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Herbs with Antidepressant Effects
Published in Scott Mendelson, Herbal Treatment of Major Depression, 2019
Polygala is a large genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Polygalaceae. The genus is distributed throughout much of the world in temperate zones and tropics. The species Polygala tenuifolia grows in Asia and has been an important herb in Traditional Chinese Medicine. In Chinese it is called “yuan zhi,” and it has traditionally been used to calm the mind and restore memory.1 It is also an important component in variety of herbal combinations used to treat syndromes analogous to MDD. The best-known combination in which it is an ingredient is Kaixinsan.2 However, it is included in other well-known combinations, including An shen yang xin cha, Gui pi wan, Tian wang bu xin dan, Ding xin wan, and An mian pian. Yeung et al. did not list it among the ten herbs most often used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat MDD. However, it is certainly a contender. The species Polygala senega is native to North America. Its common name is Seneca snakeroot, which harkens back to the Seneca people that used the plant to treat snakebite.3
The Brassica Napus Extract (BNE)-Loaded PLGA Nanoparticles as an Early Necroptosis and Late Apoptosis Inducer in Human MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells
Published in Nutrition and Cancer, 2022
Hanieh Shabestarian, Masoud Homayouni Tabrizi, Ali Es-haghi, Farzanehsadat Khadem
There are two main inducible cellular deaths such as apoptotic and necroptotic types, which are mediated by several types of anticancer compounds. Necroptosis is considered an important type of programmed cell death response (57, 58). A necroptosis response induces progressive tissue damage following the inflammatory reactions mediated by immune system stimulation (59). Therefore, inducing the necroptosis response in cancer cells and thus recruiting immune cells at tumor tissue core can efficiently remove cancer cells. Many stimuli could activate necroptosis response, which is mainly conducted by TNF-α protein in apoptosis-resistant cells such as MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines (60, 61). The apoptosis-resistant blockade in MCF-7 breast cancer cells can be bypassed by necroptosis inducers (60, 62). Other studies have shown that the pro-apoptotic and anti-angiogenic effects of PLGA nanoparticles loaded with different active compounds such as chrysin (21), Peganum harmala smoke (55), Polygala senega extract (63) and curcumin (64). Mukerjee et al by using MTT assay have exhibited that Cur loaded-PLGA is able to exert an inhibitory effect on viability of PC3 cells (45). Sulaiman et al showed that chrysin loaded PLGA induced apoptosis and cytotoxic effects in MCF-7 and SKOV-3 cells with IC50 about 155 and 50 µg/ml respectively (21). Chrysin-PLGA compared to BNE-PNP showed higher toxicity effects, which is probably due to differences in the materials used and the method of synthesis of nanoparticles. Similar to the present study, Paul et al reported that PLGA loaded with Polygala senega extract leads to the apoptosis in A549 cells with overexpression of caspase-3 and p53 (63). In 2021, Shabestarian et al investigated and confirmed the anti-angiogenic effects of PLGA nanoparticles loaded with Pecan smoke in in-vitro and in-vivo conditions. Similar results of the present study, showed that treatment with PLGA nanoparticles could have an inhibitory effect on the expression of VEFG as an important gene in angiogenesis (55). Nair et al. exhibited that cellular uptake of Curcumin loaded-PLGA in HeLa cells were enhanced compared to free Cur. They also demonstrated the antitumor activity of NCur using MTT and Annexin V/propidium iodide staining (65).