scholarly journals Evaluation of the Anti-Diabetic Activity of Some Common Herbs and Spices: Providing New Insights with Inverse Virtual Screening

Molecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (22) ◽  
pp. 4030 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreia S.P. Pereira ◽  
Antonio J. Banegas-Luna ◽  
Jorge Peña-García ◽  
Horacio Pérez-Sánchez ◽  
Zeno Apostolides
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Screening ◽  
Bioactive Compounds ◽  
Drug Targets ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Mechanisms Of Action ◽  
Retinol Binding Protein ◽  
Protein Targets ◽  
Treatment Of Diabetes ◽  
Culinary Herbs ◽  
Herbs And Spices

Culinary herbs and spices are widely used as a traditional medicine in the treatment of diabetes and its complications, and there are several scientific studies in the literature supporting the use of these medicinal plants. However, there is often a lack of knowledge on the bioactive compounds of these herbs and spices and their mechanisms of action. The aim of this study was to use inverse virtual screening to provide insights into the bioactive compounds of common herbs and spices, and their potential molecular mechanisms of action in the treatment of diabetes. In this study, a library of over 2300 compounds derived from 30 common herbs and spices were screened in silico with the DIA-DB web server against 18 known diabetes drug targets. Over 900 compounds from the herbs and spices library were observed to have potential anti-diabetic activity and liquorice, hops, fennel, rosemary, and fenugreek were observed to be particularly enriched with potential anti-diabetic compounds. A large percentage of the compounds were observed to be potential polypharmacological agents regulating three or more anti-diabetic drug targets and included compounds such as achillin B from yarrow, asparasaponin I from fenugreek, bisdemethoxycurcumin from turmeric, carlinoside from lemongrass, cinnamtannin B1 from cinnamon, crocin from saffron and glabridin from liquorice. The major targets identified for the herbs and spices compounds were dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4), intestinal maltase-glucoamylase (MGAM), liver receptor homolog-1 (NR5A2), pancreatic alpha-amylase (AM2A), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARA), protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 9 (PTPN9), and retinol binding protein-4 (RBP4) with over 250 compounds observed to be potential inhibitors of these particular protein targets. Only bay leaves, liquorice and thyme were found to contain compounds that could potentially regulate all 18 protein targets followed by black pepper, cumin, dill, hops and marjoram with 17 protein targets. In most cases more than one compound within a given plant could potentially regulate a particular protein target. It was observed that through this multi-compound-multi target regulation of these specific protein targets that the major anti-diabetic effects of reduced hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia of the herbs and spices could be explained. The results of this study, taken together with the known scientific literature, indicated that the anti-diabetic potential of common culinary herbs and spices was the result of the collective action of more than one bioactive compound regulating and restoring several dysregulated and interconnected diabetic biological processes.

scholarly journals Litholytic Activities of Natural Bioactive Compounds and Their Mechanism Insights

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 8702
Author(s):  
Naoual El Menyiy ◽  
Aya Khouchlaa ◽  
Nasreddine El Omari ◽  
Gokhan Zengin ◽  
Monica Gallo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urinary Tract ◽  
Medicinal Plants ◽  
Bioactive Compounds ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Web Of Science ◽  
Mechanisms Of Action ◽  
Bioactive Molecules ◽  
Multifactorial Disease ◽  
Scientific Databases ◽  
Starting Point

Urolithiasis is a disease characterized by the formation of stones, which are crystalline accretions that form in the urinary tract from minerals dissolved in the urine. Moreover, it is considered to be a complex and multifactorial disease, requiring treatment. Unfortunately, current treatments are insufficient or may induce several side effects. In fact, medicinal plants are among the anti-litholytic treatments that are strongly recommended by many studies. Indeed, these natural resources contain bioactive molecules of different natures, such as flavonoids, terpenoids, alkaloids, and phenolic acids, which have recently demonstrated very important anti-litholytic effects. The molecular mechanisms involved are multiple and variable, and can reach cellular and molecular levels. In this review, we have discussed in depth the work that has studied the bioactive molecules of medicinal plants and their major potential against urolithiasis. Scientific databases, including Web of Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar, were searched from their inception until April 2021.The cellular and molecular mechanisms are presented and discussed. Some mechanisms of action related to these bioactive compounds are highlighted. This review could provide a scientific starting point for further studies on urolithiasis and natural bioactive compounds, especially flavonoids.

