The Management of Diabetes Mellitus Using Medicinal Plants and Vitamins.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a serious chronic metabolic disease that is associated with hyperglycemia and several complications including cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease. DM is caused by high levels of blood sugar in the body associated with the disruption of insulin metabolism and homeostasis. Over time, DM can induce life-threatening health problems such as blindness, heart disease, kidney damage, and stroke. Although the cure of DM has improved over the past decades, its morbidity and mortality rates remain high. Hence, new therapeutic strategies are needed to overcome the burden of this disease. One such prevention and treatment strategy that is easily accessible to diabetic patients at low cost is the use of medicinal plants, vitamins, and essential elements. The research objective of this review article is to study DM and explore its treatment modalities based on medicinal plants and vitamins. To achieve our objective, we searched scientific databases of ongoing trials in PubMed Central, Medline databases, and Google Scholar websites. We also searched databases on World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform to collect relevant papers. Results of numerous scientific investigations revealed that phytochemicals present in medicinal plants (Allium sativum, Momordica charantia, Hibiscus sabdariffa L., and Zingiber officinale) possess anti-hypoglycemic activities and show promise for the prevention and/or control of DM. Results also revealed that intake of vitamins C, D, E, or their combination improves the health of diabetes patients by reducing blood glucose, inflammation, lipid peroxidation, and blood pressure levels. However, very limited studies have addressed the health benefits of medicinal plants and vitamins as chemo-therapeutic/preventive agents for the management of DM. This review paper aims at addressing this knowledge gap by studying DM and highlighting the biomedical significance of the most potent medicinal plants and vitamins with hypoglycemic properties that show a great potential to prevent and/or treat DM.

Pharmacological Effects of Selected Medicinal Plants and Vitamins Against COVID-19.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). It is a serious disease that has caused multiple deaths in various countries in the world. Globally, as of May 23, 2021, the total confirmed cases of COVID-19 have reach 166,346,635 with a total of 3,449,117 deaths. Several recent scientific studies have shown that medicinal plants and vitamins can benefit and improve the health of COVID-19 patients. However, the benefits of medicinal plants and vitamins in the treatment of COVID-19 remain unproven. Therefore, the objective of this article is to expounds the benefits of using medicinal plants (Allium sativum, curcumin, Nigella sativa, Zingiber officitale) and vitamins (vitamin C and vitamin D) that possess the antiviral properties for the prevention and/or control of COVID-19. To reach our objective, we searched scientific databases of ongoing trials in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention websites, PubMed Central, Medline databases, and Google Scholar websites. We also searched databases on World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform to collect relevant papers. We found that all of the selected medicinal plants and vitamins possess antiviral activities, and their individual intake shows promise for the prevention and/or control of COVID-19. We conclude that, the selected medicinal plants and vitamins possess anti-viral properties that are more likely to prevent and/or disrupt the SARS-CoV-2 replication cycle, enhance the human immune system and promote good health.

Comparative whole genome transcriptome analysis and fenugreek leaf extract modulation on cadmium­induced toxicity in liver cells.

Cadmium (Cd), an economically valuable metal, is widely used in various industrial processes. Although it is of economic value, it is hazardous to human health. Cd accumulates in vital organs where it causes various diseases. Natural compounds with chelating or antioxidant properties have been tested to reduce the toxic effect of Cd. The anti­oxidant, anti­diabetic and hypocholesterolemic properties of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) leaves make it a candidate for investigation as protective agent against Cd­induced toxicity. In the present study, the protective effects of fenugreek leaf extract (FLE) on cell viability, morphology, and whole genomic transcription in cadmium chloride (CdCl2)­treated rat liver cells were analyzed. The cells were treated with 25 µM CdCl2 alone, or co­treated with 5 µg/ml FLE for 48 h. The co­treated cells were pretreated with FLE for 2 or 4 h, followed by CdCl2 treatment. Genomic transcription analysis was performed in the CdCl2­treated cells following treatment for 6 h. The CdCl2 caused a significant decrease in viability (35.8±4.1%) and morphological distortion of the cells, compared with the untreated control cells; whereas 4 h pretreatment with FLE (5 µg/ml) reversed the Cd­induced morphology alteration and increased the cell viability to 102±3.8%. Genomic transcription analysis of the CdCl2 only­treated cells showed 61 upregulated and 124 downregulated genes, compared with 180 upregulated and 162 downregulated genes in the FLE pretreated cells. Furthermore, 37 and 26% of the affected total genomic genes in the CdCl2 only­treated cells were involved in binding and catalytic activities, respectively, whereas 50 and 20% of the genes in the FLE pretreated cells were involved in binding and catalytic activities, respectively. In conclusion, these results suggested that genome transcriptome modulation may be important in the protective effect of FLE against Cd­induced toxicity in normal rat liver cells.

