Najneen Ahmed

Ethnomedicinal plants in Asia offer a promising, low‐side‐effect alternative to synthetic drugs for treating fungal infections, one of the most widespread communicable diseases caused by pathogenic fungi. Despite being underexplored, the region's rich plant diversity holds the potential for developing effective antifungal drugs. Research is increasingly focused on bioactive compounds from these plants, which show strong antifungal properties and may serve as leads for new drug development. This comprehensive review included 257 articles which are peer‐reviewed and written in english language with reported phytochemicals exerting antifungal potentials. In this review, we have discussed twenty‐seven (27) Asian medicinal plants that contain sixty‐seven (67) responsible phytochemicals deciphering promising antifungal action. This finding revealed that Asian plant diversity can be helpful in treating fungal invasion against several fungal species. Inhibition and reduction of mycelial growth and zoospore germination, fungistatic and fungicidal activities, and inhibition of ergosterol biosynthesis are some common mechanisms reported in this review. Thus, this Asian plant diversity can provide a ray of hope as a modern therapeutic approach to bypass antimicrobial resistance issues noticed in recent days. Further research is still recommended to ascertain their exact mode of action, required dose, and safety and efficacy profile.

Bangladesh is endowed with an abundance of excellent medicinal plant resources. A well‐known traditional medicinal plant Piper chaba H. from the Piperaceae family is rich in bioactive phytochemicals that have antidiarrheal, antimicrobial, analgesic, antioxidant, anticancer, and cytotoxic effects. This plant is locally known as “Chuijhal,” and the stem is used as spices. In the current research program, the stems of the P. chaba plant were selected and its chemical and biological investigations such as antidiarrheal, antimicrobial, and analgesic effects were performed. Moreover, docking models were accomplished by exploiting PyRx‐Virtual Screening software and implied that isolated compounds of P. chaba exert different pharmacological activity by inhibiting their targeted receptors. Phytochemical investigations revealed the isolation of Chingchengenamide A, a relatively rare alkaloid from the stems of P. chaba . Another alkaloid Chabamide I which is a piperine dimer was also isolated. Their structures were confirmed by comparing these compounds' spectral data ( ¹ H and ¹³ C NMR) with their previously published spectral data. Antidiarrheal activity shows a percent reduction of diarrhea by 46.67% and 40%, respectively, for Chabamide I and Chingchengenamide A (at 20 mg/kg b.w.) compared with an 80% reduction by standard loperamide. Similarly, the percent reduction of writhing was 53.06% and 42.86%, respectively, for Chabamide I and Chingchengenamide A at similar doses compared with an 80% reduction by diclofenac sodium considered as standard. Both the alkaloids showed auspicious outcomes against test microorganisms during disk diffusion antimicrobial assay. Molecular docking and ADME/T analysis of the alkaloids also validate a potent pharmacological basis for the traditional utilization of P. chaba in treating diarrhea, pain, and microbial infection. These results emphasize the need to investigate P. chaba as a potential source of natural therapies for common health issues, laying the foundation for future research.

Clitoria ternatea L. (CT) is a perennial herbaceous plant with deep blue flowers native to tropical Asia. This work explores the endometrial pain (EP) regulation of CT flower through a multifaceted approach. Phytochemical screening unveiled the presence of alkaloids, steroids, flavonoids, glycosides, and tannins in CT flower methanolic extract (ME). In the in vitro membrane stabilizing experiment, the ME demonstrated 91.47% suppression of heat-induced hemolysis. Upon carrageenan-induced paw edema assay conducted on male Swiss albino mice at doses of 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg, 65.28% and 81.89% inhibition rates, respectively, of paw edema were reported. For the same doses, upon acetic acid-induced-writhing assay, 75.6% and 76.78% inhibition rates, respectively, were observed. For network pharmacology analyses, a protein–protein interaction network was constructed for 92 overlapping gene targets of CT and EP, followed by GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses. Network pharmacology-based investigation identified the anti-EP activity of CT to be mostly regulated by the proteins SRC homology, ESR1, and PI3KR1. Physicochemical, pharmacokinetic, and toxicity property predictions for the compounds with stable ligand–target interactions and a molecular dynamics simulation for the highest interacting complex further validated these findings. This work affirmed the anti-EP role of CT flower against EP, suggesting a probable molecular mechanism involved.

Introduction: Baccaurea ramiflora Lour, locally known as Latkan, is a popular fruit in Bangladesh used for its anthelmintic and analgesic activities. This study aimed to compare the anthelmintic and analgesic activities of different solvent fractions of crude extract from B. ramiflora fruit seed and peel. Methods: Cold extraction followed by the Kupchan scheme was employed to obtain various solvent fractions. In vivo anthelmintic activity was assessed using Pheretima posthuman, while analgesic activity was evaluated via writhing and tail immersion tests on Swiss albino mice. Molecular docking studies of four reported phytochemicals from B. ramiflora on analgesic and anti-parasitic protein targets were conducted using the PyRx. Results: Results revealed significant anthelmintic activity in seed petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, and acetone solvent fractions in a dose-dependent manner, with acetone extract exhibiting the highest activity. Writhing was significantly reduced in all seed and peel extracts, with the highest inhibition observed at 200 mg/kg dose. Moreover, seed chloroform and peel ethyl acetate extracts displayed the longest pain reaction times in the tail immersion model (6.924 ± 0.264 seconds and 6.562 ± 0.157 seconds, respectively). Molecular docking revealed strong binding interactions of Baccariminose C and D (≥8.2 kcal/mol) with all studied protein targets. Conclusion: This study confirms the anthelmintic and analgesic activities of B. ramiflora fruit peel and seed extracts. These results contribute to the understanding of the medicinal properties of B. ramiflora and its potential applications in pharmaceuticals.

