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A Pharmacological Appraisal of Antimalarial Plant Species
Published in Namrita Lall, Medicinal Plants for Cosmetics, Health and Diseases, 2022
Mahwahwatse J. Bapela, Precious B. Ramontja, Mcebisi J. Mabuza
Alchornea cordifolia (Schumach. & Thonn.) Muell. Arg., Azadirachta indica A. Juss., Guiera senegalensis J.F.Gmel. and Nauclea latifolia (Sm.) are antimalarial plant species that have demonstrated significant antiplasmodial activity against different Plasmodium parasites (Table 18.1). Alchornea cordifolia extract displayed a high selectivity to the FcM29 strain of P. falciparum (SI = 78) with an IC50 value of 0.08 µg/mL and a cytotoxicity value of 6.2 µg/mL on Hela cells. Azadiracta indica showed selectivity (SI = 115) for the W2 strain of P. falciparum with an IC50 of 0.02 µg/mL and cytotoxicity of 2.3 µg/mL on KB cells. Guiera senegalensis displayed selectivity (SI = 38) for the W2 strain of P. falciparum with a cytotoxicity value of 49.0 µg/mL on THP-1 cells. The water extract of N. latifolia showed selectivity (SI = 667) of the FcB1 strain of P. falciparum with an IC50 of 0.6 µg/mL and cytotoxicity of 400 µg/mL on human melanoma cells (> 1500 NBMH cells) (Adebayo and Krettli, 2011).
Water Pollution and Medicinal Plants
Published in Azamal Husen, Environmental Pollution and Medicinal Plants, 2022
Antul Kumar, Anuj Choudhary, Harmanjot Kaur, Ritesh Kumar, Radhika Sharma, Himani Gautam, Sahil Mehta
To date, more than 500 plant species are known to accumulate heavy metals. In medicinal plants, analytical results are the critical measures in evaluating the level of potential toxicity that could be dangerous to both humans and plants. Acalypha wilkesiana, Achyranthes aspera, Acorus calamus, Aegle marmelos, Aframomum melegueta, Alchornea cordifolia, Aloe vera, Andrographis paniculata, Artemisia nilagirica, Bergemia liquilata, Boerhavia diffusa, Calotropis procera, Carcum carvi, Cassia alata, Cassia rhombifolia, Celastrus paniculata, Chromolaena odorata, Datura metal and much more heavy metal accumulation by medicinal plants is chiefly caused via the dissolution of soluble metals in water which is contaminated and prone to contamination. However, few detection strategies exist that confirm heavy metal toxicity in medicinal plants. It also lacks standardization, techniques, and regulating governmental policies that detect permissible limits. Such a dearth restricts the development of herbal research and limits the immediate processing of new medicinal plants with improved traits. Authorities should estimate the safe values of metallic substances in medicinal plants. Moreover, extensive research focuses on such herbal plants or raw materials for marketing the pharmaceutical industries.
Green and chemically synthesized zinc oxide nanoparticles: effects on in-vitro seedlings and callus cultures of Silybum marianum and evaluation of their antimicrobial and anticancer potential
Published in Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology, 2021
Faryal Saeed, Muhammad Younas, Hina Fazal, Sadaf Mushtaq, Faiz ur Rahman, Muzamil Shah, Sumaira Anjum, Nisar Ahmad, Mohammad Ali, Christophe Hano, Bilal Haider Abbasi
These results indicate that callus treated with G-ZNPs shows highest cytotoxic effect, as compared to C-ZNPs. According to the previous report, callus extracts showed promising anticancer potential as compared to the extract of wild leaf of Moringa oleifera against HeLa cells [51]. Similarly, Lycopersicon esculentum and Alchornea cordifolia leaves extract-mediated ZnO-NPs also showed toxicity against HeLa cell lines [52,53], which support the results of our study. The underlying mechanism of ZnO-NPs in killing cancerous cells is not completely understood yet but various studies have tried to provide insight into the possible mechanisms [54]. Based on the hypothetical concept, the photoactivation of ZnO-NPs is predicted to induce the greater levels of ROS generation via apoptosis which, if effectively targeted to cancer cells, will lead to their selective destruction [55]. Another possible mechanism of ZnO killing human liver cancer cells is the generation of ROS and oxidative stress which has been attributed to small size and large surface area of ZnO-NPs that react with DNA molecule causing damage to both purines and pyrimidine, hence leading to cell death [56].
