Assessment In vitro and In silico of the Activity of Thiadiazines as NorA Efflux Pump Inhibitors.

Antimicrobials fight microorganisms, preventing and treating infectious diseases. However, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing concern due to the inappropriate and excessive use of these drugs. Several mechanisms can lead to resistance, including efflux pumps such as the NorA pump in Staphylococcus aureus, which reduces the effectiveness of fluoroquinolones. Thiadiazines are heterocyclic compounds whose chemical structure resembles that of cephalosporins. Therefore, these compounds and their derivatives have been studied for their potential in combating increased bacterial resistance. To analyze this hypothesis, direct activity assays, antibiotic action-modifying activity, fluorescence assays to evaluate the retention of ethidium bromide inside bacteria, and molecular docking were carried out. These experiments involved serial dilutions in microplates against Staphylococcus aureus strain 1199B under the influence of six thiadiazine derivatives (IJ10, IJ11, IJ21, IJ22, IJ23, and IJ25). The tests revealed that, despite not showing effective direct activity, some thiadiazine derivatives (IJ11, IJ21, and IJ22) inhibited the function of the bromide pump both in microdilution tests and in fluorescence and docking assays. Particularly, the IJ11 compound stood out for its activity similar to efflux inhibitors, as well as its inhibition of the norfloxacin pump of this bacterium. Among the results of this study, it deserves to be highlighted for anchoring future experiments, as it represents the first investigation of this group of thiadiazine derivatives against the NorA pump.

Potentiating-antibiotic activity and absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity properties (ADMET) analysis of synthetic thiadiazines against multi-drug resistant (MDR) strains.

BACKGROUND: Thiadiazines are heterocyclic compounds that contain two nitrogen atoms and one sulfur atom in their structure. These synthetic molecules have several relevant pharmacological activities, such as antifungal, antibacterial, and antiparasitic. OBJECTIVES: The present study aimed to evaluate the possible in vitro and in silico interactions of compounds derived from thiadiazines. METHODS: The compounds were initially synthesized, purified, and confirmed through HPLC methodology. Multi-drug resistant bacterial strains of Staphylococcus aureus 10 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa 24 were used to evaluate the direct and modifying antibiotic activity of thiadiazine derivatives. ADMET assays (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity) were conducted, which evaluated the influence of the compounds against thousands of macromolecules considered as bioactive targets. RESULTS: There were modifications in the chemical synthesis in carbon 4 or 3 in one of the aromatic rings of the structure where different ions were added, ensuring a variability of products. It was possible to observe results that indicate the possibility of these compounds acting through the cyclooxygenase 2 mechanism, which, in addition to being involved in inflammatory responses, also acts by helping sodium reabsorption. The amine group present in thiadiazine analogs confers hydrophilic characteristics to the substances, but this primary characteristic has been altered due to alterations and insertions of other ligands. The characteristics of the analogs generally allow easy intestinal absorption, reduce possible hepatic toxic effects, and enable possible neurological and anti-inflammatory action. The antibacterial activity tests showed a slight direct action, mainly of the IJ23 analog. Some compounds were able to modify the action of the antibiotics gentamicin and norfloxacin against multi-drug resistant strains, indicating a possible synergistic action. CONCLUSIONS: Among all the results obtained in the study, the relevance of thiadiazine analogs as possible coadjuvant drugs in the antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and neurological action with low toxicity is clear. Need for further studies to verify these effects in living organisms is not ruled out.

PI3K Signaling Pathways as a Molecular Target for Glioblastoma Multiforme.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common type of cancer that affects the central nervous system (CNS). It currently accounts for about 2% of diagnosed malignant tumors worldwide, with 296,000 new cases reported per year. The first-choice treatment consists of surgical resection, radiotherapy, and adjuvant chemotherapy, which increases patients' survival by 15 months. New clinical and pre-clinical research aims to improve this prognosis by proposing the search for new drugs that effectively eliminate cancer cells, circumventing problems such as resistance to treatment. One of the promising therapeutic strategies in the treatment of GBM is the inhibition of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway, which is closely related to the process of tumor carcinogenesis. This review sought to address the main scientific studies of synthetic or natural drug prototypes that target specific therapy co-directed via the PI3K pathway, against human glioblastoma.

