Phenolic constituents from Conyza sumatrensis

Current advances on the therapeutic potential of scutellarin: an updated review

Scutellarin is widely distributed in Scutellaria baicalensis, family Labiatae, and Calendula officinalis, family Asteraceae, and belongs to flavonoids. Scutellarin has a wide range of pharmacological activities, it is widely used in the treatment of cerebral infarction, angina pectoris, cerebral thrombosis, coronary heart disease, and other diseases. It is a natural product with great research and development prospects. In recent years, with in-depth research, researchers have found that wild scutellarin also has good therapeutic effects in anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidation, anti-virus, treatment of metabolic diseases, and protection of kidney. The cancer treatment involves glioma, breast cancer, lung cancer, renal cancer, colon cancer, and so on. In this paper, the sources, pharmacological effects, in vivo and in vitro models of scutellarin were summarized in recent years, and the current research status and future direction of scutellarin were analyzed.

Two new secondary metabolites with antibacterial activities from Conyza aegyptiaca (Asteraceae)

The bio guided fractionation of the dichloromethane/methanol (1:1) crude extract of the air-dried whole plant of C. aegyptiaca led to the isolation of one new flavone derivative designated conyflavone (1) and one new clerodane diterpene type designated conyclerodane (2) along with five known compounds including two flavonoids Gardenin C (3), chrysosplenetin (4) and two steroids glucoside of β-sitosterol (5), the mixture of stigmasterol (6) and β-sitosterol (6') and ent-2b,18,19trihydroxycleroda-3,13-dien-16,15-olide (7). The structures were established by spectroscopic methods including IR, 1D and 2D NMR in conjunction with mass spectroscopy and by comparison to data of related compounds described in literature. The stereocentres in compound 2 were determined by SC-XRD analysis. Crude extract as well as fractions and pure compounds were evaluated in vitro for their antibacterial activities against four pathogenic and two clinical isolate strains using microdilution methods. Extracts and compounds displayed a moderate antibacterial activity with MIC values ranging from 125 to 500 µg/mL.

Cameroonian medicinal plants as potential candidates of SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an ongoing pandemic instigated by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) which changed the daily train of the world's population and cause several dead. Despite the significant efforts made in developing vaccines and therapeutic drugs, there is currently no available effective treatment against this new coronavirus infection, hence the need to continue research which is aimed at limiting the progression of this virus. The present study which has as objective to carry out in silico studies on the metabolites of some Cameroonian medicinal plants of the Asteraceae family with a view to propose potential molecules to fight against COVID-19. The selected plants are commonly used to treat respiratory infectious diseases, and for this reason they may contain some constituents which could exhibit an antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2. In this work, a set of 74 naturally occurring compounds are computed with SARS-CoV-2 main protease protein (PDB ID: 6lu7) and spike protein (PDB ID: 6m0j) for their affinity and stability using binding energy analysis and molecular docking. Chrysoeriol-7-O-β-D-glucuronopyranoside (compound 16) has showed promising results including excellent Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism and Excretion (ADME) parameters as well as insignificant toxicity. Finally, the stability of this compound is complex with the two proteins validated through molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, they displayed stable trajectory and molecular properties with consistent interaction profile in molecular dynamics simulations. These findings call for further in vitro and in vivo challenges of phytoconstituents against the COVID-19 as a potential agent to fight the spread of this dramatic pandemic.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Pharmacological Effects of Scutellarin, An Active Component of Genus Scutellaria and Erigeron: A Systematic Review

Flavonoid compound scutellarin (Scu) is quite frequently met in the plant kingdom, particularly in the genus Scutellaria (Lamiaceae) and Erigeron (Asteraceae). The extract of the herb of Erigeron breviscapus, containing this component in high amount, has been used for many years in traditional Chinese medicine. In recent years, studies have made great progress on the usefulness of Scu for treating various diseases by testing its mechanism of action. They support the traditional use of Scu rich plant in heart and cerebral ischemia. Scu can potentially be applied in Alzheimer's disease, Helicobacter pylori infection, vascular complications of diabetes and as an inhibitor of certain carcinomas. Various methods were designed to improve its isolation from plant material, solubility, absorption and bioavailability. On the basis of recent studies, it is suggested that Scu could be a promising candidate for new natural drug and deserves particular attention in further research and development.

