Cytogenetic tests reveal no toxicity in lymphocytes of rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus, 2n=44) feed in presence of verbascoside and/or lycopene

Verbascoside: comprehensive review of a phenylethanoid macromolecule and its journey from nature to bench

Polyphenolic compounds are among the most widely researched compounds for various therapeutic applications. However, naturally occurring phenylethanoid glycosides are least explored under this class of compounds. One such phenylethanoid glycoside, verbascoside (Vb), abundantly found among 200 species of 23 families, has gained recent attention due to its wide-spectrum therapeutic properties such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, cardioprotective, skin-protective, and anti-cancer. Despite having multiple therapeutic benefits, due to its large size, the compound has poor bioavailability for oral and topical applications. To meet these limitations, current research on Vb focuses on delivering it through nanoformulations. Presently, most developed formulations are liposome based for various applications, such as corneal epithelial wound healing, anti-neuropathic, anti-wrinkle, anti-hyperalgesia, atopic dermatitis, alopecia, and cutaneous wound healing. Multiple studies have confirmed the least acute and sub-acute toxicity for Vb. Few clinical studies have been performed for the therapeutic application of Vb to manage COVID-19, nephropathy, platelet aggregation, chronic primary glomerulonephritis, and acute hepatitis. Recent studies have shown the immense therapeutic potential of Vb in wound healing, dermatitis, neuroprotection, and anti-cancer activities, which creates a need for developing novel formulations for their respective uses. Long-term toxicity studies and techniques for scaling up Vb production by biotechnological approaches should be emphasized.

Physicochemical properties, mechanism of action of lycopene and its application in poultry and ruminant production

Lycopene is a kind of natural carotenoid that could achieve antioxidant, anti-cancer, lipid-lowering and immune-improving effects by up-regulating or down-regulating genes related to antioxidant, anti-cancer, lipid-lowering and immunity. Furthermore, lycopene is natural, pollution-free, and has no toxic side effects. The application of lycopene in animal production has shown that it could improve livestock production performance, slaughter performance, immunity, antioxidant capacity, intestinal health, and meat quality. Therefore, lycopene as a new type of feed additive, has broader application prospects in many antibiotic-forbidden environments. This article serves as a reference for the use of lycopene as a health feed additive in animal production by going over its physical and chemical characteristics, antioxidant, lipid-lowering, anti-cancer, and application in animal production.

Molecular Cytogenetics in Domestic Bovids: A Review

The discovery of the Robertsonian translocation (rob) involving cattle chromosomes 1 and 29 and the demonstration of its deleterious effects on fertility focused the interest of many scientific groups on using chromosome banding techniques to reveal chromosome abnormalities and verify their effects on fertility in domestic animals. At the same time, comparative banding studies among various species of domestic or wild animals were found useful for delineating chromosome evolution among species. The advent of molecular cytogenetics, particularly the use of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), has allowed a deeper investigation of the chromosomes of domestic animals through: (a) the physical mapping of specific DNA sequences on chromosome regions; (b) the use of specific chromosome markers for the identification of the chromosomes or chromosome regions involved in chromosome abnormalities, especially when poor banding patterns are produced; (c) better anchoring of radiation hybrid and genetic maps to specific chromosome regions; (d) better comparisons of related and unrelated species by comparative FISH mapping and/or Zoo-FISH techniques; (e) the study of meiotic segregation, especially by sperm-FISH, in some chromosome abnormalities; (f) better demonstration of conserved or lost DNA sequences in chromosome abnormalities; (g) the use of informatic and genomic reconstructions, in addition to CGH arrays, to predict conserved or lost chromosome regions in related species; and (h) the study of some chromosome abnormalities and genomic stability using PCR applications. This review summarizes the most important applications of molecular cytogenetics in domestic bovids, with an emphasis on FISH mapping applications.

The pharmacokinetic property and pharmacological activity of acteoside: A review

Acteoside (AC), a phenylpropanoid glycoside isolated from many dicotyledonous plants, has been demonstrated various pharmacological activities, including anti-oxidation, anti-inflammation, anti-cancer, neuroprotection, cardiovascular protection, anti-diabetes, bone and cartilage protection, hepatoprotection, and anti-microorganism. However, AC has a poor bioavailability, which can be potentially improved by different strategies. The health-promoting characteristics of AC can be attributed to its mediation in many signaling pathways, such as MAPK, NF-κB, PI3K/AKT, TGFβ/Smad, and AMPK/mTOR. Interestingly, docking simulation study indicates that AC can be an effective candidate to inhibit the activity of SARS-CoV2 main protease and protect against COVID-19. Many clinical trials for AC have been investigated, and it shows great potentials in drug development.