Inhibitors Targeting Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Entry.

Infections caused by the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) affect around 70 million people worldwide, leading to serious liver problems, such as fibrosis, steatosis, and cirrhosis, in addition to progressing to hepatocellular carcinoma and becoming globally the main cause of liver disease. Despite great therapeutic advances in obtaining pan-genotypic direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), around 5-10% of affected individuals are unable to eliminate the virus by their own immune system's activity. Still, there are no licensed vaccines so far. In this context, the orchestrated process of virus entry into host cells is a crucial step in the life cycle and the infectivity capability of most viruses. In recent years, the entry of viruses has become one of the main druggable targets used for designing effective antiviral molecules. This goal has come to be widely studied to develop pharmacotherapeutic strategies against HCV, combined or not with DAAs in multitarget approaches. Among the inhibitors found in the literature, ITX 5061 corresponds to the most effective one, with EC50 and CC50 values of 0.25 nM and >10 µM (SI: 10,000), respectively. This SRBI antagonist completed the phase I trial, constituting a promising compound against HCV. Interestingly, chlorcyclizine (an antihistamine drug) showed action both in E1 apolipoproteins (EC50 and CC50 values of 0.0331 and 25.1 µM, respectively), as well as in NPC1L1 (IC50 and CC50 values of 2.3 nM and > 15 µM, respectively). Thus, this review will discuss promising inhibitors targeting HCV entry, discussing their SAR analyzes, recent contributions, and advances in this field.

LQM10, a guanylhydrazone derivative, reduces nociceptive and inflammatory responses in mice.

In the present study, we examined the antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities of a guanylhydrazone derivative, (E)-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxybenzylidene)-2-guanylhydrazone hydrochloride (LQM10), in mice. The antinociceptive effect was determined by assessing behavioural responses in different pain models, while anti-inflammatory activity was examined in carrageenan-induced pleurisy. Intraperitoneal LQM10 administration reduced the acetic acid-induced nociceptive behaviour, a phenomenon that was unaltered by pretreatment with yohimbine, atropine, naloxone or glibenclamide. In the formalin assay, LQM10 reduced nociceptive behaviour only in the second phase, indicating an inhibitory effect on inflammatory pain. LQM10 did not alter the pain latency in the hot plate assay and did not impact the locomotor activity of mice in the rotarod assay. In the carrageenan-induced pleurisy assay, LQM10 treatment inhibited critical events involved in inflammatory responses, namely, leucocyte recruitment, plasma leakage and increased inflammatory mediators (tumour necrosis factor Like Properties of Chalchones and Flavonoid Derivatives [TNF]-α and interleukin [IL]-1ß) in the pleural exudate. Overall, these results indicate that LQM10 exhibits antinociceptive effects associated with peripheral mechanisms and anti-inflammatory activity mediated via a reduction in leucocyte migration and proinflammatory mediators, rendering this compound a promising candidate for treating pain and inflammatory process.

Advances in Computational Methods to Discover New NS2B-NS3 Inhibitors Useful Against Dengue and Zika Viruses.

The Flaviviridae virus family consists of the genera Hepacivirus, Pestivirus, and Flavivirus, with approximately 70 viral types that use arthropods as vectors. Among these diseases, dengue (DENV) and zika virus (ZIKV) serotypes stand out, responsible for thousands of deaths worldwide. Due to the significant increase in cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared DENV a potential threat for 2019 due to being transmitted by infected travelers. Furthermore, ZIKV also has a high rate of transmissibility, highlighted in the outbreak in 2015, generating consequences such as Guillain-Barré syndrome and microcephaly. According to clinical outcomes, those infected with DENV can be asymptomatic, and in other cases, it can be lethal. On the other hand, ZIKV has severe neurological symptoms in newborn babies and adults. More serious symptoms include microcephaly, brain calcifications, intrauterine growth restriction, and fetal death. Despite these worrying data, no drug or vaccine is approved to treat these diseases. In the drug discovery process, one of the targets explored against these diseases is the NS2B-NS3 complex, which presents the catalytic triad His51, Asp75, and Ser135, with the function of cleaving polyproteins, with specificity for basic amino acid residues, Lys- Arg, Arg-Arg, Arg-Lys or Gln-Arg. Since NS3 is highly conserved in all DENV serotypes and plays a vital role in viral replication, this complex is an excellent drug target. In recent years, computer-aided drug discovery (CADD) is increasingly essential in drug discovery campaigns, making the process faster and more cost-effective, mainly explained by discovering new drugs against DENV and ZIKV. Finally, the main advances in computational methods applied to discover new compounds against these diseases will be presented here. In fact, molecular dynamics simulations and virtual screening is the most explored approach, providing several hit and lead compounds that can be used in further optimizations. In addition, fragment-based drug design and quantum chemistry/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) provides new insights for developing anti-DENV/ZIKV drugs. We hope that this review offers further helpful information for researchers worldwide and stimulates the use of computational methods to find a promising drug for treating DENV and ZIKV.

