Biopiracy <i>versus </i>one-world medicine – from colonial relicts to global collaborative concepts

Background: Practices of biopiracy to use genetic resources and indigenous knowledge by Western companies without benefit-sharing of those, who generated the traditional knowledge, can be understood as form of neocolonialism.Hypothesis: : The One-World Medicine concept attempts to merge the best of traditional medicine from developing countries and conventional Western medicine for the sake of patients around the globe.Study design: Based on literature searches in several databases, a concept paper has been written. Legislative initiatives of the United Nations culminated in the Nagoya protocol aim to protect traditional knowledge and regulate benefit-sharing with indigenous communities. The European community adopted the Nagoya protocol, and the corresponding regulations will be implemented into national legislation among the member states. Despite pleasing progress, infrastructural problems of the health care systems in developing countries still remain. Current approaches to secure primary health care offer only fragmentary solutions at best. Conventional medicine from industrialized countries cannot be afforded by the impoverished population in the Third World. Confronted with exploding costs, even health systems in Western countries are endangered to burst. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is popular among the general public in industrialized countries, although the efficacy is not sufficiently proven according to the standards of evidence-based medicine. CAM is often available without prescription as over-the-counter products with non-calculated risks concerning erroneous self-medication and safety/toxicity issues. The concept of integrative medicine attempts to combine holistic CAM approaches with evidence-based principles of conventional medicine.Conclusion: To realize the concept of One-World Medicine, a number of standards have to be set to assure safety, efficacy and applicability of traditional medicine, e.g. sustainable production and quality control of herbal products, performance of placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized clinical trials, phytovigilance, as well as education of health professionals and patients

A new perspective on evaluation of medicinal plant biological activities: The correlation between phytomics and matrix metalloproteinases activities of some medicinal plants

Phytomics or metabolomics is analysis of large-scale primary and secondary metabolites of plant extracts and provides very meaningful data to monitor or evaluate cellular function or systems biology. The activity of plant extracts depends on the synergistic/antagonistic effect of different metabolites rather than single active metabolites. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) have an active role in the formation of many diseases. To our knowledge, there is no study on the correlation between the phytomics and MMP inhibitory activity of Achillea millefolium, Achillea filipendulina (Asteraceae), Mentha piperita, and Salvia officinalis (Lamiaceae), (AAMS). Therefore, this study aimed to correlate the metabolomics profiling of AAMS extracts to identify the metabolites responsible for the MMP inhibitory activity based on phytomics data. The AAMS extracts showed a significant MMP inhibitory effect (57.73–92.73%) at different concentrations (25–500 μg/mL). In order to identify the metabolites responsible for such activities in the extract, the metabolomic profiling of the plants was investigated using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). After deconvolution and aligning of the chromatograms, 284 metabolites were detected, of which 149 were annotated using retention index libraries. Multivariate analyses results indicated that A. millefolium and A. filipendulina showed similar metabolomic profiles, while M. piperita and S. officinalis differed both from each other and from Achillea species. The correlation analysis was applied to evaluate the correlation between metabolomic levels and MMP inhibitory activities, and 96 metabolites had a negative correlation (r ≤ −0.70) and 55 had a highly positive correlation (r ≥ 0.70) with MMP inhibitory activity. This is the first study which revealed that phytomics, plant metabolomics, can be used for activity evaluation and a single metabolite may not be responsible for a specific activity. In conclusion, phytomics can be a more useful tool for the evaluation of the activities than investigating a single metabolite. This new perspective can also provide a better understanding of plant metabolomics and can be easily employed for future research on plant activity. Keywords: Metabolomics, Phytomics, Herbal extracts, Matrix metalloproteinases, GC-M

The Roles Of Valerenic Acid On Bdnf Expression In The Sh-Sy5Y Cell

The roots of Valeriana officinalis L. (Valerianaceae) are used for treating sleep disorders and/or mild nerve tension. The effect of valerenic acid on brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has not yet been studied, although it is known that gamma-amino butyric acid A (GABA(A)) receptor is regulated by BDNF, which modulates the depressive-like behavior and neurogenesis. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of V. officinalis root extract (VO), its main constituents valerenic acid (VA) and acetoxy valerenic acid (AVA) as well as valerenic acid-free (VAF), acetoxy valerenic acid-free (AVAF) extracts and increasing amounts of valerenic acid containing extracts on the BDNF expression in SH-SY5Y cell lines. The effect of methanolic extracts of VO, VA, AVA, VAF, AVAF, and the extracts whose amount of VA were increased gradually, were tested using a Human BDNF ELISA kit with 17 beta-estradiol as a positive control. The VO and VA extracts caused a significant (p < 0.001) increase in the BDNF expression in SH-SY5Y cells compared to control. This effect completely disappeared when cells were treated with VAF extract. AVA alone did not show any significant change in the BDNF levels. The extracts with increasing amount of VA led to a concentration- dependent effect on the cells. In conclusion, our findings suggest that the antidepressant-like effect of the VO extract is also related to BDNF expression, and that this is mainly due to the presence of VA in the extract. Removing VA from VO extract leads to a loss of activity. Moreover, the concentration of VA plays a role for BDNF expressions in SH-SY5Y cells, which demonstrates the importance of quality control on the commercially available products. (C) 2018 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University.WoSScopu

