In vitro and in vivo anthelmintic study of Sesbania sesban var. bicolor, a traditionally used medicinal plant of Santhal tribe in Assam, India

The leaf decoction of Sesbania sesban var. bicolor is used traditionally by Santhal tribe of Assam, India, for the treatment of intestinal helminthic infections. This study was conducted to evaluate the in vitro and in vivo anthelmintic efficacy of methanolic extract of S. sesban var. bicolor leaves using Hymenolepis diminuta-rat (cestode) and Syphacia obvelata-mice (nematode) as test parasites and models. Praziquantel (PZQ) and albendazole (ABZ) were used as reference drugs. At the highest concentration of 30 mg/ml of the plant extract, H. diminuta and S. obvelata showed mortality at 0.81 ± 0.01 h and 15.17 ± 0.05 h, respectively. The in vivo results substantiated the in vitro findings, and the extract showed a better cestocidal efficacy in a dose-dependent manner, whereby treatment of rats with 400 mg/kg of the plant extract caused 65.10% reduction in eggs per gram (EPG) of faeces and 56% reduction in worm counts. S. obvelata-infected mice treated at the same dose showed 34.32% and 47.08% reduction in EPG and worm counts at necropsy, respectively. The methanolic extract was subjected to bioassay-guided fractionation using different solvents and the ethyl acetate fraction proved to be the most active. This active fraction was subjected to column chromatography using varying concentrations of hexane:ethyl acetate. Maximum efficacy was observed in 7:3 hexane:ethyl acetate, where H. diminuta and S. obvelata showed mortality at 3.56 ± 0.12 h and 9.21 ± 0.02 h, respectively. This indicates that the isolated fraction contained the active component responsible for its anthelmintic activity, which substantiates the medicinal usage in traditional practice.

Molecular level changes during suppression of Rhizoctonia solani growth by humic substances and relationships with chemical structure

Elucidation of the inhibitory effects of humic substances (HSs) on phytopathogenic fungi and the underlying molecular mechanisms are highly important for improved biocontrol. In this study, we investigated the growth suppression, morphological characteristics, transcriptomic sequence, and radical signals of Rhizoctonia solani following HS addition (50 mg/L). Through mycelial cultured experiment, mycelia growth of R. solani had been suppressed with HS addition, and the inhibition rate was 24.88 ± 0.11% compared to the control. Field emission-scanning electron microscopy showed increased and superimposed branching mycelial growth, with a shriveled appearance. RNA samples of R. solani cultured with or without HSs were both extracted to examine the sequence on molecular level by Illumina HiSeq sequencing platform. RNA sequencing analysis revealed 175 differentially expressed genes (DEGs; 111 upregulated and 64 downregulated) between the HSs treatment and control. The upregulated unigenes were annotated and significantly enriched to three molecular processes: vitamin B6 metabolism, ABC transporters, and glutathione metabolism, while the downregulated unigenes were annotated to carbohydrate metabolism, but not significantly enriched. Real time-quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis showed that the unigenes related to hexokinase, glucose-6-phosphate isomerase, glutathione synthase, and glutathione reductase were significantly decreased (by 60.03%, 70.70%, 60.33%, and 57.59%, respectively), while those related to glutathione S-transferase were significantly increased (2.66-fold). The electron paramagnetic resonance spectra showed that HSs induced increased the intensity of radical signals of R. solani in a cultured system increased by 59.56% compared to CK (without HSs addition). Network analysis based on DEGs expression and the chemical structure of HSs revealed that the carbonyl moiety in HSs formed the most links with nodes of the DEGs (sum of the links of positive and negative effects = 70), implicating this structure as the active fraction responsible for the inhibitory effect. This study provides molecular and chemical evidence of the biofungicidal activity of HSs with the potential for practical application.

Biochemical and ultrastructural changes in Raillietina echinobothrida in vitro exposed to extract of Lysimachia ramosa

