Current Biotechnology - Current Issue

The drumstick tree, Moringa oleifera Lam. (family Moringaceae), is known as a magical plant due to its broad pharmacological activities. Traditionally, the leaves of this plant are used for anti-inflammatory action. However, the compounds in Moringa oleifera leaves and their mechanism that show anti-arthritic potential are unknown.

In this study, a preliminary phytochemical investigation of Moringa oleifera leaves ethanolic extract was conducted using qualitative analysis followed by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis to determine the constituents in the extracts.

The results indicated the presence of various phytochemical compounds (about 316). Out of these, about 16 compounds were identified that covered 54.63% of the total ethanolic extract. A molecular docking study was further performed using selected two compounds i.e. 3, 7, 11, 15-tetramethylhexadec-2-en-1-ol and neophytadiene and different targets proteins MMP9 (1L6J), PGE2 (1Z9H), TLR-1-TLR-2 (2Z80), COX-II (3NT1 and 5F19), iNOS (3NW2), HtrA1 (3TJO), JAK-1 (4K6Z), MCSF (5LXF) and TLR-4 (5NAO). Later on, an online tool was used to perform ADME/T analysis of the identified compounds. The DPPH and ABTS assay confirmed the strong potential of this extract for antioxidant activity, which correlates with anti-arthritic potential.

Based on molecular docking, the mechanism for these compounds for the anti-arthritic activity of these magical plant leaves was identified. It is concluded from the study that Moringa oleifera leaves ethanolic extract have potential compounds that may be used to develop more effective formulations for better therapeutic exercise against inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.

The global increase in the incidence of cancers, as well as neurotoxicity induced by cancer therapy, has necessitated research into agents that are neuroprotective without impeding cancer treatment.

The objective of this study is to investigate the neuroprotective effects of feed-added zinc on methotrexate-induced changes in rats.

Animals were grouped into normal control and methotrexate control, which were fed rodent chow and three groups fed zinc gluconate incorporated into the diet at 25, 50 and 100 mg/kg, respectively. Animals in the first group, in addition to normal diet, received intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of saline at 2 ml/ kg, while rats in the four other groups were administered methotrexate i.p. at 20 mg/kg/day on the last three days (19-21) of the experiment. On day 22, rats were exposed to the behavioural paradigms, following which they were euthanised and blood was taken for biochemical assays. Sections of the hippocampus were homogenised for the assessment of neurotransmitters or processed for histological and immunohistochemical studies.

Dietary zinc supplements at certain concentrations protected against the development of methotrexate-induced alteration in body weight, food intake, memory histomorphology, and neuron-specific enolase reactivity.

Dietary zinc supplementation was protective against neurotoxicity induced following methotrexate administration, with possible mechanisms being the down-regulation of oxidative stress, inflammation and neuron-specific enolase reactivity.

In this study, filamentous fungi from iron mining soils in the Amazon were isolated and identified as Talaromyces verruculosus, Trichoderma pseudoasperelloides, Penicillium rolfsii, Aspergillus cf. pseudoviridinutans, Aspergillus niger, Purpureocillium lilacinum, and Penicillium cf. guaibinense.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the isolated strains for radial growth rate (VCR) on solid media and liquid in the presence of metals.

All these strains showed adaptive behavior in the presence of metals (Fe²⁺, Mn²⁺, and Cr³⁺), but not significantly compared to controls.

The T. verruculosus strain was selected to evaluate its growth capacity in solid and liquid media, enriched with 1, 10, and 20 mg/L of iron, chromium, and manganese, respectively.

T. verruculosus strain showed tolerance to the concentrations of the metals studied. Therefore, we can suggest that this characteristic of metal tolerance (Fe²⁺, Mn²⁺, and Cr³⁺) exhibited by fungi isolated from Amazonian environments may indicate the potential for bioremediating areas polluted by heavy metals.

Bharngyadi Kvatha Churna (BKC) is an important polyherbal formulation mentioned in the Ayurvedic Formulary of India (AFI) for the treatment of intermittent fever and chronic fever but lacks the presence of standardised quality control parameters.

The aim of the present study was to develop a quality standard of BKC and to carry out a comprehensive quality control study, including the evaluation of physicochemical parameters, safety parameters, elemental content, secondary metabolites, and selected phytochemical analysis.

In HPTLC analysis, piperlongumine was quantified in BKC using a silica gel-coated aluminium plate and developing solvent of toluene: acetone (6:4 v/v). In HPLC analysis, piperine was quantified using acetonitrile: water (80: 20 v/v) mobile phase, and ellagic acid was quantified using water (0.05% KH2PO4): acetonitrile (70: 30 v/v) mobile phase. ICP-OES was used to determine elemental content. The estimation of secondary metabolites like total sugars, tannins, flavonoids, alkaloids, and saponins was also carried out using a UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The volatiles present in the volatile oil of BKC were analysed using the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry technique.

The physicochemical parameters namely, loss on drying, total ash, acid-insoluble ash, alcohol-soluble extractive, water-soluble extractive, pH (10% aq. susp.), and volatile oil ranged from 10.56% to 11.06%, 4.67% to 5.76%, 0.73% to 1.78%, 7.56% to 8.2%, 12.04% to 13.06%, 5.87% to 5.96%, and 0.091% to 0.097%, respectively. The amount of piperlongumine in BKC ranged from 0.7688 mg/g to 0.9902 mg/g. The amount of piperine and ellagic acid ranged from 0.1180% to 0.1362% and 0.0016% to 0.0034%, respectively. Oleyl alcohol is the major volatile phytochemical present in BKC.

The developed standardised quality control parameters of BKC would aid the herbal industry in developing BKC with requisite quality.