Evaluation of the Potential Therapeutic Properties of Liquidambar orientalis Oil.

Liquidambar orientalis Mill., commonly called the Anatolian sweetgum or Sigla tree, is endemic to southwestern Turkey. It has been historically significant in traditional medicine. In our research, we delved into the therapeutic attributes of its oil, emphasizing its antioxidant, antimicrobial, and antitumor properties. The primary chemical constituent of the gum is styrene, accounting for 78.5 %. The gum demonstrated antioxidant capabilities in several assays, including in 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS), cupric reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP). It displayed bactericidal actions against various gram-positive bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus, and gram-negative strains, including Escherichia coli. Additionally, the oil showcased potent antitumor effects against breast (MDA-MB-231), lung (A549), and prostate (PC3) cancer cell lines. These effects were found to be both time- and dose-dependent. L. orientalis Mill. oil showed the best antitumor activity against breast, lung, and prostate cancer cell lines after the 24 h and 48 h treatment. Its oil might induce autophagy in the PC3 prostate cancer cell line, whereas its cytotoxicity against MDA-MB-231 and A549 cancer cell lines might not be correlated with autophagy or apoptosis pathways. In conclusion, the oil from the Sigla tree offers promising therapeutic potential and warrants further exploration.

Chemical Characterization and Multidirectional Biological Effects of Different Solvent Extracts of Arum elongatum: in Vitro and in Silico Approaches.

Arum elongatum (Araceae) is widely used traditionally for the treatment of abdominal pain, arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, rheumatism and hemorrhoids. This study investigated the antioxidant properties, individual phenolic compounds, total phenolic and total flavonoid contents (HPLC/MS analysis), reducing power and metal chelating effects of four extracts obtained from A. elongatum (ethyl acetate (EA), methanol (MeOH), methanol/water (MeOH/water) and infusion). The inhibitory activity of the extracts were also determined against acetylcholinesterase, butyrylcholinesterase, tyrosinase, amylase and glucosidase enzymes. The MeOH/water extracts contained the highest amount of phenolic contents (28.85 mg GAE/g) while the highest total flavonoid content was obtained with MeOH extract (36.77 mg RE/g). MeOH/water demonstrated highest antioxidant activity against DPPH⋅ radical at 38.90 mg Trolox equivalent per gram. The infusion extract was the most active against ABTS+ ⋅ (133.08 mg TE/g). MeOH/water extract showed the highest reducing abilities with the CUPRAC value of 102.22 mg TE/g and the FRAP value of 68.50 mg TE/g. A strong metal chelating effect was observed with MeOH/water extract (35.72 mg EDTAE/g). The PBD values of the extracts ranged from 1.01 to 2.17 mmol TE/g. EA extract displayed the highest inhibitory activity against AChE (2.32 mg GALAE/g), BChE (3.80 mg GALAE/g), α-amylase (0.56 mmol ACAE/g) and α-glucosidase (9.16 mmol ACAE/g) enzymes. Infusion extract was the most active against tyrosinase enzyme with a value of 83.33 mg KAE/g. A total of 28 compounds were identified from the different extracts. The compounds present in the highest concentration were chlorogenic acids, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, isoquercitrin, delphindin 3,5-diglucoside, kaempferol-3-glucoside and hyperoside. The biological activities of A. elongatum extracts could be due to the presence of compounds such as gallic acid, chlorogenic acids, ellagic acid, epicatechin, catechin, kaempferol, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, quercetin, isoquercitrin, and hyperoside. Extracts of A. elongatum showed promising biological activities which warrants further investigations in an endeavor to develop biopharmaceuticals.

Status of malondialdehyde, catalase and superoxide dismutase levels/activities in schoolchildren with iron deficiency and iron-deficiency anemia of Kashere and its environs in Gombe State, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Iron-deficiency anemia (IDA) or iron deficiency (ID) is by far the most common form of disorder affecting the cognitive development, physical growth and school performance of children in developing countries including Nigeria. OBJECTIVES: In the present study, we aimed to examine whether IDA or ID, or both are associated with oxidative stress or otherwise by assessing the perturbations in oxidative stress markers including malondialdehyde (MDA), catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD). METHODS: Here, a total of eighty-one IDA, ID, and healthy control subjects of twenty-seven replicates each, were recruited and investigated. Human serum MDA, CAT and SOD levels were quantitatively analyzed using Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbant Assay. RESULTS: Mean serum MDA levels of IDA (5.10 ± 2.35 mmol/L) and ID (4.05 ± 1.35 mmol/L) groups were found to perturb significantly (p < 0.05), being higher than those of control (3.30 ± 0.95 mmol/L) subjects. Similarly, mean serum MDA levels of IDA (5.10 ± 2.35 mmol/L) group was found to be significantly (p < 0.05) higher when compared with ID (4.05 ± 1.35 mmol/L) subjects. Conversely, mean serum CAT and SOD activities of IDA (8.35 ± 2.21 ng/mL and 340.70 ± 153.65 ng/mL) group were found to differ significantly (p < 0.05), and those of ID (9.40 ± 1.47 ng/mL and 435.00 ± 144.75 ng/mL) subjects were found to perturb slightly (p > 0.05), being lower than those of control (10.40 ± 4.31 ng/mL and 482.12 ± 258.37 ng/mL) subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, the results of the present study showed that lipid peroxidation was dramatically increased in both IDA and ID subjects in hydroperoxide-superoxide-dependent manner; in contrast, enzymatic antioxidant capacity was drastically decreased in both IDA and ID groups as evidenced by biochemical markers.

Homology modeling of human histone deacetylase 10 and design of potential selective inhibitors.

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are implicated in the pathology of various cancers, and their pharmacological blockade has proven to be promising in reversing the malignant phenotypes. However, lack of crystal structures of some of the human HDAC isoforms (e.g., HDAC10) hinders the design of the isoform-selective inhibitor. Here, the recently solved X-ray crystal structure of Danio rerio (zebrafish) HDAC10 (Protein Data Bank (PDB) ID; 5TD7, released on 24 May 2017) was retrieved from the PDB and used as a template structure to model the three-dimensional structure of human HDAC10. The overall quality of the best model (M0017) was assessed by computing its z-score-a measure of the deviation of the total energy of the structure with respect to an energy distribution derived from random conformations and by docking of known HDAC10 inhibitors to its catalytic cavity. Furthermore, to identify potential HDAC10-selective inhibitor ligand-based virtual screening was carried out against the ZINC database. The free modeled structure of HDAC10 and its complexes with quisinostat and the highest-ranked compound ZINC19749069 were submitted to molecular dynamics simulation. The comparative analysis of root-mean-squared deviation, root-mean-squared fluctuation, radius of gyration (Rg), and potential energy of these systems showed that HDAC10-ZINC19749069 complex remained the most stable over time. Thus, M0017 could be potentially used for structure-based inhibitor against HDAC10, and ZINC19749069 may provide a scaffold for further optimization. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

The design of potent HIV-1 integrase inhibitors by a combined approach of structure-based virtual screening and molecular dynamics simulation.

Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.