Alternative Approach for Specific Tyrosinase Inhibitor Screening: Uncompetitive Inhibition of Tyrosinase by Moringa oleifera

Tyrosinase (TYR) is a type III copper oxidase present in fungi, plants and animals. The inhibitor of human TYR plays a vital role in pharmaceutical and cosmetic fields by preventing synthesis of melanin in the skin. To search for an effective TYR inhibitor from various plant extracts, a kinetic study of TYR inhibition was performed with mushroom TYR. Among Panax ginseng, Alpinia galanga, Vitis vinifera and Moringa oleifera, the extracts of V. vinifera seed, A. galanga rhizome and M. oleifera leaf reversibly inhibited TYR diphenolase activity with IC₅₀ values of 94.8 ± 0.2 µg/mL, 105.4 ± 0.2 µg/mL and 121.3 ± 0.4 µg/mL, respectively. Under the same conditions, the IC₅₀ values of the representative TYR inhibitors of ascorbic acid and kojic acid were found at 235.7 ± 1.0 and 192.3 ± 0.4 µg/mL, respectively. An inhibition kinetics study demonstrated mixed-type inhibition of TYR diphenolase by A. galanga and V. vinifera, whereas a rare uncompetitive inhibition pattern was found from M. oleifera with an inhibition constant of K_ii 73 µg/mL. Phytochemical investigation by HPLC-MS proposed luteolin as a specific TYR diphenolase ES complex inhibitor, which was confirmed by the inhibition kinetics of luteolin. The results clearly showed that studying TYR inhibition kinetics with plant extract mixtures can be utilized for the screening of specific TYR inhibitors.     

Acuminatol and Other Antioxidative Resveratrol Oligomers from the Stem Bark of <em>Shorea acuminata</em>

A new resveratrol dimer, acuminatol (1), was isolated along with five known compounds from the acetone extract of the stem bark of Shorea acuminata. Their structures and stereochemistry were determined by spectroscopic methods, which included the extensive use of 2D NMR techniques. All isolated compounds were evaluated for their antioxidant activity using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity (RSA) and the β-carotene-linoleic acid (BCLA) assays, and compared with those of the standards of ascorbic acid (AscA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). All compounds tested exhibited good to moderate antioxidant activity in the DPPH assay (IC₅₀s 0.84 to 10.06 mM) and displayed strong inhibition of β-carotene oxidation (IC₅₀s 0.10 to 0.22 mM). The isolated compounds were evaluated on the Vero cell line and were found to be non-cytotoxic with LC₅₀ values between 161 to 830 μM.     

Morphological Changes of Cationic Gemini Surfactants 14-s-14 (s=4,5,6) in the Presence of Additives

The effect of adding aliphatic alcohols (C₄OH, C₅OH, C₆OH) and corresponding amines (C₄NH₂, C₅NH₂, C₆NH₂) on a series of dicationic gemini surfactants with the general formula C₁₄H₂₉(CH₃)₂N⁺?C(CH₂)_s?CN⁺(CH₃)₂C₁₄H₂₉, 2Br^? (14-s-14; s=4,5,6), in the absence and presence of KNO₃, has been studied by viscosity measurements at 303.15?K. As the chain length of the additive increased, the viscosity increased with increasing additive concentration and the extent of the effect followed the sequence: C₆OH>C₅OH>C₄OH; C₆NH₂>C₅NH₂>C₄NH₂. The simultaneous presence of salt and additives showed an increase in ?? _r values due to a synergistic effect. However, for equal chain lengths in the additives, the effect was greater for the n-alcohols. The tendency for the micelles to grow from spherical to rod-like structures is mainly influenced by the spacer chain length. At 303.15?K, the micellar growth was more pronounced for the shorter spacer, i.e. s being 4, which can be interpreted in terms of the short spacer having a higher tendency for micellar growth. Contrary to the cationic geminis, no effect was observed with a conventional surfactant of equal chain length, TTAB, even in the presence of KNO₃ at the same concentration used for the geminis.     

