Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 26, Issue 33, 2020

Research regarding polyphenols has gained prominence over the years because of their potential as pharmacological nutrients. Most polyphenols are flavanols, commonly known as catechins, which are present in high amounts in green tea. Catechins are promising candidates in the field of biomedicine. The health benefits of catechins, notably their antioxidant effects, are related to their chemical structure and the total num Read More

Medicinal plants produce secondary metabolites with special biological activities, which may be used as new therapeutic alternatives. For instance, tea tree essential oil (TTO) was shown to exert antimicrobial, antifungal, anthelmintic, antiviral, anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory activities. Due to their thermal instability, active principles can be easily degraded by physicochemical processes; therefore, they must be protected to in Read More

Species from the Annona (Anonaceae) genus are used in traditional medicine for the treatment of various diseases. Ethnobotanical studies provide information regarding the plant part and the preparation method being used, while scientific studies such as in vitro, in vivo, and clinical tests can provide evidence supporting ethnopharmacological reports, directing studies towards the isolation of compounds which may be active f Read More

The Aedes aegypti is responsible for the transmission of arboviruses, which compromise public health. In the search for synthetic product alternatives, essential oils (OEs) have been highlighted by many researchers as natural insecticides. This systematic review (SR) was performed according to PRISMA guidelines (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) and its objective was to evaluate Read More

Neglected parasitic diseases are a group of infections currently considered as a worldwide concern. This fact can be attributed to the migration of these diseases to developed and developing countries, associated with therapeutic insufficiency resulted from the low investment in the research and development of new drugs. In order to overcome this situation, bioprospecting supports medicinal chemistry in the identification of Read More

Neurodegenerative disorders are estimated to become the second leading cause of death worldwide by 2040. Despite the widespread use of diverse allopathic drugs, these brain-associated disorders can only be partially addressed and long term treatment is often linked with dependency and other unwanted side effects. Nature, believed to be an arsenal of remedies for any illness, presents an interesting avenue for the de Read More

The encapsulation of bioactive compounds is an emerging technique for finding new medicines since it provides protection against ambient degradation factors before reaching the target site. Nanotechnology provides new methods for encapsulating bioactive compounds and for drug carrier development. Nanocarriers satisfactorily impact the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion rate when compared to Read More

Nanoparticles as drug delivery systems and diagnostic agents have gained much attention in recent years, especially for cancer treatment. Nanocarriers improve the therapeutic efficiency and bioavailability of antitumor drugs, besides providing preferential accumulation at the target site. Among different types of nanocarriers for drug delivery assays, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have attracted increasing intere Read More

Background: The aim of the present study was to investigate the protective effects of Tanshinone IIA (Tan IIA) on hypoxia-induced injury in the medial vestibular nucleus (MVN) cells. Methods: An in vitro hypoxia model was established using MVN cells exposed to hypoxia. The hypoxia-induced cell damage was confirmed by assessing cell viability, apoptosis and expression of apoptosis-associated proteins. Oxidative stress and re Read More

Background: Enhancing a compound’s biological activity is the central task for lead optimization in small molecules drug discovery. However, it is laborious to perform many iterative rounds of compound synthesis and bioactivity tests. To address the issue, it is highly demanding to develop high quality in silico bioactivity prediction approaches, to prioritize such more active compound derivatives and reduce the trial-and-error pro Read More