scholarly journals Data-driven analysis of biomedical literature suggests broad-spectrum benevolence of culinary herbs and spices

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rakhi N K ◽  
Rudraksh Tuwani ◽  
Jagriti Mukherjee ◽  
Ganesh Bagler
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Broad Spectrum ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Biomedical Literature ◽  
Therapeutic Effects ◽  
Dietary Recommendations ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Culinary Herbs ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Herbs And Spices

AbstractSpices and herbs are key dietary ingredients used across cultures worldwide. Beyond their use as flavoring and coloring agents, the popularity of these aromatic plant products in culinary preparations has been attributed to their antimicrobial properties. Last few decades have witnessed an exponential growth of biomedical literature investigating the impact of spices and herbs on health, presenting an opportunity to mine for patterns from empirical evidence. Systematic investigation of empirical evidence to enumerate the health consequences of culinary herbs and spices can provide valuable insights into their therapeutic utility. We implemented a text mining protocol to assess the health impact of spices by assimilating, both, their positive and negative effects. We conclude that spices show broad-spectrum benevolence across a range of disease categories in contrast to negative effects that are comparatively narrow-spectrum. We also implement a strategy for disease-specific culinary recommendations of spices based on their therapeutic tradeoff against adverse effects. Further by integrating spice-phytochemical-disease associations, we identify bioactive spice phytochemicals potentially involved in their therapeutic effects. Our study provides a systems perspective on health effects of culinary spices and herbs with applications for dietary recommendations as well as identification of phytochemicals potentially involved in underlying molecular mechanisms.

scholarly journals Identification of the Molecular Mechanisms of Peimine in the Treatment of Cough Using Computational Target Fishing

Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 1105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lihua Zhang ◽  
Mingchao Cui ◽  
Shaojun Chen
Keyword(s):  
Drug Targets ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Kegg Pathway ◽  
Interaction Network ◽  
Biological Processes ◽  
Protein Targets ◽  
Functional Annotations ◽  
Pathway Enrichment ◽  
Protein Protein Interaction ◽  
Target Fishing

Peimine (also known as verticine) is the major bioactive and characterized compound of Fritillariae Thunbergii Bulbus, a traditional Chinese medicine that is most frequently used to relieve a cough. Nevertheless, its molecular targets and mechanisms of action for cough are still not clear. In the present study, potential targets of peimine for cough were identified using computational target fishing combined with manual database mining. In addition, protein-protein interaction (PPI), gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses were performed using, GeneMANIA and Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) databases respectively. Finally, an interaction network of drug-targets-pathways was constructed using Cytoscape. The results identified 23 potential targets of peimine associated with cough, and suggested that MAPK1, AKT1 and PPKCB may be important targets of pemine for the treatment of cough. The functional annotations of protein targets were related to the regulation of immunological and neurological function through specific biological processes and related pathways. A visual representation of the multiple targets and pathways that form a network underlying the systematic actions of peimine was generated. In summary, peimine is predicted to exert its systemic pharmacological effects on cough by targeting a network composed of multiple proteins and pathways.

scholarly journals Application of Bioactive Thermal Proteome Profiling to Decipher the Mechanism of Action of the Lipid Lowering 132-Hydroxy-pheophytin Isolated from a Marine Cyanobacteria

Marine Drugs ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Carrasco del Amor ◽  
Sara Freitas ◽  
Ralph Urbatzka ◽  
Olatz Fresnedo ◽  
Susana Cristobal
Keyword(s):  
Bioactive Compounds ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Functional Characterization ◽  
Bioactive Compound ◽  
Lipid Lowering ◽  
Marine Cyanobacteria ◽  
Protein Targets ◽  
Pheophytin A ◽  
Proteome Profiling ◽  
Obesity And Diabetes

