Bioactive Constituents of Juniperus turbinata Gussone from La Maddalena Archipelago

A comprehensive phytochemical study of Juniperus turbinata (Cupressaceae) collected from La Maddalena Archipelago (Sardinia, Italy) is reported. Both the essential oil and the ethanolic extract obtained from the aerial parts were analyzed. The essential oil appears to belong to a new chemotype compared to other Mediterranean juniper accessions, as it was favored by geographic isolation of the isles. It showed a low content of monoterpene hydrocarbons and a-terpineol, entmanoyl oxide, 1,10-di-epi-cubenol as the major constituents. The ethanolic fraction contained mainly diterpenoids. Among these, 15-formyloxyimbricatolic acid (7) is a new natural product since it has hitherto been obtained only by synthetic route. The phenolic fraction contained biflavonoids: cupressuflavone (9), followed by minor amounts of amentoflavone (10) and hinokiflavone (11). The essential oil and six purified compounds (1 – 4, 8 and 9) were assessed for biological activities, namely antioxidant (assessed by DPPH·, ABTS· + and FRAP methods) and cytotoxic effects towards selected human tumor cell lines (MDA-MB 231, A375 and HCT116 cells). Compound 3 exhibited higher radical scavenging activity against ABTS·+ radical than the reference Trolox. Noteworthy, compound 8 showed powerful effects towards tumor cell lines, with IC50 values in the range of 0.060 – 0.201 lM, which make it a promising anticancer drug candidate

Chemical composition, antioxidant, anticholinesterase, and alpha-glucosidase activity of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni extracts cultivated in Algeria

peer reviewedStevia rebaudiana Bertoni is an endemic species to Paraguay famous for its sweetening power and therapeutic potential for various diseases such as diabetes. The present work evaluates the chemical composition and antioxidant, anticholinesterase, and α-glucosidase activities of S. rebaudiana. The essential oil (EO) of dry Stevia leaves was analyzed by GC/MS and detected the presence of 33 components. Caryophyllene oxide (24.28%), spathulenol (12.31%) and nerolidol (11.8%), and manool oxide (7.36%) were identified as the major ones. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by four complementary methods: DPPH (2,2 diphenylpicrylhydrazyl, ABTS (2, 2’-azino-bis 3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) free radicals scavenging, Cupric reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC), and reducing power. The crude methanolic extract and its fractions showed a variable antioxidant activity and strongly correlated with the content of quantified bioactive compounds. The ethyl acetate fraction showed a very high antioxidant activity close to the tested standards, while EO was active only in the CUPRAC assy. The petrol ether and chloroform fractions showed the best butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) inhibitory activity with IC50 values: 123.7 ± 1.78 and 170.1 ± 0.78 μg/mL, respectively. On the other hand, EO and chloroform revealed a moderate inhibitory activity against acetylcholinesterase (AChE). The in vitro inhibitory effect of the extracts on α-glucosidase indicated that EO effectively inhibited the enzyme with an IC50: 74.9 ± 6.4 µg/mL, better than the standard acarbose. The EO of Stevia has a significant anti-diabetic potential

Influence of process parameters and particle size distribution on mechanical properties of tablets

The influence of the particle size distribution of maltodextrin powders with a dextrose equivalent level of 29 as well as two tableting process variables, namely the compression pressure and the dwell time, on the tensile strength, porosity, and pore size distribution of the final tablet was studied. The mechanical strength and porosity of the tablets are assessed in relation to the powder and process parameters. Regarding the process parameter, it was show that the compaction pressure clearly has a more pronounced influence on the tablet porosity and mechanical strength compared to the influence of the dwell time in the range of the study. As a result, the study offers a better understanding of how the properties of a tablet are influenced by the inter-correlation of powder characteristics and tableting parameters. Therefore, the shelf-life studies and tablet downstream processing as well as drug product development will benefit greatly from this work