Drug Metabolism and Bioanalysis Letters Formerly: Drug Metabolism Letters - Volume 15, Issue 3, 2022

Metabolic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and diabetes, have become the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Gut microbiota appears to play a vital role in human disease and health, according to recent scientific reports. The gut microbiota plays an important role in sustaining host physiology and homeostasis by creating a cross-talk between the host and microbiome via metabolites obtained from the host's diet. Drug developers and clinicians rely heavily on therapies that target the microbiota in the management of metabolic diseases, and the gut microbiota is considered the biggest immune organ in the human body. They are highly associated with intestinal immunity and systemic metabolic disorders like CVD and diabetes and are reflected as potential therapeutic targets for the management of metabolic diseases. This review discusses the mechanism and interrelation between the gut microbiome and metabolic disorders. It also highlights the role of the gut microbiome and microbially derived metabolites in the pathophysiological effects related to CVD and diabetes. It also spotlights the reasons that lead to alterations of microbiota composition and the prominence of gut microbiota restoration and targeting approaches as effective treatment strategies in diabetes and CVD. Future research should focus onunderstanding the functional level of some specific microbial pathways that help maintain physiological homeostasis, multi-omics, and develop novel therapeutic strategies that intervene with the gut microbiome for the prevention of CVD and diabetes that contribute to a patient's well-being.

Background: Humans have a long history of the uses of plant based products, including extracts and pure phytoconstituents for the treatment of human diseases in the different system of medicine. In the developing countries, phytoproducts play an important role in the healthcare systems due to their medicinal importance and pharmacological activities. Flavonoids class phytochemicals are beneficial for human beings because of their free radical scavenging properties and trace metals chelating potential. Flavonoids have inhibitory potential for the growth of bacteria and virus mainly through enzyme inhibition functions and viral translation. Rhamnocitrin is also called 7- methyl-kaempferol is important flavonoids, which has been isolated from different medicinal plants and has pharmacological activities in the medicine. Methods: Present paper describes the biological potential and health beneficial aspects of rhamnocitrin in the medicine through the data analysis of published papers in the recent years in the field of medicine and modern medical sciences. Scientific data on rhamnocitrin have been collected from electronic databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, Google, Scopus and Science Direct in the present investigation and analyzed to know the biological importance and pharmacological activities of rhamnocitrin. Pharmacological scientific data of rhamnocitrin have been collected and analyzed in the present work with their analytical aspects. Results: Literature data analysis of different scientific work on rhamnocitrin revealed the biological importance of rhamnocitrin in medicine. Rhamnocitrin is known to be a promising phytoconstituents found to be present in medicinal plants with a wide range of biological activities. Rhamnocitrin was found to have pharmacological activities, including anti-atherogenic, anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, enzymatic and neuroprotective potential. Further biological effect of rhamnocitrin on adipocyte differentiation has been also studied in the present work. Analytical data on rhamnocitrin signified the application of different analytical techniques for the separation, isolation and identification of rhamnocitrin in medicine. Conclusion: Literature data analysis of different scientific research works revealed the biological importance and therapeutic benefit of rhamnocitrin in medicine.

Paracetamol poisoning is the commonest cause of acute liver injury. Therefore, the unethical use of paracetamol as a food tenderizer poses a threat to human health. Although this is a common practice in Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, and Kenya, there are few or no scientific records on the use of paracetamol as a food tenderizer and its deleterious effects, thus making it difficult to regulate this practice. This review aims to fully collate and present a systematic overview of the literature on the use of paracetamol as a food tenderizer in these countries, the potentially harmful effects posed by the practice, and measures in place to curb the situation. Additionally, this review aims to reveal the scientific gaps and areas requiring more research, thus providing a reference for further research to regulate this unscrupulous practice. From our extensive review of the literature, the high cost of fuel used in cooking and longer cooking times are the main reasons for the inappropriate use of paracetamol as a food tenderizer. Also, this review concludes that little has been done to create public awareness of this unethical practice. Furthermore, few ways to monitor, control and regulate this practice have been proposed.

