Bursatella leachii Purple Ink Secretion Concentrate Exerts Cytotoxic Properties against Human Hepatocarcinoma Cell Line (HepG2): In Vitro and In Silico Studies

Liver cancer is a leading cause of cancer death globally. Marine mollusc-derived drugs have gained attention as potential natural-based anti-cancer agents to overcome the side effects caused by conventional chemotherapeutic drugs during cancer therapy. Using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, the main biomolecules in the purple ink secretion released by the sea hare, named Bursatella leachii (B. leachii), were identified as hectochlorin, malyngamide X, malyngolide S, bursatellin and lyngbyatoxin A. The cytotoxic effects of B. leachii ink concentrate against human hepatocarcinoma (HepG2) cells were determined to be dose- and time-dependent, and further exploration of the underlying mechanisms causing the programmed cell death (apoptosis) were performed. The expression of cleaved-caspase-8 and cleaved-caspase-3, key cysteine-aspartic proteases involved in the initiation and completion of the apoptosis process, appeared after HepG2 cell exposure to the B. leachii ink concentrate. The gene expression levels of pro-apoptotic BAX, TP53 and Cyclin D1 were increased after treatment with the B. leachii ink concentrate. Applying in silico approaches, the high scores predicted that bioactivities for the five compounds were protease and kinase inhibitors. The ADME and cytochrome profiles for the compounds were also predicted. Altogether, the B. leachii ink concentrate has high pro-apoptotic potentials, suggesting it as a promising safe natural product-based drug for the treatment of liver cancer.     

High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with Fluorescence Detection for Quantification of Steroids in Clinical,Pharmaceutical, and Environmental Samples: A Review

Steroids are compounds widely available in nature and synthesized for therapeutic and medical purposes. Although several analytical techniques are available for the quantification of steroids, their analysis is challenging due to their low levels and complex matrices of the samples. The efficiency and quick separation of the HPLC combined with the sensitivity, selectivity, simplicity, and cost-efficiency of fluorescence, make HPLC coupled to fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD) an ideal tool for routine measurement and detection of steroids. In this review, we covered HPLC-FLD methods reported in the literature for the steroids quantification in clinical, pharmaceutical, and environmental applications, focusing on the various approaches of fluorescent derivatization. The aspects related to analytical methodology including sample preparation, derivatization reagents, and chromatographic conditions will be discussed.     

Green-synthesized Zinc oxide nanoparticle,an efficient safe anticancer compound for human breast MCF7 cancer cells

There are many types of researches investigating anticancer therapeutics for breast cancer therapy. Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) as an efficient drug delivery system, has been widely being used in various biomedical applications. In the current study, we synthesized ZnONP applying Rheum rhaponticum Waste (RRW) as a novel bio-platform to investigate its anticancer impacts on MCF7 breast cancer cells compared with normal Human HFF and HDF cells. In this regard, RRW was triggered to synthesize the ZnONPs. Then, they were characterized by XRD, FTIR, TEM, and SEM analysis. Next, the MCF-7, HFF, and HDF cell lines were cultured and treated as the following plane: Incubation of all cell lines for 72, 48, and 24 hours at the presence of different ZnONPs doses. Finally, the cell morphology, BCL2- BAX genes expression profile and AO/PI-fluorescent cell staining on the 48-hour incubated cells were analyzed to check the ZnONP apoptotic activity. Moreover, the ZnONP antioxidant activity was analyzed by a DPPH antioxidant test. We produced the 30 nm ZnONPs which significantly increased the BAX and decreased the BCL-2 gene expression. According to the results including the Sub G1 enhancement peaks, apoptotic hallmarks, MTT assay, and the AO/PI-fluorescent stained cells, ZnONPs can specifically induce apoptotic death in MCF7 breast cancer cells compared with normal HFF and HDF cells. The IC₅₀ values of MCF-7 in 72, 48, and 24 hr were measured at 8, 11, and 12 μg/ml in 72, 48, and 24 hr, respectively. This is while the mentioned values in the normal cells (HFF, HDF) were estimated at higher treatment doses. In conclusion, we suggest that the ZnONPs have the potential to be applied as a safe cell-specific apoptosis inducer in breast cancer treatment. However, there are many challenges that need to be clarified for applying them as an efficient anticancer agent.     