In vitro evaluation of 3-arylcoumarin derivatives in A549 cell line.

UNLABELLED: Coumarins are naturally-occurring compounds with diverse and interesting biological activities. In the present study, we evaluated the in vitro cytotoxic effect of 8-(acetyloxy)-3-[4-(acetyloxy)phenyl]-2-oxo-2H-chromen-7-yl acetate (6); 8-(acetyloxy)-3-(4-methanesulfonyl phenyl)-2-oxo-2H-chromen-7-yl acetate (7); 4-(2-oxo-2H-chromen-3-yl)phenyl acetate (8); 3-(4-methanesulfonylphenyl)-2H-chromen-2-one (9); 4-(4-methyl-2-oxo-2H-chromen-3-yl)phenyl acetate (10); 3-(4-methanesulfonylphenyl)-4-methyl-2H-chromen-2-one (11); 8-(acetyloxy)-3-[4-(acetyloxy)phenyl]-4-methyl-2-oxo-2H-chromen-7-yl acetate (12); and 5-(acetyloxy)-3-[4-(acetyloxy) phenyl]-2-oxo-2H-chromen-7-yl acetate (13) in human lung (A549) cancer and normal lung (MRC-9) cell lines at different concentrations for 48 h using crystal violet dye binding assay. The cytotoxic effect of these coumarin derivatives were compared to the standard drug, docetaxel. Furthermore, the effect of the most active compound on the cell-cycle using propidium iodide, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) using tetramethyl rhodamine methyl ester (rhodamine-123) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production using 2',7'-dichlorofluorescin diacetate (PCFDA) were also evaluated. RESULTS: Compound 7: had the greatest cytotoxic effect (cytotoxic concentration, CC50=24 µM) and selectivity (MRC-9; CC50>100 µM; inactive) in the A549 cell line, and caused cells to arrest in the S phase of the cell cycle, loss of MMP and increased ROS production in a concentration-dependent manner. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that compound 7: could serve as a new lead for the development of novel synthetic compounds with enhanced anticancer activity.

Milk thistle seed extract protects rat C6 astroglial cells from acute cocaine toxicity.

Cocaine is a powerful addictive drug, widely abused in most Western countries. It easily reaches various domains within and outside of the central nervous system (CNS), and triggers varying levels of cellular toxicity. No pharmacological treatment is available to alleviate cocaine-induced toxicity in the cells without side-effects. Here, we discerned the role of milk thistle (MT) seed extract against cocaine toxicity. First, we investigated acute cytotoxicity induced by treatment with 2, 3 and 4 mM cocaine for 1 h in astroglial, liver and kidney cells in vitro, and then in living shrimp larvae in vivo. We showed that astroglial cells are more sensitive to cocaine than liver, kidney cells or larvae. Cocaine exposure disrupted the general architecture of astroglial cells, induced vacuolation, decreased cell viability, and depleted the glutathione (GSH) level. These changes may represent the underlying pathology of cocaine in the astrocytes. By contrast, MT pretreatment (200 µg/ml) for 30 min sustained the cell morphological features and increased both cell viability and the GSH level. Besides its protective effects, the MT extract was revealed to be non-toxic to astroglial cells, and displayed high free-radical scavenging activity. The results from this study suggest that enhanced GSH level underlies cell protection, and indicate that compounds that promote GSH synthesis in the cells may be beneficial against cocaine toxicity.

Potent cytotoxic activity of Saururus cernuus extract on human colon and breast carcinoma cultures under normoxic conditions.

BACKGROUND: Saururus cernuus (Sc) is a small plant, used for the treatment of various human inflammations. The present study aimed at investigating the cytotoxic potential of the methanolic extract of this plant against brine shrimp larvae and human carcinoma cells at normoxic conditions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The in vivo lethality test was evaluated at various doses against brine shrimp larvae at different time periods. Similarly, the extract was tested for 48 h at various concentrations against human CL-18 and MDA-MB-231 carcinoma cell lines and the toxicity was evaluated using the dye binding crystal-violet assay method. RESULTS: In the shrimp assay, the extract was very active, with ED50 values ranging from 1.83 +/- 0.2 to 2.79 +/- 0.2 microg/ml at various incubation periods. The extract was also very potent in human CL-18 and MDA-MB-231 cultures with LD50 values of 1.9 +/- 0.17 and 0.26 +/- 0.03 microg/ml, respectively. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that Sc extract contains very stable, potent anticancer compounds, which gain access into the cells quickly and kill carcinoma cells and shrimp larvae at normoxic conditions.