B, penicillin binding protein 2X and penicillin binding protein 3 of Pseudomonas aeruginosa with similar free binding energies of −30.1, −29.3, and −29.3 kJ/mol, respectively. Furthermore, in silico ADMET studies indicated that all four docked compounds have acceptable oral absorption, low metabolism, and appropriated toxicological profile to be considered further as drug candidates.

A phytochemical investigation of the rhizomes of  Curcuma zedoaria was carried out, leading to the isolation of a new diphenylheptanoid, zedoaroxane A ( 1 ), together with four known compounds ( 2 – 5 ). Their structures were elucidated based on NMR spectroscopic data. All isolated compounds possessed α -glucosidase inhibitory activity, with the IC 50 values ranging from 35.2 to 89.0 µM, more potent than that of the positive control acarbose (IC 50 , 214.5 µM).

Monoterpenes, a class of isoprenoid compounds, are extensively used in flavor, fragrance, perfumery, and cosmetics. They display many astonishing bioactive properties of biological and pharmacological significance. All monoterpenes are derived from universal precursor geranyl diphosphate. The demand for new monoterpenoids has been increasing in flavor, fragrances, perfumery, and pharmaceuticals. Chemical methods, which are harmful for human and the environment, synthesize most of these products. Over the years, researchers have developed alternative methods for the production of newer monoterpenoids. Microbial biotransformation is one of them, which relied on microbes and their enzymes. It has produced many new desirable commercially important monoterpenoids. A growing number of reports reflect an ever-expanding scope of microbial biotransformation in food and aroma industries. Simultaneously, our knowledge of the enzymology of monoterpene biosynthetic pathways has been increasing, which facilitated the biotransformation of monoterpenes. In this article, we have covered the progress made on microbial biotransformation of commercial monoterpenes with a brief introduction to their biosynthesis. We have collected several reports from authentic web sources, including Google Scholar, Pubmed, Web of Science, and Scopus published in the past few years to extract information on the topic.

In the present study, copper (II) complex of 4, 4′-di-tert-butyl-2,2′-bipyridine [Cu (C 18 H 24 N 2 ) (NO 3 ) 2 ], 1 is investigated through its synthesis and characterization using elemental analysis technique, infra-red spectroscopy, and single-crystal analysis. The compound 1 crystallizes in orthorhombic space group P 2 1 2 1 2 1 . The copper atom in the mononuclear complex is hexa coordinated through two nitrogen and four oxygen atoms from bipyridine ligand and nitrate ligands. The thermal analysis depicts the stability of the entitled compound up to 170 °C, and the decomposition takes place in different steps between 170 and 1000 °C. Furthermore, quantum chemical techniques are used to study optoelectronic, nonlinear optical, and therapeutic bioactivity. The values of isotropic and anisotropic linear polarizabilities of compound 1 are calculated as 41.65 × 10 −24 and 23.02 × 10 −24  esu, respectively. Likewise, the static hyperpolarizability is calculated as 47.92 × 10 −36  esu using M06 functional compared with para -nitroaniline ( p -NA) and found several times larger than p -NA. Furthermore, the antiviral potential of compound 1 is studied using molecular docking technique where intermolecular interactions are checked between the entitled compound and two crucial proteins of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). Our investigation indicated that compound 1 interacts more vigorously to spike protein than main protease (M Pro ) due to its better binding energy of −9.60 kcal/mol compared with −9.10 kcal/mol of M Pro . Our current study anticipated that the above-entitled coordination complexes could be potential candidates for optoelectronic properties and their biological activity.

The chemical investigation of the ethanol/water (7:3) extract of the roots of Detarium microcarpum (Fabaceae) led to the isolation of one new labdane diterpenoid, microcarpin ( 1 ) and one new ceramide derivative, microcarpamide ( 2 ), along with eight known secondary metabolites ( 3–10 ) including, 5-(carboxymethyl)-5,6,8a-trimethyl-3,4,4a,5,6,7,8,8a-octahydronaphthalene-1-carboxylic acid ( 3 ), microcarposide ( 4 ), rhinocerotinoic acid ( 5 ), 1,7-dihydroxy-6-methylxanthone ( 6 ), ursolic acid ( 7 ), 3 β ,23-dihydroxylup-20(29)-en-28-oic acid ( 8 ), alphitolic acid ( 9 ), and stigmasterol glucoside ( 10 ). The structures of these compounds were elucidated based on their spectroscopic data. Although compounds 3 and 4 are known, their crystalline structures are reported here for the first time. These compounds were evaluated in vitro for their antisalmonella activity. The results obtained showed that, microcarpamide ( 2 ), microcarposide ( 4 ), and rhinocerotinoic acid ( 5 ) were moderately active against three salmonella strains: Salmonella typhi , Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella typhimirium , with minimum inhibition concentration values of 76.7 and 153.5 μM.