scholarly journals Jeopardy of COVID-19: Rechecking the Perks of Phytotherapeutic Interventions

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (22) ◽  
pp. 6783
Author(s):  
Priyanka Saha ◽  
Subhankar Bose ◽  
Amit Kumar Srivastava ◽  
Anis Ahmad Chaudhary ◽  
Rajiv Lall ◽  
...  

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the reason for worldwide pandemic, has already masked around 220 countries globally. This disease is induced by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Arising environmental stress, increase in the oxidative stress level, weak immunity and lack of nutrition deteriorates the clinical status of the infected patients. Though several researches are at its peak for understanding and bringing forward effective therapeutics, yet there is no promising solution treating this disease directly. Medicinal plants and their active metabolites have always been promising in treating many clinical complications since time immemorial. Mother nature provides vivid chemical structures, which act multi-dimensionally all alone or synergistically in mitigating several diseases. Their unique antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity with least side effects have made them more effective candidate for pharmacological studies. These medicinal plants inhibit attachment, encapsulation and replication of COVID-19 viruses by targeting various signaling molecules such as angiotensin converting enzyme-2, transmembrane serine protease 2, spike glycoprotein, main protease etc. This property is re-examined and its potency is now used to improve the existing global health crisis. This review is an attempt to focus various antiviral activities of various noteworthy medicinal plants. Moreover, its implications as prophylactic or preventive in various secondary complications including neurological, cardiovascular, acute kidney disease, liver disease are also pinpointed in the present review. This knowledge will help emphasis on the therapeutic developments for this novel coronavirus where it can be used as alone or in combination with the repositioned drugs to combat COVID-19.

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-194
Author(s):  
C.J. Ugwah-Oguejiofor ◽  
I.M. Adebisi

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak was first reported in Wuhan, a city in Hubei Province of China in December, 2019 and is known to be responsible for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March, 2020 and since then, it has caused a number of deaths in over 200 countries around the world. Extensive researches have continued in the search of effective vaccines or drug compounds against SARS-CoV-2 and a total of 64 vaccines are currently in clinical trials with 12 currently approved for use by different regulatory bodies, depending on the country. Since the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, many countries have utilised traditional herbal medicines alongside conventional drugs for the treatment of infected patients. In this review, traditional medicines used to prevent or treat SARS-CoV-2 infection are listed along with the plant parts as used by the traditional healers. Additionally, the possible mechanisms responsible for this preventive or therapeutic outcome are also identified and listed. Our literature search was conducted using Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus and WHO website. Unpublished reports such asdissertations and theses are not included. Plant parts including roots, leaves, flowers, seeds and so on have been used in the treatment of COVID-19. These traditional medicinal herbs may exert their anti-COVID-19 activity by direct inhibition of the virus replication or entry. Some may act by blocking the ACE-2 receptor, SARS-CoV helicase, Type II Transmembrane Serine Protease (TMPRSS2) and which are required by SARS-CoV-2 in order to infect human cells. Others act by inhibiting the SARSCoV-2 life-cycle related proteins, namely chymotrypsin-like cysteine protease (3CL-pro) and Papain-like protease (PL-pro). Medicinal plants are promising alternative medicines for the treatment or prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Further researches, are needed to decipher their active components and structures which may suggest clues for the development of drugs against this novel coronavirus. Keywords: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV-2), COVID-19, medicinal plants, plant parts, mechanism of action, pandemic,


2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (D1) ◽  
pp. D1152-D1159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ting-Fu Chen ◽  
Yu-Chuan Chang ◽  
Yi Hsiao ◽  
Ko-Han Lee ◽  
Yu-Chun Hsiao ◽  
...  

Abstract The current state of the COVID-19 pandemic is a global health crisis. To fight the novel coronavirus, one of the best-known ways is to block enzymes essential for virus replication. Currently, we know that the SARS-CoV-2 virus encodes about 29 proteins such as spike protein, 3C-like protease (3CLpro), RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), Papain-like protease (PLpro), and nucleocapsid (N) protein. SARS-CoV-2 uses human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) for viral entry and transmembrane serine protease family member II (TMPRSS2) for spike protein priming. Thus in order to speed up the discovery of potential drugs, we develop DockCoV2, a drug database for SARS-CoV-2. DockCoV2 focuses on predicting the binding affinity of FDA-approved and Taiwan National Health Insurance (NHI) drugs with the seven proteins mentioned above. This database contains a total of 3,109 drugs. DockCoV2 is easy to use and search against, is well cross-linked to external databases, and provides the state-of-the-art prediction results in one site. Users can download their drug-protein docking data of interest and examine additional drug-related information on DockCoV2. Furthermore, DockCoV2 provides experimental information to help users understand which drugs have already been reported to be effective against MERS or SARS-CoV. DockCoV2 is available at https://covirus.cc/drugs/.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 462-468
Author(s):  
Latika kothari ◽  
Sanskruti Wadatkar ◽  
Roshni Taori ◽  
Pavan Bajaj ◽  
Diksha Agrawal