Lysimachia ramosa (Primulaceae) is a traditionally used medicinal plant, leaves extract of which is being widely used by the Jaintia tribes of Meghalaya, India for controlling helminthiasis. Preliminary investigation carried out on helminth parasites revealed that the crude extract of the plant causes deformity in the surface topography leading to death of the parasites. Therefore, the present study was conducted to identify the specific fraction of the crude leaf extract of the plant responsible for cestocidal efficacy, through biochemical and ultrastructural studies in Raillietina echinobothrida exposed to crude extract and its different fractions namely hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and n-butanol. A dose dependent efficacy, with highest rate of mortality among n-butanol exposed parasites was recorded. The treated parasites exhibited complete erosion of microtriches from the tegument, disintegration of muscle bundles, cellular organelles, plasma membrane, nuclear membrane, nucleolus and vacuolization of mitochondria was also observed. Observations on histochemical distribution of some important tegumental enzymes like adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase), alkaline phosphatase (AlkPase), acid phosphatase (AcPase) and 5'Nucleotidase (5'-Nu) revealed a marked diminished stain intensity in the tegument of R. echinobothrida exposed to the crude extract and n-butanol fraction of the crude extract compared to the control. Highest reduction (77.93%) in the activity of ATPase was observed when the parasites exposed to 6 mg n-butanol fraction/ml of PBS. The results suggest that these enzymes act as target for anthelmintic stress caused by the phytochemicals present in the plant.

The in vivo effects of a fraction from Dioscorea spongiosa on glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

In traditional Chinese medicines, osteoporosis was considered to be induced by the deficiency of kidney's function. The Rhizoma of Dioscorea spongiosa was one of the kidney tonifying and bone strengthening agent in the traditional usage and previous study had shown that its 90% ethanol fraction was effective on anti-osteoporosis using the ovariectomized (OVX) rats. However, for the secondary osteoporosis, like glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis (GIO), its effect was still unknown.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The GIO model was established by injecting dexamethasone into the muscles of rats. The 90% ethanol extraction of Dioscorea spongiosa (DSE) were administrated to rats in three different dosages, 125, 250 and 500mg/Kg/d, respectively. After the administration, the rats were sacrificed to measure different kinds of indicators, including the biochemical indexes in urine and serum, the bone tissue metrology, BMC and BMD, biomechanical indicators and histological changes.

RESULTS

DSE could significantly reduce the content of BGP, ALT, TRAcP, HOP/Cr and Ca/Cr, increase the content of P/Cr compared with the control group, suggesting that DSE is effective on controlling the excessive transition of bones and inhibiting the bone resorption. By the administration of DSE, the dry bone weight/volume, ash weight/volume, the content of Ca, BMD and BMC were also obviously increased, suggesting that DSE could increase the bone mass by increasing its Ca content. Besides, the flexure strength and maximum bending force could be improved by DSE, suggesting that it could strengthen the hardness and strength of bones. In the histological investigation, DSE could repair the broken of cancellous bones and bone trabecular with the similar activity with XLGB.

CONCLUSIONS

The results showed that DSE is effective on inhibiting GIO in rats by improving the bone tissue metrology, BMC and BMD as well as biomechanical indicators, and also repairing the microscopic changes of cancellous bones and trabecular bones. The mechanism was related to the inhibition of excessive bone transition and bone resorption according to the changes of biochemical indexes.

Isolation and Characterization of the Anticancer Compound Piceatannol from Sophora Interrupta Bedd

Background:

Sophora belongs to the family of Fabaceae and the species in this genus are currently used as a folklore medicine for preventing a variety of ailments including cancer. Our aim was to identify and validate an anticancer compound from Sophora interrupta using multi-spectroscopic, anticancer screening, and molecular docking approach.

Methods:

The cytotoxicity of the various solvent extracts, petroleum ether, n-butanol, and ethyl acetate (EtOAc) of the S. interrupta root powder was evaluated in a breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7). The extract that had anticancer activity was subjected to column chromatography based on the polarity of the solvents. The anticancer activity of the elution fractions was validated using a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. The isolated metabolite fraction with anticancer activity was run through a C18 column isocratic and gradient high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The structure of the isolated compound was characterized using ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), ¹³C-NMR, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometer methods.

Results:

The crude EtAOc extract effectively inhibited the proliferation of MCF-7 cells. The column eluted chloroform and EtOAc (4:6) fraction of the EtOAc extract showed significant anticancer activity in the MCF-7 cells compared with normal mesenchymal stem cells. This fraction showed three major peaks in the HPLC chromatogram and the first major peak with a retention time (RT) of 7.153 was purified using preparative-HPLC. The structure of the compound is a piceatannol, which is a metabolic product of resveratrol. Piceatannol formed direct two hydrogen bond interactions between Cys912 (2H), and Glu878 of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 (VEGFR1) with a glide-score (G-score) of −10.193, and two hydrogen bond interactions between Cys919, and Asp1046 of VEGFR2, with a G-score of −8.359. The structure is similar to that of the crystallized protein for VEGFR1 and R2.

Conclusions:

Piceatannol is a secondary metabolite of S. interrupta that has anticancer activity. Moreover, piceatannol has been isolated for the first time from S. interrupta.