Air-Stable Fe3O4@SiO2-EDTA-Ni(0) as an Efficient Recyclable Magnetic Nanocatalyst for Effective Suzuki-Miyaura and Heck Cross-Coupling via Aryl Sulfamates and Carbamates

The synthesis of inexpensive and novel air-stable Ni(0) nanoparticles immobilized on the EDTA-modified Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ nanocatalyst was investigated in Suzuki-Miyaura and Heck cross-coupling reactions. This catalytic system displayed a greatly improved substrate scope for the carbon–carbon bond formations starting from a wide range of green and economical electrophiles aryl and heteroaryl carbamates and sulfamates via highly efficient method under mild, operationally simple reaction conditions. The synthesized heterogeneous catalyst was also fully characterized by FT-IR, TEM, XRD, DLS, FE-SEM, UV–Vis, EDX, XPS, TGA, NMR, VSM, ICP and elemental analysis techniques. The heterogeneous magnetic nanocatalyst can easily be recovered by an external magnetic field and reused for the next reactions for at least seven times with negligible leaching of catalyst and no substantial decrement in the activity. All these highlights have made the present protocol an interesting, simple and environmentally benign process with low catalyst loading and easy manipulations.     

Palladium‐anchored multidentate SBA‐15/di‐urea nanoreactor: A highly active catalyst for Suzuki coupling reaction

Modification of mesoporous silica was carried out by reaction of SBA‐15 with di‐urea‐based ligand. Next, with the help of this ligand, palladium ions were anchored within the multidentate SBA‐15/di‐urea pore channels with high dispersion. The SBA‐15/di‐urea/Pd catalyst was characterized using various techniques. Theoretical calculations indicated that each palladium ion was strongly interacted with one nitrogen and two oxygen atoms from the multidentate di‐urea ligand located in SBA‐15 channels and these interactions remained during the catalytic cycle. These results are in good agreement with those of hot filtration test: the palladium ions have very high stability against leaching from the SBA‐15/di‐urea support. The catalytic performance of SBA‐15/di‐urea/Pd nanostructure was examined for the Suzuki coupling reaction of phenylboronic acid and electronically diverse aryl halides under mild conditions with a minimal amount of Pd (0.26 mol%). Compared to previous reports, this protocol afforded some advantages such as short reaction times, high yields of products, catalyst stability without leaching, easy catalyst recovery and preservation of catalytic activity for at least six successive runs.     

Complexes of 2,5-dihydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone and chloranilic acid with second and third row transition elements

The synthesis of new 2,5-dihydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone (H2DHBQ) and chloranilic acid (H2CA) complexes cis-[Mo2O5L2]2– (L = DHBQ, CA), [W2O5(DHBQ)2]2–, [WO2(CA)2]2–, trans-[UO2(DHBQ)]·H2O, and trans-[UO2(CA)2]2– is described. Raman, i.r., 1H and 13C n.m.r spectra of the ligands and their complexes are reported and their structures discussed.     

Antiviral Therapeutic Potential of Curcumin: An Update

The treatment of viral disease has become a medical challenge because of the increasing incidence and prevalence of human viral pathogens, as well as the lack of viable treatment alternatives, including plant-derived strategies. This review attempts to investigate the trends of research on in vitro antiviral effects of curcumin against different classes of human viral pathogens worldwide. Various electronic databases, including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were searched for published English articles evaluating the anti-viral activity of curcumin. Data were then extracted and analyzed. The forty-three studies (published from 1993 to 2020) that were identified contain data for 24 different viruses. The 50% cytotoxic concentration (CC50), 50% effective/inhibitory concentration (EC50/IC50), and stimulation index (SI) parameters showed that curcumin had antiviral activity against viruses causing diseases in humans. Data presented in this review highlight the potential antiviral applications of curcumin and open new avenues for further experiments on the clinical applications of curcumin and its derivatives.     