Strategies in Medicinal Chemistry to Discover New Hit Compounds against Ebola Virus: Challenges and Perspectives in Drug Discovery.

Ebola Virus (EBOV) is an infectious disease that mainly affects the cardiovascular system. It belongs to the Filoviridae family, consisting of filamentous envelopes and non-segmented negative RNA genome. EBOV was initially identified in Sudan and Zaire (now named the Democratic Republic of Congo) around 1967. It is transmitted mainly by contact with secretions (blood, sweat, saliva, and tears) from infected wild animals, such as non-human primates and bats. It has gained more prominence in recent years due to the recent EBOV outbreaks that occurred from 2013 to 2016, resulting in approximately 28,000 infected individuals, with a mortality rate of 40- 70%, affecting mainly Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. Despite these alarming levels, there is still no FDA-approved drug for the effective treatment of these diseases. The most advanced drug to treat EBOV is remdesivir. However, it is a high-cost drug and is available only for intravenous use. In this sense, more investments are needed in the research focused on the development of new antiviral drugs. In this context, medicinal chemistry strategies have been improving and increasingly discovering new hits that can be used in the future as a treatment against these diseases. Thus, this review will address the main advances in medicinal chemistry, such as drug discovery through computational techniques (virtual screening and virtual high throughput screening), drug repurposing, phenotypic screening assays, and employing classical medicinal chemistry, such as bioisosterism, metabolism-based drug design, and the discovery of new inhibitors through natural products, thereby presenting several promising compounds that may contain the advance of these pathogens.

Bradykinin-target therapies in SARS-CoV-2 infection: current evidence and perspectives.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a potentially fatal disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that preferentially infects the respiratory tract. Bradykinin (BK) is a hypotensive substance that recently emerged as one of the mechanisms to explain COVID-19-related complications. Concerning this, in this review, we try to address the complex link between BK and pathophysiology of COVID-19, investigating the role of this peptide as a potential target for pharmacological modulation in the management of SARS-CoV-2. The pathology of COVID-19 may be more a result of the BK storm than the cytokine storm, and which BK imbalance is a relevant factor in the respiratory disorders caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection. Regarding this, an interesting point of intervention for this disease is to modulate BK signaling. Some drugs, such as icatibant, ecallantide, and noscapine, and even a human monoclonal antibody, lanadelumab, have been studied for their potential utility in COVID-19 by modulating BK signaling. The interaction of the BK pathway and the involvement of cytokines such as IL-6 and IL1 may be key to the use of blockers, even if only as adjuvants. In fact, reduction of BK, mainly DABK, is considered a relevant strategy to improve clinical conditions of COVID-19 patients. In this context, despite the current unproven clinical efficacy, drugs repurposing that block B1 or B2 receptor activation have gained prominence for the treatment of COVID-19 in the world.

