Protective effect of (-) α-bisabolol on markers of oxidative stress in erythrocytes subjected to oxidative insult

(-)-α-bisabolol is a sesquiterpene alcohol found as a major component of essential oil of chamomile (Matricaria recutita L., Chamomilla recutita L., Matricaria chamomilla L.; Family Asteraceae). Chamomile, one of the most ancient and widely recognized herbs to mankind, has been used traditionally for centuries as an anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, carminative, mild astringent and healing medicine. It is also known to be very helpful as an external agent for encouraging the rapid healing of ulcers and burns without infection, as well as persistent skin problems such as eczema and psoriasis. Since clinical trials and human studies are limited, we have investigated the effect of (-)-α-bisabolol on markers of oxidative stress in human erythrocytes by incubating with hydrogen peroxide (2mM) and tert-butyl hydroperoxide (10 µM). Subjecting erythrocyte to oxidative stress caused a significant alteration in reduced glutathione GSH), malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration as well as superoxide dismutase and catalase activity compare to control. Presence of (-)-α-bisabolol as low as 0.1µM in incubation medium protected the erythrocytes from oxidative stress and helps to maintain the basal level of GSH and MDA. The activity of superoxide dismutase and catalase were also restored in a concentration-dependent manner (0.01-100µM). The effect was also compared with L-Ascorbic acid, quercetin and BHT. Our findings provide evidence for the protection of oxidative stress in erythrocytes by (-)-α-bisabolol that could be considered for further studies

Weight matrix based identification of terpene synthases conserved motifs in Arabidopsis thaliana proteome

Terpenes comprise the most diverse collection of natural products. Out of more than 30,000 individual terpenoids identified, at least half are synthesized by plants. A relatively small, but quantitatively significant, number of terpenoids are involved in primary plant metabolism. However, the vast majorities are classified as secondary metabolites; compounds not required for plant growth and development but presumed to have an ecological function in communication or defense and are widely used in industrial applications. Terpene hydrocarbon scaffolds are generated by the action of the mechanistically intriguing family of mono-, sesqui-, and diterpene synthases collectively termed as terpene synthases, that catalyze multistep reactions with diphosphorylated substrates of 10 (geranyl diphosphate), 15 (farnesyl diphosphate) or 20 (geranylgeranyl diphosphate) carbons. In the studied work, we performed a computational study on proteome wide identification of terpene synthase motifs in Arabidopsis thaliana proteome on the basis of weight matrix approach. We have developed an optimal weight matrix for the identification of terpene synthase motifs in the plant’s proteome. Weight matrix was constructed by aligning orthologous sequences of known terpene synthases originated from diverse plant species viz., Abies grandis, Nicotiana tobaccum etc. Sequences of detected domains & motifs were retrieved through SwissProtKB/NCBI on the basis of specific conservation IDs of Prosite, Pfam, Interpro, Prodom, COG, TIGR databases, while position specific scoring matrices were made through MEME, MotifSampler, PossuMsearch tools. Weight matrix based search of conserved motifs in the proteome of A. thaliana was done through ESA, Lahead and Simple algorithm based search tools of PossuMsearch biosuite in Linux system. Prediction was first validated by using positive control data set and optimized the method to reach prediction accuracy upto >90%. After tool performance evaluation, prediction was made on whole proteome at specific threshold/score value. Significant results were found in A. thaliana with motif similarity ranges from 80% to 100%. This proteome wide search model paves the path to identify more terpene synthases genes in A. thaliana, as well as in other plant systems

