Salinity stress improves antioxidant potential by modulating physio-biochemical responses in Moringa oleifera Lam.

Moringa oleifera Lam. is a common edible plant, famous for several nutritional and therapeutic benefits. This study investigates the salt -induced modulations in plant growth, physio-biochemical responses, and antioxidant performance of M. oleifera grown under 0, 50, and 100 mM NaCl concentrations. Results showed that the plant effectively managed moderate salinity (50 mM NaCl) by maintaining succulence, weight ratios, and biomass allocation patterns of both shoot and root with minimal reduction in dry biomass. However, high salinity (100 mM NaCl) remarkably declined all growth parameters. The plant accumulated more Na+ and Cl-, while less K+ under salinity as compared to the control. Consequently, osmotic potentials of both root and leaf decreased under salinity, which was corroborated by the high amount of proline and soluble sugars. Increased level of H2O2 with significantly unchanged membrane fluidity indicating its role in perceiving and managing stress at moderate salinity. In addition, increased activities of superoxide dismutase, and catalase, with increased glutathione and flavonoid contents suggest an integrated participation of both enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant components in regulating ROS. On the other hand, high salinity caused an outburst of ROS indicated by high H2O2, MDA, and electrolyte leakage. As a response, moringa drastically increased the activities of all antioxidant enzymes and contents of antioxidant molecules including ascorbic acid, glutathione, total phenols, and flavonoids with high radical scavenging and reducing power capacities. However, a considerable amount of energy was used in such management resulting in a significant growth reduction at 100 mM NaCl. This study suggests that moringa effectively resisted moderate salinity by modulating physio-biochemical attributes and effectively managing ion toxicity and oxidative stress. Salt stress also enhanced the medicinal potentials of moringa by increasing the contents of antioxidant compounds including ascorbic acid, glutathione, total phenols, and flavonoids and their resulting activities. It can be grown on degraded/ saline lands and biomass of this plant can be used for edible and medicinal purposes, besides providing other benefits in a global climate change scenario.

Physico-Chemical Properties of Magnetic Dicationic Ionic Liquids with Tetrahaloferrate Anions.

A series of imidazolium-based symmetrical and asymmetrical dicationic ionic liquids (DcILs) with alkyl spacers of different length and with [FeCl3 Br]- as counter ion have been synthesized. The synthesized DcILs are characterized by using FTIR and Raman spectroscopy as well as mass spectrometry, along with single-crystal XRD analysis. Physicochemical properties such as solubility, thermal stability and magnetic susceptibility are also measured. These compounds show low melting points, good solubility in water and organic solvents, thermal stability, and paramagnetism. The products of molar susceptibility and temperature (χmol ⋅T) for the synthesized DcILs have been found between 4.05 to 4.79 emu mol-1 K Oe-1 and effective magnetic moment values have also been determined to be compared to that expected from the spin-only approximation.

Highly Efficient Visible Light Active Doped ZnO Photocatalysts for the Treatment of Wastewater Contaminated with Dyes and Pathogens of Emerging Concern.

Water is obligatory for sustaining life on Earth. About 71% of the Earth's surface is covered in water. However, only one percent of the total water is drinkable. The presence of contaminants in wastewater, surface water, groundwater, and drinking water is a serious threat to human and environmental health. Their toxic effects and resistance towards conventional water treatment methods have compelled the scientific community to search for an environmentally friendly method that could efficiently degrade toxic contaminants. In this regard, visible light active photocatalysts have proved to be efficient in eliminating a wide variety of water toxins. A plethora of research activities have been carried out and significant amounts of funds are spent on the monitoring and removal of water contaminants, but relatively little attention has been paid to the degradation of persistent water pollutants. In this regard, nanoparticles of doped ZnO are preferred options owing to their low recombination rate and excellent photocatalytic and antimicrobial activity under irradiation of solar light. The current article presents the roles of these nanomaterials for wastewater treatment from pollutants of emerging concern.

Radioprotective Potential of Nutraceuticals and their Underlying Mechanism of Action.