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a communicable infection caused by the novel coronavirus resulting in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV). It was recognized to be a health crisis for the general population of international concern on 30th January 2020 and conceded as a pandemic on 11th March 2020. India is taking various measures to fight this invisible enemy by adopting different strategies and policies. To stop the COVID-19 from spreading, the Home Affairs Ministry and the health ministry, of India, has issued the nCoV 19 guidelines on travel. Screening for COVID-19 by asking questions about any symptoms, recent travel history, and exposure. India has been trying to get testing kits available. The government of India has enforced various laws like the social distancing, Janata curfew, strict lockdowns, screening door to door to control the spread of novel coronavirus. In this pandemic, innovative medical treatments are being explored, and a proper vaccine is being hunted to deal with the situation. Infection control measures are necessary to prevent the virus from further spreading and to help control the current situation. Thus, this review illustrates and explains the criteria provided by the government of India to the awareness of the public to prevent the spread of COVID-19.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. 1202-1210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Joseps Hearn ◽  
Gwendolyn Towers ◽  
Michael Henry Cynamon

Background:With approximately one-third of the world’s population infected, tuberculosis continues to be a global public health crisis. The rise of strains that are unusually virulent or highly resistant to current drugs is a cause of special concern, prompting research into new classes of compounds, as well as the re-evaluation of known chemotherapeutic agents.Objectives:The antimycobacterial activities associated with some recently-reported thiocarbonyl compounds kindled our interest in the synthesis of substituted hydrazinecarbothioamides (3) and carbonothioic dihydrazides (4), with the aim of investigating their potential in antitubercular drug design and discovery.Methods:In the present study, the title compounds 3 and 4 were prepared by the condensation of hydrazines with isothiocyanates in reactions readily controlled by stoichiometry, temperature and solvent. The compounds were assessed against Mycobacterium bovis BCG in Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion, and minimum inhibitory concentrations were determined against the virulent strain M. tuberculosis Erdman.Results:The chemical structures of these thermally stable compounds were determined by IR, 1HNMR, 13C-NMR, high-resolution mass spectrometry and elemental analysis. In the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion assay, some of the compounds showed substantial diameters of inhibition against BCG. In some cases, the zones of inhibition were so large that no growth at all was observed on the assay plates. Against M. tuberculosis Erdman, several of the compounds showed significant activities. Compound 3h was the most active, demonstrating a minimum inhibitory concentration of 0.5 µg/mL.Conclusion:We found that the title compounds may be prepared conveniently in excellent purity and good yields. They are readily identified on the basis of their characteristic spectra. Some members of this class showed significant activities against mycobacteria. We conclude that further work will be warranted in exploring the antitubercular properties of these compounds.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 184-196
Author(s):  
Deepshikha Rathore ◽  
Geetanjali ◽  
Ram Singh

Background: The history of traditional systems of medicine goes parallel with the history of human beings. Even today people have faith in traditional systems of medicine based on medicinal plants to meet primary health care needs. Hence, the scientific evaluation and documentation of extracts and active ingredients of medicinal plants always play a supportive role in their medicinal applications. Objective: This review aims to present the phytochemicals isolated from the genus Bombax and their pharmacological applications. Methods: The literature from research and review papers was analyzed and the information was compiled to present the pharmacological applications of various secondary metabolites from genus Bombax. Results: The genus Bombax belongs to the family Malvaceae and known for its therapeutic applications. The crude, semi-purified and purified extracts of different parts of this plant have shown potential therapeutic applications. A total of 96 articles including research and review papers were referred for the compilation of isolated phytochemicals and their chemical structures. Conclusion: We systematically summarized 176 isolated compounds from the genus Bombax. The findings show that this plant shows potential towards pharmacological activities. The activities were found more from extracts than the single isolated compounds.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 170-231
Author(s):  
Minky Mukhija ◽  
Bhuwan Chandra Joshi

Background: Peptic ulcer is a deep gastrointestinal erosion disorder that involves the entire mucosal thickness and can even penetrate the muscular mucosa. Nowadays, several plants and compounds derived from it have been screened for their antiulcer activity. In the last few years, there has been an exponential growth in the field of herbal medicine. This field has gained popularity in both developing and developed countries because of their natural origin and less side effects. Objective: This review aims to provide a comprehensive summary of currently available knowledge of medicinal plants and phytoconstituents reported for their anti-ulcer properties. Methods: The worldwide accepted database like SCOPUS, PUBMED, SCIELO, NISCAIR, ScienceDirect, Springerlink, Web of Science, Wiley, SciFinder and Google Scholar were used to retrieve available published literature. Results: A comprehensive review of the present paper is an attempt to list the plants with antiulcer activity. The review narrates the dire need to explore potential chemical moieties that exert an antiulcer effect, from unexploited traditional plants. Furthermore, the present study reveals the intense requirement to exploit the exact mechanism through which either the plant extracts or their active constituents exhibit their antiulcer properties. Conclusion: This article is the compilation of the plants and its constituents reported for the treatment of peptic ulcers. The Comprehensive data will surely attract the number of investigators to initiate further research that might lead to the drugs for the treatment of ulcers. As sufficient scientific data is not available on plants, most of the herbals cannot be recommended for the treatment of diseases. This can be achieved by research on pure chemical structures derived from plants or to prepare new lead compounds with proven beneficial preclinical in vitro and in vivo effects. However, a lot remains to be done in further investigations for the better status of medicinal plants.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitris G. Placantonakis ◽  
Maria Aguero-Rosenfeld ◽  
Abdallah Flaifel ◽  
John Colavito ◽  
Kenneth Inglima ◽  
...  

