Natural Compounds from Mexican Medicinal Plants as Potential Drug Leads for Anti-Tuberculosis Drugs

By the end of the twentieth century, the interest in natural compounds as probable sources of drugs has declined and was replaced by other strategies such as molecular target-based drug discovery. However, in the recent times, natural compounds regained their position as extremely important source drug leads. Indole-containing compounds are under clinical use which includes vinblastine and vincristine (anticancer), atevirdine (anti-HIV), yohimbine (erectile dysfunction), reserpine (antihypertension), ajmalicine (vascular disorders), ajmaline (anti-arrhythmic), vincamine (vasodilator), etc. Monoterpene Indole Alkaloids (MIAs) deserve the curiosity and attention of researchers due to their chemical diversity and biological activities. These compounds were considered as an impending source of drug-lead. In this review 444 compounds, were identified from six genera belonging to the family Apocynaceae, will be discussed. These genera (Alstonia, Rauvolfia, Kopsia, Ervatamia, and Tabernaemontana, and Rhazya) consist of 400 members and represent 20% of Apocynaceae species. Only 30 (7.5%) species were investigated, whereas the rest are promising to be investigated. Eleven bioactivities, including antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant activities, were reported. Whereas cytotoxic effect represents 47% of the reported activities. Convincingly, the genera selected in this review are a wealthy source for future anticancer drug lead.

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The Effects of Medicinal Plants and Bioactive Natural Compounds on Homocysteine

Molecules ◽

10.3390/molecules26113081 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 26 (11) ◽

pp. 3081

Author(s):

Mohammad Amin Atazadegan ◽

Mohammad Bagherniya ◽

Gholamreza Askari ◽

Aida Tasbandi ◽

Amirhossein Sahebkar

Keyword(s):

Clinical Trials ◽

Medicinal Plants ◽

Vascular Endothelium ◽

Animal Studies ◽

Natural Compounds ◽

Herbal Products ◽

Mortality And Morbidity ◽

Beneficial Effects ◽

Serum Homocysteine ◽

Prevention And Treatment

Background: Among non-communicable diseases, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in global communities. By 2030, CVD-related deaths are projected to reach a global rise of 25 million. Obesity, smoking, alcohol, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and hyperhomocysteinemia are several known risk factors for CVDs. Elevated homocysteine is tightly related to CVDs through multiple mechanisms, including inflammation of the vascular endothelium. The strategies for appropriate management of CVDs are constantly evolving; medicinal plants have received remarkable attention in recent researches, since these natural products have promising effects on the prevention and treatment of various chronic diseases. The effects of nutraceuticals and herbal products on CVD/dyslipidemia have been previously studied. However, to our knowledge, the association between herbal bioactive compounds and homocysteine has not been reviewed in details. Thus, the main objective of this study is to review the efficacy of bioactive natural compounds on homocysteine levels according to clinical trials and animal studies. Results: Based on animal studies, black and green tea, cinnamon, resveratrol, curcumin, garlic extract, ginger, and soy significantly reduced the homocysteine levels. According to the clinical trials, curcumin and resveratrol showed favorable effects on serum homocysteine. In conclusion, this review highlighted the beneficial effects of medicinal plants as natural, inexpensive, and accessible agents on homocysteine levels based on animal studies. Nevertheless, the results of the clinical trials were not uniform, suggesting that more well-designed trials are warranted.

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Virtual screening of natural compounds as combinatorial agents from indian medicinal plants against estrogen positive breast cancer

International Journal on Integrated Education ◽

10.31149/ijie.v3i10.750 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 (10) ◽

pp. 266-275

Author(s):

Shaleen Jain ◽

Dr. Asmita Das

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Estrogen Receptor ◽

Virtual Screening ◽

Medicinal Plants ◽

Natural Compounds ◽

Binding Energies ◽

Common Amino Acid ◽

Estrogen Receptor Positive ◽

Positive Breast Cancer

Facing worldwide challenges associated with multifactorial etiology of breast cancer, designing of combinatorial therapies using natural compounds is currently the emergent way of treating several cancers including breast cancer in a synergistic way, which may mitigate several problems associated with multiple receptor targeting. In this research, Estrogen receptor positive breast cancer was taken as prototype and several key receptors associated with this particular disease were targeted by virtual screening of natural compounds found in Indian originated medicinal plants using Computer aided Drug Designing (CADD) strategies. We found the combination of Carpusin, Paulownin Cornigerine, Nororientaline, Oryzalexin B, Romucosine H and Colchicine as effective against six potential receptors i.e. FGFR2, ESR1, PIK3CA, PIK3CB, PIK3CD and AR in Estrogen receptor positive breast cancer with their binding energies in the range of ∆G ≤ -8.0 Kcal/mol as well as significant number of common amino acid binding residues as compared with binding sites of receptors. Thus this research holds significant implications for the designing of combinatorial therapeutic agents against breast cancer which can be further tested in-vitro and in-vivo to prove their synergistic efficiency.

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