Aminolysis of resin-bound N-nosylaziridine-2-carboxylic acids

[Structure: see text] Solid-phase synthesis is a rapidly developing area of organic chemistry, of particular importance for medicinal chemistry and chemical biology. Aziridines have previously only rarely been applied in solid-phase synthesis. In the present work, aminolysis of resin-bound, spring-loaded N-nitrobenzenesulfonyl-activated aziridine-2-carboxylic acids has been optimized and employed in the synthesis of a number of open-chain and heterocyclic scaffolds, including enantiopure products.     

Theoretical investigation of the coordination of dibenzazepine to transition-metal complexes: A DFT study

DFT calculations with full geometry optimizations have been carried out on a series of hypothetical compounds of the CpM(C₁₄NH₁₁) and (CO)₃M(C₁₄NH₁₁) (M = transition metal and C₁₄NH₁₁ = dibenzazepine ligand) type. A rationalization of the bonding in hypothetical complexes is provided. Depending on the electron count and the nature of the metal, the dibenzazepine ligand can bind to the metal through the η¹, η², η³, η⁴ , η⁵, η⁶ , or η⁷ coordination mode adopting structures of types a or b. In the investigated species, the most favored closed-shell count is 18-MVE except for the Sc and V models which prefer the 16-MVE configuration.     

Real Paley-Wiener type theorems for the Dunkl transform on {\mathcal{S}}'(\mathbb{R}^{d})

We prove real Paley-Wiener type theorems for the Dunkl transform ℱ _D on the space of tempered distributions. Let T∈S′(ℝ ^d ) and Δ _κ the Dunkl Laplacian operator. First, we establish that the support of ℱ _D (T) is included in the Euclidean ball , M>0, if and only if for all R>M we have lim  _n→+∞ R ⁻²ⁿ Δ _κ ⁿ T=0 in S′(ℝ ^d ). Second, we prove that the support of ℱ _D (T) is included in ℝ ^d ∖B(0,M), M>0, if and only if for all R<M, we have lim  _n→+∞ R ²ⁿ  ℱ _D ⁻¹(‖y‖⁻²ⁿ ℱ _D (T))=0 in S′(ℝ ^d ). Finally, we study real Paley-Wiener theorems associated with -slowly increasing function.      

Simulation on semiconductor optical amplifier intensity noise reduction for future spectrum-sliced optical networks

Spectrum-slicing techniques employing incoherent light are an economic, practical and therefore attractive solution for future all-optical networks, especially for wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) transmission systems in local area networks (LAN). However, spectrum-sliced methods exhibit a large excess intensity noise factor that limits the performance of the system. In this paper, we investigate noise suppression of spectrum-sliced incoherent light using a saturated semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). The system incorporating the noise reducing SOA is modeled and simulated using OptSim software, and the results are compared to practical schemes from the literature. Performance comparisons are made with two different broadband sources test-beds. The characteristics of the SOA gain saturation are also presented. In both cases, it is found that a high degree of intensity noise is suppressed by the use of the non-linear gain saturation characteristics of the SOA so as to achieve better system performance. The position of a modulator in the system is also investigated in order to greatly reduce the excess intensity noise.     

Infection Dynamics of ATG8 in Leishmania: Balancing Autophagy for Therapeutics

In many regions of the world, Leishmaniasis is a cause of substantial mortality and ailment. Due to impediment in available treatment, development of novel and effective treatments is indispensable. Significance of autophagy has been accentuated in infectious disease as well as in Leishmaniasis, and it is having capability to be manifested as a therapeutic target. By evincing autophagy as a novel therapeutic regime, this study emphasized on the critical role of ATG4.1-ATG8 and ATG5-ATG12 complexes in Leishmania species. The objective here was to identify ATG8 as a potential therapeutic target in Leishmania. R71T, P56E, R18P are the significant mutations which shows detrimental effect on ATG8 while Arg276, Arg73, Cys75 of ATG4.1 and Val88, Pro89, Glu116, Asn117, and Gly120 are interacting residues of ATG8. Along with this, we also bring into spotlight an enticing role of Thiabendazole derivatives that interferes with the survival mechanisms by targeting ATG8. Further, the study claims that thiabendazole can be a potential drug candidate to target autophagy process in the infectious disease Leishmaniasis.