Kopsanone inhibits proliferation and migration of invasive colon cancer cells.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related death globally. In spite of the increasing knowledge on molecular characteristics of different cancer types including CRC, there is limitation in the development of an effective treatment. The present study aimed to verify the antitumor effect of kopsanone, an indole alkaloid. To achieve this, we treated human colon cancer cells (Caco-2 and HCT-116) with kopsanone and analyzed its effects on cell viability, cell-cell adhesion, and actin cytoskeleton organization. In addition, functional assays including micronuclei formation, colony formation, cell migration, and invasiveness were performed. We observed that kopsanone reduced viability and proliferation and induced micronuclei formation of HCT-116 cells. Also, kopsanone inhibited anchorage-dependent colony formation and modulated adherens junctions (AJs), thus increasing the localization of E-cadherin and ß-catenin in the cytosol of the invasive cells. Finally, fluorescence assays showed that kopsanone decreased stress fibers formation and reduced migration but not invasion of HCT-116 cells. Taken together, these findings indicate that kopsanone reduces proliferation and migration of HCT-116 cells via modulation of AJs and can therefore be considered for future in vivo and clinical investigation as potential therapeutic agent for treatment of CRC.

Revealing Insights into Natural Products Against mcr-1-Producing Bacteria.

Bacterial resistance has become a major global concern, affecting about 500, 000 individuals in 22 countries. Thus, it is clear that Gram-negative bacteria have been receiving more attention in this scenario. These bacteria perform several resistance mechanisms, such as modifying lipid A from lipopolysaccharides as a product of the mcr-1 gene expression. This gene was initially identified in animals; however, it quickly spread to humans, spreading to 70 countries. Mcr-1 gene attributes resistance to polymyxin B and colistin, which are drugs established as the last alternative to combat Enterobacteriaceae bacteria. Notwithstanding the prevalence and lack of antibiotic therapies for such bacteria, this article aimed to compile information about natural compounds against the resistance attributed by this gene, including the activity of isolated colistin or its associations with other antibiotics. Among the studies that evaluated colistin's synergistic action with other compounds, azidothymidine and isoalantholactone stood out. On the other hand, the paenipeptin 1 analog showed satisfactory activities when associated with other antibiotics. Besides, it is worth mentioning that molecular docking results between ostole and eugenol toward phosphoethanolamine transferase MCR-1 revealed that these compounds could interact with critical amino acid residues for the catalytic action of this enzyme. Based on this, natural agents' role is evident against infections caused by mcr-1-positive bacteria, directly contributing to the development of new effective pharmacotherapies.

Sterol 14α-Demethylase from Trypanosomatidae Parasites as a Promising Target for Designing New Antiparasitic Agents.

Trypanosomatidae family belongs to the Kinetoplastida order, which consists of obligatory parasites that affect plants and all classes of vertebrates, especially humans and insects. Among the heteroxenic parasites, Leishmania spp., Trypanosoma cruzi, and T. brucei are protozoa of most significant interest for medicinal chemistry, being etiological agents of Leishmaniasis, Chagas, and Sleep Sickness diseases, respectively. Currently, inefficient pharmacotherapy, especially in chronic phases and low selectivity towards parasite/host cells, justifies the need to discover new drugs to treat them effectively. Among other targets, the sterol 14α-demethylase (CYP51), an enzyme responsible for ergosterol's biosynthesis in Trypanosomatidae parasites, has received more attention in the development of new bioactive compounds. In this context, antifungal ravuconazole proved to be the most promising drug among this class against T. cruzi, being used in combined therapy with Bnz in clinic trials. Non-antifungal inhibitors, such as VFV and VNF, have shown promising results against T. cruzi and T.brucei, respectively, being tested in Bnz-combined therapies. Among the experimental studies involving azoles, compound (15) was found to be the most promising derivative, displaying an IC50 value of 0.002 µM against amastigotes from T. cruzi, in addition to being non-toxic and highly selective towards TcCYP51 (< 25 nM). Interestingly, imidazole analog (16) was active against infectious forms of these three parasites, demonstrating Ki values of 0.17, 0.02, and 0.36 nM for CYP51 from T. cruzi, T. brucei, and L. infantum. Finally, this review will address promising inhibitors targeting sterol 14α-demethylase (CYP51) from Trypanosomatidae parasites, highlighting SAR studies, interactions with this target, and recent contributions and advances in the field, as well.

5-Nitro-Thiophene-Thiosemicarbazone Derivatives Present Antitumor Activity Mediated by Apoptosis and DNA Intercalation.

