Search results for " medicinal"

Arylpyridines, arylpyrimidines and related compounds as potential modulator agents of the VEGF, hTERT and c-Myc oncogenes.

2019

Twenty-four derivatives structurally related to honokiol have been synthesized and biologically evaluated. IC50 values were determined towards the HT-29, MCF-7 and HEK-293 cell lines. Some of these derivatives exhibited comparable or lower IC50 values than honokiol towards the HT-29 and MCF-7 cell lines or else higher selectivity indexes than the natural product. Twelve selected derivatives were evaluated for their ability to inhibit the expression of the VEGFA, hTERT and c-Myc genes and also to inhibit the production of total c-Myc protein and the secretion of the VEGF protein. One of the most promising compounds, 3-(2,4-dimethoxyphenyl)pyridine, may be a good candidate for further studies…

Identification of highly effective antitrypanosomal compounds in essential oils from the Apiaceae family

2018

The Apiaceae family encompasses aromatic plants of economic importance employed in foodstuffs, beverages, perfumery, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. Apiaceae are rich sources of essential oils because of the wealth of secretory structures (ducts and vittae) they are endowed with. The Apiaceae essential oils are available on an industrial level because of the wide cultivation and disposability of the bulky material from which they are extracted as well as their relatively cheap price. In the fight against protozoal infections, essential oils may represent new therapeutic options. In the present work, we focused on a panel of nine Apiaceae species (Siler montamon, Sison amomum, Echinophora spi…

Factors Affecting Polyphenol Biosynthesis in Wild and Field Grown St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum L. Hypericaceae/Guttiferae)

2009

The increasing diffusion of herbal products is posing new questions: why are products so often different in their composition and efficacy? Which approach is more suitable to increase the biochemical productivity of medicinal plants with large-scale, low-cost solutions? Can the phytochemical profile of a medicinal plant be modulated in order to increase the accumulation of its most valuable constituents? Will polyphenol-rich medicinal crops ever be traded as commodities? Providing a proactive answer to such questions is an extremely hard task, due to the large number of variables involved: intraspecific chemodiversity, plant breeding, ontogenetic stage, post-harvest handling, biotic and abi…

Prove di coltivazione di Iperico (Hypericum perforatum L.) in ambiente semi-arido

2010

L’Iperico (Hypericum perforatum L.; Fam. Hypericaceae) è una specie erbacea perenne largamente diffusa allo stato spontaneo, insieme alle altre specie congeneri, all’interno degli ambienti mediterranei. Secondo la Farmacopea Europea (IV Ed.), la droga dell’Iperico è costituita dalla parte aerea e dalle sommità fiorite essiccate, che trovano utilizzazione in diverse aree del mondo per il trattamento di un gran numero di disturbi interni ed esterni. Nelle aree mediterranee, grazie al suo marcato effetto lenitivo del dolore e alla proprietà di stimolare la formazione di nuovo tessuto, la principale utilizzazione tradizionale dell’Iperico è tradizionalmente rivolta al trattamento esterno di ust…

Hypnosis, Animal Magnetism, and Monstrosity in late Nineteenth Century English Literature

2019

We will explore the literary image of animal magnetism and hypnosis through the analysis of two works of fiction: the novels Richard Marsh’s The Beetle: A Mystery (1897) and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897). During all the 19th century and mainly at its last, many authors used animal magnetism and hypnosis in their fictional creations in an environmental or plot way, so much that Arthur Quiller-Couch, an important literary critic of the nineteenth century, spoke about the emergence of a new literary subgenre that he called “hypnotic fiction”. Starting from the idea that in this mesmeric and hypnotic fiction literature you can clearly trace differentiated stereotypes of magnetizers and hypnotist…

Medicinal Plants in the Treatment of Depression. II: Evidence from Clinical Trials

2021

AbstractDepression is a syndrome characterized by deep sadness and the inhibition of psychic functions, sometimes accompanied by neurovegetative disorders, with symptoms of anxiety almost always present. The disease produces alterations in a variety of neural networks and neurotransmission systems, along with a dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which leads to concomitant alterations in the immunological response. Generally, there is a parallel increase in proinflammatory mediators as well as oxidative and nitrosative damage caused by a reduction of antioxidant defenses. In a previous review, we compiled and examined studies of medicinal plants that had been evaluated i…

Protection by beverages, fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flavonoids against genotoxicity of 2-acetylaminofluorene and 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo…

2002

Abstract Chinese hamster lung fibroblasts, genetically engineered for the expression of rat cytochrome P450 dependent monooxygenase 1A2 and rat sulfotransferase 1C1 (V79-rCYP1A2-rSULT1C1 cells), were utilized to check for possible protective effects of beverages of plant origin, fruits, vegetables, and spices against genotoxicity induced by 2-acetylaminofluorene (AAF) or 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP). Antigenotoxic activities of juices from spinach and red beets against AAF could be monitored with similar effectivity by the HPRT-mutagenicity test (IC50=0.64%; 2.57%) and alkaline single cell gel electrophoresis (comet assay; IC50=0.12%; 0.89%) which detects DNA stran…

Analisys of a natural population of Cucumber mosaic virus infecting medicinal plants

2009

Structural Determinants for the Mode of Action of Imidazopyridine DS2 at δ-Containing γ-Aminobutyric Acid Type A Receptors

2021

Despite the therapeutic relevance of δ-containing γ-aminobutyric acid type A receptors (GABAARs) and the need for δ-selective compounds, the structural determinants for the mode and molecular site of action of δ-selective positive allosteric modulator imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine DS2 remain elusive. To guide the quest for insight, we synthesized a series of DS2 analogues guided by a structural receptor model. Using a fluorescence-based fluorometric imaging plate reader membrane potential assay, we found that the δ-selectivity and the pharmacological profile are severely affected by substituents in the 5-position of the imidazopyridine core scaffold. Interestingly, the 5-methyl, 5-bromo, and 5-chl…

Deciphering the Nonsense Readthrough Mechanism of Action of Ataluren: An in Silico Compared Study

2019

Ataluren was reported to suppress nonsense mutations by promoting the readthrough of premature stop codons, although its mechanism of action (MOA) is still debated. The likely interaction of Ataluren with CFTR-mRNA has been previously studied by molecular dynamics. In this work we extended the modeling of Ataluren's MOA by complementary computational approaches such as induced fit docking (IFD), quantum polarized ligand docking (QPLD), MM-GBSA free-energy calculations, and computational mutagenesis. In addition to CFTR-mRNA, this study considered other model targets implicated in the translation process, such as eukaryotic rRNA 18S, prokaryotic rRNA 16S, and eukaryotic Release Factor 1 (eRF…