Anti-Inflammatory Potential of Daturaolone from Datura innoxia Mill.: In Silico, In Vitro and In Vivo Studies

Combination therapy with Hordeum vulgare, Elettaria cardamomum, and Cicer arietinum exhibited anti-diabetic potential through modulation of oxidative stress and proinflammatory cytokines

Poly-herbal therapies for chronic diseases like diabetes mellitus (DM) have been practiced in south Asia for centuries. One of such therapies comprises of Hordeum vulgare, Elettaria cardamomum and Cicer arietinum that have shown encouraging therapeutic potential in the treatment of diabetes and obesity. Therefore, poly-herbal granules (PHGs) of this formula were developed and investigated for their anti-diabetic and anti-obesity potential in obese-diabetic rats. The developed PHGs were chemical characterized and the virtual molecular docking was performed by Discovery studio visualizer (DSV) software. For in-vivo experiment, obesity in rats was induced with high-fat high-sugar diet. After that, diabetes was induced by alloxan monohydrate 150 mg/kg i.p. injection. The diseased rats were treated with PHGs at 250, 500 and 750 mg/kg/day for four weeks. GC-MS analysis of PHGs demonstrated the presence of 1,3-Benzenedicarboxylic acid bis(2-ethylhexyl) ester and 1,2-Benzenedicarboxylic acid di-isooctyl ester and phenol, 2,4-bis(1,1-dimethylethyl). Molecular docking of these compounds demonstrated higher binding energies with receptor than metformin against α-amylase and α-glucosidase. PHGs exhibited a decline in body weight, HbA1c, hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia, and insulin resistance in diseased rats. The histopathological examination revealed that PHGs improved the alloxan-induced damage to the pancreas. Furthermore, PHGs increased the SOD, CAT and GSH while and the decreased the level of MDA in the liver, kidney and pancreas of diseased rats. Additionally, the PHGs had significantly downregulated the TNF-α and NF-κB while upregulated the expression of NrF-2. The current study demonstrated that the PHGs exhibited anti-diabetic and anti-obesity potential through amelioration of oxidative stress, NF-κB, TNF-α, and NrF-2 due to the presence of different phytochemicals.

T-2 toxin induces dermal inflammation and toxicity in mice: The healing potential of menthol

According to the World Health Organization and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, T-2 is one of the most harmful food-toxic chemicals, penetrates intact skin. The current study examined the protective benefits of menthol topical treatment on T-2 toxin-induced cutaneous toxicity in mice. Lesions were observed on the skin of the T-2 toxin-treated groups at 72 and 120 h. The T-2 toxin (2.97 mg/kg/bw)-treated group developed skin lesions, skin inflammation, erythema, and necrosis of skin tissue in contrast to the control group. Our findings reveal that topical application of 0.25% and 0.5% MN treated groups resulted in no erythema or inflammation, and normal skin was observed with growing hairs. The 0.5% MN administered group demonstrated an 80% blister and erythema healing effect in in vitro tests. In addition, MN dose-dependently suppressed ROS and lipid peroxidation mediated by the T-2 toxin up to 120%. Histology discoveries and the immunoblotting investigations with the downregulation of i-NOS gene expression confirmed the validity of menthol activity. Further molecular docking experiments of menthol against the i-NOS protein demonstrated stable binding efficacy with conventional hydrogen bond interactions, indicating compelling evidence of menthol's anti-inflammatory effects on the T-2 toxin-induced skin inflammation.

Ethnobotanical uses and phytochemical, biological, and toxicological profiles of Datura metel L.: A review

Datura metel L., a recognized poisonous plant in the Solanaceae family, is widely distributed in the world. Traditionally, D. metel is used in many diseases, including neurological and heart diseases; fever; catarrh; pain; diarrhea; skin diseases; chronic bronchitis; asthma; digestive disorders; and so on. It possesses many important phytochemicals that can be used to treat various types of diseases. This review aims at summarizing the traditional uses, phytochemical, biological, and toxicological profiles of D. metel based on the database reports. For this, an up-to-date (till March 20, 2023) search was made in the databases: PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, Scopus, and MedLine, with relevant keywords for the published evidence. Findings suggest that the plant has many traditional uses, such as a cure for madness, epilepsy, psoriasis, heart diseases, diarrhea, mad dog bites, indigestion, etc. It possesses various important phytochemicals, including withanolides, daturaolone, datumetine, daturglycosides, ophiobolin A, baimantuoluoline A, and many others. D. metel has many important biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, insecticidal, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, analgesic, anti-pyretic, neurological, contraceptive, and wound healing capacity. In conclusion, the toxic plant, D. metel, can be considered a potential source of phyto-therapeutic lead compounds.

