Identification of phytochemical, antioxidant, anticancer and antimicrobial potential of Calotropis procera leaf aqueous extract

Oil/water (O/W) nanoemulsions developed from essential oil extracted from wildly growing Calotropis gigantea (Linn.) Aiton F.: synthesis, characterization, stability and evaluation of anti-cancerous, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic activities

Calotropis gigantea essential oil is utilized in outmoded medicine, therapeutics, and the cosmetic industries. However, the extreme volatility, oxidation susceptibility, and instability of this oil restricts its application. Thus, encapsulation is a more effective method of shielding this oil from unfavorable circumstances. The creation of oil/water (O/W) nanoemulsions based on Calotropis gigantea essential oil (CEO), known as CNE (Calotropis gigantea essential oil nanoemulsions), and an assessment of its biological potential were the goals of this work. UV, fluorescence, and FT-IR methods were used for physiological characterization. Biological activities, including anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, and anti-cancer effects. Studies on the pharmacokinetics of CNE were conducted. CNEs encapsulation efficiency was found to be 92%. The CNE nanoemulsions had a spherical shape with polydispersity index of 0.531, size of 200 nm, and a zeta potential of -35.9 mV. Even after being stored at various temperatures for 50 days, CNE nanoemulsions remained stable. Numerous tests were used to determine the antioxidant capacity of CNE, and the following IC50 values (µl/mL) were found: iron chelating assay: 18, hydroxyl radical scavenging: 37, and nitric oxide radical scavenging activity: 58. The percentage of HeLa cells that remained viable after being treated with CNE was 41% at a higher dose of 1 µl. CNE inhibited α-amylase in a dose-dependent manner, with 72% inhibition at its higher dose of 250 µL. Research on the kinetics of drugs showed that nanoemulsions showed Higuchi pattern. This research showed potential use of Calotropis gigantea oil-based nanoemulsions in the food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries.

Active packaging coating based on Lepidium sativum seed mucilage and propolis extract: Preparation, characterization, application and modeling the preservation of buffalo meat

Buffalo meat is naturally perishable, making it susceptible to spoilage due to its high moisture content and vulnerability to microbial contamination. Edible coatings have attracted attention as a packaging method that can prolong the shelf life of meat. The study aimed to examine the impact of a combination of Lepidium sativum mucilage (LS) coating and propolis extract (PE) on prolonging the shelf life of buffalo meat. The chemical characteristics (chemical compounds, total phenol content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), antioxidant activity, and cytotoxicity) and antimicrobial activity of the PE (disk diffusion agar, well diffusion agar, minimum inhibitory concentration, and minimum bactericidal concentration) were investigated. The effect of the PE on the cell wall of pathogenic bacteria was examined using a scanning electron microscope. Biological properties of LS (TPC, TFC, antioxidant activity and antimicrobial effect (pour plate method)) was investigated. Different concentrations of PE (0, 0.5, 1.5, and 2.5%) were added to the coating mixture containing LS, and their effects on extending the shelf life of buffalo meat samples stored at 4°C for 9 days were assessed. The PE included gallic acid, benzoic acid, syringic acid, 4-3 dimethoxy cinnamic acid, p-coumaric acid, myricetin, caffeic acid, luteolin, chlorogenic acid, and apigenin. The PE was determined to have a TPC of 36.67 ± 0.57 mg GAE/g and a TFC of 48.02 ± 0.65 mg QE/g. The extract's radical scavenging activity ranged from 0 to 76.22% for DPPH radicals and from 0 to 50.31% for ABTS radicals. The viability of C115 HeLa cell was observed to be 94.14 μg/mL. The PE and LS, exhibited strong antimicrobial properties against pathogenic bacteria. The LS was determined to have a TPC of 15.23 ± 0.43 mg GAE/g and a TFC of 11.51± 0.61 mg QE/g. The LS was determined to have a DPPH of 429.65 ± 1.28 μg/mL and a ABTS of 403.59 ± 1.46 μg/mL. The microbiological analysis revealed that the LS+2.5%PE treatment was the most effective in inhibiting the growth of total viable count (6.23 vs. 8.00 log CFU/g), psychrotrophic bacteria count (3.71 vs. 4.73 log CFU/g), coliforms count (2.78 vs. 3.70 log CFU/g), and fungi count (2.39 vs. 3.93 log CFU/g) compared to the control sample. The addition of PE to the edible coating also demonstrated a concentration-dependent effect on preserving the moisture, pH, color, and hardness of the buffalo meat. Sensory evaluation results suggested that incorporating PE into the edible coating extended the shelf life of buffalo meat by three days. In the second stage of this paper, this investigation employed two distinct forecasting methodologies: the Radial Basis Function (RBF) and the Support Vector Machine (SVM), to predict a range of quality indicators for coated meat products. Upon comparison, the RBF model exhibited a higher level of accuracy, showcasing its exceptional capacity to closely match the experimental outcomes. Therefore, this type of food coating, renowned for its strong antimicrobial properties, has the potential to effectively package and preserve perishable and delicate food items, such as meat.