Flavonoids as inhibitors of human neutrophil elastase
Published in Journal of Enzyme Inhibition and Medicinal Chemistry, 2021
Katarzyna Jakimiuk, Jakub Gesek, Atanas G. Atanasov, Michał Tomczyk
The extracts obtained by subcritical water extraction from the stems, leaves, and berries of Aronia melanocarpa also reveal anti-elastase potential. At this stage, researchers determined both the total phenolic and total flavonoid contents. The leaves had the highest total phenolic and flavonoid contents, followed by the stems and berries, with 131.53 mg CAE/g extract, 49.96 mg CAE/g extract, and 13.88 mg CAE/g extract for phenolics, respectively, and 88.64 mg RE/g extract, 25.10 mg RE/g extract, and 10.00 mg RE/g extract for flavonoids, respectively. Moreover, flavonoids constitute over 70% of all phenolic compounds in aronia berries. All A. melanocarpa extracts expressed elastase inhibitory activity, with the highest potential observed in berry extracts (3.549 ± 0.113 mmol CAE/g extract)119. According to the LC–MS analysis, Libidibia ferrea bark and pod extracts are the sources of rutin, quercetin, kaempferol, apigenin, isorhamnetin, and taxifolin, and the samples showed approximately 36% elastase inhibition at 250 µg/mL for bark extract and 20% for pod extract120. Three flavonoids were isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction of the Alchornea cordifolia leaves: quercetin, myricetin 3-glucoside, and myricetin 3-rhamnoside. The anti-elastase activity was evaluated for aqueous and ethyl acetate extracts in cell-free and cellular models. In an acellular system, the IC50 values reached 4.7 and 2.2 mg/L for aqueous and ethyl acetate extracts, respectively. In a cellular model, polymorphonuclear neutrophils were stimulated by PMA (4β-phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate), CaI (calcium ionophore), and fMLP (N-formyl-methionyl-leucine-phenylalanine). The IC50 values in the stimulated cellular experiment were in the range of 5.9–8.6 mg/L in the ethyl acetate extract and 7.3–12.1 mg/L in the aqueous extract. Among the ethyl acetate and aqueous extracts, the more active extract was the ethyl acetate, which may be connected with its higher content of flavonoids121.
Study of aflatoxicosis reduction: effect of Alchornea cordifolia on biomarkers in an aflatoxin B1 exposed rats
Published in Drug and Chemical Toxicology, 2019
Jean-Baptiste Aholia Adépo, Pierre Manda, Jean Verdier Ngbé, Aïssata Diakité, Béatrice Tigori Sangaré, Sébastien Djédjé Dano
Other studies have shown the ability of scavengers to protect against carcinogenesis and other toxicities of aflatoxins administered either in pretreatment or simultaneously with the carcinogen. Synthetic scavengers such as butylated hydroxyl toluene (BHT), butylated hydroxyl anisole (BHA) and propyl gallate have shown their ability to prevent against carcinogenesis caused by AFB1 (Williams and Iatropoulos 1996, Chen et al.1992). Several studies also revealed other toxic effects of these synthetic products (Chen et al.1992, Ito et al.1983, Tran 2013). The increasing sensitivity of consumers to residual pollution and the toxic effects of these products have led to a renewed interest in the search for alternatives, like natural antioxidants. In recent years many studies have focused on natural antioxidants in relation to their ability to reduce the toxicity of aflatoxins. Alchornea cordifolia is a widespread plant and largely used in tropical Africa for the treatment of many ailments such as urinary infections, diarrhea, anemia and rheumatism (Adjanohoun 1994, Adjanohoun and Aké 1979, Kambu et al.1990, Ogungbamila and Samuelsson 1990, Tona et al.2000). This plant also has antibacterial (Kambu 1990, Muanza et al.1994, Okeke et al.1999, Ajali 2000), antifungal (Muanza et al.1994), antiparasitic (Tona et al.1998, Banzouzi et al.2002), anti-spasmodic (Ogungbamila and Samuelsson 1990, Tona et al.2000) and anti-inflammatory (Kouakou-Siransy et al.2010a) properties. Some pharmacological activities of A. cordifolia have been attributed to its high antioxidant potential (Kouakou-Siransy et al.2010a). The phytochemical studies have shown that the most important compounds of A. cordifolia leaves are essentially polyphenols, flavonoids, alkaloids, saponosides and tannins (Osadebe et al.2012, Mavar-Manga et al.2008, Kouakou-Siransy et al.2010b). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of A. cordifolia on biomarkers such as AFB1-lysine adduct and AFM1 in an AFB1 exposed rats.