Synthesis of various β-D-glucopyranosyl and β-D-xylopyranosyl hydroxybenzoates and evaluation of their antioxidant activities

Various β-D-glucopyranosyl and β-D-xylopyranosyl hydroxybenzoates were efficiently prepared from 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-α-D-glucopyranosyl bromide (TAGB) or 2,3,4-tri-O-acetyl-α-D-xylopyranosyl bromide (TAXB), respectively, by amine-promoted glycosylation. Regioselective deacetylation of the resulting acetylated β-D-gluco- and β-D-xylopyranosyl hydroxybenzoates was investigated using Novozym 435 as a lipase catalyst. In the case of β-D-glucopyranosyl hydroxybenzoates, Novozym 435-catalyzed deacetylation is regioselective at C-4 and C-6 positions. On the other hand, β-D-xylopyranosyl hydroxybenzoates are deacetylated only at the C-4 position. Antioxidant activities of free hydroxybenzoic acids and the respective β-D-gluco- and β-D-xylopyranosyl hydroxybenzoates were evaluated by DPPH˙ radical scavenging as well as their inhibitory effect on autoxidation of bulk methyl linoleate. The β-D-xylopyranosyl protocatechoate, as well as quercetin and α-tochopherol, show high antioxidant activity for the radical scavenging activity by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH˙). In bulk methyl linoleate, the antioxidant activities of β-D-gluco- and β-D-xylopyranosyl protocatechoates are higher than that of α-tocopherol.

Substantiation of the ethnopharmacological use of Conyza sumatrensis (Retz.) E.H.Walker in the treatment of malaria through in-vivo evaluation in Plasmodium berghei infected mice

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Scientific validation of ethnopharmacologically used plants and their utilization for therapeutic interventions can be a source of affordable treatment especially for neglected diseases in endemic areas. Conyza sumatrensis is a plant which finds its use in treating malaria like fevers but lacks proper scientific validation. Our study has tried to address this gap by authenticating its traditional use for the treatment of malaria.

AIM OF THE STUDY

Evaluate the antimalarial activity of extracts derived from Conyza sumatrensis for its ethnopharmacological validation.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Shade dried leaves were extracted with varying concentrations of ethanol and concentrated for bio-evaluation. Swiss albino mice infected with 1 × 10(6) parasitized red blood cells, were orally administered with test extracts for 7 days in two sets of experiments. The first set was used to evaluate alcoholic, hydroalcoholic and aqueous extracts while the second set was used to evaluate the dose response of alcoholic extract ranging from 500-1600 mg/kg. Mean survival time, parasitaemia and haemoglobin levels were considered to interpret the antimalarial potential. Phytochemical analysis for the presence of flavonoids, alkaloids tannins, total phenolics, riboflavin and thiamine was also carried out.

RESULTS

Among the three extracts administered at 1000 mg/kg, chemo suppression was significantly (p<0.001) observed in the alcoholic extract (62.59 ± 12.52%) followed by hydroalcoholic (41.81 ± 19.04%, p<0.01) and aqueous (32.04 ± 19.04%, P<0.05) indicating that the active constituents leach out in ethanol. The dose response study involving the ethanol extract concluded the optimum dose to be 1000 mg/kg, as also evidenced by the haemoglobin levels.

CONCLUSION

The plant exhibits moderate antimalarial activity which can be further prospected for active fractions or pure molecules for adjunctive therapy.

Antioxidative iridoid glycosides and phenolic compounds from Veronica peregrina

Eight iridoid glycosides and four phenolic compounds were isolated from the EtOAc soluble fraction of Veronica peregrina MeOH extract as the radical scavengers for antioxidant activity. The compounds were identified as protocatechuic acid (1), luteolin (2), veronicoside (3), minecoside (4), specioside (5), amphicoside (6), catalposide (7), 6-O-cis-p-coumaroyl catalpol (8), p-hydroxy benzoic acid methyl ester (9), verproside (10), verminoside (11), and chrysoeriol 7-glucuronide (12) by spectroscopic analysis. All compounds except for 1 and 2 were isolated for the first time from this plant. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by the ORAC(Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) assay, which measures scavenging activity against peroxy radicals induced by 2,2'-azobis (2-methoxypropion-amidine) dihydrochloride, and the ORAC value is expressed as relative trolox equivalent. Compounds 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 12 exhibited potent antioxidant activity, and compounds 1, 11 had similar activity with trolox, whereas the other compounds showed weaker activity than trolox.