Polygala anatolica Boiss. et Heldr.: Is A Potential Remedy for Inflammation and Pain?

Species of Polygala genus have been used for the treatment of inflamation and pain in Turkish traditional medicine. The aim of the present study is to assess the anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of P. anatolica. n-Hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of the aerial parts and roots of P. anatolica were investigated for their anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects. The methanol extracts prepared from the aerial parts and roots of P. anatolica were found to be active in carrageenan- and PGE2-induced paw edema models and in Whittle method. Methanolic extract of the aerial part inhibited serotonin-induced hind paw edema, while the root extract did not exert inhibitory effect in the same model. In addition, Fr. B and C obtained from the methanol extract of P. anatolica aerial parts showed significant anti- inflammatory activity. Morover, the analgesic effect of the methanol extracts prepared from the roots and aerial parts and Fr.B and Fr.C were found to be statistically significant without inducing ulceration. The methanol extract obtained from the aerial parts of the plant and its saponoside and flavonoid fractions showed anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities in the trials

A Therapeutic Approach for Wound Healing by Using Essential Oils of Cupressus and Juniperus Species Growing in Turkey

Juniperus and Cupressus genera are mainly used as diuretic, stimulant, and antiseptic, for common cold and wound healing in Turkish folk medicine. In the present study, essential oils obtained from cones of Cupressus and berries of Juniperus were evaluated for their wound healing and anti-inflammatory effects. In vivo wound healing activity was evaluated by linear incision and circular excision experimental wound models, assessment of hydroxyproline content, and subsequently histopathological analysis. The healing potential was comparatively assessed with a reference ointment Madecassol. Additionally acetic-acid-induced capillary permeability test was used for the oils' anti-inflammatory activity. The essential oils of J. oxycedrus subsp. oxycedrus and J. phoenicea demonstrated the highest activities, while the rest of the species did not show any significant wound healing effect. The experimental study revealed that J. oxycedrus subsp. oxycedrus and J. phoenicea display remarkable wound healing and anti-inflammatory activities, which support the folkloric use of the plants

Original Article Wound Healing Activity of Rubus sanctus Schreber (Rosaceae): Preclinical Study in Animal Models

Young shoots of Rubus species have been used for healing of wounds, infected insect bites and pimples in folk medicine for ages. In order to evaluate the wound healing activity of Rubus sanctus, four different extracts were prepared from the whole aerial parts of the plant by using n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol, respectively. Incision wound healing model by using tensiometer on rats and excision model on mice were employed to assess the activity. Remarkable wound healing activity was observed with the ointment formulation of the methanol extract at 1% concentration on the mentioned models. The results of histopathological examination also supported the outcome of both incision and excision wound models. The wound healing effect was comparatively evaluated with a reference ointment Madecassol. The experimental data confirmed the ethnobotanical usage of R. sanctus

Bioactive compounds: a goldmine for defining new strategies against pathogenic bacterial biofilms?

Most human infectious diseases are caused by microorganisms growing as biofilms. These three-dimensional self-organized communities are embedded in a dense matrix allowing microorganisms to persistently inhabit abiotic and biotic surfaces due to increased resistance to both antibiotics and effectors of the immune system. Consequently, there is an urgent need for novel strategies to control biofilm-associated infections. Natural products offer a vast array of chemical structures and possess a wide variety of biological properties; therefore, they have been and continue to be exploited in the search for potential biofilm inhibitors with a specific or multi-locus mechanism of action. This review provides an updated discussion of the major bioactive compounds isolated from several natural sources - such as plants, lichens, algae, microorganisms, animals, and humans - with the potential to inhibit biofilm formation and/or to disperse established biofilms by bacterial pathogens. Despite the very large number of bioactive products, their exact mechanism of action often remains to be clarified and, in some cases, the identity of the active molecule is still unknown. This knowledge gap should be filled thus allowing development of these products not only as novel drugs to combat bacterial biofilms, but also as antibiotic adjuvants to restore the therapeutic efficacy of current antibiotics

Researches on the activities of some plants used for wound healing in Turkish folk medicine