BACKGROUND: Considering the need for the development of new antitumor drugs, associated with the great antitumor potential of thiophene and thiosemicarbazonic derivatives, in this work we promote molecular hybridization approach to synthesize new compounds with increased anticancer activity. OBJECTIVE: Investigate the antitumor activity and their likely mechanisms of action of a series of N-substituted 2-(5-nitro-thiophene)-thiosemicarbazone derivatives. METHODS: Methods were performed in vitro (cytotoxicity, cell cycle progression, morphological analysis, mitochondrial membrane potential evaluation and topoisomerase assay), spectroscopic (DNA interaction studies), and in silico studies (docking and molecular modelling). RESULTS: Most of the compounds presented significant inhibitory activity; the NCIH-292 cell line was the most resistant, and the HL-60 cell line was the most sensitive. The most promising compound was LNN-05 with IC50 values ranging from 0.5 to 1.9 µg.mL-1. The in vitro studies revealed that LNN-05 was able to depolarize (dose-dependently) the mitochondrial membrane, induceG1 phase cell cycle arrest noticeably, promote morphological cell changes associated with apoptosis in chronic human myelocytic leukaemia (K-562) cells, and presented no topoisomerase II inhibition. Spectroscopic UV-vis and molecular fluorescence studies showed that LNN compounds interact with ctDNA forming supramolecular complexes. Intercalation between nitrogenous bases was revealed through KI quenching and competitive ethidium bromide assays. Docking and Molecular Dynamics suggested that 5-nitro-thiophene-thiosemicarbazone compounds interact against the larger DNA groove, and corroborating the spectroscopic results, may assume an intercalating interaction mode. CONCLUSION: Our findings highlight 5-nitro-thiophene-thiosemicarbazone derivatives, especially LNN-05, as a promising new class of compounds for further studies to provide new anticancer therapies.

Cardioprotective effects induced by hydroalcoholic extract of leaves of Alpinia zerumbet on myocardial infarction in rats.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY RELEVANCE: The leaves of Alpinia zerumbet is used in folk medicine in Brazil to treat hypertension. However, the cardioprotective effect of this plant has not been studied yet. AIM OF THIS STUDY: To evaluate the cardioprotective effects of the hydroalcoholic extract of the leaves of Alpinia zerumbet (AZE) against isoproterenol (ISO)-induced myocardial infarction in rats. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Rats were pretreated orally with AZE (300 mg/kg) for 30 days prior to ISO-induced myocardial infarction. The rats were sacrificed and hearts were collected and homogenized for biochemical analysis. At the end of the experiment, cardiac marker enzyme levels, histological and morphometric parameters, and hemodynamic measurements were assessed. Phytochemical compounds were verified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). RESULTS: Rats administered with ISO showed a significant increase in cardiac marker enzymes, i.e., in creatine kinase-NAC (CK-NAC) and CK-MB. Triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining exhibited an increase in infarct areas. In the animals treated with ISO induced a significant increase in heart rate. Pretreatment with AZE significantly inhibited these effects of ISO. Moreover, biochemical findings were supported by histopathological observations. The GC-MS analyses of AZE identified volatile oils, kavalactones, and phytosterols. CONCLUSIONS: Haemodynamic, biochemical alteration and histopathological results suggest a cardioprotective protective effect of oral administration of AZE in isoproterenol induced cardiotoxicity.

Correlation between DNA/HSA-interactions and antimalarial activity of acridine derivatives: Proposing a possible mechanism of action.

Acridines are considered an important class of compounds due to their wide variety of biological activities. In this work, we synthesized four acridine derivatives (1-4) and evaluated their biological activity against the Plasmodium falciparum W2 line, as well as studied the interaction with ctDNA and HSA using spectroscopic techniques and molecular docking. The acridine derivative 2 (IC50 = 0.90 ±â€¯0.08 µM) was more effective against P. falciparum than primaquine (IC50 = 1.70 ±â€¯0.10 µM) and similar to amsacrine (IC50 = 0.80 ±â€¯0.10 µM). In the fluorescence and UV-vis assays, it was verified that the acridine derivatives interact with ctDNA and HSA leading to a non-fluorescent supramolecular complex formation. The non-covalent binding constants ranged from 2.09 to 7.76 × 103 M-1, indicating moderate interaction with ctDNA. Through experiments with KI, fluorescence contact energy transfer and competition assays were possible to characterize the main non-covalent binding mode of the acridines evaluated with ctDNA as intercalation. The binding constants obtained showed a high linear correlation with the IC50 values against the antimalarial activity, suggesting that DNA may be the main biological target of these molecules. Finally, HSA interaction studies were performed and all evaluated compounds bind to the site II of the protein. The less active compounds (1 and 3) presented the highest affinity to HSA, indicating that the interaction with carrier protein can affect the (bio)availability of these compounds to the biological target.

