Chemico-pharmacological evaluations of the dwarf elephant ear (Colocasia affinis Schott) plant metabolites and extracts: health benefits from vegetable source.

Introduction: Colocasia affinis Schott (Family: Araceae), found in the Asian region, is a traditional root vegetable consumed by the locals and well-known as Dwarf Elephant Ear. Methods: For the pharmacological exploration of this root vegetable, four kupchan fractions (i.e. HSF, DCMSF, EASF, and AQSF) from ethanolic extract of C. affinis were employed to in vitro i.e. antioxidant, cytotoxicity, and antimicrobial and in vivo i.e. antidiarrheal and analgesic assays, followed by phytochemical screening and GC-MS protocol. Result and Discussion: In the antioxidant assay, the AQSF showed promising potential with an IC50 value of 29.4 µg/mL and additionally, it exhibited the greatest overall phenolic content, measuring 57.23 mg GAE/gm. of extract among other fractions. The AQSF also revealed promising cytotoxic activity in brine shrimp lethality assay with an LC50 value of 1.36 µg/mL. Both AQSF and EASF exhibited substantial antimicrobial efficacy against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria as well as various fungus species with a remarkable zone of inhibitions compared to standards. Whereas, during both the castor oil-induced antidiarrheal and acetic acid-induced writhing assay, the DCMSF at 400 mg/kg dose exhibited the highest 51.16% reduction of diarrhea and 52.33% reduction of writhing. Phytochemical screening revealed several chemical groups while GC-MS study of different fractions of dwarf elephant ear ethanolic extract revealed 48 different bioactive phytochemicals in total. Several targets such as KAS, DHFR for anti-microbial activities, GLR, URO for antioxidant activities, EGFR, BCL-2 for cytotoxicity, KOR, DOR for antidiarrheal activities and COX-2, TNF-α for analgesic activities are considered for molecular docking against identified phytocompounds and standards along with ADME/T studies to ascertain their safety, efficacy and drug likeliness profiles. Conclusion: To recapitulate, our study revealed that vegetables such as dwarf elephant ear can be considered as a prospective source of therapeutics and drug development besides their nutritive food values.

Morphostructural studies of pure and mixed metal oxide nanoparticles of Cu with Ni and Zn.

Nano-scale interactions between pure metal or metal-oxide components within an oxide matrix can improve functional performance over basic metal oxides. This study reports on the synthesis of monometallic (CuO), bimetallic (CuO-NiO) and trimetallic (CuO-NiO-ZnO) oxide nanoparticles (NPs) via the co-precipitation method and investigation of morphostructural properties. All of the synthesized metal oxide NPs were calcined at 550 °C temperature and annealed under vacuum. In this work, we applied Scherrer formula, modified Scherrer equation, Williamson-Hall plots, and Halder-Wagner plots to calculate the average crystallite size. The XRD data analysis showed that average crystallite sizes of the as-synthesized metal oxide phases were between 4 nm and 76 nm and average diameters calculated from SEM image were between 15 nm and 83 nm. The XRD studies also disclosed that average crystallite size and lattice microstrain of the CuO phases remain almost same (43 nm-46 nm and 2.074×10-3 to 2.665×10-3) for pure CuO and mixed CuO-NiO; but in case of mixed CuO-NiO-ZnO it is found to decrease in size to 11 nm where lattice microstrain increases to 9.653×10-3. Line broadening of diffraction peaks from microstrain contribution was between 0.02 and 0.01. Degree of crystallinity (%) of CuO phases found to decrease from 81 to 71. Dislocation density of CuO phases found to increase from 6.63×10-4nm-2 to 12.68×10-3nm-2. X-ray density of CuO phases increased from 6.48 to 6.53 g/cm3. Where this calculated small dislocation density well agreed with the high crystallinity. Crystal structure and specific surface area were determined from lattice constants and X-ray density. These synthesized nanopowders showed the existence of monoclinic, cubic, and hexagonal phases. The obtained NPs of multi-metal oxide explained more than one phases with different size, shape, and morphology at nano scale.

Bioactive properties and organosulfur compounds profiling of newly developed garlic varieties of Bangladesh.

Studies are being carried out on achieving the maximum quality of garlic through various approaches. In Bangladesh, new garlic varieties (BARI 1-4, BAU-1, BAU-2, BAU-5) have been recently developed by artificial selection to enhance their quality. The present study aimed to evaluate their potency in terms of bioactive properties and organosulfur compounds content using different bioassay and GC-MS techniques while comparing them with other accessible varieties (Chinese, Indian, Local). The new variety, BARI-3 showed the highest antioxidant activity and total phenolic content. It was also found with the highest level of a potent blood pressure-lowering agent, 2-vinyl-4H-1,3-dithiine (78.15 %), which is never reported in any garlic at this percentage. However, the local variety exhibited greater inhibitory properties against the tested organisms including multidrug-resistant pathogens compared to other varieties. This study primarily shows the potential of these two kinds of garlic for their further utilization and development.

