Impact of dietary leaf extracts of Black pepper Piper nigrum L. on the growth, hematological and immunological parameters of Labeo rohita (Hamilton, 1822) cultured in glass aquaria

A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of Piper nigrum (black pepper) leaf extract on on the growth performance, proximate composition, hematological parameters, and immune response of Labeo rohita fingerlings with an average weight of 22.14 ± 0.98g. Aftrer acclimation for two weeks, fish (n=25) were randomly selected and placed in four glass aquaria (T0, T1, T2 and T3) at constant water temperature (30.0 ± 1.0 °C), pH (7.50 ± 0.5) and total hardness (200 ± 2.0 mgL,-1) for a period of 12 weeks, with three replicates each. Fish were fed with P. nigrum leaf extract supplemented feed @ 0.0%, 1.0%, 2.0% and 3.0% in T0, T1,T2 and T3, respectively. At the end of experiment, five fish were randomly selected from each aquaria for proximate composition, gut and skin microbial load, hematological parameters. Total proteins, albumins, and globulins were also recorded to evaluate immunological memory. The result revealed that fish in T2 showed better growth performance with an average weight gain of 56.11 ± 0.51 g. Thus, it had been concluded that Piper nigrum, a medicinal plant, can also be used to enhance the growth performance and immune response of Labeo rohita as attractive alternatives against antibiotics and vaccines and has shown no negative side effects on fish health as well as on its environment.

Anticancer Applications and Pharmacological Properties of Piperidine and Piperine: A Comprehensive Review on Molecular Mechanisms and Therapeutic Perspectives

Piperine and piperidine are the two major alkaloids extracted from black pepper (Piper nigrum); piperidine is a heterocyclic moiety that has the molecular formula (CH2)5NH. Over the years, many therapeutic properties including anticancer potential of these two compounds have been observed. Piperine has therapeutic potential against cancers such as breast cancer, ovarian cancer, gastric cancer, gliomal cancer, lung cancer, oral squamous, chronic pancreatitis, prostate cancer, rectal cancer, cervical cancer, and leukemia. Whereas, piperidine acts as a potential clinical agent against cancers, such as breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer, and ovarian cancer, when treated alone or in combination with some novel drugs. Several crucial signalling pathways essential for the establishment of cancers such as STAT-3, NF-κB, PI3k/Aκt, JNK/p38-MAPK, TGF-ß/SMAD, Smac/DIABLO, p-IκB etc., are regulated by these two phytochemicals. Both of these phytochemicals lead to inhibition of cell migration and help in cell cycle arrest to inhibit survivability of cancer cells. The current review highlights the pharmaceutical relevance of both piperine and piperidine against different types of cancers.

Metabolomic Profiling and Immunomodulatory Activity of a Polyherbal Combination in Cyclophosphamide-Induced Immunosuppressed Mice

The study was aimed to develop a characterized polyherbal combination as an immunomodulator containing Phyllanthus emblica L., Piper nigrum L., Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal, and Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) Miers. Through response surface methodology (RSM), the ratio of aqueous extracts of four plant materials was optimized and comprised 49.76% of P. emblica, 1.35% of P. nigrum, 5.41% of W. somnifera, and 43.43% of T. cordifolia for optimum immunomodulatory activity. The optimized combination showed antioxidant potential and contains more than 180 metabolites, out of which gallic acid, quercetin, ellagic acid, caffeic acid, kaempferitrin, and p-coumaric acid are some common and significant metabolites found in plant extracts and in polyherbal combination. Treatment with the polyherbal combination of different doses in cyclophosphamide-induced immunosuppressed mice significantly (p < 0.01) enhanced the subsets of immune cells such as natural killer (NK) cells (60%), B cells (18%), CD4 cells (14%), and CD8 cells (7%). The characterized polyherbal combination exhibited potent immunomodulatory activity, which can be further explored clinically for its therapeutic applicability.

Black pepper (Piper nigrum) fruit-based gold nanoparticles (BP-AuNPs): Synthesis, characterization, biological activities, and catalytic applications – A green approach

As compared to conventional techniques, currently nanotechnology has gained significant attention of scientists for the development of plant-based natural nanoparticles (NPs) due to their safety, effectiveness, and environment friendly nature. The current study was aimed for development, characterization (energy-dispersive X-ray, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy), and evaluation of the biological efficiency of black pepper (BP; Piper nigrum) fruit-based gold NPs (BP-AuNPs) through different in vitro and in vivo assays. BP extract revealed maximum antibacterial and antifungal potential against Escherichia coli (24 mm) and Aspergillus flavus (47 mm), respectively. However, BP-AuNPs (200 µg·mL−1) inhibited the urease, xanthine oxidase, and carbonic acid-II activities with a percent inhibition of 83.11%, 91.28%, and 86.87%, respectively. Further, the anti-inflammatory effect of BP extract at the dose of 100 mg·kg−1 was 72.66%, whereas for BP-AuNPs it was noticed to be 91.93% at the dose of 10 mg·kg−1. Similarly, the extract of BP and prepared AuNPs demonstrated significant (p < 0.01) sedative effect at all tested doses. The BP-AuNPs catalytically reduced methyl orange dye. Results suggest that BP-AuNPs possess significant biological activities, and further studies must be conducted to identify the probable mechanism of action associated with these activities.