Background: Flavonoids are polyphenolic compounds found to be present in nature and abundant in flowers and fruits. Flavonoidal class phytochemicals have gained interest in the scientific field because of their important pharmacological activities. Several scientific studies have revealed anti-bacterial, anti-oxidant, anti-fungal, analgesic, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-parasitic and anti-allergic activities of flavonoidal class phytochemicals. Prunetin is an O-methylated isoflavone that belongs to the phytochemical phytoestrogen class, found to be present in licorice, red cherry, soybean and legumes. Methods: Biological potential and pharmacological activities of prunetin have been investigated in the present work through scientific data analysis of numerous scientific research works. Numerous literature databases have been searched in order to collect the scientific information on prunetin in the present work. Pharmacological activities of prunetin have been investigated in the present work through literature data analysis of different scientific research works. Scientific data have been collected from Google Scholar, Google, PubMed, Science Direct and Scopus. Analytical data on prunetin has been collected from literature sources and analyzed in the present work. Results: Scientific data analysis revealed the biological importance of prunetin in medicine. Prunetin was found to be present in the pea, peach, Oregon cherry, skimmed cheese, cheese, cow kefir and goat kefir. Prunetin is also present in the Prunus avium, Andira surinamensis, Butea superba, Dalbergia sympathetica, Ficus nervosa, Pterospartum tridentatum and Pycnanthus angolensis. Pharmacological data analysis revealed the biological importance of prunetin on bone disorders, cancers, especially hepatocellular carcinoma, urinary bladder cancer, gastric cancer, ovarian cancer, human airway, gut health and enzymes. Scientific data analysis revealed biological effectiveness of prunetin for their angiogenic effects, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, antimicrobial, estrogenic and vasorelaxant potential. Analytical data revealed the importance of modern analytical techniques for qualitative and quantitative analysis of prunetin in the scientific fields. Conclusion: Scientific data analysis in the present investigation revealed the biological importance and pharmacological activities of prunetin in medicine.

Background: Agarwood tea derived from Aquilaria malaccensis Lamk is becoming an increasingly popular herbal drink that is said to have multiple health benefits. Co-administration of this tea and clinical used drugs is possible, but it increases the risk of drug-herb interactions. Objective: This in vitro study investigated the inhibitory effects of agarwood tea aqueous extract on the eight major human drug-metabolising cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzyme activities. Methods: High-throughput fluorescence-based Vivid® CYP450 screening kits were employed to obtain the enzyme activities before and after incubation with agarwood tea aqueous extract. Results: Agarwood aqueous extract potently inhibited CYP2C9, CYP2D6, and CYP3A4 activities with Ki values of 5.1, 34.5, and 20.3μg/ml, respectively. The most likely inhibition mode responsible for these inhibitions was non-competitive inhibition. On the other hand, at 1000μg/ml, agarwood tea aqueous extract negligibly inhibited CYP1A2, CYP2B6, CYP2C19, CYP2E1, and CYP3A5 activities. Conclusion: These findings can be used to design additional in vitro investigations using clinical relevant drug substrates for CYP2C9, CYP2D6, and CYP3A4. Subsequently, future studies can be conducted to determine potential interactions between agarwood tea aqueous extract and CYP using in vivo models.

Objective: Berberine, a plant derived alkaloid, present in Berberis species is well known as one of the most important antioxidants. The current research aimed to study the heamatoprotective characteristics of berberine and clarify its plausible mechanisms against sodium nitrite. Methods: Forty numbers of male Sprague Dawley rats were categorized into five equal groups, including group 1: control (normal saline); group 2: berberine (100 mg/kg); group 3: sodium nitrite (80 mg/kg); group 4: sodium nitrite (80 mg/kg) plus berberine (50 mg/kg) and group 5: sodium nitrite (80 mg/kg) plus berberine (100 mg/kg) groups. All animals were orally administrated for two months once daily. At the end of the 60th day, blood samples were withdrawn by cardiac puncture and collected in test vials when the animals had been anesthetized with ketamine (70 mg/kg). Then, hemolysate was prepared and the oxidative stress biomarkers, lipid peroxidation, and antioxidant capacity of erythrocytes were evaluated. Results: Feeding of rats with sodium nitrite remarkably enhanced malondialdehyde (MDA) (p=0.001) levels and considerably reduced the levels of glutathione (GSH) (p=0.001), and also reduced the enzymatic activities of glutathione peroxidase (GPx) (p=0.02), superoxide dismutase (SOD) (p=0.001), glutathione reductase (GR) (p=0.02), and catalase (CAT) (p=0.01). However, the co-administration of these animals with 100 mg/kg of berberine remarkably reverted the values to reach nearly a normal level. While 50 mg/kg berberine failed to restore significantly all of these antioxidant biomarkers at a normal level. Conclusion: Our results clearly demonstrated that berberine in a dose-dependent manner led to protection against sodium nitrite-induced oxidative injury in rat erythrocytes, which possibly reflects the antioxidant ability of this alkaloid.