Toxicity evaluation induced by single and 28-days repeated exposure of withametelin and daturaolone in Sprague Dawley rats

Safe preclinical dose determination is predictive of human toxicity and can have a profound impact on the overall progress of the compound in early drug discovery process. In this respect, current study sought to investigate for the first time the acute and subacute oral toxicity of two pharmacologically active natural compounds i.e., withametelin and daturaolone in Sprague Dawley rats following OECD guideline 420 and 407, respectively. As per acute toxicity studies, withametelin and daturaolone were characterized as Globally Harmonized System (GHS) category 4 and 5 compounds, respectively. Sub-acute daily dose of withametelin was 5, 2.5, and 1.25 mg/kg but, for daturaolone, it was 10, 5, and 2.5 mg/kg. High dose (5 and 2.5 mg/kg) withametelin groups showed dose dependent changes in the general, hematological, biochemical and histopathological parameters in both sexes, the most prominent being hyperthyroidism while no toxicity was observed at lower doses (1.25 and 0.75 mg/kg), No Observable Adverse Effect Level (NOAEL) being 1.25 mg/kg. Daturaolone was comparatively safer and showed dose dependent significant changes in hepatic enzyme (Alanine Transaminase), bilirubin, creatinine, and glucose levels while histological changes in testes were also observed. Lower doses (5, 2.5, and 1.25 mg/kg) of daturaolone showed no significant toxic effects and 5 mg/kg was declared as its NOAEL. Depending upon our findings, starting effective oral dose levels of 1.25 mg/kg/day for withametelin and 5 mg/kg/day for daturaolone are proposed for repeated dose (up to 28 days) preclinical pharmacological evaluation models. Long term studies with more behavioral, biochemical, histopathological and hormonal parameters are proposed to strengthen the findings.

Antioxidant, Antimicrobial, and Protein Kinase Inhibition Profiling of C. ambrosioides Seed Extracts along with RP-HPLC

The validation of underexplored traditional plant remedies represents a reservoir of novel leads for drug discovery. In line with this, in vitro total phenolics and flavonoids content, multimode antioxidants, antimicrobial, cytotoxicity, and protein kinase inhibition assays were conducted on C. ambrosioides seed extracts in addition to RP-HPLC. Methanol extract exhibited highest total phenolics ( $64.6\pm 0.6\mu \text{g}$ gallic acid equivalent/mg) and flavonoids ( $50.9\pm 0.5\mu \text{g}$ quercetin equivalent/mg) content. RP-HPLC quantified rutin (1.98 μg/mg) in methanol extract whereas quercetin (0.322 μg/mg) and kaempferol (2.86 μg/mg) in methanol-distilled water extract. Methanol extract exhibited highest ascorbic acid equivalent (AAE) free radical (DPPH) scavenging (IC50 of $110.7\pm 5\mu \text{g}/\text{ml}$ ), total antioxidant capacity ( $110.6\pm 2.2\mu \text{g}$ AAE/mg), and total reducing power ( $94.30\pm 0.46\mu \text{g}$ AAE/mg). Highest antibacterial activity against K. pneumonia ( $14\pm 1.61\text{mm}$ ZOI) and antifungal activity against F. solani ( $17\pm 1.38\text{mm}$ ZOI) were shown by n-hexane and chloroform extracts, respectively. Ethyl acetate extract exhibited highest brine shrimps cytotoxicity (LC50 of 125 μg/ml). A noteworthy protein kinase inhibitory potential was shown by ethanol extract with a $20\pm 1.27\text{mm}$ bald zone. Therapeutic potential of medicinal plants can be completely explored by using multiple solvent system. This study makes C. ambrosioides, a resourceful prospect for the bioactivity-guided isolation of lead compounds.

Application of Fucoidan in Caco-2 Model Establishment

The Caco-2 model is a common cell model for material intestinal absorption in vitro, which usually takes 21 days to establish. Although some studies have shown that adding puromycin (PM) can shorten the model establishment period to 7 days, this still requires a long modeling time. Therefore, exploring a shorter modeling method can reduce the experimental costs and promote the development and application of the model. Fucoidan is an acidic polysaccharide with various biological activities. Our study showed that the transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) value could reach 600 Ω·cm2 on the fourth day after the addition of fucoidan and puromycin, which met the applicable standards of the model (>500 Ω). Moreover, the alkaline phosphatase (AKP) activity, fluorescein sodium transmittance, and cell morphology of this model all met the requirements of model establishment. Fucoidan did not affect the absorption of macromolecular proteins and drugs. The results indicate that fucoidan can be applied to establish the Caco-2 model and can shorten the model establishment period to 5 days.