In-silico and In-vitro Investigation of Flavonoids and Alkaloids from Artocarpus heterophyllus, Tinospora cordifolia, and Glycosmis pentaphylla as Potential NF-κB Inhibitors in Oral Cancer.

Oral cancer is a global health concern, particularly because of its aggressive tissue invasion and metastases, holding 16th position on occurrence among all carcinoma worldwide. The aberrated transcription factor NF-κB1 influences development and spread of oral cancer, making it a potential therapeutic target. This study investigated the therapeutic potential of a few natural compounds from Artocarpus heterophyllus, Tinospora cordifolia, and Glycosmis pentaphylla in the treatment of oral cancer. Two FDA-approved drugs (5-fluorouracil, Docetaxel) and 16 natural compounds, including Artocarpin, Artocarpanone, Cycloartocarpin from Artocarpus heterophyllus; Berberine, Hydrastine, Magnoflorine, Palmatine Chloride, Tetrahydropalmatine from Tinospora cordifolia; and 5-Hydroxyarborinine, 5-Hydroxynoracronycine, 1-Hydroxy-3-methoxy-10-methyl-9-acridone, Des-N-methylacronycine, Des-N-methylnoracronycine, Kokusagenine, Noracronycin, Skimmianine from Glycosmis pentaphylla were examined using in-silico techniques. Among the 16 natural compounds studied, Hydrastine shown the highest binding energy (-6.87 kcal/mol) against NF-κB1, surpassing all other drugs, including the standards 5-fluorouracil (-4.04 kcal/mol) and docetaxel (-2.4 kcal/mol). Further molecular dynamics simulations and in-vitro experiments verified Hydrastine's exceptional anti-cancer activity. The results of in-vitro were well-aligned with the findings of in-silico, revealing considerable cytotoxicity, apoptosis induction, and cell cycle arrest. The findings revealed natural compounds' potential as safer, more effective alternatives to current cancer therapeutics, opening up new avenues for oral cancer treatment.

Chemical Evaluation of the Effects of Storage Conditions on the Botanical Goldenseal using Marker-based and Metabolomics Approaches.

Hydrastis canadensis, commonly known as goldenseal, is a botanical native to the southeastern United States that has been used for the treatment of infection. The activity of goldenseal is often attributed to the presence of alkaloids (cyclic, nitrogen-containing compounds) present within its roots. Chemical components of botanical supplements like goldenseal may face degradation if not stored properly. The purpose of the research was to analyze the stability of known and unknown metabolites of H. canadensis during exposure to different storage conditions using mass spectrometry. Three abundant metabolites of H. canadensis, berberine, canadine, and hydrastine, were chosen for targeted analysis, and the stability of unknown metabolites was evaluated using untargeted metabolomics. The analysis and evaluation of H. canadensis samples were performed utilizing LC-MS and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The research project focused on identifying the chemical changes in the metabolite content of H. canadensis under different temperature conditions (40°C ± 5°C, 20°C ± 5°C , and 4°C ± 5°C), different light:dark (hr:hr) cycles (16:8, 12:12, and 0:24), and different sample conditions (powdered roots versus whole roots) over a six month period. The results of this 6-month study revealed that the storage conditions evaluated had no significant effects on the chemical composition of H. canadensis roots. Hence, as long as H. canadensis roots are stored within the storage conditions tested in the study, no significant changes in chemical compositions of metabolites are expected.

Quantification of natural products in herbal supplements: A combined NMR approach applied on goldenseal.

Authentication of natural products is of major relevance in the context of manufactured drugs or herbal supplements since such active products generate a lucrative market. The analytical method to identify and quantify valuable natural products is critical for quality control and product assignment of herbal supplements. In this framework, we propose to apply a recently developed quantitative 2D NMR approach called Q QUIPU (Quick QUantItative Perfected and pUre shifted) in combination with 1D 1H NMR capable to access the concentration of three major alkaloids, berberine, ß-hydrastine and canadine, in the root extract of goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), one of the 20 most popular herbal supplements used worldwide. We highlight the complementarity of 1D and 2D quantitative NMR to accurately assess the amount of alkaloids with different range of concentrations and stability within extracts. In particular, unstable natural products having non-overlapped signals like berberine could only be quantified by sensitive and fast 1D 1H, while overlapped signals of ß-hydrastine and low intense ones of canadine could only be quantified with the recent 2D Q QUIPU HSQC. Results obtained from this combined approach have led to a good accuracy (<10%) as compared with coupled UHPLC-MS/UV techniques. This quantitative NMR approach paves the way to numerous applications where the accurate quantification of targeted compounds in complex mixtures is required, for instance in agricultural, food and pharmaceuticals products.

Chiral differentiation of the noscapine and hydrastine stereoisomers by electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry.

Energy-dependent collision-induced dissociation (CID) of the dimers [2 M + Cat](+) of the noscapine and hydrastine stereoisomers was studied where Cat stands for Li(+), Na(+), K(+) and Cs(+) ions. These dimers were generated 'in situ' from the electrosprayed solution. The survival yield (SY) method was used for distinguishing the noscapine and hydrastine dimers. Significant differences were found between the characteristic collision energies (CE50, i.e. the collision energy necessary to obtain 50% fragmentation) of the homo- (R,R; S,S) and heterochiral (R,S; S,R) stereoisomers. To distinguish the enantiomer pairs L-, D-tyrosine ([M + Tyr + Cat](+)) and L-, D-lysine ([M + Lys + Cat](+)) were used as chiral selectors. Furthermore, these heterodimers [M + amino acid + Cat](+) were also applied to determine the stereoisomeric composition. It was found that the characteristic collision energy (CE50) of the noscapine and hydrastine homodimers ([2 M + Cat](+)) was inversely proportional to the ionic radius of the cations. Furthermore, the structures of the dimers [2 M + Cat](+) were studied by high level quantum chemical calculations.