Exploring Possible Ways to Enhance the Potential and Use of Natural Products through Nanotechnology in the Battle against Biofilms of Foodborne Bacterial Pathogens.

Biofilms enable pathogenic bacteria to survive in unfavorable environments. As biofilm-forming pathogens can cause rapid food spoilage and recurrent infections in humans, especially their presence in the food industry is problematic. Using chemical disinfectants in the food industry to prevent biofilm formation raises serious health concerns. Further, the ability of biofilm-forming bacterial pathogens to tolerate disinfection procedures questions the traditional treatment methods. Thus, there is a dire need for alternative treatment options targeting bacterial pathogens, especially biofilms. As clean-label products without carcinogenic and hazardous potential, natural compounds with growth and biofilm-inhibiting and biofilm-eradicating potentials have gained popularity as natural preservatives in the food industry. However, the use of these natural preservatives in the food industry is restricted by their poor availability, stability during food processing and storage. Also there is a lack of standardization, and unattractive organoleptic qualities. Nanotechnology is one way to get around these limitations and as well as the use of underutilized bioactives. The use of nanotechnology has several advantages including traversing the biofilm matrix, targeted drug delivery, controlled release, and enhanced bioavailability, bioactivity, and stability. The nanoparticles used in fabricating or encapsulating natural products are considered as an appealing antibiofilm strategy since the nanoparticles enhance the activity of the natural products against biofilms of foodborne bacterial pathogens. Hence, this literature review is intended to provide a comprehensive analysis of the current methods in nanotechnology used for natural products delivery (biofabrication, encapsulation, and nanoemulsion) and also discuss the different promising strategies employed in the recent and past to enhance the inhibition and eradication of foodborne bacterial biofilms.

Study on antiviral activities, drug-likeness and molecular docking of bioactive compounds of Punica granatum L. to Herpes simplex virus - 2 (HSV-2).

Herpes simplex virus - 2 (HSV-2) causes lifelong persisting infection in the immunocompromised host and intermittent in healthy individuals with high morbidity in neonatals and also increase the transmission of HIV. Acyclovir is widely used drug to treat HSV-2 infection but it unable to control viral latency and recurrent infection and prolonged usage lead to drug resistance. Plant-based bioactive compounds are the lead structural bio-molecules play an inevitable role as a potential antiviral agent with reduced toxicity. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop anti-HSV-2 bioactive molecules to prevent viral resistance and control of latent infection. Punica granatum fruit is rich in major bioactive compounds with potential antimicrobial properties. Hence, we evaluated the anti-HSV-2 efficacy of lyophilized extracts and bioactive compounds isolated from fruit peel of P. granatum. As a result, ethanolic peel extract showed significant inhibition at 62.5 µg/ml. Hence, the fruit peel ethanolic extract was subjected for the isolation of bioactive compounds isolation by bioactivity-guided fractionation. Among isolated bioactive compounds, punicalagin showed 100% anti-HSV-2 activity at 31.25 µg/ml with supportive evidence of desirable in silico ADMET properties and strong interactions to selected protein targets of HSV-2 by docking analysis.

S-allylcysteine attenuates renal injury by altering the expressions of iNOS and matrix metallo proteinase-2 during cyclosporine-induced nephrotoxicity in Wistar rats.

Cyclosporine A (CsA) is the first choice immunosuppressant used for the prevention of allograft rejection in solid organ transplantation and immune-mediated diseases. Reactive oxygen species-induced oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation are implicated in the pathophysiology of CsA-induced renal injury. In this work, we have studied the effect of a garlic-derived compound, S-allylcysteine (SAC) on CsA-induced nephrotoxicity. CsA-induced nephrotoxicity was assessed in terms of increased activities of serum marker enzymes and levels of kidney markers. CsA administration induced significant elevation in lipid peroxidation along with abnormal levels of enzymic and non-enzymic antioxidants in the kidneys of the rats. SAC administration improved renal function by bringing about a significant decrease in peroxidative levels and increase in antioxidant status. Elevated expressions of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB) due to CsA administration were reduced by SAC treatment. An increase in the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) was evident in CsA-induced groups of rats, which was moderately reduced in SAC treated rats. An increase in the levels of serum constituent's urea, uric acid and creatinine was observed in the CsA-induced rats, which was reduced upon treatment with SAC. These results indicate that SAC has a protective action against CsA-induced nephrotoxicity which is also supported by histopathological studies. A comparative study of the antioxidant vitamin C and SAC is more valuable to assess the efficacy of the drug that can be used for the treatment of nephrotoxicity.