Investigation of bioactive phytochemical compounds of the Ethiopian medicinal plant using GC-MS and FTIR

Medicinal plants Highly aromatic crude materials are utilized for treating warts as an alternative medicine to surgical treatment because they can be permanently removed from the body. Thus, this investigation aimed to extract plant material from Calotropis procera leaves, describe the phytochemical screening, analyze anti-microbial activities, determine the functional groups in FTIR, and identify the chemical compounds in GC-MS. The PH, specific gravity, and viscosity of the crude extracts of Calotropis procera were determined at 4.5, 0.79, and 0.49, respectively. Analyze the solubility of crude extracts; ethanol can dissolve while water does not. Flavonoids, alkaloids, phenols, tannins, and saponins were also present in the phytochemical screening tests of the Calotropis procera extracts, triterpenoids, terpenoids, and steroids were not present in the crude extract. Flavonoids, alkaloids, phenols, tannins, and saponins are the primary phytochemical components found in therapeutic plant material. The Calotropis procera crude extracts analyzed for functional groups by FT-IR contained a hydroxyl group, alkane, carbonyl, aldehyde, ketone, phenols, ester, alcohol, and methylene. The chemical compounds analyzed by GC-MS of Calotropis procera crude material were found to have 22 main compounds. Of 22 compounds, 5 compounds are active ingredients for the applications of medical purposes. The bioactive compounds found in the Calotropis procera plant extract are neophytadiene, hexahydrofarnesyl, lanosterol, 2,4-dimethylbenzo [H]quinolone, and squalene. Those bioactive compounds have anti-bacterial, analgesic, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiviral, and anti-cancer properties. In an in vitro antimicrobial activity test, the crude extract effectively inhibited more gram-positive bacteria than gram-negative bacteria. This collective reason is why the traditional therapist uses this Calotropis procera plant for the treatment of warts.

HPLC, NMR Based Characterization, Antioxidant and Anticancer Activities of Chemical Constituents from Therapeutically Active Fungal Endophytes

Fungi generate different metabolites some of which are intrinsically bioactive and could therefore serve as templates for drug development. In the current study, six endophytic fungi namely Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus tubigenesis, Aspergillus oryzae, Penicillium oxalicum, Aspergillus niger, and Aspergillus brasiliensis were isolated and identified from the medicinal plant, Silybum marianum. These endophytic fungi were identified through intra transcribed sequence (ITS) gene sequencing. The bioactive potentials of fungal extracts were investigated using several bioassays such as antibacterial activity by well-diffusion, MIC, MBC, anti-biofilm, antioxidant, and haemolysis. The Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 was used to determine the antibiofilm activity. The ethyl acetate extract of Aspergillus flavus showed strong to moderate efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, P. aeruginosa, and Bacillus spizizenii. Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus brasiliensis exhibited significant antibiofilm activity with IC50 at 4.02 and 3.63 mg/ml, while A. flavus exhibited maximum antioxidant activity of 50.8%. Based on HPLC, LC-MS, and NMR experiments kojic acid (1) and carbamic acid (methylene-4, 1-phenylene) bis-dimethyl ester (2) were identified from A. flavus. Kojic acid exhibited DPPH free radical scavenging activity with an IC50 value of 99.3 μg/ml and moderate activity against ovarian teratocarcinoma (CH1), colon carcinoma (SW480), and non-small cell lung cancer (A549) cell lines. These findings suggest that endophytic fungi are able to produce promising bioactive compounds which deserve further investigation.

Investigating the Effect of Melittin Peptide in Preventing Biofilm Formation, Adhesion and Expression of Virulence Genes in Listeria monocytogenes