The acceleration of the process of understanding the pharmacological application of new marine bioactive compounds requires identifying the compound protein targets leading the molecular mechanisms in a living cell. The thermal proteome profiling (TPP) methodology does not fulfill the requirements for its application to any bioactive compound lacking chemical and functional characterization. Here, we present a modified method that we called bTPP for bioactive thermal proteome profiling that guarantees target specificity from a soluble subproteome. We showed that the precipitation of the microsomal fraction before the thermal shift assay is crucial to accurately calculate the melting points of the protein targets. As a probe of concept, the protein targets of 132-hydroxy-pheophytin, a compound previously isolated from a marine cyanobacteria for its lipid reducing activity, were analyzed on the hepatic cell line HepG2. Our improved method identified 9 protein targets out of 2500 proteins, including 3 targets (isocitrate dehydrogenase, aldehyde dehydrogenase, phosphoserine aminotransferase) that could be related to obesity and diabetes, as they are involved in the regulation of insulin sensitivity and energy metabolism. This study demonstrated that the bTPP method can accelerate the field of biodiscovery, revealing protein targets involved in mechanisms of action (MOA) connected with future applications of bioactive compounds.

Unraveling the action mechanism of Buyang Huanwu Tang (BYHWT) for Cerebral Ischemia by Systematic Pharmacological Methodology

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shi-tang Ma ◽  
Ning Zhang ◽  
Ge Hong ◽  
Cheng-tao Feng ◽  
Sheng-wei Hong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Ischemia ◽  
Virtual Screening ◽  
Signaling Pathways ◽  
Bioactive Compounds ◽  
Enrichment Analysis ◽  
Material Base ◽  
Lead Discovery ◽  
Binding Effect ◽  
Bioactive Ingredients ◽  
Compound Target

Background: Buyang Huanwu Tang (BYHWT) and relevant Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has its unique advantages in the treatment of cerebral ischemia. However, its pharmacological mechanism have not been fully explained. Objective: Base on the multi-component, also the entire disease network targets, the present study set out to identify major bioactive ingredients, key disease targets, and pathways of BYHWT against cerebral ischemia disease by systematic pharmacological methodology. Methods: Both the bioactive compounds from the BYHWT and the positive drugs against cerebral ischemia were fully investigated. The binding targets of the positive drugs were then obtained. A virtual screening protocol was then used to highlight the compound-target interaction. And network was constructed to visual the compound-target binding effect after docking analysis. Moreover，the targets enrichment analysis for biological processes and pathways were revealed to further explore the function of bio-targets protein gene and its role in the signal pathway. Results: A total of 382 active ingredients of the BYHWT and 23 candidate disease targets were identified. Virtual screening results indicated that multiple bioactive compounds targeted multiple proteins. Each compounds act on one or more targets. The mechanisms were linked to 20 signaling pathways, and the key mechanism was related to serotonergic synapse, calcium signaling pathway and camp signaling pathways. Conclusion: The present study explored the bioactive ingredients and mechanisms of BYHWT against cerebral ischemia by systematic pharmacological methodology. the novel methodology would provide a reference for the lead discovery of precursors, disease mechanism and material base for TCM.

Carbazole Derivatives as Kinase-Targeting Inhibitors for Cancer Treatment

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 444-465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Ceramella ◽  
Domenico Iacopetta ◽  
Alexia Barbarossa ◽  
Anna Caruso ◽  
Fedora Grande ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Progression ◽  
Drug Targets ◽  
Mechanisms Of Action ◽  
Biological Pathways ◽  
G Protein Coupled Receptors ◽  
Ability To Act ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Activity Of Enzymes ◽  
Intercalating Agents ◽  
G Protein Coupled

Protein Kinases (PKs) are a heterogeneous family of enzymes that modulate several biological pathways, including cell division, cytoskeletal rearrangement, differentiation and apoptosis. In particular, due to their crucial role during human tumorigenesis and cancer progression, PKs are ideal targets for the design and development of effective and low toxic chemotherapeutics and represent the second group of drug targets after G-protein-coupled receptors. Nowadays, several compounds have been claimed to be PKs inhibitors, and some of them, such as imatinib, erlotinib and gefitinib, have already been approved for clinical use, whereas more than 30 others are in various phases of clinical trials. Among them, some natural or synthetic carbazole-based molecules represent promising PKs inhibitors due to their capability to interfere with PK activity by different mechanisms of action including the ability to act as DNA intercalating agents, interfere with the activity of enzymes involved in DNA duplication, such as topoisomerases and telomerases, and inhibit other proteins such as cyclindependent kinases or antagonize estrogen receptors. Thus, carbazoles can be considered a promising this class of compounds to be adopted in targeted therapy of different types of cancer.

