Research Journal of Pharmacognosy
Volume:8 Issue: 2, Spring 2021

Over the centuries, medicinal herbs have been used as major sources of medicine for prevention and treatment of diseases;. however, herbal drugs should be converted to new dosage forms for better acceptance and easier usage by patients. The present research has been performed to formulate a herbal gel for vaginitis based on Iranian traditional medicine.

The extract of oleogumresin of Boswellia was obtained using propylene glycol: water. The gel was prepared using the extract (2% and 5%), carbomer 940 (0.5% and 1%), tri-ethanolamine and distilled water. Further, the prepared gels were evaluated for physicochemical and microbial characteristics. Accelerated stability test was performed on the selected gel for six months.

The gel with 2% extract of Boswellia using propylene glycol: water 80:20 as the solvent and carbomer 1% was selected as the best one. The formulated gel was homogenous, white in color with acceptable physicochemical and microbial characteristics. Hexane soluble content and total acids as boswellic acid in the gel were found 0.25% and 8.7 mg/100 g, respectively. It was stable during centrifugation but it was unstable in temperature cycle test and stability test; therefore, it should be kept in cool place.

The prepared gel contains volatile compounds with antimicrobial and anti-inflammation activities; therefore, it could be an appropriate candidate for vaginitis.

Stachys L. genus from the Lamiaceae family is distributed worldwide. It is used for medicinal purposes in traditional medicine. Stachys laxa as an endemic species and S. byzantina which grow in the north of Iran were selected in this study for analyzing the chemical compositions of the volatile oils and investigation of some biological activities.

The chemical constituents of the oils from the aerial parts were analyzed by GC-MS. The antimicrobial activity of the essential oils was investigated by disc diffusion method and the MIC was determined. Toxicity and total phenolics content were surveyed by brine shrimp lethality and Folin-Ciocalteu assays, respectively. Two different methods (DPPH and FRAP) were conducted to assess the antioxidant activity of both extracts.

Sixty-one compounds were identified in the oils, whereas sesquiterpenes were the major components in both volatile oils. Hexadecanoic acid (16.65%) and hexahydrofarnesyl acetone (20.41%) were the main compounds in S. laxa and S. byzantina, respectively. The ethyl acetate fraction of S. byzantina showed the strongest antioxidant activity (DPPH IC50: 18.3 µg/mL; FRAP: 687.4 FeSO4.7 H2O mg /g extract) and the highest total phenolics content (115.43 gallic acid mg /g extract) compared to other fractions. The volatile oil of S. laxa showed more potent antimicrobial activity on Salmonella paratyphi A (MIC: 5.62 µg/mL).

Both species were safe and showed no toxicity. They demonstrated strong antioxidant properties. The essential oil of S. laxa showed potent activity against Salmonella paratyphi A.

Promising anticancer properties are associated with the consumption of green tea. On the other hand, lung cancer has been showing to possess the highest number of death compared to other types of cancer. The aim of this study was to understand the mechanisms by which green tea shows this effect; bioinformatics study of proteome profile could be essential. For this reason, the proteomics analysis of human lung adenocarcinoma A-549 cells treated with green tea extract was chosen for protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis.

Cytoscape v.3.8.2 and its applications analyzed a number of 14 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) from green tea treatment experiment as two networks. The biological annotations and action type exploration of the hub-bottlenecks of the PPI network were then carried out.

Results:

The investigation indicated that among 14 queries DEPs, HNRNPA2B1, PCBP1, and HNRNPC may show substantial role. Moreover, HSPA8 was the top hub-bottleneck and half of the central protein groups were enriched with heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins complex family (HNRNPs).

Conclusion:

The anticancer bioinformatics study of green tea suggests a complex nature for green tea. This finding urges complementary evaluations to validate whether green tea is applicable as an anticancer agent in medicine.

Clinacanthus nutans (Burm f.) Lindau (C. nutans) is a well-known traditional medicine in South East Asia and consists of abundant phytomedicinals properties. This study aimed to investigate the effects of C. nutans ethanol and aqueous extracts on interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interleukin-13 (IL-13) cytokines secretion in phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA)-induced U937 macrophages.

Sequential ultrasonic-assisted extraction was carried out using ethanol (ETOH) and water, by applying 1:10 ratio of leaves powder to the solvent volume. U937 cells were incubated with 25 nM PMA for 72 h to induce macrophage differentiation. The macrophage differentiation was assessed based on the cell morphological changes, cell viability and, CD14 and CD11b expression by using flow cytometry. The macrophages were incubated with both ETOH and aqueous extracts at 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0 and 8.0 mg/mL concentration for 48 h. The viability of the extract-treated cells was assessed using PrestoBlue cell viability assay and the IL-4 and IL-13 secretions were assessed by using Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA).

PMA stimulation caused morphological changes of U937 cells from round-shaped, non-adherent to larger irregular-shaped, adherent cells, and a reduction of cells viability to 87%. CD14 expression was down-regulated from 7% to 4.5% upon PMA stimulation. CD11b expression was up-regulated from 16% in untreated cells to 38% in PMA-treated cells. ELISA results showed that 1 mg/mL of ETOH and AQ extracts stimulated 1200 and 1800 pg/mL IL-4 secretions, respectively. However, both extracts caused minimal IL-13 secretion. 