Bioconversion of eugenol into food flavouring agent vanillin

Microorganisms have the ability to chemically modify a wide variety of organic compounds by a process referred to as biological or microbial transformation, or in general, bioconversion. The microbial cells and their catalytic machinery (enzymes) accept a wide array of complex molecules as substrates, yielding products with unparallel chiral (enantio-), positional (region-) and chemical (chemo-) selectivity through various biochemical reactions. The present study was formulated on the objective of the conversion of abundantly available phytomolecules eugenol into vanillin, a compound of industrial importance, using microorganisms Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These microbes were found to be capable of converting eugenol to industrially important cost-effective products, vanillin (used as flavouring agent). The results were analyzed using thin layer and gas chromatographic techniques. Our results demonstrated that A. flavus, A. niger and P. aerouginosa were able to transform eugenol to vanillin. Our findings may provide a novel approach for the production of cost-effective vanillin using microorganisms

First trimester uterine rupture-a rare but catastrophic event: a case report

Uterine rupture is a rare but life threatening obstetrical emergency. It often occurs at term during trail of labour but rarely may occur during early pregnancy in first trimester. Here, we report a case of 28 years, G2P1+0L0 at 3 months of pregnancy with fundal rupture in shock with history of previous caesarean section. Ultrasound report revealed massive hemoperitoneum (2 litres) with dead fetus lying outside the uterine cavity. Emergency laparotomy was performed and uterine repair was done. The differential diagnosis for hemoperitoneum is early pregnancy includes bleeding corpus luteum, heterotropic pregnancy or ectopic pregnancy and molar pregnancy with secondary invasion. The possibility of uterine rupture should also be kept in mind. Prompt diagnosis and early management is important to reduce the morbidity and mortality

Hepatorenal protective action of Spirulina platensis against beryllium induced hepatorenal dysfunction and histopathological alterations in rats

23-32Beryllium (Be) is highly toxic to human, induces oxidative stress and leads to Chronic Beryllium Disease (CBD) or berylliosis, apoptosis and cancer. In this study, we have investigated the antioxidative and hepatorenal protective potential of Spirulina platensis (SP) against beryllium (Be) induced alterations in hepatorenal biochemical parameters, oxidative stress and histopathological alterations in rats. Different doses of SP (50, 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg, p.o.) were administered (once a day daily for 7 days) against Be(NO3)2 (1 mg/kg, i.p. once a day daily, for 28 days) induced toxic menifestations in female Wistar rats. Be decreased GSH, SOD, CAT, G-6-Pase, ALP and ATPase activities and increased TBARS and ACP activity in liver and kidney. Be enhanced ALT, AST, bilirubin, uric acid, creatinine, total cholesterol and decreased haemoglobin, total protein, sugar in blood. Be deposited in vital organs of rats and altered the histoarchitecture of liver and kidney. Different doses of SP showed dose dependent recovery. SP @400 mg/kg showed significant recovery against Be induced oxidative stress, maintained hepatorenal function towards normal and reduced beryllium body burden. Results of the study. well supported by histopathological observations, conclude that SP possesses hepatorenal protective potential against Be induced toxicity in rats

Experimental Assessment of Moringa oleifera Leaf and Fruit for Its Antistress, Antioxidant, and Scavenging Potential Using In Vitro and In Vivo Assays

We have investigated effect of Moringa oleifera leaf and fruit extracts on markers of oxidative stress, its toxicity evaluation, and correlation with antioxidant properties using in vitro and in vitro assays. The aqueous extract of leaf was able to increase the GSH and reduce MDA level in a concentration-dependent manner. The ethanolic extract of fruit showed highest phenolic content, strong reducing power and free radical scavenging capacity. The antioxidant capacity of ethanolic extract of both fruit and leaf was higher in the in vitro assay compared to aqueous extract which showed higher potential in vivo. Safety evaluation studies showed no toxicity of the extracts up to a dose of 100 mg/kg body weight. Our results support the potent antioxidant activity of aqueous and ethanolic extract of Moringa oleifera which adds one more positive attribute to its known pharmacological importance

Ablation of RNA interference and retrotransposons accompany acquisition and evolution of transposases to heterochromatin protein CENPB

