The exploration of phytocompounds theoretically combats SARS-CoV-2 pandemic against virus entry, viral replication and immune evasion.

BACKGROUND: The novel coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) that emerged in China, is an extremely contagious and pathogenic viral infection caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) that has sparked a global pandemic. The few and limited availability of approved therapeutic agents or vaccines is of great concern. Urgently, Remdesivir, Nirmatrelvir, Molnupiravir, and some phytochemicals including polyphenol, flavonoid, alkaloid, and triterpenoid are applied to develop as repurposing drugs against the SARS-CoV-2 invasion. METHODS: This study was conducted to perform molecular docking and absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity (ADMET) analysis of the potential phytocompounds and repurposing drugs against three targets of SARS-CoV-2 proteins (RNA dependent RNA polymerase, RdRp, Endoribonclease, S-protein of ACE2-RBD). RESULTS: The docking data illustrated Arachidonic acid, Rutin, Quercetin, and Curcumin were highly bound with coronavirus polyprotein replicase and Ebolavirus envelope protein. Furthermore, anti- Ebolavirus molecule Remedesivir, anti-HIV molecule Chloroquine, and Darunavir were repurposed with coronavirus polyprotein replicase as well as Ebolavirus envelope protein. The strongest binding interaction of each targets are Rutin with RdRp, Endoribonclease with Amentoflavone, and ACE2-RBD with Epigallocatechin gallate. CONCLUSIONS: Taken altogether, these results shed a light on that phytocompounds have a therapeutic potential for the treatment of anti-SARS-CoV-2 may base on multi-target effects or cocktail formulation for blocking viral infection through invasion/activation, transcription/reproduction, and posttranslational cleavage to battle COVID-19 pandemic.

Cordycepin Induces Apoptosis through JNK-Mediated Caspase Activation in Human OEC-M1 Oral Cancer Cells.

Cordycepin, a bioactive compound extracted from Cordyceps sinensis, can induce apoptosis in human OEC-M1 oral cancer cells. However, the exact mechanism is still unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the underlying mechanism of cordycepin-induced apoptosis in OEC-M1 cells. Following treatment with cordycepin, apoptosis was examined and quantified using a DNA laddering assay and a cytokeratin 18 fragment enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively. Expressions of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and apoptosis-related proteins were detected by the western blot analysis. Our results show that a pan-caspase inhibitor, Z-VAD-FMK, could significantly inhibit cordycepin-induced apoptosis in OEC-M1 cells. In addition, treatment with cordycepin not only activated caspase-8, caspase-9, and caspase-3 but also induced Bid and poly ADP-ribose polymerase cleavages. Furthermore, cordycepin also induced the activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), extracellular signal-regulated kinase, and p38 MAPKs. Among MAPKs, activation of JNK solely contributed to cordycepin-induced apoptosis with the activation of caspase-8, caspase-9, and caspase-3 and cleavage of PARP. Taken together, the present study demonstrated that cordycepin activated JNK and caspase pathways to induce apoptosis in OEC-M1 cells.

Enantioselective esterification of (R,S)-2-methylalkanoic acid with Carica papaya lipase in organic solvents.

Isooctane was the best reaction medium for the enantioselective esterification of (R,S)-2-methylalkanoic acid with n-butanol using Carica papaya lipase as catalyst. Increasing linear alkyl-chain length of racemic 2-methylalkanoic acids from ethyl to hexyl increased the enantioselectivity (E) from 2.1 to 98.2 for the esterification of racemic 2-methylalkanoic acids with n-butanol at 35°C. Decreasing reaction temperature from 40 to 20°C increased the enantioselectivity (E) from 14 to 33 for the esterification of racemic 2-methylhexanoic acids with n-butanol. We obtained a maximum enantioselectivity, of E = 24.3, for the enantioselective esterification of racemic 2-methylhexanoic acids with n-butanol in isooctane at water activity 0.33, and at 35°C.

Hypoglycaemic effects of fermented mycelium of Paecilomyces farinosus (G30801) on high-fat fed rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Paceilomyces farinosus is an entomogenous fungus with a powerful insecticidal activity against the larvae of Lipidoptera, Coleoptera and Hymenoptera. However, the hypoglycaemic activity of P. farinosus extract has not been studied. This study was undertaken to investigate the hypoglycaemic and anti-diabetic effects of P. farinosus (G30801) in rats with streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes given a high-fat and compared with normal rats. METHODS: Rats fed with high fat diet for 2 months and injected with (30 or 50 mg STZ/kg bw) showed raised level of plasma triglyceride (TG), cholesterol, D-glucose concentration and glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1C) %. The STZ-induced type 1 (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in rats was further confirmed using glucose tolerance test and insulin-glucose tolerance test. P. farinosus (G30801) was fermented in different media [soybean (S), black bean (B), and rice (R)] and their extracts were tested for hypoglycaemic effect using T1DM and T2DM rats. RESULTS: STZ (30 and 50 mg/kg bw) could successfully induce T2DM and T1DM in rats, respectively. No change in blood glucose levels were noted in P. farinosus (R medium) treated normal rats (P < 0.05). In addition, STZ-high fat fed diabetic (T1DM and T2DM) rats when treated with P. farinosus (R medium) showed decreased blood glucose level as compared with P. farinosus extracted from B and S medium. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings showed hypoglycaemic effect of fermented P. farinosus (G30801) in experimental diabetes rat model fed with high fat diet.

