Role of herbal medicines in vitiligo treatment - current status and future perspectives

Vitiligo is a depigmentation disorder with complex causes. Nonetheless, recent progress has been made to unravel the pathophysiology of vitiligo. In this review, we provide an overview of the currently known herbal medicine for vitiligo treatment and also highlighted the herbs that have been used in clinical trials. In view of traditional uses, herbs such as Ammi visnaga L., Angelica sinensis, Eclipta alba L, Ginkgo biloba, Picrorhiza kurroa Royle Ex Benth, and Psoralea corylifolia L, have been highlighted. Enormous efforts in vitiligo drug discovery are currently needed. Interleukin-17 inhibition, tumor necrosis factor-alpha inhibition, heat shock protein-70i (HSP70i) inhibition, keratinocyte turnover modulators, and regulatory T cells (Tregs) modulators have been discussed as promising new targets for vitiligo drug development. Thus, we strongly believe that this review may be useful for rationalize new herbal drug for vitiligo treatment

Potency of selected berries, grapes and citrus fruit as neuroprotective agents

A healthy diet should nourish the brain with essential nutrients, including bioactive compounds, for normal brain functioning and to protect it from the negative effects of inflammation and oxidative stress. In this review, a concise summation of the protective effects of selected fruits, namely, berries, grapes, and citrus fruits, against neurological disorder is presented. The focus is on the neuroprotective potential of these fruits against neurodegenerative and mental disorders. The fruits selection was based on the vast reported pharmacological studies on their neuroprotection efficacies. Hence, the respective knowledge and limitations are discussed based on the biological and pharmacological evidence compiled from the previously reported laboratory, epidemiology, and intervention trials

Metabolomics approach in pharmacognosy

This chapter introduces readers to metabolomics as a new tool in pharmacognosy research. The escalating cost of medicine and health care services warrant the development of new ways and approaches in remedying the problem. Application of metabolomics approach in various aspects of pharmacognosy research may assist in reducing the cost of drug discovery and development.Metabolomics is a holistic approach in understanding biological processes at a system level. It incorporates an extensive use of instrumentation (especially spectroscopy) and statistical methods. The tool has been successfully tested in solving numerous problems from diverse fields, and offers good promises of its benefits and potential use. This chapter discusses to the basic understanding and procedures in metabolomics, including sample selection, collection, data acquisition, and data analysis. Relevant topics to pharmacognosy are also discussed to expose readers to some examples of the investigations involving metabolomics

In silico analysis of Mentha pipertia (phyto-constituents) as HMG coa reductase and squalene synthase inhibitors

Mentha piperita has been well known for its hypolipidemic activity. This prompted the present study to be carried out on a selected 12 phyto-constituents of Mentha piperita which are naringin, eriodictyol, eriodictyol 7-glucuronide, eriocitrin, hesperidin, isorohifolin, luteolin 7-glucoside, diosmin, rosmarinic acid, piperitoside, menthoside and caffeic acid. These phyto-constituents were evaluated on the docking behaviour of HMG CoA reductase (HMGR) and Squalene synthase (SQS) using Discovery Studio Version 3.1. In addition, molecular physicochemical, drug-likeness, ADMET (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion and Toxicity) and TOPKAT (Toxicity Prediction by Komputer Assisted Technology) analyses were done. The molecular physicochemical analysis revealed that eriodictyol, rosmarinic acid and caffeic acid (3 ligands) complied with Lipinski’s rule of five. ADMET analysis showed that eriodictyol and caffeic acid exhibited good intestinal absorption property. Docking studies and binding free energy calculations revealed that menthoside (-70.0 kcal/mol) and piperitoside (-65.32 kcal/mol) exhibited the maximum interaction energy with HMGR and SQS respectively. Caffeic acid exhibited very least binding energy irrespective of its target protein. Caffeic acid showed interaction with Leu546 and Gln212 amino acid residue of HMGR and SQS. Hence, the results of this present study exhibited the potential of these twelve ligands as hypolipidemic agents

Isolation of the cytotoxic constituent deoxypodophyllotoxin from the leaves of Juniperus chinensis

Deoxypodophyllotoxin was isolated as a cytotoxic constituent from ethanol extract of the leaves of Juniperus chinensis by assay-guided fractionation

Analysis of pesticide residues in tea using accelerated solvent extraction with in-cell cleanup and gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

A fast, simple and easily automated method was developed for the simultaneous determination of pesticide residues in tea using accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) with in-cell clean up and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). This method integrates extraction and clean up processes into a single step, by adding a clean-up sorbent along with the sample into the extraction cell. The efficiency of this method was characterized in terms of its recovery (with values ranging from 90 to 98%), repeatability along with intermediate precision (showing relative standard deviations less than 15%), and sensitivity (providing detection limits between 0.001 and 0.007mgg1). The concentration range of the pesticide residues found in the sample is from 0.008 to 0.161mgg1. The relative expanded uncertainty achieved for this method ranged from 24% to 34%. The results indicate that the proposed method is easy and reliable for the determination of pesticide residues in tea, and it is suitable for use in routine analysis

Metabolite profiling of Neptunia oleracea and correlation with antioxidant and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities using 1H NMR-based metabolomics

Neptunia oleracea is a plant consumed as vegetable and used as a traditional herb to treat several ailments. This study evaluated metabolite variations among N. oleracea leaf and stem subjected to air drying (AD), freeze drying (FD) and oven drying (OD) using proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) based metabolomics. The correlation was also studied for the metabolite content with total phenolic content (TPC), DPPH free radical scavenging and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities. A total of 18 metabolites were identified from N. oleracea extracts, including 10 primary metabolites, 5 flavonoids and 3 phenolic acids using NMR. Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry analysis (UHPLC-MS/MS) confirmed the presence of the secondary metabolites and revealed the flavonoid derivatives present. All the identified phenolics are first reported from this plant. Multivariate data analysis (MVDA) showed strong correlation between the metabolites with the antioxidant and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities of FD N. oleracea leaves. The compounds suggested to be responsible for the high activity of FD leaves include vitexin-2-O-rhamnoside, catechin, caffeic acid, gallic acid and derivatives of quercetin, kaempferol and myricetin. This study demonstrates that FD N. oleracea leaves are a potential natural source for antioxidant and α-glucosidase inhibitors

Quantitative HPLC analysis of benzene derivatives of Melicope ptelefolia leaves

A high performance liquid chromatography procedure for the quantitative determination of three marker benzene derivatives, 2,4,6-trihydroxy-3-prenyl acetophenone (tHPA) (1), 2,4,6-trihydroxy-3-geranyl acetophenone (tHGA) (2), and p-O-geranyl coumaric acid (GCA) (3), in the Melicope ptelefolia ethanolic leaf extracts, a medicinal herb obtained from a few locations of the Peninsula Malaysia, was described. The quantitative analysis was performed using high performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array detection on Xterra octadecylsiyl silica (ODS; 3.0 × 150 mm, 3.5 μm) column kept at 32°C, using gradient elution with acetonitrile and water containing 0.1% formic acid at a flow-rate of 1 ml/min with UV detection wavelength at 280 nm. All calibration curves showed good linearity (R2 of 0.999 to 1.0000) within the concentrations range of 2.5 × 10-3 to 0.1 mg/mL. The method was shown to be simple, sensitive, and reliable for qualitative and quantitative analysis of the marker compounds in M. ptelefolia leaf preparations