Synthesis of pyrimidones and evaluation of their xanthine oxidase inhibitory and antioxidant activities.

The increasing prevalence of gout has been accompanied by a growing number of patients intolerant to or with disease refractory to the available urate-lowering therapies. This metabolic disease is a common disease with a higher prevalence in men older than 30 years and in women older than 50 years. These findings highlight the need for emerging treatments to effectively lower urate levels. In this view, we describe the xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibitory activities of the synthesized compounds 5a-j and also their antioxidant activities. Compounds 5c, 5d, 5f, 5h, and 5j exhibited good inhibitory activities against XO. On the other hand, compounds 5g and 5j exhibited moderate antioxidant activity.

Evaluation of adhesive and anti-adhesive properties of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms and their inhibition by herbal plants.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Adhesion and colonization are prerequisites for the establishment of bacterial pathogenesis. The biofilm development of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was assessed on adhesive surfaces like dialysis membrane, stainless steel, glass and polystyrene. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Microtiter plate biofilm assay was performed to assess the effect of nutrient medium and growth parameters of P. aeruginosa. Further, its growth on adhesive surfaces namely hydrophilic (dialysis membrane) and hydrophobic (polystyrene plate, square glass and stainless steel coupon) was assessed. The exopolysaccharide (EPS) was quantified using ruthenium red microplate assay and microscopic analysis was used to observe P. aeruginosa biofilm architecture. The anti-biofilm activity of herbal extracts on mature P. aeruginosa was performed. RESULTS: The formation of large scale biofilms on dialysis membrane for 72 h was proved to be the best surface. In microscopic studies, very few exopolysaccaride fibrils, indicating a rather loose matrix was observed at 48 h. Further, thick exopolysaccaride, indicated higher adhesive properties at 72 h which is evident from ruthenium red staining. Among the plant extract used, Justicia wynaadensis leaf and Aristolochia indica (Eswari) root extract showed significant reduction of anti-biofilm activity of 0.178 OD and 0.192 OD in inhibiting mature biofilms at 0.225 OD respectively, suggesting the possible use of these extracts as efficient anti-adhesive and biofilm-disrupting agents with potential applications in controlling biofilms on surfaces. CONCLUSION: Our study facilitates better understanding in the development of P. aeruginosa biofilms on different food processing and clinical surfaces ultimately taking care of food safety and hygiene.

Counter effect of sucrose on ethanol-induced aggregation of protein.

The present paper is an attempt to study the mechanism of ethanol induced aggregation of chicken egg albumin and to stabilize the protein against ethanol induced aggregation. The protein aggregation was determined by monitoring the light scattering of protein aggregates spectrophotometrically. The protein undergoes certain structural changes in water-ethanol solution and the degree of aggregation was found to be linearly depending upon the concentration of alcohol used. The intrinsic fluorescence study showed a large blue shift in the λ(max) (16 nm) in the presence of 50% ethanol. The ANS fluorescence intensity was found to be gradually increasing with increasing concentration of ethanol. This indicates an increase in the hydrophobic cluster on the protein surface and as a result the hydrophobic interaction is the major driving force for the aggregate formation. Addition of sucrose significantly reduced the ethanol-induced protein aggregation. In presence of 50% sucrose the ethanol the aggregation was reduced to 5%. The study reveals that addition of sucrose brings out changes in the solvent distribution and prevents the structural changes in protein which lead the aggregation.