Listeria monocytogenes is a notable food-borne pathogen that has the ability to create biofilms on different food processing surfaces, making it more resilient to disinfectants and posing a greater risk to human health. This study assessed melittin peptide's anti-biofilm and anti-pathogenicity effects on L. monocytogenes ATCC 19115. Melittin showed minimum inhibitory concenteration (MIC) of 100 μg/mL against this strain and scanning electron microscopy images confirmed its antimicrobial efficacy. The OD measurement demonstrated that melittin exhibited a strong proficiency in inhibiting biofilms and disrupting pre-formed biofilms at concentrations ranging from 1/8MIC to 2MIC and this amount was 92.59 ± 1.01% to 7.17 ± 0.31% and 100% to 11.50 ± 0.53%, respectively. Peptide also reduced hydrophobicity and self-aggregation of L. monocytogenes by 35.25% and 14.38% at MIC. Melittin also significantly reduced adhesion to HT-29 and Caco-2 cells by 61.33% and 59%, and inhibited invasion of HT-29 and Caco-2 cells by 49.33% and 40.66% for L. monocytogenes at the MIC value. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) revealed melittin's impact on gene expression, notably decreasing inlB (44%) and agrA (45%) gene expression in L. monocytogenes. flaA and hly genes also exhibited reduced expression. Also, significant changes were observed in sigB and prfA gene expression. These results underscore melittin's potential in combating bacterial infections and biofilm-related challenges in the food industry.

Calotropis procera and the Pharmacological Properties of Its Aqueous Leaf Extract: A Review

Calotropis procera (C. procera) is a versatile plant often used for fuel, fodder, wood, fiber, phytoremediation, medicine, and synthesis of nanoparticles. Its ability to tolerate abiotic stresses and its morphophysiological adaptation have made it popular worldwide. Currently, it is identified as an environmental weed across the world. C. procera owes its therapeutic qualities to the secondary metabolites like tannins, alkaloids, and phenols present in it. New synthetic drugs are being formulated by using these secondary metabolites as a prototype. This review aimed to provide a summary of the chemometric profile, toxicity, and pharmacological activities of the aqueous leaf extract of C. procera based on the current literature.

Pharmaceutical characterization and exploration of Arkeshwara rasa in MDA-MB-231 cells

BACKGROUND

The diverse specificity mode of cancer treatment targets and chemo resistance demands the necessity of drug entities which can address the devastating dynamicity of the disease.

OBJECTIVES

To check the anti-tumour potential of traditional medicine rich in polyherbal components and metal nanoparticle namely Arkeshwara rasa (AR).

MATERIAL METHODS

The AR was prepared in a modified version with reference from Rasaratna Samuchaya and characterized using sophisticated instrumental analysis including XRD, SEM-EDAX, TEM, TGA-DSC, and LC-MS and tested against the MDA-MB-231 cell line to screen cell viability and the cytotoxicity with MTT, SRB and the AO assay.

RESULTS

XRD pattern shows cubic tetrahedrite structure with Sb, Cu, S peaks and trace elements like Fe, Mg, etc. The particle size of AR ranges between 20 and 30 nm. The TGA points thermal decomposition at 210 °C and the metal sulphide peaks in DSC. LC-MS analysis reveals the components of the formulation more on the flavonoid portion. The IC50 value of MTT and SRB are 25.28 μg/mL and 31.7 μg/mL respectively. The AO colorimeter substantiated the cell viability and the apoptosis figures of the same cell line. The AR exhibits cytotoxicity and reaffirms the apoptosis fraction with SRB assay.

CONCLUSIONS

The Hesperidine, Neohesperidin, Rutin components in the phytochemical pool can synergize the anti-tumour potential with either influencing cellular pathways or decreasing chemo resistance to conventional treatment. AR need to be further experimented with reverse transcription, flow cytometry, western blotting, etc.

Ethylene enhances transcriptions of asparagine biosynthetic genes in soybean (Glycine max L. Merr) leaves

Soybean, a vital protein-rich crop, offers bioactivity that can mitigate various chronic human diseases. Nonetheless, soybean breeding poses a challenge due to the negative correlation between enhanced protein levels and overall productivity. Our previous studies demonstrated that applying gaseous phytohormone, ethylene, to soybean leaves significantly boosts the accumulation of free amino acids, particularly asparagine (Asn). Current studies also revealed that ethylene application to soybeans significantly enhanced both essential and non-essential amino acid contents in leaves and stems. Asn plays a crucial role in ammonia detoxification and reducing fatigue. However, the molecular evidence supporting this phenomenon remains elusive. This study explores the molecular mechanisms behind enhanced Asn accumulation in ethylene-treated soybean leaves. Transcriptional analysis revealed that ethylene treatments to soybean leaves enhance the transcriptional levels of key genes involved in Asn biosynthesis, such as aspartate aminotransferase (AspAT) and Asn synthetase (ASN), which aligns with our previous observations of elevated Asn levels. These findings shed light on the role of ethylene in upregulating Asn biosynthetic genes, subsequently enhancing Asn concentrations. This molecular insight into amino acid metabolism regulation provides valuable knowledge for the metabolic farming of crops, especially in elevating nutraceutical ingredients with non-genetic modification (GM) approach for improved protein content.