Inactivation of retrotransposons is accompanied by the emergence of centromere-binding protein-B (CENPB) in Schizosaccharomyces, as well as in metazoans. The RNA interference (RNAi)-induced transcriptional silencing (RITS) complex, comprising chromodomain protein-1 (Chp1), Tas3 (protein with unknown function), and Argonaute (Ago1), plays an important role in RNAi-mediated heterochromatinization. We find that whereas the Ago1 subunit of the RITS complex is highly conserved, Tas3 is lost and Chp1 is truncated in Schizosaccharomyces cryophilus and Schizosaccharomyces octosporus. We show that truncated Chp1 loses the property of heterochromatin localization and silencing when transformed in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Furthermore, multiple copies of CENPB, related to Tc1/mariner and Tc5 transposons, occur in all Schizosaccharomyces species, as well as in humans, but with loss of transposase function (except Schizosaccharomyces japonicus). We propose that acquisition of Tc1/mariner and Tc5 elements by horizontal transfer in S. pombe (and humans) is accompanied by alteration of their function from a transposase/endonuclease to a heterochromatin protein, designed to suppress transposon expression and recombination. The resulting redundancy of RITS may have eased the selection pressure, resulting in progressive loss or truncation of tas3 and chp1 genes in S. octosporus and S. cryophilus and triggered similar evolutionary dynamics in the metazoan orthologues

Biotransformation of artemisinin mediated through fungal strains for obtaining derivatives with novel activities

Artemisinin, a sesquiterpene lactone, is the active antimalarial constituent of Artemisia annua. Several fungal strains Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger and Picchia pastoris were used to biotransform artemisinin. Among these strains, A. flavus was the only microorganism capable of transforming artemisinin to deoxyartemisinin in higher yields than the previous reports. The structure of deoxyartemisinin was elucidated by spectroscopy. Deoxyartemisinin showed antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis and S. mutans at a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 1 mg/mL compared to artemisinin whose MIC was >2 mg/mL

Cancer chemopreventive action of α-(-)-bisabolol, a sesquiterpene alcohol involves inhibition of cathepsin D and ornithine decarboxylase via tramping nitric oxide

Terpenoids, traditionally used for cosmetic and medicinal purposes, are currently being explored as cancer chemopreventive as well as chemotherapeutic agent in clinical trials. α-(-)-bisabolol, a naturally occurring monocyclic sesquiterpene alcohol is a major component of essential oil of chamomile (Matricaria recutita L., Chamomilla recutita L., Matricaria chamomilla; Family Asteraceae). As substantiated previously, α-(-)-bisabolol is known to have antimicrobial, anti-irritant, anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic properties. It also affects cell viability and growth of various human and murine cell lines by either inducing apoptosis or suppressing Akt activation or down regulating expression of some genes implicated in carcinogenesis. To elucidate the possible mechanism for its cancer chemopreventive action, herein we are reporting dose-dependent effect of α-(-)-bisabolol on ornithine decarboxylase (ODC, a key rate limiting enzyme in mammalian polyamine biosynthesis), cathepsin D (CATD, a lysosomal aspartyl protease) and dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR, a protein of purine biosynthetic pathway) all of these proteins get over-expressed during cell transformation, proliferation and malignancy. Our results demonstrate greater activity of α-(-)-bisabolol by exhibiting potent inhibition of ODC (99% at a concentration of 100μM with an IC50 value of 0.01μM) and CATD (22% at 10μM). The molecule did not affect DHFR activity significantly. To establish the hypothesis whether inhibition of CATD and ODC involves tramping of nitric oxide (NO), we have also investigated the scavenging potential of α-(-)-bisabolol and the results were found to be promising with an IC50 of 0.1μM. Our findings suggest that α-(-)-bisabolol not only inhibits ODC and CATD activity through scavenging of NO radicals but also exerts anti-tumour promoting properties which may perhaps be due to channeling of arginine in the NO and polyamine biosynthesis pathways. These results provide a possibility of developing α-(-)-bisabolol as a viable cancer chemopreventive agent