Influence of Plant Bioactive Compounds on Intestinal Epithelial Barrier in Poultry

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 566-577 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amlan Kumar Patra
Keyword(s):  
Bioactive Compounds ◽  
Barrier Function ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Digestive Enzyme ◽  
Intestinal Barrier ◽  
Feed Additives ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Intestinal Barrier Function ◽  
Poultry Production ◽  
Poultry Feeding

Natural plant bioactive compounds (PBC) have recently been explored as feed additives to improve productivity, health and welfare of poultry following ban or restriction of in-feed antibiotic use. Depending upon the types of PBC, they possess antimicrobial, digestive enzyme secretion stimulation, antioxidant and many pharmacological properties, which are responsible for beneficial effects in poultry production. Moreover, they may also improve the intestinal barrier function and nutrient transport. In this review, the effects of different PBC on the barrier function, permeability of intestinal epithelia and their mechanism of actions are discussed, focusing on poultry feeding. Dietary PBC may regulate intestinal barrier function through several molecular mechanisms by interacting with different metabolic cascades and cellular transcription signals, which may then modulate expressions of genes and their proteins in the tight junction (e.g., claudins, occludin and junctional adhesion molecules), adherens junction (e.g., E-cadherin), other intercellular junctional proteins (e.g., zonula occludens and catenins), and regulatory proteins (e.g., kinases). Interactive effects of PBC on immunomodulation via expressions of several cytokines, chemokines, complement components, pattern recognition receptors and their transcription factors and cellular immune system, and alteration of mucin gene expressions and goblet cell abundances in the intestine may change barrier functions. The effects of PBC are not consistent among the studies depending upon the type and dose of PBC, physiological conditions and parts of the intestine in chickens. An effective concentration in diets and specific molecular mechanisms of PBC need to be elucidated to understand intestinal barrier functionality in a better way in poultry feeding.

Identifying Alzheimer’s Disease-related miRNA Based on Semi-clustering

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 216-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianyi Zhao ◽  
Donghua Wang ◽  
Yang Hu ◽  
Ningyi Zhang ◽  
Tianyi Zang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Drug Targets ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Feature Vector ◽  
Mirna Gene ◽  
Interaction Network ◽  
Gene Interaction ◽  
Proteinprotein Interaction ◽  
Synaptic Structures

Background: More and more scholars are trying to use it as a specific biomarker for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Multiple studies have indicated that miRNAs are associated with poor axonal growth and loss of synaptic structures, both of which are early events in AD. The overall loss of miRNA may be associated with aging, increasing the incidence of AD, and may also be involved in the disease through some specific molecular mechanisms. Objective: Identifying Alzheimer’s disease-related miRNA can help us find new drug targets, early diagnosis. Materials and Methods: We used genes as a bridge to connect AD and miRNAs. Firstly, proteinprotein interaction network is used to find more AD-related genes by known AD-related genes. Then, each miRNA’s correlation with these genes is obtained by miRNA-gene interaction. Finally, each miRNA could get a feature vector representing its correlation with AD. Unlike other studies, we do not generate negative samples randomly with using classification method to identify AD-related miRNAs. Here we use a semi-clustering method ‘one-class SVM’. AD-related miRNAs are considered as outliers and our aim is to identify the miRNAs that are similar to known AD-related miRNAs (outliers). Results and Conclusion: We identified 257 novel AD-related miRNAs and compare our method with SVM which is applied by generating negative samples. The AUC of our method is much higher than SVM and we did case studies to prove that our results are reliable.

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