Gold nanoparticle-enhanced luminol/ferricyanide chemiluminescence system for aristolochic acid-I detection in medicinal plants and slimming products

Aristolochic acid-I (AA-I) is commonly present as a natural product in medicinal plants such as Asarum and Radix aristolochiae. The misuse of some slimming products and dietary, supplements containing AA-I as a regulator has been reported to cause cancer, acute hepatitis and renal failure. Hence, quality control and quantification of AA-I in these products at a trace level are significantly necessary. In this approach, a simple and accurate sequential injection analysis (SIA) chemiluminescence (CL) detection method was employed for AA-I determination. Gold nanoparticles were used to enhance the CL signal of luminol-ferricyanide-AA-I reaction. The results showed that the proposed method displayed linear relationship of 10–20,000 ng mL−1, (r = 0.9992) with 10 and 3  ng mL−1 as the minimum quantification and detection limits, respectively. The possible interferences such as some common metals, additives and related pharmacological action compounds were tested. The recorded SIA-CL results were statistically assessed and compared to those obtained from other published methods

Sequential injection-chemiluminescence evaluation of stigmasterol glucoside and luteolin via green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using biomass of plectranthus asirensis

The present study focused on the phytochemical chromatographic isolation of two chemical constituents, sterol and flavonoid (stigmasterol glucoside and luteolin) from Plectranthus asirensis. A novel, eco-friendly, and cost benefit, ultrasensitive sequential injection analysis chemiluminescence (SIA-CL) approach based on the enhanced catalytic activity of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) was suggested to evaluate the isolated compounds. Silver nanoparticles were synthesized using the biomass of an ethanolic extract of aerial parts of P. asirensis as a reducing agent. Spectroscopic and microscopic characterization of the prepared AgNPs were performed, including UV-Vis spectrometry, XRD and FT-IR as well as TEM and SEM. UV-spectroscopic method detected the formed AgNPs at an absorbance wavelength of 420 nm. Furthermore, antioxidant activity of the isolated compounds was also determined using 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity protocol

Biogenic green synthesis of MgO nanoparticles using Saussurea costus biomasses for a comprehensive detection of their antimicrobial, cytotoxicity against MCF-7 breast cancer cells and photocatalysis potentials.

Distinct morphological MgO nanoparticles (MgONPs) were synthesized using biomasses of Saussurea costus roots. The biomass of two varieties of Saussurea costus (Qustal hindi and Qustal bahri) were used in the green synthesis of MgONPs. The physical and chemical features of nanoparticles were confirmed by spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. The surface morphology of the obtained nanoparticles was detected at different magnifications by SEM and TEM microscopy and the size of nanoparticles were found to be 30 and 34 nm for Qustal hindi and Qustal bahri, respectively. The antimicrobial activity of the prepared MgONPs was screened against six pathogenic strains. The synthesized nanoparticles by Qustal bahri biomass exerted significant inhibition zones 15, 16, 18, 17, 14, and 10 mm against E. coli, P. aeruginosa, C. tropicalis and C. glabrata, S. aureus and B. subtilis as compared to those from Qustal hindi 12, 8 and 17 mm against B. subtilis, E. coli and C. tropicalis, respectively. MgONPs showed a potential cytotoxicity effect against MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines. Cellular investigations of MgONPs revealed that the prepared nanoparticles by Qustal bahri exhibited high cytotoxicity against MCF-7 cancer cell lines. IC50 values in MCF-7 cells were found to be 67.3% and 52.1% for MgONPs of Saussurea costus biomasses, respectively. Also, the photocatalytic activity of MgONPs of each Saussurea costus variety was comparatively studied. They exhibited an enhanced photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue after UV irradiation for 1 h as 92% and 59% for those prepared by Qustal bahri and Qustal hindi, respectively. Outcome of results revealed that the biosynthesized MgONPs showed promising biomedical potentials

Synthesis, characterization, and evaluation of nanoparticles of clodinofop propargyl and fenoxaprop-P-ethyl on weed control, growth, and yield of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Nanoherbicides are articulated by exploiting the prospective of nanotechnology for effectively delivering chemical and biological herbicides using nanomaterial‐based herbicide combinations. The nanoparticles were characterized using X-ray diffraction and FT-IR. On the targeted weeds, the nanoherbicides were sprayed at the third to fourth leaf stage. Six different doses were applied. The mortality and visual injury caused by both chitosan-based nanoherbicides reached 100% at the recommended dose of standard herbicide. The 5-fold lower dose exhibited weed density and maximum wheat yield and related parameters. For the same traits, the nanoherbicide at 10-fold lower dose of commercial herbicides showed a comparable influence as the suggested dose. The size of both herbicides was found to be 35–65 nm. It was observed that the clodinofop-propargyl nanoherbicide has an intense peak appearing at a 2θ value of 29.83°, corresponding to the (176) plane of the anatase phase and NPs of fenoxaprop-P-ethyl showed an intense peak around the 2θ value of 30.55° corresponding to the (74) plane of the anatase phase. The FT-IR spectra of fenoxaprop-P-ethyl clearly showed that the major functional groups were located in the FT-IR region between 610 and 1,840 cm−1 and the major functional ones of clodinofop propargyl were located in the FT-IR region between 640 and 1,740 cm−1. Nanoherbicides could restore the efficacy of conventional herbicides by improving stability and reducing toxicity

Exploring Natural Product Activity and Species Source Candidates for Hunting ABCB1 Transporter Inhibitors: An In Silico Drug Discovery Study

The P-glycoprotein (P-gp/ABCB1) is responsible for a xenobiotic efflux pump that shackles intracellular drug accumulation. Additionally, it is included in the dud of considerable antiviral and anticancer chemotherapies because of the multidrug resistance (MDR) phenomenon. In the search for prospective anticancer drugs that inhibit the ABCB1 transporter, the Natural Product Activity and Species Source (NPASS) database, containing >35,000 molecules, was explored for identifying ABCB1 inhibitors. The performance of AutoDock4.2.6 software to anticipate ABCB1 docking score and pose was first assessed according to available experimental data. The docking scores of the NPASS molecules were predicted against the ABCB1 transporter. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were conducted for molecules with docking scores lower than taxol, a reference inhibitor, pursued by molecular mechanics-generalized Born surface area (MM-GBSA) binding energy estimations. On the basis of MM-GBSA calculations, five compounds revealed promising binding affinities as ABCB1 inhibitors with ΔGbinding < −105.0 kcal/mol. The binding affinity and stability of the identified inhibitors were compared to the chemotherapeutic agent. Structural and energetical analyses unveiled great steadiness of the investigated inhibitors within the ABCB1 active site throughout 100 ns MD simulations. Conclusively, these findings point out that NPC104372, NPC475164, NPC2313, NPC197736, and NPC477344 hold guarantees as potential ABCB1 drug candidates and warrant further in vitro/in vivo tests