Facile acid fermentation extraction of silkworm pupae oil and evaluation of its physical and chemical properties for utilization as edible oil.

Considering the increasing demand for edible oil in recent times, their price in the world market is becoming skyrocketing. In this research, we produced cost-effective edible oil from desilked silkworm pupae (Bombyx mori) applying a facile acid fermentation process, for the first time. The extraction was performed using two different types of organic acids, 3% of each acetic and citric acid. The yield of the extracted oil was 3.52 ± 0.23% from fresh silkworm pupae. The produced oil was then characterized physically and chemically to know its suitability to be used as edible oil. The oil was found with a low peroxide and acid value of 4.82 meq/kg and 1.35 mg KOH/g oil, respectively, and comprised of different fatty acids, in which palmitic acid (32.04%) and oleic acid (34.62%) were in large portions among the total fatty acids. Additionally, the extracted oil included linoleic, α-linolenic, and dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid which have health benefits. The oil was rich with minerals such as Iron, Sodium, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc, and Phosphorus with a negligible concentration of toxic elements such as Manganese, Cobalt, Nickel, Copper, Lead, Cadmium, Chromium, Arsenic, and Silver, indicating a good nutritive value of the extracted oil. Overall, the outcomes of all the characterizations showed that the extracted oil could be used as good edible oil and the corresponding acid fermentation extraction process has the potential to be used as an effective oil extraction method for silkworm pupae.

Toxicity study of food-grade carboxymethyl cellulose synthesized from maize husk in Swiss albino mice.

Food-grade carboxymethyl cellulose was prepared from maize husk agro-waste and was evaluated sub-chronic oral toxicity in Swiss albino mice. 40 male mice were divided into 4 groups and fed diets with 0 (control) - 10% CMC for a period of 3 months. Daily oral doses were 5 - 20mg/g body weight to the mice/day. Animal care and handling were conformed according to internationally accepted standard guidelines. Haematological and biochemical parameters were monitored during this period. At the end of the study, tissues and organs were studied for histopathological changes. Repeat-dose oral toxicity study was carried out according to OECD guideline 408. The result did not show any treatment related abnormalities in terms of haematological and biochemical parameters. However, water intake, urine production and urinary sodium excretion increased with increasing doses of CMC. The weekly body weight showed no significant differences between control and mice treated with different doses of CMC. In mice of the treated groups, no abnormalities in the histopathology of liver, heart, lung and kidney were detected. This indicated the prepared CMC has no toxic effect at different doses on cellular structure, and support the safety use of CMC as food additives and an excipient for pharmaceuticals.

Synthesis of highly substituted carboxymethyl cellulose depending on cellulose particle size.

Corn husk is an abundant agricultural waste. It has great potential for use as a cellulose source for the production of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). The chemical composition of corn husk, such as cellulose, hemicelluloses, lignin, fatty and waxy matter, pectic matter and aqueous extract was determined. The cellulose extracted from corn husk was carboxymethylated using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and monochloroacetic acid (MCA), in aqueous ethanolic medium, under heterogeneous conditions. The carboxymethylation reaction was optimized as to the NaOH concentration, MCA concentration, reaction temperature, reaction time and cellulose particle size. The degree of substitution (DS) was determined with respect to the reaction conditions using chemical methods. The produced CMC was identified by FTIR and the crystallinity of the CMC was determined by XRD. The CMC product had an optimized DS of 2.41 and the optimal conditions for carboxymethylation were NaOH concentration, 7.5 mol/L; MCA concentration, 12 mol/L; reaction temperature, 55 °C; reaction time, 3.5 h and cellulose particle size, 74 µm. These optimization factors allowed to prepare highly substituted CMC with higher yield, 2.40 g/g, providing plenty of opportunities for its many applications.

Preparation of food grade carboxymethyl cellulose from corn husk agrowaste.

Alpha-cellulose extracted from corn husks was used as the raw material for the production of food-grade carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). Preparation of CMC from husk cellulose was carried out by an etherification process, using sodium hydroxide and monochloroacetic acid (MCA), with ethanol as the supporting medium. Characterizations of CMC were carried out by analyzing the spectra of FTIR, XRD patterns and SEM photomicrographs. Degree of substitution (DS) was determined with respect to particle size using chemical methods. Solubility, molecular weight and DS of CMC increased with decreased cellulose particle sizes. Microbiological testing of the prepared CMC was done by the pour plate method. Concentrations of heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury in the purified CMC were measured by Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy technique and found to be within the WHO/FAO recommended value. A comparative study with CMC available in the international market was conducted. The purity of the prepared CMC was higher, at 99.99% well above the purity of 99.5% for standard CMC. High purity CMC showed a yield 2.4 g/g with DS 2.41, water holding capacity 5.11 g/g, oil holding capacity 1.59 g/g. The obtained product is well suited for pharmaceutical and food additives.