Bioactivity

The use of folkloric medicine has been the tradition of Indian therapeutics since time immemorial. Many plant and their parts have been used as a remedy for various diseases. Alstonia is one of the most important genus of Apocynaceae family to which many pharmacological activities can be attributed. The number of alkaloids obtained from plants like ditamine, echitamine have been used in various diseases like diarrhea, beri-beri, malaria and is till under detailed investigative study to bring about its potential medicinal properties. There are many reports about the various traditional uses to which this plant has been used for. Therefore this paper therefore aims to bring out the ethnobotanical uses of genus Alstonia with special significance to two most studies species viz. Alstonia scholaris and Alstonia boonei so as to provide better scope of carrying out more in vivo experiments based on evidences presented in this review.

This review summarizes research carried out on Jamaican medicinal plants at the Faculty of Pure and Applied Science, The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, Jamaica, between 1948 and 2001. The plants identified as being medicinal are listed along with their folk use and a summary of the scientific research done at UWI leading to the identification of natural products (NPs) and determination of their bioactivity. Natural product research on Jamaican medicinal plants began with the inception of UWI in 1948, leading to many postgraduate degrees being awarded (22 MPhil and 31 PhD). At least 334 plant species growing in Jamaica have been identified as having medicinal qualities, 193 of these have been tested for their bioactivity. Crude extracts from 80 of these plants have reasonable bioactivity and natural products (NP) have been identified from 44 plants. At least 29 of these NPs were found to be bioactive. Only 31 of the plants tested at UWI are endemic to Jamaica. Of these 23% were bioactive, as compared to 11% of the non-endemics. Based on these results, patents have been obtained and drugs have been developed. This review represents the first attempt to gather this information together in one place.

Black goji berry (Lycium ruthenicum) or black wolfberry is a nutritious fruit that contains a higher anthocyanin content compared to other berries such as blackberry and blueberry. The special quality of black goji berry anthocyanins is that they are acylated anthocyanins that are known to be more stable than nonacylated anthocyanins. Petunidin-derived monoacylated anthocyanins are the most abundant in black goji berry. Black goji berry anthocyanins show a variety of colors in a range of pH values, and their stability depends on the pH. Acidified solvent or water is commonly used to extract anthocyanins from black goji berries. Black goji berry anthocyanins deliver many health benefits such as antioxidant, antilipidemic, and anti-inflammatory activities. Black goji berry anthocyanins, therefore, have good potential application in functional foods. This paper reviews the composition, stability, extraction techniques, health benefits, and current and potential applications of black goji berry anthocyanins in the food industry.

The emergence of Mineral Trioxide Aggregate (MTA) as endodontic repair filling material has generated a lot of interest due to its superior sealing ability and biocompatibility. Although MTA possesses superior sealing ability to traditional endodontic repair filling materials, such as calcium hydroxide, but it has poor handling characteristics. A novel endodontic repair filling materials with similar chemical composition, but improved handling characteristics, was recently developed. Recently, BioAggregate repair filling materials is claimed as biocompatible material and promotes cementogenesis and forms a hermetic seal inside the root canal. More recently, Biodentine and EndoSequence endodontic repair materials introduced to the market. Both materials have recommended for perforation repair, apical surgery, apical plug, and pulp capping. This article focused about physical properties of endodontic repair filling materials. - See more at: http://www.sciencedomain.org/abstract.php?iid=461&id=12&aid=3984#.U2X0_HZTV14

The genus Rhus (family: Anacardiaceae, order: Sapindales) consists of more than 250 species distributed in the tropics, subtropics and temperate regions. Traditionally, extracts and products from Rhus species are regarded as important remedy and have been used extensively as part of traditional healing practices for the treatment of fungal, bacterial and protozoal infections in both humans and animals. However, scientific data to support these ethnomedicinal uses is lacking for most Rhus species. The aim of this study was to collate and review the fragmented information on ethnomedicinal, phytochemistry and biological activities Rhus species and present recommendations for future research. Peer-reviewed articles using "Rhus" as search term were retrieved from Scopus, Science Direct, SciFinder and Google Scholar. Various books that contained ethnopharmacological information of the plants were also consulted. In addition to anti-infective properties, Rhus extracts are also used to treat a wide range of ailments including abdominal pain, inflammation, stomach aches, fever and headaches, which may be a manifestation of infections. Most of the biological activities are attributed to flavonoids, phenolic and terpenoid compounds present in the various species. From the literature available it is evident that most of Rhus species have not been studied. Further research aimed at identification of active extracts and compounds from the plants is needed.

