Anticancer potential of NF-κB targeting apoptotic molecule "flavipin" isolated from endophytic Chaetomium globosum.

BACKGROUND: Anticancer compounds from natural sources have drawn attention due to their structural diversity and relatively lesser side effects. Endophytic fungi are one such natural resource from, which plethoras of anticancerous compounds have been isolated. PURPOSE: The objective of the study was to isolate and characterize the bioactive metabolite from Chaetomium globosum that exhibits astonishing antiproliferative activity against cancerous cell lines. METHODS: Flavipin was isolated by bioassay-guided fractionation and identified using FT-IR, EI-MS and NMR studies. MTT assay was used to determine the cytotoxicity. Fluorescent staining (AO/EB) and DNA fragmentation studies confirmed the occurrence of apoptosis. Real time PCR and Western blotting were used to analyze the expression of apoptosis related genes and its proteins, respectively. RESULTS: Flavipin inhibited proliferation of A549, HT-29 and MCF-7 cancer cells in dose dependent manner with an IC50 concentration of 9.89 µg/ml, 18 µg/ml and 54 µg/ml, respectively, whereas it was comparatively less sensitive (IC50 = 78.89 µg/ml) against normal cell line (CCD-18Co). At IC50 concentration cancerous cells exhibited cell shrinkage and fragmentation of DNA, which indicated that flavipin induced apoptotic cell death. In treated cells there is an up-regulation of p53 gene and its associated protein, whereas reciprocal expression was observed in BCL-2 gene and its protein. Furthermore, western blotting results also showed down-regulation of NFκB. CONCLUSION: This is the first report on the antiproliferative activity of flavipin isolated from endophytic C. globosum and also proposed that interaction of flavipin with NFкB could be a possible mechanism for this activity. Flavipin induced apoptosis at low concentrations in cancer cell lines (A549, HT-29) and exhibited itself as a potential anticancer agent.

Effect of Mg(2+), Ca(2+), Sr(2+) and Ba(2+) metal ions on the antifungal activity of ZnO nanoparticles tested against Candida albicans.

The antifungal ability of pure and alkaline metal ion (Mg(2+), Ca(2+), Sr(2+) and Ba(2+)) doped ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) prepared by the co-precipitation method was tested against the pathogenic yeast, Candida albicans (C. albicans), and the results showed that the Mg-doped ZnO NPs possessed greater effect than the other alkaline metal ion doped ZnO NPs. The impact of the concentration of Mg doped ZnO sample on the growth of C. albicans was also studied. The Minimal Fungicidal Concentration (MFC) of the Mg doped ZnO NPs was found to be 2000 µg/ml for which the growth of C. albicans was completely inhibited. The ZnO:Mg sample (1.5mg/ml) with various concentrations of histidine reduced the fungicidal effect of the nanoparticles against C. albicans, which was deliberately explained by the role of ROS. The ZnO:Mg sample added with 5mM of histidine scavenged the ample amount of generated ROS effectively. The binding of the NPs with fungi was observed by their FESEM images and their electrostatic attraction is confirmed by the zeta potential measurement.

Vibrational analysis, electronic structure and nonlinear optical properties of levofloxacin by density functional theory.

The Fourier transform (FT-IR) spectrum of Levofloxacin was recorded in the region 4000-400 cm(-1) and a complete vibrational assignment of fundamental vibrational modes of the molecule was carried out using density functional method. The observed fundamental modes have been compared with the harmonic vibrational frequencies computed using DFT (B3LYP) method by employing 6-31 G (d, p) basis sets. The most stable geometry of the molecule under investigation has been determined from the potential energy scan. The first-order hyperpolarizability (ßo) and other related properties (µ, αo) of Levofloxacin are calculated using density functional theory (DFT) on a finite field approach. UV-vis spectrum of the molecule was recorded and the electronic properties, such as HOMO and LUMO energies were performed by DFT using 6-31 G (d, p) basis sets. Stability of the molecule arising from hyperconjugative interactions, charge delocalization have been analyzed using natural bond orbital analysis (NBO). The calculated HOMO and LUMO energies show that, the charge transfer occurs within the molecule. The other molecular properties like molecular electrostatic potential (MESP), Mulliken population analysis and thermodynamic properties of the title molecule have been calculated.

Impact of alkaline metal ions Mg2+, Ca2+, Sr2+ and Ba2+ on the structural, optical, thermal and antibacterial properties of ZnO nanoparticles prepared by the co-precipitation method.

Pure ZnO and alkaline metal ion (Mg2+, Ca2+, Sr2+ and Ba2+)-doped ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by the co-precipitation method. The synthesized nanoparticles retained the wurtzite hexagonal structure, which was confirmed by X-ray diffraction studies. The micro-strain properties were analyzed through Williamson-Hall analysis. The oxidation states of the elements (C (1s), O (1s), Zn (2p), Mg (1s), Ca (2p), Sr (3d) and Ba (3d)) were confirmed by XPS studies. HRSEM studies showed a reduction in the thickness of the ZnO nanoflakes from 63 to 47 nm after doping. EDAX studies determined the amount of dopant (alkaline metals) incorporated into the doped samples. The FT-IR spectra confirmed the Zn-O stretching bands at 432, 416, 414, 426 and 422 cm-1 for the respective ZnO NPs. The photoluminescence measurements revealed that the broad emission was composed of six different bands due to zinc and oxygen vacancies. Thermal analysis revealed that the irreversible structural transition occurred from the cubic phase to the wurtzite phase in the samples. The antibacterial studies performed against a set of bacterial strains showed that the Mg-doped ZnO NPs possessed a greater antibacterial effect than the other alkaline metal ion-doped ZnO NPs.

Theoretical and experimental studies of vibrational spectra and thermal analysis of 2-nitroaniline and its cation.

The FTIR spectrum of 2-nitroaniline was recorded in the regions 4000-400 cm(-1). The optimized molecular geometry, bond orders, atomic charges, harmonic vibrational wave numbers and intensities of vibrational bands of 2-nitroaniline and its cation were calculated at DFT levels invoking two different basis sets 6-31G and 6-31+G using Gaussian 03W program. The X-ray geometry and FTIR vibrational frequencies were compared with the results of DFT calculations. The thermal stability of 2NA is studied by the thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA). Experimental degradation process of 2-nitroaniline was interpreted with the bond order analysis. The Mulliken atomic charge analysis was also made in the present study. Based on the molecular geometry and Mulliken charge analysis, intra molecular hydrogen bonding was identified.

Vibrational spectral assignments of paraldehyde by ab initio and density functional methods.

The FTIR and Laser-Raman spectra of paraldehyde have been recorded in the regions 4000-400 cm(-1) and 3500-250 cm(-1) respectively. Molecular electronic energy, geometrical structure, harmonic vibrational spectra, infrared intensities and Raman scattering activities have been computed at the HF/6-31G(d,p) and B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) levels of theory. The results were compared with experimental values with the help of scaling procedures. The observed wave numbers in FTIR and Laser-Raman spectra were analyzed and assigned to different normal modes of the molecule. Most of the modes have wave numbers in the expected range and are in good agreement with computed values.