Türkiye de yapılan etnobotanik çalışmalarda birçok bitkinin halk arasında yara iyileştirici amaçla yaygın olarak kullanıldığı kayıtlıdır. Çalışmamızda halk arasında yara iyileştirici amaçla sıklıkla kullanıldığı tespit edilen bitkilerden Cichorium intybus, Cistus creticus, Daphne oleoides subsp. kurdica, Daphne oleoides subsp. oleoides, Helichrysum graveolens ve Viscum album subsp. album bitkilerinin yapılan ön denemelerle aktiviteleri değerlendirilmiş ve C. intybus, D.oleoides subsp. kurdica, D. oleoides subsp. oleoides, H. graveolens bitkilerinden hazırlanan %85 lik metanollü ekstrelerin anlamlı derecede etkili olduğu saptanmıştır. Çalışmalarımız yara iyileştirici aktivitesi yüksek bulunan D. oleoides subsp. kurdica ve D. oleoides subsp. oleoides bitkileri üzerinde Biyolojik Aktivite ile Yönlendirilen Fraksiyonlama ve İzolasyon teknikleri (BAYF) kullanılarak yürütülmüştür. İn vivo yara iyileştirici ve anti-enflamatuvar aktivite deneylerinde aktivitesi yüksek çıkan D. oleoides subsp. kurdica ve D. oleoides subsp. oleoides metanollü ekstrelerinden elde edilen etil asetat alt ekstrelerinin silika jel kolon kromatografisi yöntemiyle ayırımı sağlanmış, elde edilen fraksiyonların etkileri aynı deney modelleri kullanılarak değerlendirilmiştir. Aktif olduğu tespit edilen fraksiyonlardan RP-HPLC tekniği kullanılarak Dafnetin, Demetildafnoretin-7-O-glukozit, Luteolin-7-O-glukozit, Triumbellin ve Kersetin-3-O-glukozit bileşikleri izole edilmiştir. İn vivo yara iyileştirici ve anti-enflamatuvar aktivite deneylerinde etkili olduğu tespit edilen Luteolin-7-O-glukozit ve Kersetin-3-O-glukozit bileşiklerinin etki mekanizmasını aydınlatmak üzere yapılan in vitro deneylerde her iki bileşiğin de hyaluronidaz ve kolajenaz enzimlerini inhibe ederek yara iyileşmesine katkıda bulunduğu tespit edilmiştir.In the ethnobotanical studies, several plants were reported to be used for wound healing in Turkish folk medicine. Among the frequently used-plants for wound healing in folk medicine Cichorium intybus, Cistus creticus, Daphne oleoides subsp. kurdica, Daphne oleoides subsp. oleoides, Helichrysum graveolens and Viscum album subsp. album were selected as the plant materials of this study. Cichorium intybus, Daphne oleoides subsp. kurdica, Daphne oleoides subsp. oleoides and Helichrysum graveolens were found to be significantly active in the pre-screening tests. Our researches proceeded by using Biological Activity Guided Fractionation and Isolation Assays on D. oleoides subsp. kurdica ve D. oleoides subsp. oleoides of which both have high wound healing activity. Ethyl acetate subextracts prepared from the methanolic extracts of D. oleoides subsp. kurdica and D. oleoides subsp. oleoides were shown to possess the highest wound healing and anti-inflammatory activities in the in vivo assays. Therefore, the ethyl acetate fractions were subjected to silicagel column chromatography to give subfarctions which were also applied on the same experimental models in order to be tested biologically. From the active subfractions Daphnetin, Demethyldaphnoretin-7-O-glucoside, Luteolin-7-O-glucoside, Triumbellin and Quercetin-3-O-glucoside were isolated by using RP-HPLC method. The flavonoid type compounds, Luteolin-7-O-glucoside and Quercetin-3-O-glucoside, which were found to be active in in vivo models, were also tested in in vitro enzymatic assays in order to elucidate the mechanism of action. Both compounds were found to possess hyaluronidase and collagenase enzyme inhibitory activities which could contribute the wound healing effect

Bioproduction process of natural products and biopharmaceuticals: biotechnological aspects

Decades of research have been put in place for developing sustainable routes of bioproduction of high commercial value natural products (NPs) on the global market. In the last few years alone, we have witnessed significant advances in the biotechnological production of NPs. The development of new methodologies has resulted in a better understanding of the metabolic flux within the organisms, which have driven manipulations to improve production of the target product. This was further realised due to the recent advances in the omics technologies such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and secretomics, as well as systems and synthetic biology. Additionally, the combined application of novel engineering strategies has made possible avenues for enhancing the yield of these products in an efficient and economical way. Invention of high-throughput technologies such as next generation sequencing (NGS) and toolkits for genome editing Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/CRISPR-associated 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) have been the game changers and provided unprecedented opportunities to generate rationally designed synthetic circuits which can produce complex molecules. This review covers recent advances in the engineering of various hosts for the production of bioactive NPs and biopharmaceuticals. It also highlights general approaches and strategies to improve their biosynthesis with higher yields in a perspective of plants and microbes (bacteria, yeast and filamentous fungi). Although there are numerous reviews covering this topic on a selected species at a time, our approach herein is to give a comprehensive understanding about state-of-art technologies in different platforms of organisms