Orthopedic implants, such as those made of stainless steel, cobalt (Co)-based alloys and titanium (Ti) alloys, are commonly used to stabilize, protect, improve, replace or regenerate damaged musculoskeletal tissues both anatomically and functionally in millions of bone injury patients. The biggest drawback of these metallic biomaterials is their non-degradability in the body environment. Magnesium (Mg) and magnesium-based alloys are a new generation of degradable implant materials that have attracted great attention in the past 10 years. There are several advantages of magnesium-based alloys for orthopedic application over other metallic biomaterials. First, magnesium is an essential element for many biological activities, including enzymatic reactions, the formation of apatite and bone cell adsorption. Second, their mechanical properties, including density, elastic modulus and compressive yield strength, are much closer to those of natural bone, and, therefore, they can avoid the stress-shielding effect. Third, magnesium alloys can eliminate the necessity of a second surgery to remove permanent bone implants. Recent results show that alloying of magnesium with aluminum (Al), zinc (Zn), calcium (Ca), zirconium (Zr), yttrium (Y) and rare-earth elements can significantly improve its corrosion resistance and mechanical strength. This paper reviews and compares the mechanical properties, corrosion resistance and biocompatibility of currently researched magnesium-based alloys for use in medical implant applications.

Natural products historically have been a rich source of lead molecules in drug discovery, based on their capability to create unique and diverse chemical structures. However, it is also true that the vast number of metabolites typically present in natural products and their huge dynamic range results in the loss of many possibly bioactive natural compounds, becoming an inextricable obstacle for drug development. Recently, new strategies which favour a holistic approach as opposed to the traditional reductionist methods used previously, have been introduced with the purpose of overcoming the bottlenecks in natural product research. This approach is based on the application of new technologies, including metabolomics, for example. Metabolomics allows a systematic study of a complex mixture such as a phytochemical preparation, which can be linked to observations obtained through biological testing systems without the need for isolating active principles. This may put drug discovery from natural products back in the limelight again. In this review paper, the description of some examples of successful metabolomics applications in several important fields related to drug discovery from natural sources aims at raising the potential of metabolomics in reducing the gap between natural products (NP) and modern drug discovery demand. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Seaweeds have received huge interest in recent years given their promising potentialities. Their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, hypolipemic, and anticoagulant effects are among the most renowned and studied bioactivities so far, and these effects have been increasingly associated with their content and richness in both primary and secondary metabolites. Although primary metabolites have a pivotal importance such as their content in polysaccharides (fucoidans, agars, carragenans, ulvans, alginates, and laminarin), recent data have shown that the content in some secondary metabolites largely determines the effective bioactive potential of seaweeds. Among these secondary metabolites, phenolic compounds feature prominently. The present review provides the most remarkable insights into seaweed research, specifically addressing its chemical composition, phytopharmacology, and cosmetic applications.

MgO/ZnO composite coatings were successfully prepared on AZ91 Mg alloy by plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) method using electrolytes containing ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) to extend their biomedical applications. The effect of the concentration of 0 to 4.5 g·L −1 ZnO NPs in phosphate-based electrolyte on the microstructure, composition, physical features, corrosion and biodegradation properties of coatings was investigated. Observing the microstructure through field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) confirmed that ZnO NPs were well up-taken in the coating structure with crater-like morphology and, they were mostly accumulated near the pores. As ZnO NPs concentration increased, more particles were incorporated in the coating; however, porosity, thickness and surface roughness reduced. The evaluation of the electrochemical behavior of specimens using potentiodynamic polarization test revealed that the polarization resistance of the samples increased from 9.26 to 683.2 kΩ·cm 2 by adding 4.5 g·L −1 ZnO NPs. The study of corrosion mechanism by identifying the coating features using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) indicated that the compacting of the coating and the difficulty of the penetration path of corrosive ions between the coating layers due to the presence of ZnO NPs had a more dominant effect relative to thickness reduction. Conducting the bioactivity test by immersion of coatings in simulated body fluid (SBF) solution for 14 days showed the higher growth of calcium phosphate layer formed on the sample as the concentration of ZnO NPs increases. In addition, the changes in weight loss and volume of hydrogen evolution were much less, and the mechanism of these changes was presented.