Softening Hard Water Using High Frequency Spark Plasma Discharge

Effects of high frequency spark plasma discharge as a time efficiency method in order to softening the natural hard water has been investigated experimentally. A very hard water sample with 331 ± 19 mg/l of CaCO₃ hardness was used. The current and voltage of each spike was about 9.6 A and 3.5 kV respectively at 16 kHz frequency with 35 μs pulse width. Hard water was treated for 2, 4, 6, and 8 min. The concentration of CaCO₃, Ca²⁺ ions, Mg²⁺ ions and pH as well as water conductivity was controlled before and after treatment. The concentration of CaCO₃ dropped by 70%, after 8 min treatment. During the treatment, the pH had a fluctuation about 1.5 and finally remained in neutral state. Also the elemental composition, crystalline structure and morphology of the precipitates were identified. Molecular dynamics simulation revealed that the ozone and hydroxyl play important roles in the softening of the hard water.     

Novel potentiometric sensors for pyrilamine maleate

The fabrication and electrochemical response characteristics of four novel potentiometric sensors for determination of pyrilamine maleate (PyraH) were described. The sensors include polymeric membrane electrodes (PME₁, PME₂) and carbon paste electrodes (CPE₁, CPE₂). The fabricated sensors were based on the ion-pair of pyrilamine with sodium tetraphenylborate (NaTPB) and ammonium reineckate (NH₄RN) using dibutyl phthalate (DBP) as plasticizing solvent. The sensors showed linear, stable and near-Nernstian slopes of 56.4 ± 0.4, 54.2 ± 0.2, 58.8 ± 0.3 and 57.9 ± 0.4 mV decade^?1 at 25 ± 0.1 °C and detection limits of 2.0 × 10^?5, 1.8 × 10^?5, 1.0 × 10^?5 and 9.5 × 10^?6 mol L^?1 for PME₁, PME₂, CPE₁ and CPE₂ sensors, respectively. The response time was less than 10 and 8 s for polymeric membrane and carbon paste sensors. The proposed sensors displayed good selectivity for pyrilamine with respect to a number of common inorganic and organic species. The thermal temperature coefficients of the investigated sensors were 0.9508, 0.7012, 0.9450 and 0.6497 mV °C^?1. Modified carbon paste sensors showed lower detection limits, higher thermal stability and faster response time than those of polymeric membrane sensors. The proposed sensors displayed useful analytical characteristics for determination of pyrilamine in pharmaceutical preparation and biological fluids (Human urine and plasma).     

In situ One‐pot Electrochemical Synthesis of Aluminum Oxide/polyaniline Nanocomposite; Characterization and Its Adsorption Properties towards Some Heavy Metal Ions

Aluminum oxide/polyaniline nanocomposite is prepared by a new and one‐pot method including in situ electrooxidation of aluminum and electropolymerization of aniline. The product has been characterized by elemental analysis, FT‐IR spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Micrographs (FESEM), and Transmission Electron Micrographs (TEM) techniques. ICP‐OES was used for determination of aluminum in the prepared nanocomposite. A porous structure of the prepared composite has been shown by FESEM images. TEM of the product confirms the presence of exfoliated aluminum oxide nanofibers. The adsorption potentials of the prepared nanocomposite towards Cu²⁺, Pb²⁺, Zn²⁺, Cd²⁺, Ni²⁺ and Co²⁺ ions were evaluated in batch adsorption experiments. The results show that the adsorption efficiency is controlled by aqueous phase pH. The experimental data was well interpreted by considering the Langmuir model. The kinetics of the adsorption processes can be well interpreted by pseudo‐second‐order equation.