Chemical Composition Analysis,Cytotoxic, Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activities of Physalis angulata L.: A Comparative Study of Leaves and Fruit

Physalis angulata L. belongs to the family Solanaceae and is distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical regions. Physalis angulata leaf and fruit extracts were assessed for in vitro anticancer, antioxidant activity, and total phenolic and flavonoid content. The GC-MS technique investigated the chemical composition and structure of bioactive chemicals reported in extracts. The anticancer activity results revealed a decrease in the percentage of anticancer cells’ viability in a concentration- and time-dependent way. We also noticed morphological alterations in the cells, which we believe are related to Physalis angulata extracts. Under light microscopy, we observed that as the concentration of ethanolic extract (fruit and leaves) treated HeLa cells increased, the number of cells began to decrease.     

The Regulation of Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress in Cancer: Special Focuses on Luteolin Patents

Cancer is a major health problem across the globe, and is expeditiously growing at a faster rate worldwide. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a membranous cell organelle having inextricable links in cellular homeostasis. Altering ER homeostasis initiates various signaling events known as the unfolded protein response (UPR). The basic purpose of the UPR is to reinstate the homeostasis; however, a continuous UPR can stimulate pathways of cell death, such as apoptosis. As a result, there is great perturbation to target particular signaling pathways of ER stress. Flavonoids have gained significant interest as a potential anticancer agent because of their considerable role in causing cytotoxicity of the cancerous cells. Luteolin, a flavonoid isolated from natural products, is a promising phytochemical used in the treatment of cancer. The current study is designed to review the different endoplasmic reticulum stress pathways involved in the cancer, mechanistic insights of luteolin as an anticancer agent in modulating ER stress, and the available luteolin patent formulations were also highlighted. The patents were selected on the basis of pre-clinical and/or clinical trials, and established antitumor effects using patent databases of FPO IP and Espacenet. The patented formulation of luteolin studied so far has shown promising anticancer potential against different cancer cell lines. However, further research is still required to determine the molecular targets of such bioactive molecules so that they can be used as anticancer drugs.     

Deep Learning and Structure-Based Virtual Screening for Drug Discovery against NEK7: A Novel Target for the Treatment of Cancer

NIMA-related kinase7 (NEK7) plays a multifunctional role in cell division and NLRP3 inflammasone activation. A typical expression or any mutation in the genetic makeup of NEK7 leads to the development of cancer malignancies and fatal inflammatory disease, i.e., breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, gout, rheumatoid arthritis, and liver cirrhosis. Therefore, NEK7 is a promising target for drug development against various cancer malignancies. The combination of drug repurposing and structure-based virtual screening of large libraries of compounds has dramatically improved the development of anticancer drugs. The current study focused on the virtual screening of 1200 benzene sulphonamide derivatives retrieved from the PubChem database by selecting and docking validation of the crystal structure of NEK7 protein (PDB ID: 2WQN). The compounds library was subjected to virtual screening using Auto Dock Vina. The binding energies of screened compounds were compared to standard Dabrafenib. In particular, compound 762 exhibited excellent binding energy of −42.67 kJ/mol, better than Dabrafenib (−33.89 kJ/mol). Selected drug candidates showed a reactive profile that was comparable to standard Dabrafenib. To characterize the stability of protein–ligand complexes, molecular dynamic simulations were performed, providing insight into the molecular interactions. The NEK7–Dabrafenib complex showed stability throughout the simulated trajectory. In addition, binding affinities, pIC50, and ADMET profiles of drug candidates were predicted using deep learning models. Deep learning models predicted the binding affinity of compound 762 best among all derivatives, which supports the findings of virtual screening. These findings suggest that top hits can serve as potential inhibitors of NEK7. Moreover, it is recommended to explore the inhibitory potential of identified hits compounds through in-vitro and in-vivo approaches.     

Heteroleptic transition metal complexes of Schiff‐base‐derived ligands exert their antifungal activity by disrupting membrane integrity

Development of new treatment strategies and chemotherapeutic agents is urgently needed to combat the growing multidrug resistant species of Candida. In this direction, a new series of Cu (II), Co (II), Ni (II) and Zn (II) heteroleptic complexes were synthesized, characterized and evaluated for antifungal activity. Based on spectral characterization and physical measurements, an octahedral geometry was assigned to [Co(L1)(L2)ClH₂O] ( C2 ), [Ni(L1)(L2)ClH₂O] ( C3 ), [Zn(L1)(L2)ClH₂O] ( C4 ) complexes, while a distorted octahedral geometry was assigned to [Cu(L1)(L2)ClH₂O] ( C1 ) complex. All the synthesized compounds were tested for antifungal activity against 11 Candida albicans isolates, including fluconazole (FLC)‐resistant isolates, by determining minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentrations (MFC), following CLSI guidelines. The mechanism of their antifungal activity was assessed by studying their effect on the plasma membrane using flow cytometry and quantifying the ergosterol contents. All the test compounds showed varying levels of antifungal activity. Both the ligands showed moderate antifungal activity with a median MIC value of 100 μg/mL with no fungicidal activity. Compound C3 was the most potent compound with median MIC and MFC values of 0.10 and 1.60 μg/mL, respectively. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that these compounds at MFC values disrupt the cell membrane, resulting in propidium iodide entering the cells. These compounds also reduced a considerable amount of ergosterol content after treating the cells with MIC and sub‐MIC values. This study indicates that these compounds have high antifungal activity against C. albicans, and have the potential to be developed as novel antifungal drugs.     