Globally, there are eight species of Avicennia with five species (A. alba, A. integra, A. marina, A. officinalis & A. rumphiana) in East Africa and Indo-Pacific, and three species (A. bicolor, A. germinans & A. schaueriana) in the New World and West Africa (Duke, 2006; Spalding et al., 2010). Of these species, the geographical distribution of A. marina is the widest, ranging from East Africa, Middle East, South & Southeast Asia to Papua New Guinea, Australia and the North Island of New Zealand. In Australia, three varieties of A. marina namely australasica, eucalyptifolia and marina are recognised (Duke, 2006), and in New Zealand, the variety is resinifera (Tomlinson, 1986). In a review on the natural products from true mangrove flora: source, chemistry and bioactivities, Wu et al. (2008) have included acutissima, anomala, intermedia and typical as varieties of A. marina. Among the Avicennia species, A. marina shows remarkable adaptations to a wide range of temperature, tidal inundation, rainfall, salinity and substrate type (Duke, 2006; Maxwell, 2015).

In an attempt to find a new class of antimicrobial and antitubercular agent, a new series of chalcone, acetyl pyrazoline and amino pyrimidine bearing 1,3,5- triazine nucleus were synthesized  with appropriate chemical reagent. Chalcones (D1-D5) were synthesized by the classical Claisen-Schmidt condensation of substituted ketone (C) with variously substituted aldehydes via conventional method. Now treatment of chalcones with hydrazine hydrate/glacial acetic acid and guanidine hydrochloride/Alkali afforded the corresponding acetyl pyrazoline (E1-E5) and amino pyrimidine (F1-F5) derivatives respectively. The chemical structures of all newly synthesized compounds were established on the basis of their FTIR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, LC-MS as well as elemental analysis. All the newly design compounds were assayed for their in vitro antimicrobial activity against selected pathogens by the Broth dilution method and in vitro antitubercular activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv using Lowenstein-Jensen MIC method. Most of the compounds showed appreciable antimicrobial activity against the all tested strains. Among the synthesized compounds D1, D2, D3, E1, E3, E4, F3 and F4 exhibited excellent antimicrobial activity and said to be the most proficient members of the series. Compound D5 and F5 exhibited promising antitubercular activity.

Seaweeds have received huge interest in recent years given their promising potentialities. Their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, hypolipemic, and anticoagulant effects are among the most renowned and studied bioactivities so far, and these effects have been increasingly associated with their content and richness in both primary and secondary metabolites. Although primary metabolites have a pivotal importance such as their content in polysaccharides (fucoidans, agars, carragenans, ulvans, alginates, and laminarin), recent data have shown that the content in some secondary metabolites largely determines the effective bioactive potential of seaweeds. Among these secondary metabolites, phenolic compounds feature prominently. The present review provides the most remarkable insights into seaweed research, specifically addressing its chemical composition, phytopharmacology, and cosmetic applications.

A major problem in the field of hard tissue engineering is to develop a biomaterial which could allow the organ to regenerate itself completely by biological fixation. Silicate bioceramics are new hope in this field. Nanocrystalline larnite (Ca 2 SiO 4) was prepared by sol–gel combustion method by using calcium nitrate/eggshell waste. XRD analysis of the synthesized product shows the formation of single phasic larnite and FT-IR spectrum confirms the presence of characteristic functional groups of larnite. In vitro bioactivity of different compositional ratio of larnite/chitosan has been investigated to study the influence of the ratio of constituents of composite on bioactivity. XRD pattern of the composite surface after bioactivity study reveals that the composite which mimics the ratio of bioceramic to biopolymer in natural bone shows good bioactivity and remarkable hydroxyapatite layer deposition. SEM images shows the hydroxyapatite particles deposited on the surface of eggshell derived lar-nite composite is highly agglomerated with the average particle size of 3–5 nm. Graphical Abstract Keywords Eggshell Á Sol–gel chemistry Á X-ray diffraction Á Composites Á Bioactivity Á Surface properties

