This study explores the antibacterial and antioxidant properties of Capparis spinosa essential oils from seven Algerian populations, using in vitro and molecular modeling approaches, specifically targeting bacterial biofilm formation. EOs demonstrated highly variable antimicrobial activity, with the greatest sensitivity observed in Staphylococcus aureus (inhibition zone up to 44.3 mm) and Bacillus cereus (up to 37.3 mm). The antioxidant activity was significant (IC50 0.85 mg/mL) and confirmed by HPTLC. In silico molecular docking targeted bacterial biofilm, revealing a high binding affinity of -6.9 kcal/mol for the α-Duprezianene. Furthermore, Molecular modeling studies, including SwissADME and OSIRIS Property Explorer, predicted favorable pharmacokinetic (ADME) profiles and low toxicity risks for the active compounds. These results support the traditional use of C. spinosa and its potential as a source for novel, safe, and effective anti-biofilm agents.
Rauvolfia verticillata is a highly significant and rare medicinal shrub belonging to the family Apocynaceae, renowned as a primary source of pharmacologically active indole alkaloids. This study aims to isolate and characterize the bioactive secondary metabolites derived from the methanolic stem extract of R. verticillata. To achieve this, the dried stem powder was subjected to exhaustive extraction with methanol. The crude methanolic extract was subsequently fractionated via column chromatography. The resulting fractions were monitored and evaluated using Thin-Layer Chromatography (TLC); fractions exhibiting a single, distinct band were identified as isolated, homogenous compounds. Through this chromatographic workflow, two major indole alkaloids, reserpine and yohimbine and one coumarin derivative, seselin, were successfully isolated. The structural elucidation and chemical integrity of these pure compounds were comprehensively confirmed using an array of spectroscopic and spectrometric techniques, including Ultraviolet-Visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS), Fourier-Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. To fully ascertain the therapeutic potential of the extract and its isolated compounds, future investigations will focus on evaluating their toxicity profiles and conducting in vivo pharmacological studies.
Utilization of Syzygium polyanthum (Wight) Walp. as a food flavouring and aroma enhancer plants seems to diminish over time. From a preliminary study, this problem is due to the difficulty of collecting the plants from the wild, longer preparation time and shorter shelf life even though it has the potential to be commercialized as a natural flavouring source. Therefore, this study was conducted to develop the ready-to-use (RTUP) product and evaluate the differences between the fresh leaves and the RTUP developed. The proximate composition was determined using standard AOAC methods. The antioxidant activity was determined using DPPH and FRAP assays. The rehydration ratio of RTUP was determined based on the effect of temperature on recovery time. Sensory test involving 80 semi-trained panellists was conducted to study the acceptability of product developed. Ready-to-used product has higher content of ash (6.61%), crude protein (6.83%), crude fat (3.28%), carbohydrate (84.68%), and energy (396.33 kcal/100 g). Scavenging capacity against free radicals between fresh leaves (1.7 mg/mL) and RTUP (1.4 mg/mL) showed no significant different meanwhile the ferric reducing power ability showed a significant difference at 9.4 mg/g and 5.6 mg/g respectively. This study recorded that the recovery time of RTUP decreases as the temperature increase. Furthermore, the panellist showed positive response toward sensory perception of RTUP. However, it is suggested to improve the formulation of RTUP in order to allow more functions and value to be domesticated.
Lycium truncatum Y.C.Wang is a medicinal and environmentally valuable shrub belonging to the family of Solanaceae. Due to desertification, prolonged drought, overgrazing, and mining activities, it has been listed as a rare shrub in the Mongolian Red Book and the Checklist of Native Vascular Plants of Mongolia. To establish an initial report on the genetic fidelity assessment of micropropagated L. truncatum, two-DNA-based techniques, Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and Inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) marker analysis were performed. The plantlets were micropropagated on DKW medium supplemented with 2.0 mg/L kinetin (Kin) and 0.1 mg/L naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), and acclimatised in the culture room (ex vitro) after hardening off in a peat moss (2:1) mixture. A total of 10 RAPD and 10 ISSR primers were used in the present study; 14 primers produced clear and scorable amplicons. RAPD analysis generated a total of 37 bands, of which 30 (81.1%) were monomorphic. The percentage of polymorphism was low, with 18.9% polymorphism among all samples. The similarity coefficient was between 0.90 and 0.91 between the hardened plants and between the wild type. ISSR analysis revealed a total of 52 bands, of which 31 (59.6%) were monomorphic. The percentage of polymorphism was 40.4% for all samples. The similarity coefficient ranged from 0.77 to 0.83, while the mean similarity between the two primer sets was 0.84 to 0.87. The result could provide the theoretical basis for a large-scale micropropagation protocol of L. truncatum.
Phenylpropanoids are economically important secondary metabolites with strong pharmacological activity substantively, and their pathways often can be adjusted by abiotic elicitors in plant tissue cultures. Silver nitrate, copper chloride, salicylic acid, and hydrogen peroxide affect the phenylpropanoid such as rosmarinic acid (RA) in hairy root (HR) cultures of Prunella vulgaris. Hairy roots (HRs) were developed via Agrobacterium rhizogenes mediated transformation and cultured under dark and agitated conditions. After treatment for 3 days, we used HPLC to quantify four phenylpropanoids, caffeic acid, benzoic acid, rutin, and quercetin from the treatments with different concentrations of elicitors. The most potent elicitor was salicylic acid which increased total phenols by 46.7±1.38 μg/g in control to 95.46±12.63 μg/g at 0.5 mM, largely on account of a nearly threefold increase in caffeic acid (32.15±5.67 μg/g) and a doubled rutin (59.64±6.71 μg/g) level. At 0.5 mM CuCl2, the accumulation of phenols was increased (64.83±2.62 μg/g), due mainly to an increase in rutin levels (45.46±2.11 μg/g) and caffeic acid (13.18±0.04 μg/g). At a concentration of 1mg/L AgNO3, the production of caffeic acid and quercetin was moderately induced (47.01±1.87 μg/g) but suppressed at higher concentrations. The H2O2 treatments demonstrated a low-level elicitation effect with total phenolics maximum of 48.93±1.21 μg/g (100 mM), and a more gradual induction of benzoic acid (1.6±0.16 μg/g) and rutin (32.27±0.16 μg/g). Overall quercetin content decreased in nearly all the treatments and was especially evident at high concentrations of SA and AgNO3, supporting the notion that a metabolic reprogramming with subsequent precursor diversion is occurring. These findings demonstrate that different abiotic elicitors differentially regulate the phenylpropanoid biosynthesis of P. vulgaris HRs, and that SA and CuCl2 were very strong inducers, providing probable strategies to improve the production of medicinally important phenolic compounds.