The Cytogenetics of the Water Buffalo: A Review

The water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), also known as the Asian buffalo, is an essential domestic bovid. Indeed, although its world population (~209 million heads) is approximately one-ninth that of cattle, the management of this species involves a larger human population than that involved with raising cattle. Compared with cattle, water buffalo have been understudied for many years, but interest in this species has been increasing, especially considering that the world population of these bovids grows every year-particularly that of the river buffalo. There are two genera of buffalo worldwide: the Syncerus (from the African continent), and the Bubalus (from the southwest Asian continent, Mediterranean area, southern America, and Australia). All species belonging to these two genera have specific chromosome numbers and shapes. Because of such features, the study of chromosomes is a fascinating biological basis for differentiating various species (and hybrids) of buffaloes and characterizing their karyotypes in evolutionary, clinical, and molecular studies. In this review, we report an update on essential cytogenetic studies in which various buffalo species were described from evolutionary, clinical, and molecular perspectives-particularly considering the river buffalo (Bubalus bubalis 2n = 50). In addition, we show new data on swamp buffalo chromosomes.

Acteoside Counteracts Interleukin-1β-Induced Catabolic Processes through the Modulation of Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases and the NFκB Cellular Signaling Pathway

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common degenerative joint disease with chronic joint pain caused by progressive degeneration of articular cartilage at synovial joints. Acteoside, a caffeoylphenylethanoid glycoside, has various biological activities such as antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antioxidative, cytoprotective, and neuroprotective effect. Further, oral administration of acteoside at high dosage does not cause genotoxicity. Therefore, the aim of present study is to verify the anticatabolic effects of acteoside against osteoarthritis and its anticatabolic signaling pathway. Acteoside did not decrease the viabilities of mouse fibroblast L929 cells used as normal cells and primary rat chondrocytes. Acteoside counteracted the IL-1β-induced proteoglycan loss in the chondrocytes and articular cartilage through suppressing the expression and activation of cartilage-degrading enzyme such as matrix metalloproteinase- (MMP-) 13, MMP-1, and MMP-3. Furthermore, acteoside suppressed the expression of inflammatory mediators such as inducible nitric oxide synthase, cyclooxygenase-2, nitric oxide, and prostaglandin E2 in the primary rat chondrocytes treated with IL-1β. Subsequently, the expression of proinflammatory cytokines was decreased by acteoside in the primary rat chondrocytes treated with IL-1β. Moreover, acteoside suppressed not only the phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases in primary rat chondrocytes treated with IL-1β but also the translocation of NFκB from the cytosol to the nucleus through suppression of its phosphorylation. Oral administration of 5 and 10 mg/kg acteoside attenuated the progressive degeneration of articular cartilage in the osteoarthritic mouse model generated by destabilization of the medial meniscus. Our findings indicate that acteoside is a promising potential anticatabolic agent or supplement to attenuate or prevent progressive degeneration of articular cartilage.

Lycopene in protection against obesity and diabetes: A mechanistic review

Lycopene, a natural pigment that mainly exists in the mature fruit of tomatoes, has gained increasing attention due to its protective effects against obesity and diabetes. The aim of this review is to summarize the potential mechanisms in which lycopene exerts protection against obesity and diabetes, along with highlighting its bioavailability, synthesis and safety. Literature sources used in this review were from the PubMed Database, China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database, China Science and Technology Journal Database, National Science and Technology Library, Wanfang Data, and the Web of Science. For the inquiries, keywords such as lycopene, properties, synthesis, diabetes, obesity, and safety were used in various combinations. About 200 articles and reviews were evaluated. Lycopene exhibits anti-obesity and anti-diabetic activities in different organs and/or tissues, including adipose tissue, liver, kidney, pancreas, brain, ovaries, intestine, and eyes. The underlying mechanism may be attributed to its anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and through its ability to regulate of AGE/RAGE, JNK/MAPK, PI3K/Akt, SIRT1/FoxO1/PPARγ signaling pathways and AchE activity. The epidemiological investigations support that lycopene consumption may contribute to lowering the risk of obesity and diabetes. The cis-isomers of lycopene are more bioavailable and better absorbed than trans-lycopene, and mainly distribute in liver and adipose tissue. Lycopene exhibits a good margin of safety and can be obtained by plant extraction, chemical synthesis and microbial fermentation. In summary, lycopene consumption beneficially contributes to protecting against diabetes and obesity in animal studies and epidemiological investigations, which supports the potential of this compound as a preventive/therapeutic agent against these disorders. Well-designed, prospective clinical studies are warranted to evaluate the potential therapeutic effect of lycopene against common metabolic diseases.