Aminoguanidine hydrazones (AGH's) as modulators of norfloxacin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus that overexpress NorA efflux pump.

One of the promising fields for improving the effectiveness of antimicrobial agents is their combination with efflux pump inhibitors (EPIs), which besides expanding the use of existing antibiotics. The goal of this research was to evaluate a series of aminoguanidine hydrazones (AGH's, 1-19) as antibacterial agents and NorA efflux pump inhibitors in Staphylococcus aureus strain SA-1199B. Molecular modeling and docking studies were also performed in order to explain at the molecular level the interactions of the compounds with the generated NorA efflux pump model. The MICs of the antibiotic and ethidium bromide were determined by microdilution assay in absence or presence of a subinhibitory concentration of aminoguanidine hydrazones and macrophages viability was determined through MTT assay. Bioinformatic software Swiss-Model and AutoDock 4.2 were used to perform modeling and docking studies, respectively. As results, all AGH's were able to potentiate the action for the antibiotic norfloxacin, causing MIC's reduction of 16-fold and 32-fold to ethidium bromide. In the cell viability test, the concentration of 10 µg/mL showed better results than 90% and the concentration of 1000 µg/mL showed the lowest viability, reaching a maximum of 50% for the analyzed aminoguanidine hydrazones. Molecular docking studies showed that both norfloxacin and derivative 13 were recognized by the same binding site of NorA pump, suggesting a competitive mechanism. The present work demonstrated for the first time that AGH derivatives have potential to be putative inhibitors of NorA efflux pump, showing a promising activity as an antibacterial drug development.

Molecular Docking Studies Applied to a Dataset of Cruzain Inhibitors.

BACKGROUND: Chagas' disease is one of the main causes of heart failure in developing countries. The disadvantages of current therapy include the undesirable side-effects, resistance, and therapeutic adhesion. The development of new efficient and safe drugs is, therefore, an issue of extreme importance. OBJECTIVES: In order to gain a better understanding of how the compounds interact with the target, computational methods are essential. METHODS: In this theoretical study, we report a docking protocol applied to a dataset of 173 cruzain inhibitors with IC50 values of less than 10 µM, belonging 16 different chemical classes. A preliminary analysis was performed, where the best protein structure for the study was identified. RESULTS: The enzyme was validated by redocking and a fingerprint graph for the ligand-enzyme interactions was generated, allowing the identification of the main amino acid residues related to the activity. Additionally, a larger cluster was generated, allowing the visualization of the orientation of the compounds and providing binding information for the different classes of compounds as well as their interaction in the cruzain active site. Amino acid residues other than those known as the catalytic triad (Gly23, Cys25, and Gly65) were identified, for example, Gln19 and Asp158. CONCLUSION: This provides a better insight into the mode of interaction of various cruzain inhibitors, which show IC50 values in the nanomolar range but which do not interact with the triad. These findings can help researchers to find new cruzain inhibitors for use in the fight against the Chagas disease.

Antimicrobial Analysis of an Antiseptic Made from Ethanol Crude Extracts of P. granatum and E. uniflora in Wistar Rats against Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis.

INTRODUCTION: Surgical site infection remains a challenge for hospital infection control, especially when it relates to skin antisepsis in the surgical site. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the antimicrobial activity in vivo of an antiseptic from ethanol crude extracts of P. granatum and E. uniflora against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. METHODS: Agar drilling and minimal inhibitory tests were conducted for in vitro evaluation. In the in vivo bioassay were used Wistar rats and Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (ATCC 14990). Statistical analysis was performed through variance analysis and Scott-Knott cluster test at 5% probability and significance level. RESULTS: In the in vitro, ethanolic extracts of Punica granatum and Eugenia uniflora and their combination showed the best antimicrobial potential against S. epidermidis and S. aureus. In the in vivo bioassay against S. epidermidis, there was no statistically significant difference between the tested product and the patterns used after five minutes of applying the product. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that the originated product is an antiseptic alternative source against S. epidermidis compared to chlorhexidine gluconate. It is suggested that further researches are to be conducted in different concentrations of the test product, evaluating its effectiveness and operational costs.