Microemulsion method: A novel route to synthesize organic and inorganic nanomaterials: 1st Nano Update

Synthesis of nanoparticles by microemulsion method is an area of considerable current interest. Since the discovery of microemulsions, they have attained increasing significance both in basic research and in different industrial fields. Due to their unique properties, namely, ultralow interfacial tension, large interfacial area, thermodynamic stability and the ability to solubilize otherwise immiscible liquids. The uses and applications of microemulsions are numerous in chemical and biological fields. The nanoparticles not only are of basic scientific interest, but also have resulted in important technological applications, such as catalysts, high-performance ceramic materials, microelectronic devices, high-density magnetic recording and drug delivery. The microemulsion technique promises to be one of the versatile preparation method which enables to control the particle properties such as mechanisms of particle size control, geometry, morphology, homogeneity and surface area. This review aims to give a vivid look on the use of microemulsions for synthesizing and controlling the grain size and morphology of the nanoparticles and at the same time will summarize some recent works carried out in the synthesis of organic and inorganic nanoparticles by this method.     

Disparity in properties of 20-mol% Eu-doped ceria synthesized by different routes

Ce_0.8Eu_0.2O_2?δ was synthesized by conventional solid state route as well as wet chemical route (i.e. cation complexation, combustion method). The crystallite size obtained for cation complexation and combustion samples is 14 and 19 nm while their surface area is 11.70 and 29.63 m²g^?1 respectively. Cation complexation synthesized product lead to formation of agglomerates and hence the sintered sample showed porosity compared to combustion synthesized sample. However, despite high packing density the combustion synthesized sample showed lower grain boundary, total conductivity than cation complexation synthesized product due to the formation of siliceous film at the grain boundary.     

Gamma irradiation induced enhancement of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and antioxidant activity in peach (Prunus persica Bausch,Cv. Elberta)

Effect of medium dose gamma irradiation on PAL and antioxidant activity of peach fruit was investigated. Peach fruit after harvest at commercial maturity was irradiated in the dose range 1.0–2.0 kGy, stored under refrigerated conditions (3±1 °C, RH 80%) and evaluated at intervals of 7 days. The antioxidant activity as determined by DPPH and FRAP methods revealed significant (p≤0.05) increase particularly in the dose range 1.6–2.0 kGy. During storage, maximum increase in both PAL and antioxidant activity was observed after 21 days. Positive correlation (r=0.75) existed between antioxidant activity and total phenols. EC₅₀ values as obtained from DPPH and FRAP experiments were significantly (p≤0.05) lower in irradiated fruits compared to control.     

Gamma irradiation of sun-dried apricots (Prunus armeniaca L.) for quality maintenance and quarantine purposes

The study is aimed at the optimization of gamma irradiation treatment of sun-dried apricots for quality maintenance and quarantine purposes. Sun-dried apricots pre-treated with potassium meta-bisulphite (KMS) at 2.5% w/v were procured from progressive apricot grower of district Kargil, Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir state. The sun-dried apricots were packed in 250 gauge polyethylene packs and gamma irradiated in the dose range 1.0–3.0 kGy. The gamma irradiated fruit including control was stored under ambient (15±2–25±2 °C, RH 70–80%) conditions and periodically evaluated for physico-chemical, sensory and microbial quality parameters. Radiation treatment at dose levels of 2.5 and 3.0 kGy proved significantly (p≤0.05) beneficial in retention of higher levels of β-carotene, ascorbic acid, total sugars and color values without impairing the taste as perceived by the sensory panel analysists. The above optimized doses retained the β-carotene content of sun-dried apricots to the extent of 71.2% and 72.6% compared to 63.9% in control samples after 18 months of storage. Irradiation treatment facilitated the release of residual sulfur dioxide in KMS pre-treated sun-dried apricots significantly (p≤0.05) below the prescribed limit for dried products. During storage, two-fold decrease in sulfur dioxide content was recorded in irradiated samples (3.0 kGy) as compared to 16.9% in control. The above optimized doses besides maintaining the higher overall acceptability of sun-dried apricots resulted in 5 log reductions in microbial load just after irradiation and 1.0 and 1.3 log reductions in yeast and mold and bacterial count after 18 months of ambient storage.     

Polymerization of Acrylonitrile Initiated by the Thiourea-Mn3+ Redox System

Kinetics of vinyl polymerization initiated by the redox system thiourea-Mn³⁺ were investigated in the temperature range 30–40°C in sulfuric acid, and the rates of polymerization R_p and disappearance of Mn³⁺ have been measured. The effect of certain water-miscible organic solvents and anionic surfactant on the rates of polymerization was investigated. A mechanism involving the formation of a complex between Mn³⁺ and thiourea whose decomposition yields the initiating free radical with the polymerization terminated by mutual intraction of growing radicals is suggested.     

Morphological,cytological and phytochemical studies in naturally occurring diploid and tetraploid populations of Physochlaina praealta from high altitudes of Trans-Himalaya

Physochlaina praealta samples were studied macromorphologically and cytomorphologically along with their detailed phytochemical investigation. The concentration of phytoconstituents showed a strong positive correlation with the ploidy level and altitudinal gradients. The total phenol content was detected maximum in the methanolic extract of leaves and stem of higher altitudinal plants in both cytotypes (2x, 4x). The maximum content of flavonoids was detected in the methanolic extract of root and leaves. Root organ from higher elevation possessed the highest DPPH radical scavenging activity, with the maximum percentage of inhibition being obtained in methanolic extracts. The plants of both cytotypes from higher elevations accumulate an abundant quantity of secondary metabolites. The two cytotypes differ from each other with respect to various morphometric characters thereby depicting the drastic affect of polyploidy.