Search results for "DISCOVERY"

Estrogen Receptor Signaling and the PI3K/Akt Pathway Are Involved in Betulinic Acid-Induced eNOS Activation

2016

Betulinic acid (BA) is a naturally occurring pentacyclic triterpenoid with anti-inflammatory, antiviral and anti-cancer properties. Beneficial cardiovascular effects such as increased nitric oxide (NO) production through enhancement of endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) activity and upregulation of eNOS expression have been demonstrated for this compound. In the present study, immortalized human EA.hy 926 endothelial cells were incubated for up to 1 h with 1–100 µM BA and with the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitors LY294002 and wortmannin, or the estrogen receptor (ER) antagonist ICI 182,780. Phosphorylation status of eNOS and total eNOS protein were analyzed by Western blotting us…

Chemical Composition of Herbal Macerates and Corresponding Commercial Essential Oils and Their Effect on Bacteria Escherichia coli

2017

This study addresses the chemical composition of some commercial essential oils (clove, juniper, oregano, and marjoram oils), as well as appropriate herbal extracts obtained in the process of cold maceration and their biological activity against selected Escherichia coli strains: E. coli ATTC 25922, E. coli ATTC 10536, and E. coli 127 isolated from poultry waste. On the basis of the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) analysis, it was found that the commercial essential oils revealed considerable differences in terms of the composition and diversity of terpenes, terpenoids and sesquiterpenes as compared with the extracts obtained from plant material. The commercial clove, oregano, a…

The Effects of N-Acetylcysteine on the Rat Mesocorticolimbic Pathway: Role of mGluR5 Receptors and Interaction with Ethanol

2021

N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is a prodrug that is marketed as a mucolytic agent and used for the treatment of acetaminophen overdose. Over the last few decades, evidence has been gathered that suggests the potential use of NAC as a new pharmacotherapy for alcohol use disorder (AUD), although its mechanism of action is already being debated. In this paper, we set out to assess both the potential involvement of the glutamate metabotropic receptors (mGluR) in the possible dual effect of NAC administered at two different doses and NAC’s effect on ethanol-induced activation. To this aim, 30 or 120 mg/kg of NAC was intraperitoneally administered to rats with the presence or absence of the negative allo…

Comparison Study of Two Differently Clicked 18F-Folates—Lipophilicity Plays a Key Role

2018

Within the last decade, several folate-based radiopharmaceuticals for Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) have been evaluated; however, there is still a lack of suitable 18F-folates for clinical PET imaging. Herein, we report the synthesis and evaluation of two novel 18F-folates employing strain-promoted and copper-catalyzed click chemistry. Furthermore, the influence of both click-methods on lipophilicity and pharmacokinetics of the 18F-folates was investigated. 18F-Ala-folate and 18F-DBCO-folate were both stable in human serum albumin. In vitro studies proved their high affinity to the folate receptor (FR). The lipophilic character of …

Bacterial Biofilm Inhibition in the Development of Effective Anti-Virulence Strategy

2018

There is an urgent need for new therapeutic strategies to counteract the global threat of antibiotic resistance, which has become, in recent years, one of the major public health concern. An important contribution to the microbial survival in hostile environments has been given by the capability of pathogens to form sessile communities able to adhere to biotic or abiotic surfaces, known as biofilms.

European countries in the race to attract successful biopharma investment: Winners and laggers

2021

The post-coronavirus era will open myriad opportunities for the biopharma industry. However, the extent to which each country will take advantage of this promising new scenario will largely depend on its position in a few key areas. Here, we offer an overview of the European countries that are winning and those that are lagging behind in the race to attract the greatest investment in this industry and to attain the highest rate of successful new ventures. Our results highlight the vital importance of a sound, active funding base, especially in terms of venture capital. Our findings also suggests that general scientific foundations are not enough to secure an advantage in new venture formati…

Chrysophanol- and nepodin-8-O-β-D-glucopyranoside from Rumex acetosella, the cytotoxicity towards drug sensitive and multi- drug resistant T leukaemi…

2016

Synthesis of Thymoquinone–Artemisinin Hybrids: New Potent Antileukemia, Antiviral, and Antimalarial Agents

2017

[Image: see text] A series of hybrid compounds based on the natural products artemisinin and thymoquinone was synthesized and investigated for their biological activity against the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum 3D7 strain, human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), and two leukemia cell lines (drug-sensitive CCRF-CEM and multidrug-resistant subline CEM/ADR5000). An unprecedented one-pot method of selective formation of C-10α-acetate 14 starting from a 1:1 mixture of C-10α- to C-10β-dihydroartemisinin was developed. The key step of this facile method is a mild decarboxylative activation of malonic acid mediated by DCC/DMAP. Ether-linked thymoquinone–artemisinin hybrids 6a/b stood out as the most…

N-Desmethyldauricine Induces Autophagic Cell Death in Apoptosis-Defective Cells via Ca2+ Mobilization

2017

Resistance of cancer cells to chemotherapy remains a significant problem in oncology. Mechanisms regulating programmed cell death, including apoptosis, autophagy or necrosis, in the treatment of cancers have been extensively investigated over the last few decades. Autophagy is now emerging as an important pathway in regulating cell death or survival in cancer therapy. Recent studies demonstrated variety of natural small-molecules could induce autophagic cell death in apoptosis-resistant cancer cells, therefore, discovery of novel autophagic enhancers from natural products could be a promising strategy for treatment of chemotherapy-resistant cancer. By computational virtual docking analysis,…

Generalized Molecular Descriptors Derived From Event-Based Discrete Derivative.

2016

In the present study, a generalized approach for molecular structure characterization is introduced, based on the relation frequency matrix (F) representation of the molecular graph and the subsequent calculation of the corresponding discrete derivative (finite difference) over a pair of elements (atoms). In earlier publications (22- 24), an unique event, named connected subgraphs, (based on the Kier-Hall's subgraphs) was systematically employed for the computation of the matrix F. The present report is a generalization of this notion, in which eleven additional events are introduced, classified in three categories, namely, topological (terminal paths, vertex path incidence, quantum subgrap…