Assessment of mechanisms involved in antinociception produced by the alkaloid caulerpine.

In previous works we showed that oral administration of caulerpine, a bisindole alkaloid isolated from algae of the genus Caulerpa, produced antinociception when assessed in chemical and thermal models of nociception. In this study, we evaluated the possible mechanism of action of this alkaloid in mice, using the writhing test. The antinociceptive effect of caulerpine was not affected by intraperitoneal (i.p.) pretreatment of mice with naloxone, flumazenil, l-arginine or atropine, thus discounting the involvement of the opioid, GABAergic, l-arginine-nitric oxide and (muscarinic) cholinergic pathways, respectively. In contrast, i.p. pretreatment with yohimbine, an α2-adrenoceptor antagonist, or tropisetron, a 5-HT3 antagonist, significantly blocked caulerpine-induced antinociception. These results suggest that caulerpine exerts its antinociceptive effect in the writhing test via pathways involving α2-adrenoceptors and 5-HT3 receptors. In summary, this alkaloid could be of interest in the development of new dual-action analgesic drugs.

Antileishmanial activity of medicinal plants used in endemic areas in northeastern Brazil.

This study investigates the leishmanicidal activity of five species of plants used in folk medicine in endemic areas of the state of Alagoas, Brazil. Data were collected in the cities of Colonia Leopoldina, Novo Lino, and União dos Palmares, Alagoas state, from patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis (Leishmania amazonensis) who use medicinal plants to treat this disease. Plants extracts were tested at a concentration of 1-100 µg/mL in all experiments, except in an assay to evaluate activity against amastigotes, when 10 µg/mL was used. All plants extracts did not show deleterious activity to the host cell evidenced by LDH assay at 100, 10, and 1 µg/mL after 48 h of incubation. The plants extracts Hyptis pectinata (L.) Poit, Aloe vera L., Ruta graveolens L., Pfaffia glomerata (Spreng.) Pedersen, and Chenopodium ambrosioides L. exhibited direct activity against extracellular forms at 100 µg/mL; these extracts inhibited growth by 81.9%, 82.9%, 74.4%, 88.7%, and 87.4%, respectively, when compared with promastigotes. The plants extracts H. pectinata, A. vera, and R. graveolens also significantly diminished the number of amastigotes at 10 µg/mL, inhibiting growth by 85.0%, 40.4%, 94.2%, and 97.4%, respectively, when compared with control. Based on these data, we conclude that the five plants exhibited considerable leishmanicidal activity.

A systematic review for anti-inflammatory property of clusiaceae family: a preclinical approach.

Background. Clusiaceae family (sensu lato) is extensively used in ethnomedicine for treating a number of disease conditions which include cancer, inflammation, and infection. The aim of this review is to report the pharmacological potential of plants of Clusiaceae family with the anti-inflammatory activity in animal experiments. Methods. A systematic review about experiments investigating anti-inflammatory activity of Clusiaceae family was carried out by searching bibliographic databases such as Medline, Scopus and Embase. In this update, the search terms were "anti-inflammatory agents," "Clusiaceae," and "animals, laboratory." Results. A total of 255 publications with plants this family were identified. From the initial 255 studies, a total of 21 studies were selected for the final analysis. Studies with genera Allanblackia, Clusia, Garcinia or Rheedia, and Hypericum showed significant anti-inflammatory activity. The findings include a decrease of total leukocytes, a number of neutrophils, total protein concentration, granuloma formation, and paw or ear edema formation. Other interesting findings included decreased of the MPO activity, and inflammatory mediators such as NF- κ B and iNOS expression, PGE2 and Il-1 ß levels and a decrease in chronic inflammation. Conclusion. The data reported suggests the anti-inflammatory effect potential of Clusiaceae family in animal experiments.