Semecarpus anacardium L.f. leaf extract exhibits activities against breast cancer and prolongs the survival of tumor-bearing mice.

Semecarpus anacardium L.f. has been commonly used in various traditional medicines from ancient times. The nuts have been described in Ayurveda medication systems to treat numerous clinical ailments. However, isolating phytochemical constituents from nuts remain challenging and exhibits cytotoxic effects on other cells. In this study, we have standardized procedures for isolating phytochemicals from the leaf extract. The ethyl acetate leaf extract selectively affects cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner (IC50: 0.57 µg/ml in MCF-7 cells) in various cancer cell lines and induces apoptosis in cancer cells. However, the non-malignant cells were relatively insensitive to the extract. Next, the incubation of the leaf extract induces cell cycle arrest and suppresses cancer cell migration in the cell culture model. Moreover, oral administration of extract significantly restored tumor growth in mice. Together, these observations suggest the anti-cancer activities of S. anacardium L.f. leaf potential for both in vitro and in vivo models.

GC-MS and NMR spectroscopy based metabolite profiling of Panchvalkal kwath (polyherbal formulation).

Panchvalkal kwath (PK) is a bark formulation of five pharmacologically important plants, i.e., Ficus benghalensis, Ficus racemosa, Ficus religiosa, Thespesia populnea, and Ficus lacor. The Ayurvedic formulation is being used since ancient times to cure diabetes, bacterial infections and heal wounds. The present study aims to identify the metabolite profiles of PK which could explain its properties and its mode of action against specific diseases and disorders. The aqueous extract of Panchvalkal is prepared through a hot maceration process. The extract is subjected to preliminary identification of phytoconstituents and FTIR spectroscopy to recognize functional groups. GC-MS analysis reveals that the extract is enriched with 24-Norursa-3,12-diene (25.16%); Lup-20(29)-en-3-one (16.76%); 2-methyl-3-(4-propan-2-ylphenyl) propanal (7.04%); 2-(hydroxymethyl)-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol (11.21%) and 3,5-dihydroxy-6-methyl-2,3-dihydropyran-4-one (4.15%). The presence of three new phytocompounds that are 4-(hydroxymethyl)-7-methyl-1,3-dioxepane-5,6-diol; 1-(4-isopropylphenyl)-2-methylpropylacetate and 4,4,6 A,6B,8A,11,11,14B-octamethyl-1,4,4A,5,6,6A,8,8a,910,11,12,12a,12b,13,14,14a,14b-ctadecahydro-3(2H)-picenone are detected in the extract. Metabolite profiles of the extract also constitute isoeugenol, stigmasterol, ergosterol, ocimene, myrcene, squalene, sphingosine, betulin, methyl ferulate and cis-jasmone, which are unraveled by 1 D 1H and 2 D 1H-13C HSQC NMR spectroscopy. This article focuses on the presence of different phytocompounds in PK in order to demonstrate its efficacy as a therapeutic formulation for a variety of diseases.

Characterization and evaluation of mycosterol secreted from endophytic strain of Gymnema sylvestre for inhibition of α-glucosidase activity.

Endophytic fungi produce various types of chemicals for establishment of niche within the host plant. Due to symbiotic association, they secrete pharmaceutically important bioactive compounds and enzyme inhibitors. In this research article, we have explored the potent α-glucosidse inhibitor (AGI) produced from Fusarium equiseti recovered from the leaf of Gymnema sylvestre through bioassay-guided fraction. This study investigated the biodiversity, phylogeny, antioxidant activity and α-glucosidse inhibition of endophytic fungi isolated from Gymnema sylvestre. A total of 32 isolates obtained were grouped into 16 genera, according to their morphology of colony and spores. A high biodiversity of endophytic fungi were observed in G. sylvestre with diversity indices. Endophytic fungal strain Fusarium equiseti was identified through DNA sequencing and the sequence was deposited in GenBank database (https://ncbi.nim.nih.gov) with acession number: MF403109. The characterization of potent compound was done by FTIR, LC-ESI-MS and NMR spectroscopic analysis with IUPAC name 17-(5-ethyl-6-methylheptan-2-yl)-10,13-dimethyl-2,3,4,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17-tetradecahydro-1H-cyclopenta[a] phenanthren-3-ol. The isolated bioactive compound showed significant α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibition activity with IC50 values, 4.22 ± 0.0005 µg/mL and 69.72 ± 0.001 µg/mL while IC50 values of acarbose was 5.75 ± 0.007 and 55.29 ± 0.0005 µg/mL respectively. This result is higher in comparison to other previous study. The enzyme kinetics study revealed that bioactive compound was competitive inhibitor for α-amylase and α-glucosidase. In-silico study showed that bioactive compound binds to the binding site of α-amylase, similar to that of acarbose but with higher affinity. The study highlights the importance of endophytic fungi as an alternative source of AGI (α-glucosidase inhibition) to control the diabetic condition in vitro.