Current Bioactive Compounds - Volume 21, Issue 2, 2025

Marine algae stand out as repositories of bioactive metabolites, widely harnessed in treating diverse diseases. Given the often-challenging side effects associated with conventional cancer treatments, researchers are increasingly turning their attention to marine algae as a promising source for discovering novel and potent anticancer compounds. In this study, we meticulously explored the potential anticancer activity of Spatoglossum variabile and Gracilaria corticata sourced from the Indian Ocean.

The secondary metabolites were extracted using methanol solvent according to the standard protocol. The extract was subjected to GC-MS analysis and evaluated for its short- and long-term cytotoxicity and anti-proliferative ability in the HCT116 cell line using MTT, clonogenic, and trypan blue dye exclusion assays, respectively.

The results indicate that increasing the concentration of algal extracts decreased the cell viability significantly, with an IC50 of 51.49 µg/mL (Spatoglossum variabile) and 37.50 µg /mL (Gracilaria corticata) in the HCT116 cell line. The results showed a significant reduction in colorectal cancer colony formation and a gradual reduction in cell proliferation. These results underscore the potential for targeted, low-toxicity biomedicines due to their selective cytotoxicity against cancer cells.

Our findings show that Spatoglosuum variabile & Gracilaria corticata extracts contain various bioactive compounds, display long-term and short-term cytotoxicity and anti-proliferative effects, which indicates that their constituent compounds might be further refined into effective anti-colorectal cancer medications.

Curculigo orchioides Gaertn, a plant belonging to the Hypoxidaceae family, is well-known for its traditional uses of all plant parts. This plant is commonly known as golden eye grass, black musli, Kali musli, or Kali Musali. Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that is commonly observed in older adults. It is caused by a variety of mechanisms, including neuroinflammation, which results in the loss of dopamine release when triggered and causes motor symptoms.

Ethanolic extract was prepared by shade-drying the leaves, making them into a coarse powder, and the extract was prepared by maceration technique with the help of ethanol. GCMS analysis and Haloperidol-induced Parkinsonism study were carried out to evaluate the anti-Parkinson activity in albino Wistar rats. Ethanolic extract of Curculigo orchioides was subjected to GCMS analysis. The National Institute of Standards and Technology database was used to interpret the mass spectrum of the GC-MS. The screening models were catalepsy, rotarod and a few in vitro models, namely the estimation of catalase acetylcholinesterase levels. The animals were divided into 6 groups, namely control, disease, standard (levodopa), low dose (100 mg/kg p.o.), medium dose (200 mg/kg p.o.), high dose (400 mg/kg p.o.) groups having 6 animals each were used for rotarod and catalepsy models for 14 days.

The results obtained showed a dose-dependent increase in the anti-Parkinson activity. The evaluation of neuromuscular movements of the ethanolic leaf extract of Curculigo orchioides showed that the pre-treatment with different ranges of dose (100 mg/ml, 200 mg/kg, and 400 mg/kg) suggested a dose-dependent significant increase in fall-off time when compared with both standard and disease groups GCMS analysis revealed the presence of flavonoids, Vitamin and fatty acid esters.

The anti-Parkinson activity of Flavonoids has been reported previously. Hence, the activity may be attributed to kaempferol-3-O-glucuronide.

Many quinone derivatives as of now utilized for anticancer medications. Especially, 1,4-naphthoquinones are dynamic derivatives, and it was broadly utilized in unrefined substances in the drugs and agrochemicals industry.

In this work, we planned and combined five different moieties into 2, 3 disubstituted naphthalene-1,4-dione molecules. Various spectral studies distinguished the synthetic designs of the produced compounds. The naphthoquinone derivatives were exposed to the primary molecular descriptor by Molinspiration programming, and all the descriptor values are within the specified value.

Each of the five naphthoquinone derivatives was docked against the Topoisomerase II utilizing Auto Dock program 4.2.5. (PDB: 3L4K). The docking tells us that the studied compounds possess significant to moderate inhibition toward the targeted enzymes. Among the studied compounds, compound L3 showed the most elevated binding score (-10.66 kcal/mol with one H-bond) than the adriamycin (-9.58 kcal/mol with two H-bonds) and compound L2 (- 9.86 kcal/mol with two H-bonds). The derivatives were tried for in-vitro cytotoxicity studies against MCF - 7 by the SRB method. Among them, compounds L2 (28.42±3.1 µg/mL) and L3 (29.38±3.2 µg/mL) were the most significant ones when contrasted with the control Adriamycin (15.28±3.4 µg/mL).

The current research indicates that the tested compounds show anticancer action against the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line. Thus, the study is an attempt to advance toward the identification of innovative anticancer drugs.

This investigation aims to explore the potential anti-Candida albicans effects of Chitosan nanocomposites.

Researchers searched several databases, including Scopus, PubMed, Science Direct, Cochrane, and Ovid, for articles published between 2000 and 2023 using specific keywords.

Of the 5,600 studies that were first searched in the databases, after removing duplicates (700 cases) and applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 43 studies were selected for evaluation after duplicate removal.

According to studies, the anti-Candida albicans properties of chitosan nanocomposites are more than routine antifungals such as nystatin; therefore, it can be concluded that Chitosan nanocomposites can be used to deal with Candida albicans.

In the past few decades, researchers have focused on finding the benefits of natural substances derived from plants.