Radiations are an efficient treatment modality in cancer therapy. Besides the treatment effects of radiations, the ionizing radiations interact with biological systems and generate reactive oxygen species that interfere with the normal cellular process. Previous investigations have been conducted only on few synthetic radioprotectors, mainly owing to some limiting effects. The nutraceuticals act as efficient radioprotectors to protect the tissues from the deleterious effects of radiation. The main radioprotection mechanism of nutraceuticals is the scavenging of free radicals while other strategies involve modulation of signaling transduction pathways like MAPK (JNK, ERK1/2, ERK5, and P38), NF-kB, cytokines, and their protein regulatory gene expression. The current review is focused on the radioprotective effects of nutraceuticals including vitamin E, -C, organosulphur compounds, phenylpropanoids, and polysaccharides. These natural entities protect against radiation-induced DNA damage. The review mainly entails the antioxidant perspective and radioprotective molecular mechanism of nutraceuticals, DNA repair pathway, anti-inflammation, immunomodulatory effects and regeneration of hematopoietic cells.

Anti-Parkinson's evaluation of Brassica juncea leaf extract and underlying mechanism of its phytochemicals.

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with progressive neuronal damage and dysfunction. Oxidative stress helps to regulate neurodegenerative and neuronal dysfunction. Natural compounds could attenuate oxidative stress in a variety of neurological disorders. B. juncea is a rich source of antioxidants. The present study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic potential of B. juncea leaves for the treatment of PD by applying behavioral, in vivo and in silico studies. For in vivo studies rats were divided into six groups (n = 6). Group-I served as normal control (vehicle control). Group-II was disease control (haloperidol 1 mg/kg). Group-III was kept as a standard group (L-Dopa 100 mg/kg + carbidopa 25 mg/kg). Groups (IV-VI) were the treatment groups, receiving extract at 200-, 400- and 600 mg/kg doses respectively, for 21 days orally. Results: In vivo study results showed that the extract was found to improve muscles strength, motor coordination, and balance in PD. These behavioral outcomes were consistent with the recovery of endogenous antioxidant defence in biochemical analysis which was further corroborated with histopathological ameliorations. Dopamine levels increased and monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) levels decreased dose-dependently in the brain during the study. Herein, we performed molecular docking analysis of the proposed extracted phytochemicals has explained that four putative phytochemicals (sinapic acid, rutin, ferulic acid, and caffeic acid) have presented very good results in terms of protein-ligand binding interactions as well as absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion & toxicity (ADMET) profile estimations. Conclusion: The undertaken study concluded the anti-Parkinson activity of B. juncea and further suggests developments on its isolated compounds in PD therapeutics.

Preconcentration of rifampicin prior to its efficient spectroscopic determination in the wastewater samples based on a nonionic surfactant.

Every year, tuberculosis affects the lungs of millions of people and rifampicin is the commonly used medicine for its treatment due to its antibiotic nature. The frequent use of rifampicin may lead to its increased concentration in the water resources. This research work is focused on the cloud point extraction (CPE) procedure for the preconcentration of rifampicin prior to its determination in water. The UV/vis spectrophotometric method was adapted for the measurement of rifampicin content after the phase separation. Triton-X 100 was used as the nonionic surfactant which contains hydrophilic polyethylene chain feasible for the extraction of analyte. Various analytical parameters that can affect the extraction efficacy were optimized to achieve linearity of the proposed method in the concentration range of 3.54-81.41 mgL-1. The Limit of detection and quantification were 1.261 and 4.212 mgL- 1, respectively. The Preconcentration factor was 40 with relative standard deviation (%RSD) of 2.504%. The standard addition methodology was adopted for the validation of this procedure and effectively applied for the determination of rifampicin in real wastewater samples.

Assessing the biological potential of new symmetrical ferrocene based bisthiourea analogues.

In the present work synthesis and characterization of five new bisferrocenyl bisthiourea analogues (G2M, S2M, G3F, G4F and T2M) is reported. UV-Visible and electrochemical studies were performed in order to have optical (absorption maximum, Molar absorption coefficient and optical band gap) and electrochemical parameters (Oxidation/reduction potentials and nature of the electrochemical process) of the compounds. In vitro various biological studies such as antibacterial, antifungal, anti-oxidant and antidiabetic activities were carried out to have comparative overview of the phermacochemical strength of the newly synthesized compounds. Similarly, theoretical analysis was accomplished utilizing density functional theory calculations. DFT/B3LYP (6-31G d, p) technique was used. With a view to explore the structure activity relationship (SAR) of the compounds theoretical docking analysis (against α-amylase, α-glucosidase) was also performed to have pictorial view and understanding of the actual interactions responsible for the activity. S2M displayed best antibacterial activity. Similarly, Antifungal and antidiabetic activities showed G3F as a best candidate, whereas T2M proved to be the best antioxidant agent.