Verbascoside production in long-term Buddleja cordata Kunth cell suspension cultures

Previously, our group reported the establishment of a white callus cell line of Buddleja cordata Kunth that is a high producer of the secondary metabolite, verbascoside (VB, also named acteoside), under suspension culture conditions. Here, we present experimental evidence of the sustained ability of that cellular line to grow and produce high amounts of VB for 5 years of continuous culture. Cellular line profiles were determined at the early (at the beginning) and late stages (at the end of 5 years of continuous subculturing) by analyzing relevant parameters of culture growth, i.e., specific growth rate [µ], doubling time [dt], and growth index [GI], as well as VB production. Late-stage cultures exhibited a 61% faster growth rate than early-stage subcultures, and 25 and 3% lower doubling time and growth index. The extents of growth phases were found to be different. Similar amounts of biomass were found (9.5 g and 9.4 g L-1). Verbascoside production increased parallel to cell growth; maximal yield level occurred in the mid-exponential phase and lasted until the end of the stationary phase (i.e., from the 15th to the 25th day and from the 9th to the 21st day for the early and late stages, correspondingly). The content of VB was higher in the late-stage culture (1.43 ± 0945 g L-1) than in the early-stage culture (1.21 ± 0.0286 g L-1). Productivity values point out the potential use of B. cordata cell line in the biotechnological production of VB and for research focused on the biochemistry of secondary metabolism.

Antimutagenic, antigenotoxic and antiproliferative activities of Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl. leaves and stem bark extracts and their phytochemical composition

In recent years, chronic degenerative diseases such as certain types of cancers, are becoming an evident issue. DNA damage has been for long recognized as a causal factor for cancer development because mutations or chromosomal aberrations affect oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes leading cells to malignant transformation and to the subsequent cancerous growth. Medicinal plants are often used for the prevention or treatment of various diseases with great scientific interest. Among the medicinal plants distributed in the Mediterranean region, Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl. has been used in traditional medicine for its remarkable curative properties. However, in spite of this popularity, little works have been performed on the activity so that further studies should be performed to investigate in depth the antimutagenic, antigenotoxic and antiproliferative activities of the plant. Thus, the present study was aimed to the evaluation of the potential antimutagenic, antigenotoxic and antiproliferative properties of leaves and stem bark extracts of this well-known tree. Antimutagenic activity was evaluated by Salmonella mutagenicity assay in Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100 strains. The antigenotoxic potential was assessed by umu test in the strain of S. typhimurium TA1535/pSK1002. Antiproliferative activity was studied on human hepatoblastoma (HepG-2) and on breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) cell lines by MTT assay. Furthermore, the antiproliferative activity observed on cancer cells was compared with that on the human normal-like fibroblasts (TelCOFS02MA) and the selectivity index was calculated to understand if extracts were able to exert selective toxicity towards cancer cells. Moreover, phenolic compounds are plant substances with a large spectrum of biochemical activities with antioxidant, antimutagenic and anticarcinogenic effects. Based on the strong evidence of biological activities of phenolic compounds, the study was focused on the determination of total phenolics and flavonoids contents, and the phytochemical composition of the extracts assessed by LC/MS. The ethanol extracts of both leaves and stem barks showed significant from moderate to strong antimutagenic and antigenotoxic effects. In addition, selective cytotoxicity towards cancer cells was shown by ethanolic leaves extract and aqueous/chloroform leaves and stem bark extracts. The latter showed high levels of total phenolic contents among all the other extracts. Identified phenylethanoids (calceolariosides, verbascoside) and secoiridoids (oleuropein and ligstroside) could be responsible for the demonstrated broad spectrum of healthy properties.

Genotoxic properties of Betonica officinalis, Gratiola officinalis, Vincetoxicum luteum and Vincetoxicum hirundinaria extracts

Genotoxicity of B. officinalis, G. officinalis, V. luteum and V. hirundinaria extracts, which demonstrated strong antioxidant capacity, was tested using chromosome aberration, sister chromatid exchange (SCE), cytokinesis-block micronucleus and alkaline single-cell gel electrophoresis (comet) assays in human lymphocytes in vitro and Ames Salmonella/microsome test. All tested extracts were not mutagenic in S. typhimurium strains TA98 and TA100 with and without metabolic activation and did not induce chromosome aberrations in human lymphocytes in vitro. Extract from G. officinalis was the only one, which induced significant increase in micronuclei, indicating possible aneugenic effect. All investigated plant extracts induced DNA damage evaluated by the comet assay, while B. officinalis and V. luteum extracts induced slight increase in SCE values. The determined variation in response might be due to the plant extract tested and donor susceptibility.

Lamium Plants-A Comprehensive Review on Health Benefits and Biological Activities

This work is an updated snapshot of Lamium plants and their biological activities. The main features of the plant are described and the components of its essential oils are summarized. The traditional medicinal uses of Lamium plants has been reported. The presence of these chemicals i.e., hydroxycinnamic acids, iridoids, secoiridoids, flavonoids, anthocyanins, phenylpropanoids, phytoecdysteroids, benzoxazinoids, betaine can provide biological activities. After the discussion of antioxidant properties documented for Lamium plants, the biological activities, studied using in vitro models, antimicrobial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, anti-nociceptive activity, and pain therapy and cytotoxicity and cytoprotective activity are here described and discussed. Finally, targeted examples of in vivo studies are reported.