Apoptotic effects of a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) fraction of Antrodia camphorata mycelia are mediated by down-regulation of the expressions of four tumor-related genes in human non-small cell lung carcinoma A549 cell.

AIM OF THE STUDY: Antrodia camphorata (niu-chang-chih) is a fungus native to Taiwan which is believed to be effective in preventing diseases. Recent reports demonstrate that Antrodia camphorata products induce the apoptosis of various kinds of tumor cells. In this study we determined the inhibitory effects of alcohol extract and individual fractions of alcohol extract on the proliferation of human non-small cell lung carcinoma A549 cell and clarified the mechanism underlying the anti-cancer activities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Alcohol extracts of Antrodia camphorata mycelia were prepared by the serial extraction with the solvents with increasing polarity and fractionated using HPLC. Cell viability was determined by MTT assay. Apoptosis detection was carried out by subG(1) analysis and annexin V/propidium iodide staining using flow cytometry. The impacts of HPLC fractions on the expression levels of apoptosis- and cancer-related proteins were evaluated by western blotting. RESULTS: Three HPLC fractions, fractions 5-7, had robust inhibition of human A549 cells and among them fraction 6 (Fr-6) possessed the most potent effectiveness. Apoptotic assay showed that Fr-6-induced human A549 cell apoptosis by triggering the mitochondrial pathway and endothelium reticulum (ER) stress. Immunoblotting results demonstrated that Fr-6 possibly activated ER stress by lowering the expression level of calpain 1/2 small subunit and Fr-6-mediated decrease in cell proliferation might attribute to the suppressive effect on the Erk 1/2 pathway, which arose from Fr-6-derived low galectin-1 expression. Furthermore Fr-6 could diminish Rho GDP dissociation inhibitor alpha (RhoGDI-alpha) expression and subsequently activated c-Jun NH(2)-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway, which is linked to cell apoptosis. Fr-6 also could decrease the production level of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A, which is a potential cancer intervention target. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that the anti-cancer activity of Antrodia camphorata might be due to multiple active metabolites, which work together to induce cell apoptosis via various pathways.

Proteomic investigation of the impact of oxygen on the protein profiles of hyaluronic acid-producing Streptococcus zooepidemicus.

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a linear and negatively charged polysaccharide regularly used in medicine and cosmetics. Recently Streptococcus zooepidemicus has been exploited in the fermentation industry to produce HA. Many studies showed that higher amounts of HA were produced under aerobic condition compared to anaerobic conditions. To explore the effect of oxygen on the HA synthesis in S. zooepidemicus, 2-DE was used to compare the proteomes of aerobically and anaerobically fermented bacteria to identify proteins, which might be associated with the influence of oxygen on the HA synthesis. Totally nine pairs of 2-DE gels collected from three batches were compared and nine overexpressed proteins were observed in aerobically fermented bacteria. These proteins were identified by LC/tandem MS as dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase, UDP-acetyl-glucosamine pyrophosphoylase, dihydrolipoamide-S-acetyltransferase and acetoin dehydrogenase alpha and beta chains, respectively. These upregulated proteins were involved in acetoin dissimilation, the central carbon metabolism and the HA anabolic pathway, implicating that oxygen might augment the expression of genes that are involved in central energy metabolism, acetoin reutilization and HA biosynthesis to enhance the amount of acetyl-CoA as such that more acetyl-CoA can be diverged from the central carbon metabolism to replenish acetyl-CoA for the HA synthesis.

Synthesis of triglycerides of phenylalkanoic acids by lipase-catalyzed esterification in a solvent-free system.

Immobilized Candida antarctica lipase B catalyzed the synthesis of triglycerides from glycerol and phenylalkanoic acids in a solvent-free system. 4-Phenylbutyric acid was the best acyl donor and displayed the highest synthetic rate of triphenylbutyrin (glyceryl triphenylbutyrate) at 65 degrees C among various phenylalkanoic acids with straight alkyl chains. The external mass transfer between the immobilized lipase and the bulk reaction mixture was limited. Different methods of removing water during the lipase-catalyzed esterification including spontaneous evaporation, the use of saturated salts solutions, and the use of molecular sieves were studied. The highest yield of triphenylbutyrin at 65 degrees C was 98%, by the elimination of water using molecular sieves in a solvent-free system. The glycerol was almost completely esterified to triphenylbutyrin in excess phenylbutyric acid with various substrate molar ratios.

Lipase-catalyzed enantioselective esterification of (S)-naproxen hydroxyalkyl ester in organic media.

A lipase-catalyzed, enantioselective esterification process in organic solvents was developed for the synthesis of (S)-naproxen hydroxyalkyl ester. With the selection of lipase (Candida rugosa lipase) and reaction medium (isooctane and cyclohexane), a high enantiomeric ratio of > 100 for the enzyme was obtained. 1,4-Butanediol was the best acyl acceptor. The carbon chain length of the alcohol had a major effect on the enzyme activity and enantioselectivity of lipase-catalyzed esterification.