Producing Black Pepper (Piper Nigrum L. cv. ‘Kuching’) Rootstock in a Deep-Water Culture Hydroponic System

Stem cutting is the common planting material for black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) farmers mainly because the method is cheap, easy to obtain, and produces satisfactory number of new plantlets, which are relatively genetically uniform to their parent. However, soil propagation of stem cuttings renders both the stem and developing roots susceptible to soil borne pathogens, ultimately compromising the quality of the plant. Good quality rootstock of the new plant promotes faster, safer, and better black pepper plant establishment. Hydroponic farming thus offers a good platform for producing quality rootstock of the new plants and has gained importance to many farmers due to its flexibility in manipulating plant growth conditions and timely pathogen management, thus safer, healthier, and faster growth. This study investigated the growing media suitable for rootstock growth of P. nigrum L. cv. ‘Kuching’ and compared the rooting ability between stem cuttings with adventitious roots at the time of planting and stem cuttings without any root at the time of planting. In a laboratory setting, a total of 210 stem cuttings were hydroponically planted in seven nutrient compositions, with each nutrient composition containing an equal number of stem cuttings with adventitious roots at the time of planting and stem cuttings without any root at the time of planting. Hoagland solution supplemented with 0.005 mM potassium silicate solution (T4) and Hoagland solution supplemented with 2 mM salicylic acid solution (T6) showed faster root initiation whereas T1 (Hoagland solution only) produced the highest increment in root length followed by T6. The least suitable nutrient composition was T5 [T4 + 6 mL of 1 M Ca (NO3)2.4H2O solution]. The total number of roots was highest in plants from stem cuttings which had some adventitious roots at the time of planting, whereas roots in plants from stem cuttings which did not have any root at the time of planting, increased in root length faster than plants withstem cuttings which had adventitious roots at the time of planting.

Dosis Optimum Pupuk Granular Lindi Sampah Kota Terhadap Kandungan Nitrogen pada Media Pembibitan Tanaman Lada

Lindi sampah kota memiliki kandungan unsur hara makro dan mikro essensial bagi tanaman. Namun, kandungan senyawa pada lindi belum memenuhi standar sebagai pupuk organik cair, sehingga perlu upaya pemekatan agar lebih berdayaguna. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh peningkatan dosis pupuk granular berbahan dasar lindi sampah kota terhadap kandungan nitrogen pada media pembibitan lada (Piper nigrum L.). Penelitian disusun menggunakan Rancangan Acak Kelompok Lengkap (RAKL). Perlakuan terdiri dari lima taraf dosis pupuk granular lindi sampah kota yaitu: tanpa pupuk (P0); 10 gram/polibag (P1); 20 gram/polibag (P2); 30 gram/polibag (P3); dan 40 gram/polibag (P4). Penelitian dibagi lima kelompok yang sekaligus menjadi ulangan, sehingga terdiri dari 25 satuan percobaan dan setiap satuan percobaan terdiri dari lima media pembibitan tanaman lada. Untuk mengetahui pengaruh pelakuan dilakukan analisis kesamaan ragam data dengan uji Bartlett dan keaditifan data dengan uji Tukey. Data dianalisis dengan analisis ragam dan dilanjutkan dengan uji Beda Nyata Terkecil, Perbandingan Ortogonal, dan Ortogonal Polinomial pada taraf pengujian 5%. Hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa pupuk granular berbahan dasar Lindi sampah kota mampu meningkatkan kandungan nitrogen dalam media pembibitan tanaman lada. Dosis pupuk granular lindi sampah kota 20 g/polibag merupakan dosis terbaik dengan kandungan N 0,35%. Namun kandungan N media pembibitan lada tanpa pupuk tidak berbeda nyata dengan dosis 10, 30, dan 40 g/polibag. Peningkatan dosis pupuk granular lindi sampah kota mampu meningkatkan kandungan nitrogen mengikuti pola kuadratik, dengan persamaan y = -0,00009x2 +0,0035x +0,2828; R2= 0,3106.