Organic chemistry of balms used in the preparation of pharaonic meat mummies

The funeral preparations for ancient Egyptian dead were extensive. Tomb walls were often elaborately painted and inscribed with scenes and objects deemed desirable for the afterlife. Votive objects, furniture, clothing, jewelry, and importantly, food including bread, cereals, fruit, jars of wine, beer, oil, meat, and poultry were included in the burial goods. An intriguing feature of the meat and poultry produced for the deceased from the highest levels of Egyptian society was that they were mummified to ensure their preservation. However, little is known about the way they were prepared, such as whether balms were used, and if they were used, how they compared with those applied to human and animal mummies? We present herein the results of lipid biomarker and stable carbon isotope investigations of tissues, bandaging, and organic balms associated with a variety of meat mummies that reveal that treatments ranged from simple desiccation and wrapping in bandages to, in the case of the tomb of Yuya and Tjuia (18th Dynasty, 1386–1349 BC), a balm associated with a beef rib mummy containing a high abundance of Pistacia resin and, thus, more sophisticated than the balms found on many contemporaneous human mummies

Quantitative determination of alkannins and shikonins in endemic Mediterranean Alkanna species

The optical antipodes alkannin/shikonin (A/S) and their esters are potent pharmaceutical substances found in the roots of 150 Boraginaceous species. This study estimated and compared total and free A/S content and A/S enantiomeric ratio in roots of 11 Alkanna species (A. corcyrensis, A. tinctoria, A. pindicola, A. orientalis, A. methanaea, A. calliensis, A. graeca, A. primuliflora, A. stribrnyi, A. sieberi and A. noneiformis) growing wild in various Greek regions, to compare with cultivated species. It also re-characterized the chirality of A/S commercial samples, since most of them were misnamed by the providers. Several Alkanna species were collected (groups 1 and 3) and botanically identified, whereas some Alkanna species were cultivated from collected seeds (group 2). Free A/S and derivatives were extracted from the dried roots of Alkanna species and analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection (HPLC-DAD). For total A/S content the hexane extracts of Alkanna roots were hydrolyzed and analyzed by HPLC-DAD. Chirality determination and A/S enantiomeric ratio estimation was performed for several commercial samples by polarimetry,chiral LC-DAD and circular dichroism studies. Quantitative analysis revealed that A/S content varied from one region to another even within the same species. Most of the cultivated samples contained greater amounts of free and total A/S compared with the wild ones, wheras no difference was observed in A/S enantiomeric ratio. All the Alkanna samples tested contain mainly alkannin derivatives. Some of the examined Alkanna species of the Greek flora that are endemic to the Mediterranean area could serve as alternative sources for medicinally valuable A/S derivatives. Most of the commercial A/S samples tested were misnamed in terms of chirality and re-characterized

Advanced Drug Delivery Nanosystems for Shikonin : a Calorimetric and Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Study

Drug delivery is considered a mature scientific and technological platform for producing innovative medicines with nanosystems composed of intelligent bio-materials that carry active pharmaceutical ingredients forming advanced drug delivery nanosystems (aDDnSs). Shikonin and its enantiomer alkannin are natural products that have been extensively studied in vitro and in vivo for, among others, their antitumor activity, and various efforts have been made to prepare shikonin-loaded drug delivery systems. This study is focused on chimeric aDDnSs and specifically on liposomal formulations combining three lipids (egg-phosphatidylcholine; dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine; and distearoyl phosphatidylcholine) and a hyperbranched polymer (PFH-64-OH). Furthermore, PEGylated liposomal formulations of all samples were also prepared. Calorimetric techniques and electron paramagnetic resonance were used to explore and evaluate the interactions and stability of the liposomal formulations, showing that the presence of hyperbranched polymers promote the overall stability of the chimeric aDDnSs based on the drug release profile enhancement. Furthermore, results showed that polyethylene glycol enhances drug stabilization inside the liposomes, forming a stable and promising carrier for shikonin with improved characteristics

Pharmacophore-driven identification of PPARγ agonists from natural sources

In a search for more effective and safe anti-diabetic compounds, we developed a pharmacophore model based on partial agonists of PPARγ. The model was used for the virtual screening of the Chinese Natural Product Database (CNPD), a library of plant-derived natural products primarily used in folk medicine. From the resulting hits, we selected methyl oleanonate, a compound found, among others, in Pistacia lentiscus var. Chia oleoresin (Chios mastic gum). The acid of methyl oleanonate, oleanonic acid, was identified as a PPARγ agonist through bioassay-guided chromatographic fractionations of Chios mastic gum fractions, whereas some other sub-fractions exhibited also biological activity towards PPARγ. The results from the present work are two-fold: on the one hand we demonstrate that the pharmacophore model we developed is able to select novel ligand scaffolds that act as PPARγ agonists; while at the same time it manifests that natural products are highly relevant for use in virtual screening-based drug discovery

Endophytic Bacteria From the Roots of the Medicinal Plant Alkanna tinctoria Tausch (Boraginaceae): Exploration of Plant Growth Promoting Properties and Potential Role in the Production of Plant Secondary Metabolites

Alkannin and shikonin (A/S) are enantiomeric naphthoquinones produced in the roots of certain plants from the Boraginaceae family such as Lithospermum spp. and Alkanna spp. They possess antimicrobial, anti-tumoral and wound healing properties. The production of secondary metabolites by Alkanna tinctoria might be influenced by its endomicrobiome. To study the interaction between this medicinal plant and its bacterial endophytes, we isolated bacteria from the roots of wild growing Alkanna tinctoria collected near to Athens and Thessaloniki in Greece. Representative strains selected by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry were identified by partial 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. In total, 197 distinct phylotypes of endophytic bacteria were detected. The most abundant genera recovered were Pseudomonas, Xanthomonas, Variovorax, Bacillus, Inquilinus, Pantoea, and Stenotrophomonas. Several bacteria were then tested in vitro for their plant growth promoting activity and the production of cell-wall degrading enzymes. Strains of Pseudomonas, Pantoea, Bacillus and Inquilinus showed positive plant growth properties whereas those of Bacteroidetes and Rhizobiaceae showed pectinase and cellulase activity in vitro. In addition, bacterial responses to alkannin and shikonin were investigated through resistance assays. Gram negative bacteria were found to be resistant to the antimicrobial properties of A/S, whereas the Gram positives were sensitive. A selection of bacteria was then tested for the ability to induce A/S production in hairy roots culture of A. tinctoria. Four strains belonging to Chitinophaga sp., Allorhizobium sp., Duganella sp., and Micromonospora sp., resulted in significantly more A/S in the hairy roots than the uninoculated control. As these bacteria can produce cell-wall degrading enzymes, we hypothesize that the A/S induction may be related with the plant-bacteria interaction during colonization. © Copyright © 2021 Rat, Naranjo, Krigas, Grigoriadou, Maloupa, Alonso, Schneider, Papageorgiou, Assimopoulou, Tsafantakis, Fokialakis and Willems