Superoxide Scavenging and Antiglycation Activity of Rhinacanthins-rich Extract Obtained from the Leaves of Rhinacanthus nasutus.

BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress and nonenzymatic protein glycation lead to serious diabetic complications that increase the risk of mortality. Rhinacanthus nasutus leaf crude extracts are previously reported for their antidiabetic, antiglycation, and antioxidant potential. OBJECTIVE: The present study was performed to prepare a standardized rhinacanthins-rich extract (RRE) and evaluate its superoxide scavenging and antiglycation effects as compared to its marker compounds, namely, rhinacanthin-C (RC), rhinacanthin-D (RD), and rhinacanthin-N (RN). MATERIALS AND METHODS: RRE was obtained by microwave-assisted green extraction along with a simple step of fractionation using Amberlite® column. RC, RD, and RN were isolated from the RRE using silica gel column chromatography. Superoxide scavenging activity was performed by cyclic voltammetry, and fructose-mediated human serum albumin glycation model was used for antiglycation activity. In silico studies were conducted to identify the structure-activity relationships of rhinacanthins. RESULTS: On the basis of kinetic measurements, RRE exhibited the most potent antioxidant activity via ErCi mechanism, with a 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) value of 8.0 µg/mL, antioxidant capacity of 39439 M-1, and binding constant of 45709 M-1. Antiglycation assay showed that RRE exhibited almost equivalent glycation inhibitory effect to that of RC, with IC50 values of 39.7 and 37.3 µg/mL, respectively, but higher than that of RD (IC50 of 50.4 µg/mL), RN (IC50 of 89.5 µg/mL), as well as the positive control, rutin (IC50 of 41.5 µg/mL). CONCLUSIONS: The potent superoxide scavenging and albumin glycation inhibitory effect of RRE rationalized its therapeutic application in various chronic diseases, especially in the complications of diabetes. SUMMARY: Rhinacanthins-rich extract (RRE) exhibited potent superoxide scavenging activityRRE and rhinacanthin-C showed remarkable and comparable antiglycation effectRhinacanthins exhibited antiglycation activity by masking specific residues of albumin. Abbreviations used: RRE: Rhinacanthins-rich extract; RC: Rhinacanthin-C; RD: Rhinacanthin-D; RN: Rhinacanthin-N; IC50: 50% inhibitory concentration; Kao: Antioxidant activity coefficient; Kb: Binding constant; ErCi: Reversible electron transfer followed by an irreversible chemical reaction; DM: Diabetes mellitus; AGEPs: Advanced glycation end products; NMR: Nuclear magnetic resonance; HPLC: High-performance liquid chromatography; CV: Cyclic voltammetry; DMSO: Dimethyl sulfoxide; Ipa: Anodic peak current; Ipc: Cathodic peak current; HSA: Human serum albumin; MOE: Molecular operating environment; PASSonline: Online prediction of activity spectra for substances.

Multivariate optimization of "In capillary-Schiff's base functionalized magnetic nanoparticle based microextraction" of Pb(+2): A novel synergistic approach.

A novel microextraction procedure based on Schiff's base functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (SBMNPs) has been developed for Pb(+2) extraction. Compared to conventional microextraction systems, the main advantage of proposed procedure is that no volatile/flammable reagents have used and experimental time is also reduced. Schiff's base has been derived from salicylaldehyde and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane modified nanoparticles. Extraction of Pb(+2) was carried out in a capillary column containing analyte followed by the addition of SBMNPs and triton X-114 where ionic-liquid "1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate" was used as an extractant. After extraction; analyte concentration was determined with flame atomic absorption spectrometer through a self made micro-injection system. The SBMNPs were characterized by FTIR and TEM, respectively, demonstrating their distinct core-shell structures. Different experimental parameters were optimized through multivariate strategy. Detection limit, enhancement factor and relative standard deviation obtained with developed procedure were 0.193µgL(-1), 26.3 and 4.01%, respectively. Validity was checked through the recovery experiments and satisfactory results were obtained. In brief the synergistic combination of SBMNPs in column with ionic-liquid resulted in an efficient microextraction procedure for Pb(+2) in real samples.