Isolation And Structure Elucidation Of Uncommon Secondary Metabolites From Cistus Salviifolius L.

To our knowledge this is the first report on the isolation of a flavonoid glycoside: quercetin 3-O-alpha-arabinopyranoside (5), two phenylbutanon glycosides: 4-(4'-O-[6''-O-galloyl-beta-galactopyranosyl]-3'-hydroxyphenyl)-butan-2-on (8), 4-(3'-O-beta-glucopyranosyl-4'-hydroxyphenyl)-butan-2-on (9), one phloroglucinol glycoside: 1-O-beta-glucopyranosyl-3,5-dimethoxybenzene (10) and a steroid glycoside: sitosterol-3-O-(6''-O-butanoyl)-beta-galactopyranoside (14) from the Cistus species (Cistaceae). Additional to these compounds three flavonol aglycones: kaempferol (1), quercetin (2), myricetin (3); three flavonoid glycosides; kaempferol 3-O-beta-(6''-O-trans-p-coumaroyl)-glucopyranoside (4), quercetin 3-O-beta-galactopyranoside (6), myricetin 3-O-beta-galactopyranoside (7); one phloroglucinol glycoside: 1-O-beta-glucopyranosyl-3,5-dimethoxybenzene (11); one steroid aglycone: beta-sitosterol (12); one steroid glycoside: Sitosterol-3-O-beta-glucopyranoside (13) were isolated from the aerial parts of the Cistus salviifolius L.. Their structures were identified using spectral methods (UV, IR, 1D- and 2D-NMR, and ESI-MS).Wo

Cholinesterase Inhibition And Molecular Docking Studies Of Sesquiterpene Coumarin Ethers From Heptaptera Cilicica

Five sesquiterpene coumarin ethers: umbelliprenin, umbelliprenin-10', 11'-monoepoxide, conferone, mogoltacin and feselol were isolated from the fruits of Heptaptera cilicica. Their structures were identified by means of spectroscopic methods. AChE and BuChE inhibitory activities of the compounds were determined by molecular docking method which were confirmed by in vitro experiments. According to molecular docking results, total score of feselol and umbelliprenin were 5.69 and 3.23 kcal/mol against acetylcholinesterase, respectively. Total score for butyrylcholinesterase inhibitory effect of them were 2.76 and 4.99 kcal/mol, respectively. Feselol and umbelliprenin exhibited significantly high inhibitory potency against acetylcholinesterase (IC50 = 1.26 +/- 0.01 and 5.86 +/- 0.03 mu M, respectively) and butyrylcholinesterase (IC50 = 9.98 +/- 0.24 and 1.10 +/- 0.19 mu M, respectively). This is the first report of isolation of natural bioactives obtained from the chloroform extract of Heptaptera cilicica fruits with anticholinesterase activity.WoSScopu

Chemical Composition, Antioxidant And Anticholinesterase Activities Of The Essential Oil Of Origanum Rotundifolium Boiss. From Turkey

The essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation from the aerial parts of Origanum rotundifolium Boiss. Its chemical content and composition were analyzed by using a gas chromatography (GC-FID) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Total phenolic content of the essential oil was determined as 132.39 mu g gallic acid equivalent by Folin-Ciocalteu's method and the major component was identified as carvacrol (56.8 %) along with p-cymene (13.1 %), (Z)-beta-ocimene (5.4 %), beta-caryophyllene (3.9 %), borneol (3.4 %) and thymol (3.2 %). After chemical characterization, the essential oil was evaluated for its antioxidant activity by DPPH free radical, superoxide anion radical and hydrogen peroxide scavenging activities as well as ferrous ion-chelating power test, ABTS radical cation decolorization assay and ferric thiocyanate methods. Besides antioxidant activity, acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase inhibitory activities of the essential oil were also evaluated by Ellman's method. It demonstrated inhibitory activities on AChE and BuChE, key enzymes in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), in addition to significant antioxidant activity.WoSScopu