A review of the herbal phosphodiesterase inhibitors; Future perspective of new drugs

Phosphodiesterase inhibitors (PDEIs) are a class of drugs that are widely used because of their various pharmacological properties including cardiotonic, vasodilator, smooth muscle relaxant, antidepressant, antithrombotic, bronchodilator, antiinflammatory and enhancer of cognitive function. In the recent years, interest in drugs of plant origin has been progressively increased. Some pharmacologically active substances that come from plants demonstrate PDEI activity. They mainly belong to alkaloids, flavonoids, and saponins. In this review, studies on herbal PDEI were reviewed and their possible therapeutic applications were discussed. Screening plants for PDE inhibitory activity may help to develop standardized phytotherapeutic products or find new sources for new lead structures with PDEI pharmacological activity. The studies discussed in this paper are mainly in vitro and for more reasonable and conclusive results, it is required to conduct in vivo and finally human and clinical tests.     

Prediction of stenosis behaviour in artery by neural network and multiple linear regressions

Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology - Blood flow analysis in the artery is a paramount study in the field of arterial stenosis evaluation. Studies conducted so far have reported the...     

Phototropin‐ and photosynthesis‐dependent mitochondrial positioning in Arabidopsis thaliana mesophyll cells

Mitochondria are frequently observed in the vicinity of chloroplasts in photosynthesizing cells, and this association is considered necessary for their metabolic interactions. We previously reported that, in leaf palisade cells of Arabidopsis thaliana, mitochondria exhibit blue‐light‐dependent redistribution together with chloroplasts, which conduct accumulation and avoidance responses under the control of blue‐light receptor phototropins. In this study, precise motility analyses by fluorescent microscopy revealed that the individual mitochondria in palisade cells, labeled with green fluorescent protein, exhibit typical stop‐and‐go movement. When exposed to blue light, the velocity of moving mitochondria increased in 30 min, whereas after 4 h, the frequency of stoppage of mitochondrial movement markedly increased. Using different mutant plants, we concluded that the presence of both phototropin1 and phototropin2 is necessary for the early acceleration of mitochondrial movement. On the contrary, the late enhancement of stoppage of mitochondrial movement occurs only in the presence of phototropin2 and only when intact photosynthesis takes place. A plasma‐membrane ghost assay suggested that the stopped mitochondria are firmly adhered to chloroplasts. These results indicate that the physical interaction between mitochondria and chloroplasts is cooperatively mediated by phototropin2‐ and photosynthesis‐dependent signals. The present study might add novel regulatory mechanism for light‐dependent plant organelle interactions.     

Purification and Characterization of DT 389 GCSF Fusion Protein: A Unique Immunotoxin Against the Human Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor Receptor

Immunotoxin is a recombinant fusion toxin which has been developed to kill cancer cells selectively. DT389GCSF as a new immunotoxin consists of a truncated     

Expression of Enterocin-P in HEK Platform: Evaluation of Its Cytotoxic Effects on Cancer Cell Lines and Its Potency to Interact with Cell-Surface Glycosaminoglycan by Molecular Modeling

International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics - Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Introduction of natural compounds with anticancer properties can be an...     

Effect of Drought Stress on Certain Morphological and Physiological Characteristics of a Resistant and a Sensitive Canola Cultivar

Water stress is one of the main abiotic factors that reduces plant growth, mainly due to high evaporative demand and low water availability. In order to evaluate the effects of drought stress on certain morphological and physiological characteristics of two canola cultivars, we conducted a factorial experiment based on a completely randomized design. The findings show that drought stress exacerbations result in the plant's response to stress due to increased canola resistance caused by changes in plant pigments, proline, catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, peroxidase, superoxide dismutase and malondialdehyde, glucose, galactose, rhamnose and xylose. These in turn ultimately influence the morphological characteristics of canola. Drought stress reduces the concentration of carotenoids, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophylls; however, glucose, galactose, rhamnose, xylose, proline, catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, malondialdehyde (in leaves and roots) and the chlorophyll a and b ratios were increased. Reduction of plant height, stem height, root length, fresh and dry weight of canola treated with 300 g/l PEG compared to non‐treatment were 0.264, 0.236, 0.394, 0.183 and 0.395, respectively. From the two canola cultivars, the morphological characteristics of the NIMA increased compared to the Ks7 cultivar. Interaction effects of cultivar and drought stress showed that NIMA cultivar without treatment had the highest number of morphological characteristics such as carotenoid concentration, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophylls a and b, whereas the cultivar with 300 g/l PEG (drought stress) had the highest amount of proline, malondialdehyde, soluble sugars and enzymes in leaves and roots. Increasing activity of oxidative enzymes and soluble sugars in canola under drought stress could be a sign of their relative tolerance to drought stress.     

Virtual Screening to Identify Novel Inhibitors of Pan ERBB Family of Proteins from Natural Products with Known Anti-tumorigenic Properties

International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics - Overexpression of ERBBB family of receptors (ERBB1, ERBB2, ERBB3 and ERBB4) has been found to be hyper-activated in a number of...     

The Human Cathelicidin LL-37, a Defensive Peptide Against Rotavirus Infection

International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics - LL-37 is a 37 amino acid long cationic peptide belonging to the cathelicidin family of antimicrobial peptides. Limited investigations...     

Pierce into the Native Structure of Ata,a Trimeric Autotransporter of Acinetobacter baumannii ATCC 17978

International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics - Acinetobacter baumannii is an important pathogen responsible for nosocomial infections worldwide. Trimeric autotransporters, the...     

Association of Allergic Symptoms with Dengue Infection and Severity: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

The relationship between the severity of dengue infection and allergy is still obscure. We conducted an electronic search across 12 databases for relevant articles reporting allergic symptoms, dengue infection, and dengue classification. These studies were categorized according to dengue severity and allergy symptoms, and a meta-analysis was performed by pooling the studies in each category. Among the included 57 articles, pruritus was the most common allergic sign followed by non-specified allergy and asthma(28.6%, 13%, and 6.5%, respectively). Despite the reported significant association of dengue with pruritus and total Ig E level(P \ 0.05), in comparison with non-dengue cases and healthy controls, there was no association between the different severe dengue group with pruritus, skin allergy, food allergy or asthma. However,removing the largest study revealed a significant association between asthma with dengue hemorrhagic fever(DHF) rather than dengue fever(DF). In comparison with DF, DHF was associated with Ig E positivity. Furthermore, specific-Ig E level was higher in secondary DF rather than primary DF. There was a possible association between allergy symptoms and dengue severity progression. Further studies are needed to clarify this association.