Previous reports indicate the use of the aquatic fern Azolla as medicinal plant in New Zealand and Tanzania against sore throat and cough, respectively. Therefore, the aims were to evaluate the bioactivity of Azolla organic and aqueous extracts against bacteria and yeasts. Organic (dichloromethane:methanol) and aqueous extracts obtained from six Azolla species were tested against bacterial pathogenic and non-pathogenic strains (four Gram-positive and three Gram-negative) and pathogenic fungi (three clinical isolates of Candida albicans and one of C. glabrata), using the agar diffusion method and the broth microdilution assay. The results showed that organic extracts of A. caroliniana and A. rubra and of A. filiculoides inhibited the growth of B. subtilis ATCC 6633 whereas those of A. caroliniana and A. microphylla inhibited the growth of S. aureus ATCC 25923. The MICs were higher than 4 mg/ml for A. caroliniana, A. microphylla and A. rubra and higher than 3.25 mg/ml for A. filiculoides. Aqueous extracts of A. filiculoides, A. caroliniana, A. microphylla, A. rubra and A. pinnata var. pinnata induce a small inhibition zone (1 mm) in C. albicans ATCC 10231 with a MIC higher than 12.5 mg/ml. In conclusion, organic and aqueous extracts of some Azolla species show potential for use against infections caused by Gram-positive bacteria and C. albicans, respectively.

Silphion was an ancient medicinal gum-resin; most likely obtained from a Ferula species growing in the Cyrene region of Libya ca. 2500 years ago. Due to its therapeutic properties and culinary value, silphion became the main economic commodity of the Cyrene region. It is generally believed that the source of silphion became extinct in the first century AD. However, there are a few references in the literature about the cultivated silphion plant and its existence up to the fifth century. Recently, a rare and endemic Ferula species that produces a pleasant-smelling gum-resin was found in three locations near formerly Greek villages in Anatolia. Morphologic features of this species closely resemble silphion, as it appears in the numismatic figures of antique Cyrenaic coins, and conform to descriptions by ancient authors. Initial chemical and pharmacological investigations of this species have confirmed the medicinal and spice-like quality of its gum-resin supporting a connection with t...

A B S T R A C T Free, esterified, and insoluble-bound phenolics were extracted from selected lentil culti-vars. Total phenolics, flavonoids and proanthocyanidin contents were determined. Catechin, epicatechin and procyanidins B were predominant in all fractions of all tested samples as evaluated using HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS n. Methyl vanillate, procyanidin dimer A, and prodelphinidin dimer A were identified and quantified in lentils for the first time. Procyanidin dimer A was detected only in the insoluble-bound form, methyl vanillate was present in the esterified and insoluble-bound one and prodelphinidin dimer A was found in all forms. The presence of unrevealed compounds present only in the insoluble-bound form shows that ignoring the presence of phenolics linked to the cell wall of lentils may underestimate their potential health benefits. The antioxidant activities and the inhibition of cupric ion-induced human low-density lipoprotein peroxidation and peroxyl radical induced supercoiled plasmid DNA strand scission demonstrated that lentil seeds may be considered as a functional food.

tMultiphase hybrid materials were synthesized using carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as bioactive poly-mer, silica gel as matrix assisted networks and calcium phosphate as inorganic mineral phase. Thesehybrids were investigated with infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy,energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Biomimetic crystal growthnucleated from the CMC/silica hybrids was suggested as amorphous calcium phosphate with an evidencethat hydroxyapatite, the mineralized component of bone, may be formed at high CMC content. This studyprovides an efficient approach toward bone-like hybrids with potential bone healing applications.

Sol-gel glasses in quaternary silica–sodium–calcium–phosphorous systems have been synthesized using a rotary evaporator for rapid drying without ageing. This novel fast drying method drastically decreases the total drying and ageing time from several weeks to only 1 hour, thus overcoming a serious drawback in sol-gel preparation procedures for bioglasses. This work investigates the bioactivity behavior of two glasses synthesized by this fast method, with Ca:P ratios of 1.5 and 1.67. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Inductive coupled plasma, Fourier-transform infrared, and Raman spectroscopy were used to confirm the bioactivity of the synthesized powders. MAS-NMR was also used to assess the degree of silica polymerization. The composition with a higher Ca:P = 1.67 ratio showed better bioactivity in comparison to the one with Ca:P = 1.5, which exhibited little bio-response with up to 4 weeks of immersion in SBF (simulated body fluid). It was also found that an orbital agitation rate of 120 rpm favors the interfacial bio-mineralization reactions, promoting the formation of a crystalline hydroxyapatite (HAp) layer at the surface of the (Ca:P = 1.67) composition after 2 weeks immersion in SBF.
J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 106: 510–520 (2018).