This study aimed to evaluate the use of Brassica rapa seeds in poultry feed as an antioxidant and immunostimulant of host defenses.

We prepared three extracts using ethanol, Ethyl Acetate, and water. Spectrophotometric methods determined the total phenolic and flavonoid content in the three extracts. Antioxidant activity was assessed using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP), 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) radicals and β-Carotene bleaching methods. An assessment of their immunostimulant activities in vitro was performed on chicken immunity cell proliferation (splenocytes, thymocytes, and Bursa cells) and IgY production.

The total phenolic contents ranged from 462.5 to 794.8 mg /g of extract, the order of TPC was as follows: EtOAc > EtOH >Water. Flavonoid contents were, 63.7 mg in EtOH extract, 81.2 mg in EtOAc extract, and 108.7 mg/g Extract in aqueous extract. By DPPH, the IC50s of EtOH, EtOAc, and water, were 1.8 µg/ml, 2.4 µg/ml, and 1.5 µg/ml, respectively. Using the Ferric-Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP), we remarked that the EtOH and EtOAc extracts have important antioxidant powers. The ABTS assay indicated that EtOH and water had the highest activities with IC50s of 0.19 and 0.07, respectively. Finally, by the β-carotene bleaching test, we observed that the IC50 of the EtOH, EtOAc, and water were 62.1 µg/mL; 72.7 µg/mL, and 45.8 µg/mL, respectively. The results obtained indicate that Brassica aqueous extract stimulates humoral immunity by stimulating splenocyte (B and T-lymphocytes) and Bursa cell (B-lymphocyte) proliferation by more than 200% of response vs control. In addition, the aqueous extract highly stimulated the function of bursa cells by 208% of the reaction. In the same conditions, we recorded a stimulation of cellular immunity mediated by thymocytes by an increase in cell proliferation (352.7% of response) implicated in virus protection. These extracts also possessed an antimicrobial effect against diverse microorganisms such as coliforms and Staphylococcus. The FT-IR spectrum indicated that the hydroxyl group (phenol), hydroxybenzoic acid family, carbohydrate molecules such as glucopyranose, a carbonyl ester group, hydrocarbon chains (alkyls groups) were present.

This result could have interesting applications in the poultry feed industry to enhance the performance of animal development.

Periodontal disease and dental caries are two oral illnesses that are significantly influenced by microorganisms, hence the usefulness of finding natural substances to inhibit them.

This study aimed to assess the Eucalyptus globulus Labill. leaf and fruit essential oils effect against Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus sobrinus, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Fusobacterium nucleatum, and Candida albicans to study their anticariogenic and antiperiodonto pathogenic activities.

These activities were evaluated according to the determination of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC), anti-biofilm effects, and the impact on the adhesion to hydroxyapatite, a main component of the tooth.

Both leaf and fruit essential oils showed strong antibacterial activity against anaerobic bacteria: F. nucleatum (MIC of 0.012%) and P. gingivalis (MIC of 0.025%). Anticarcinogenic activity also showed MIC values of 0.06% against S. mutans and, 0.5% against S. sobrinus, and appropriate antifungal activity against C. albicans. It is interesting to note that both oils showed a significant inhibitory property to biofilm formation by the different studied species and significantly reduced the adhesion capacity of S. mutans and S. sobrinus to the hydroxyapatite surface at very low concentrations of 0.12 and 0.5% for S. mutans and S. sobrinus, respectively.

These results highlight the strong potential of E. globulus essential oils as antimicrobial and antibiofilm agents, as well as their ability to inhibit bacterial adhesion, which is promising for the prevention of dental caries and plaque. This implies that E. globulus may be a new alternative source of substances of medicinal interest that can be used in the pharmaceutical industry to produce antimicrobial agents against dental caries and oral infectious diseases.

The present study aimed to investigate the chemical profile and evaluate the antibacterial and antibiotic-modulating activity of the methanolic extract and ethyl acetate of the stem bark of C. quercifolius against standard and multiresistant strains.

The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration was determined by the microdilution method, and the modulating potential of the extracts on aminoglycoside and β-lactam antibiotics was evaluated.

The classes of secondary metabolites identified from qualitative chemical prospecting were flavones, flavonols, xanthones, flavonones, flavonols, catechins and leucoanthocyanidins. The assays showed inhibition only for Klebsiella pneumoniae-producing extended-spectrum β-lactamase, Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase and Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 with MICs of 256, 512 and 512 μg/mL, respectively. The extracts, when associated with gentamicin and amoxicillin, showed synergism against all standard and multiresistant strains, with the exception of Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase and Klebsiella pneumoniae producing extended-spectrum β-lactamase, respectively. When combined with amikacin, they also demonstrated synergism against multidrug-resistant strains; however, only the ethyl acetate extract had a synergistic effect against E. coli ATCC 25922. The association of penicillin with methanolic extract showed synergism only for Klebsiella pneumoniae producing extended-spectrum β-lactamase and S. aureus ATCC 29213, while the ethyl acetate extracts demonstrated synergism against S. aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae producing extended-spectrum β-lactamase.

It was found that C. quercifolius extracts have antibacterial potential against gram-negative bacteria. However, the need for additional research using specific methods against bacteria carrying different resistance mechanisms, especially gram-positive ones, is highlighted, with the aim of elucidating their mechanism of action.