Naringenin: A prospective therapeutic agent for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

Neurodegenerative disorders (NDs) are a cluster of progressive, severe, and disabling disorders that affect millions of people worldwide and are on the surge. These disorders are characterized by the gradual loss of a selectively vulnerable group of neurons. Due to the complex pathophysiological mechanisms behind neurodegeneration and despite enormous efforts and understanding of the occurrence and progression of NDs, there is still a lack of an effective treatment for such diseases. Therefore, the development of a new therapeutic strategy for NDs is an unmet clinical need. Various natural compounds extracted from medicinal plants or fruits have shown promising activities in treating different types of NDs by targeting multiple signaling pathways. Among natural entities, flavonoids have incited a rise in public and scientific interest in recent years because of their purported health-promoting effects. Dietary supplementation of flavonoids has been shown to mitigate the severity of NDs such as Parkinson's disease (PD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and dementia by their antioxidant effects. Naringenin is a citrus flavonoid that is known to possess numerous biological activities like antioxidant, anti-proliferative, and anti-inflammatory activities. Therefore, naringenin has emerged as a potential therapeutic agent that exerts preventive and curative effects on several neurological disorders. Increasing evidence has attained special attention on the variety of therapeutic targets along with complex signaling pathways of naringenin, which suggest its possible therapeutic applications in several NDs. Derived from the results of several pre-clinical research and considering the therapeutic effects of this compound, this review focuses on the potential role of naringenin as a pharmacological agent for the treatment and management of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. The overall neuroprotective effects and different possible underlying mechanisms related to naringenin are discussed. In the light of substantial evidence for naringenin's neuroprotective efficacy in several experimental paradigms, this review suggests that this molecule should be investigated further as a viable candidate for the management of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, with an emphasis on mechanistic and clinical trials to determine its efficacy. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Naringenin is a flavanone, aglycone of Naringin, predominantly found in citrus fruits with a variety of pharmacological actions. Naringenin has been shown to exhibit remarkable therapeutic efficacy and has emerged as a potential therapeutic agent for the management of a variety of diseases such as various heart, liver, and metabolic disorders. Similarly, it has shown efficacy in neurodegenerative illnesses. Therefore, this review enables us to better understand the neuroprotective effects and different possible underlying mechanisms of naringenin. Also, this review provides a new indication to manage the symptoms of NDs like AD and PD. Furthermore, naringenin will be useful in the field of medicine as a new active ingredient for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders like AD and PD.

Antimicrobial and dye degradation application of fungi-assisted silver nanoparticles and utilization of fungal retentate biomass for dye removal.

The present study utilized Aspergillus spp. for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs); the developed AgNPs were categorized using analytical techniques, that is, ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectrophotometer, Zeta-potential, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A sharp peak of 463 nm highlighted the synthesis of AgNPs; further Zeta-potential of -16 mV indicates stability of synthesized AgNPs. The TEM micrograph showed spherical and hexagonal shapes of synthesized AgNPs of 6-25 nm. The photocatalytic activity of fungal-mediated AgNPs was evaluated for degradation of reactive yellow dye in the concentration range of 20-100 mg L-1 . The results showed efficient degradation of dye using AgNPs in short span of time. For antibacterial activity, synthesized AgNPs, antibiotic, and AgNPs + antibiotic were tested. As per results, the zone of inhibition (ZOI) of AgNPs showed the values of 13 and 10 mm for Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, respectively. Further, the ZOI of penicillin highlighted the values of 18 and 17 mm for E. coli and S. aureus, respectively. When AgNPs and penicillin were used in combination, a clear synergistic effect was observed; the ZOI showed 0.49- and 0.36-fold increase in area against E. coli and S. aureus, respectively, in comparison with penicillin or AgNPs alone. Further, the leftover biomass (retentate biomass) was used to decolorize the reactive yellow dye at different initial concentration ranging from 20 to 100 mg L-1 . It was observed that 1 g L-1 retentate biomass (BR ) can effectively remove 82%-100% dye at 20 and 100 mg L-1 initial dye concentration. Results also indicated that with increase in initial reactive dye concentration from 20 to 100 mg L-1 , the decolorization capacity of retentate biomass (BR ) (at 0.2 g L-1 ) decreased from 79.2% to 32.3%. However, the use of AgNPs synthesized leftover fungal biomass can be a good option for up taking the additional dyes/contaminants, and also as leftover biomass can be utilized effectively, it can prove to be an excellent approach for environment safety. As the literature studies did not mentioned the further use of retentate biomass, the present study provides an excellent approach for further research on this aspect. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Synthesis of AgNPs from Aspergillus spp. and characterized with the help of a U.V-vis spectrophotometer, a zeta potential, DLS and TEM. The developed AgNPs were used for antibacterial and dye degradation activity. The left over (retentate) fungal biomass was used further for additional dye degradation activity.