Neurologic manifestations of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 infection have received wide attention, but the mechanisms remain uncertain. Here, we describe computational data from public domain RNA-seq datasets and cerebrospinal fluid data from adult patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia that suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection of the central nervous system is unlikely. We found that the mRNAs encoding the ACE2 receptor and the TMPRSS2 transmembrane serine protease, both of which are required for viral entry into host cells, are minimally expressed in the major cell types of the brain. In addition, CSF samples from 13 adult encephalopathic COVID-19 patients diagnosed with the viral infection via nasopharyngeal swab RT-PCR did not show evidence for the virus. This particular finding is robust for two reasons. First, the RT-PCR diagnostic was validated for CSF studies using stringent criteria; and second, 61% of these patients had CSF testing within 1 week of a positive nasopharyngeal diagnostic test. We propose that neurologic sequelae of COVID-19 are not due to SARS-CoV-2 meningoencephalitis and that other etiologies are more likely mechanisms.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 1775
Author(s):  
Arumugam Vijaya Anand ◽  
Balasubramanian Balamuralikrishnan ◽  
Mohandass Kaviya ◽  
Kathirvel Bharathi ◽  
Aluru Parithathvi ◽  
...  

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), is the most important health issue, internationally. With no specific and effective antiviral therapy for COVID-19, new or repurposed antiviral are urgently needed. Phytochemicals pose a ray of hope for human health during this pandemic, and a great deal of research is concentrated on it. Phytochemicals have been used as antiviral agents against several viruses since they could inhibit several viruses via different mechanisms of direct inhibition either at the viral entry point or the replication stages and via immunomodulation potentials. Recent evidence also suggests that some plants and its components have shown promising antiviral properties against SARS-CoV-2. This review summarizes certain phytochemical agents along with their mode of actions and potential antiviral activities against important viral pathogens. A special focus has been given on medicinal plants and their extracts as well as herbs which have shown promising results to combat SARS-CoV-2 infection and can be useful in treating patients with COVID-19 as alternatives for treatment under phytotherapy approaches during this devastating pandemic situation.


BMC Neurology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin Fu ◽  
Yun Chen ◽  
Ping Li

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic, which broke out in Wuhan in 2019, has become the global health crisis of our time. Elderly patients with certain fundamental diseases are more likely to develop severe cases. The secondary lesion following viral infection have only rarely been reported. Case presentation We here report two cases of coronavirus-infected pneumonia with acute ischemic stroke in middle-aged patients. In both COVID-19 cases, neurological physical examinations showed normal results before infection. Lymphocytopenia, accompanied by elevated cytokines and D-dimers, were found from serum clinical laboratory examination at admission. Dysarthria and limb muscle weakness are initial manifestations, occurring one week after infect-causative pathogen, SARS-CoV-2. The head CT and head/neck arterial CTA showed small-vessel occlusion. The patients were diagnosed with coronavirus diseases with secondary acute ischemic stroke. They were treated with tirofiban and followed up with daily aspirin and atorvastatin. Conclusions These cases suggested that secondary ischemic stroke, mainly manifested as small-vessel occlusion, should be considered for COVID-19 patients and diagnosed and treated promptly.


Open Medicine ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 749-753
Author(s):  
Wenyuan Li ◽  
Beibei Huang ◽  
Qiang Shen ◽  
Shouwei Jiang ◽  
Kun Jin ◽  
...  

Abstract In recent months, the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has become a major public health crisis with takeover more than 1 million lives worldwide. The long-lasting existence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has not yet been reported. Herein, we report a case of SARS-CoV-2 infection with intermittent viral polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-positive for >4 months after clinical rehabilitation. A 35-year-old male was diagnosed with COVID-19 pneumonia with fever but without other specific symptoms. The treatment with lopinavir-ritonavir, oxygen inhalation, and other symptomatic supportive treatment facilitated recovery, and the patient was discharged. However, his viral PCR test was continually positive in oropharyngeal swabs for >4 months after that. At the end of June 2020, he was still under quarantine and observation. The contribution of current antivirus therapy might be limited. The prognosis of COVID-19 patients might be irrelevant to the virus status. Thus, further investigation to evaluate the contagiousness of convalescent patients and the mechanism underlying the persistent existence of SARS-CoV-2 after recovery is essential. A new strategy of disease control, especially extending the follow-up period for recovered COVID-19 patients, is necessary to adapt to the current situation of pandemic.


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