Clinacanthus nutans aqueous extracts stimulated IL-4 production higher than ETOH extract in PMA-induced U937 macrophages.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a recurrent chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract. In Iranian traditional medicine, the oleo-gum-resin of the genus Pistacia is recommended for treatment of various diseases including gastrointestinal disorders. The present study investigated the therapeutic action of a combination of Pistacia atlantica subspecies kurdica oleo-gum-resin and honey in acetic acid-induced colitis in rats.

 Pistacia atlantica oleo-gum-resin was mixed with honey. The mixture was suspended in distilled water. Following induction of colitis with 4% acetic acid in all animals, except in sham group,themixture was orally administered for two consecutive days at the concentrations of 100, 200, 400 mg/kg. Other groups included the control, sham and a standard group (dexamethasone). Microscopic and histopathologic examinations were conducted in inflamed colonic tissue. The inflammatory biomarkers of colitis including interleukin 6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), and myeloperoxidase (MPO) and the gene expression level of toll like receptor-4 (TLR-4) were assessed.

Pistacia atlantica oleo-gum-resin+ honey induced significant progress in macroscopic and microscopic scores. Colonic levels of MPO, IL-6, and TNF-α significantly declined in rats treated with the mixture; while significant decrease in mucosal gene expression of TLR-4 and significant improvement of colitis were observed. Pistacia atlantica oleo-gum-resin (400 mg/kg) + honey (400 mg/kg)reduced inflammation of the bowel and colonic ulcer severity shown by downregulation of inflammation cytokines, reduction of neutrophil infiltration, and suppression of TLR-4 expression.

The combination might be a promising supplement for treatment of inflammatory disorders.

Urease, that catalyzes the hydrolysis of urea, has received substantial attention for its impact on living organisms’ health and human life quality. Urease inhibitors play important role in management of different diseases including gastritis and other gastrointestinal disorders. In the present study, a new surface plasmon resonance-based biosensor was designed to discover new urease inhibitors.

The biosensor surface was prepared by the covalent immobilization of urease on carboxymethyldextran hydrogel (CMD 500D) via its primary amine groups.

The biosensor combined with an orthogonal enzyme inhibition assay was utilized for screening of 40 traditional medicinal plant extracts against Jack-bean urease. Among them, Laurus nobilis leaf extract displayed a high affinity with the immobilized urease; therefore, its active compound (quercetin) was isolated and identified as a urease inhibitor. The equilibrium constant (KD) and Gibbs free energy (ΔGbinding) values for the interaction of quercetin with urease were obtained to be 55 nM and -41.62 kJ/mol, respectively. The results of molecular docking analysis also confirmed our findings.

This SPR-based biosensor represents a new, fast, reliable, and an accurate technique for the identification of new urease inhibitors or novel 'lead' compounds from natural resources.

It is reported that cinnamonconsumption is corelated with improving several diseases and advanced methods are applied to detect the molecular mechanism of this effect. The aim of this study was introducing the main protein targets of cinnamon extract.

Among the 100 regulated significant differentially expressed proteins, the recognized individuals by STRING database plus 100 added first neighbors were included in a network and the central nodes of the network were determined and analyzed.

The queried and added proteins were included in a scale free network. Seven hub nodes as central proteins were determined as critical target proteins. Five hub proteins were members of 50S ribosomal proteins family and others weretsf and dnaK. The last two hubs were related to protein synthesis and protein folding processes, respectively.

50S ribosomal proteins family and protein synthesis were identified as the main target of cinnamon and the core affected process, respectively.

Cancer is known to be the second cause of death around the world. The most prevalent cancer among women is breast cancer. Use of plant-derived products in cancer treatment may reduce adverse side effects. Extensive research around the world has led to the discovery of herbal compounds that can be used to treat some types of cancer. According to previous studies, the methanol extract of Eupatorium cannabinum has shown cytotoxic effects in some cancer cell lines. In the present study, bioassay guided fractionation and isolation was conducted on E. cannabinum to evaluate the cytotoxic activityin MCF-7 breast cancer cell line.

The Extraction from theaerial parts was performed by maceration method. Isolation and purification of the extracts were performed by column chromatography. The cytotoxic activity of different extracts of E. cannabinum was evaluated against MCF-7 cell line by MTT assay and a compound was isolated according to bioassay guided fractionation. The cytotoxic activity and apoptotic property of the isolated compound was determined.

The chloroform extract was the most active one with IC50 of 21.39±3.24 μg/mL followed by the n-hexane and methanol extracts with IC50values of 60.23±2.16 μg/mL and 81.74±3.41 μg/mL, respectively. IC50 of subfractions (1-6) from the chloroform extract were 60.83±2.56 μg/mL, 58.93±2.73 μg/mL, 37.5±3.65 μg/mL, 7.86±1.34 μg/mL, 10.61±2.34 μg/mL and 13.77±4.17 μg/mL, respectively. Eucannabinolide, a sesquiterpene lactone, was isolated from the chloroform extract according to bioassay guided fractionation. Its IC50 was found to be 13±2.45 μg/mL. Eucannabinolide induced 46.91% apoptosis at concentration of 13 μg/mL in MCF-7 cell line in Annexin V/PI assay.

Eucannabinolideis a promising candidate for further breast cancer drug discovery studies.