Methods: The mechanism involved in the cytotoxic activities of F5 against MCF7 cells was elucidated by flow cytometry-based apoptosis detection, caspases activity measurement, and expression profiling of apoptosis markers by western blotting. Molecular attributes of F5 were further mined from L. rhinocerus's published genome and transcriptome for future exploration.
Results and Discussion: Apoptosis induction in MCF7 cells by F5 may involve a cross-talk between the extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic pathways with upregulation of caspase-8 and -9 activities and a marked decrease of Bcl-2. On the other hand, the levels of pro-apoptotic Bax, BID, and cleaved BID were increased accompanied by observable actin cleavage. At gene level, F5 composed of three predicted non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (T > C) and an alternative 5' splice site.
Conclusions: Findings from this study provide an advanced framework for further investigations on cancer therapeutics development from L. rhinocerus.
AIM OF THE STUDY: This review is an attempt to assess the anti-inflammatory activity of Polyalthia species by giving critical appraisal and establishing evidences of their traditional uses. Moreover this review will highlight the lead compounds for future drug development that can serve as a potential anti-inflammatory drug with comparative efficacy and minimum side effects.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: An extensive literature review, focusing the anti-inflammatory potential of Polyalthia species was conducted using the following databases: PubMed, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, Ovid, Scopus and ProQuest, as well as the locally available books, journals and relevant documents. The reference lists of retrieved papers were also searched for additional studies.
RESULTS: The Polyalthia species have shown significant anti-inflammatory activity through various mechanism of action. The most significant anti-inflammatory mechanism includes the inhibition of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), prostaglandins (PGs), pro-inflammatory cytokines, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and reactive oxygen species (ROS). The data suggests that hydroxycleroda-3,13-dien-15,16-olide and 16-oxocleroda-3,13-dien-15-oic acid, quercetin, rutin, spinasterol, α-spinasterol, goniothalamin and (-)-5-hydroxygoniothalamin are the most potent anti-inflammatory compounds from Polyalthia species with comparable IC50 with positive controls.
CONCLUSIONS: Numerous pharmacological studies have supported the use of Polyalthia species against pain, rheumatic fever, haemorrhages and inflammation in traditional medicine. Flavonoids, diterpenoids, sterols and styrylpyrones from genus Polyalthia are the most significant class of compounds with potent anti-inflammatory activity. Secondary metabolites from these classes should be brought into further research to fill the gaps of knowledge in pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, bioavailability, and toxicity in order to convert the pre-clinical results into clinical data for further investigation.
AIM OF THE STUDY: To determine the antidiabetic activities of chloroform fraction (CF) of Anthocleista vogelii Planch root bark in rats with diet- and alloxan-induced obesity-diabetes.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Inhibitory activities of CF against α-amylase and α-glucosidase activities were determined in vitro. Three weeks old rats were fed with high-fat diet for 9 weeks to induce obesity prior to further induction of diabetes using alloxan (150mg/kg body weight, i.p.). Blood glucose levels and body weight were measured every 7 days throughout the experiment. Glucose tolerance was assessed in normal and CF-treated rats on day 21. Terminal blood samples were collected from sacrificed animals for the measurement of serum insulin levels. Pancreases were excised from treated and untreated animals for histopathological examination.
RESULTS: LCMS/MS chromatographic profile of CF via positive and negative modes revealed 13 and 23 compounds respectively. Further analysis revealed quebrachitol (QCT), loganin, sweroside, oleoside 11-methyl ester and ferulic acid, which have been previously reported for their antidiabetic activities, as constituents of CF. CF inhibited activities of α-amylase (IC50 = 51.60 ± 0.92µg/ml) and α-glucosidase (IC50 = 5.86 ± 0.97µg/ml) in a dose-dependent manner. Treatment of animals with obesity-diabetes with 100 and 200mg/kg CF significantly improved glucose tolerance (P<0.001) and enhanced serum insulin levels (P<0.05) compared to diabetic control rats.
CONCLUSIONS: Antidiabetic activities of CF might be mediated via inhibition of α-amylase and α-glucosidase activities, elevation of serum insulin concentration, and enhancement of insulin and leptin sensitivity in obesity-diabetes rats. This study further substantiates the traditional use of A. vogelii in the management and treatment of diabetes in Africa and encourages further studies to investigate its mechanism of action.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The antimicrobial activity was performed against selected fungal and bacterial strains using tube dilution method. The antiproliferative potential was evaluated against human colorectal carcinoma (HCT116) and oestrogen- positive human breast carcinoma (MCF7) cancer cell lines using Sulforhodamine B assay and, results were compared to standard drugs, 5-fluorouracil and tamoxifen, respectively.
CONCLUSION: The performed antimicrobial activity indicated that compounds 3, 5, 6, 8 and 14 showed promising activity against selected microbial species. Antiproliferative screening found compound 14 to be the most potent compound against HCT116 (IC50 = 71.8 µM), whereas Compound 6 was the most potent against MCF7 (IC50 = 74.1 µM). Further, the molecular docking study has been carried to find out the interaction between active oxazole compounds with CDK8 (HCT116) and ER-α (MCF7) proteins indicated that compound 14 and 6 showed good dock score with better potency within the ATP binding pocket and may be used as a lead for rational drug designing of the anticancer molecule.