This study explored the potential role of Clitoria ternatea (CT) flower in ameliorating endometrial pain (EP) through network pharmacology and experimental approaches. Phytochemicals of the CT flower were listed from the literature and databases, and 18 suitable actives were screened for bioavailability and drug likeness parameters using SwissADME. For these actives, 279 exclusive target genes were predicted using SwissTargetPrediction. Additionally, 939 exclusive genes for EP were acquired from the DisGenet and GeneCards databases. Ninety-one overlapping gene targets of CT and EP were listed, for which a Protein–Protein Interaction (PPI) network was constructed using STRING. The top three node proteins (SRC, ESR1, and PI3KR1) in the PPI network were identified through Cytoscape (version 3.9.1). Molecular docking analysis of the eighteen actives with the three target proteins showed strong binding interactions of Flavylium, kaempherol, and quercetin with all the targets, suggesting their involvement in EP relief. In addition, Gene Ontology (GO) functions analysis revealed 320 biological processes, 59 cellular components, and 107 molecular functions were enriched with the target genes. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses identified 106 KEGG pathways, including steroid hormone biosynthesis, endocrine resistance, and endometrial cancer pathways, which were significantly enriched with the target genes. The anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of CT’s methanolic extract (ME) were investigated through in vitro and in vivo assays. The ME exhibited 91.47% inhibition of heat-induced hemolysis compared to 92.87% by aspirin in the in vitro membrane stabilizing assay. The in vivo carrageenan-induced paw edema study revealed 65.28% inhibition of paw edema by ME compared to 80.38% inhibition by aceclofenac at the end of 4-h treatment. The in vivo acetic acid-induced writhing test demonstrated analgesia by ME by 75.6% inhibition of writhing compared to 77.49% by aceclofenac. These findings suggest CT flower could be a potential natural remedy for EP, warranting further investigation in future studies.

Vanda roxburghii (VR), a native medicinal plant in Bangladesh belonging to the Orchidaceae family, has been previously reported to be effective against Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This study aimed to investigate the potential mechanism of the phytoconstituents of VR against AD using network pharmacology and molecular docking analysis. The phytoconstituents of VR were listed from several databases and their blood–brain barrier (BBB) permeability was predicted using SwissADME. Targets of the BBB permeable actives were predicted using SwissTargetPrediction and Similarity Ensemble Approach databases. The putative genes responsible for AD were obtained from GeneCards and DisGenet databases. The common targets for both VR and AD were scrutinized for how the protein–protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed using STRING (version 12.0) and how the core protein targets were identified using Cytoscape (version 3.10.1). Gene ontology (GO) functions and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis were performed on the target genes using DAVID 6.8. Finally, the binding interactions between the phytochemicals and targets of AD were validated by molecular docking using PyRx (version 0.8). In total, 4 phytochemicals with 328 exclusive target genes were predicted to cross the BBB. Moreover, 1046 exclusive disease targets for AD were identified and 103 shared targets of VR and AD were acquired. From the PPI network, 5 targets with higher possibilities of therapeutic activity rates of VR on AD were obtained. Furthermore, 428 biological processes, 82 cellular components, and 98 molecular functions were enriched with GO functions, and 144 KEGG pathways (including Alzheimer’s disease, apoptosis, and endocrine resistance pathways) were found enriched for VR associated with anti-AD activities and were analyzed. Molecular docking analysis further verified the definite binding capacity of the four actives with the five target proteins (APP, JUN, ESR1, MAPK1, and MAPK3) involved in the significant KEGG pathways and GO functions. Our findings provide directions for further research on the phytochemicals of VR.

Here, we describe the anticancer activity of our novel bis-triazoles MS47 and MS49, developed previously as G-quadruplex stabilizers, focusing specifically upon the human melanoma MDA-MB-435 cell line. At the National Cancer Institute (NCI), USA, bis-triazole MS47 (NCS 778438) was evaluated against a panel of sixty human cancer cell lines, and showed selective, distinct multi-log differential patterns of activity, with GI₅₀ and LC₅₀ values in the sub-micromolar range against human cancer cells. MS47 showed highly selective cytotoxicity towards human melanoma, ovarian, CNS and colon cancer cell lines; in contrast, the leukemia cell lines interestingly showed resistance to MS47 cytotoxic activity. Further studies revealed the potent cell growth inhibiting properties of MS47 and MS49 against the human melanoma MDA-MB-435 cell line, as verified by MTT assays; both ligands were more potent against cancer cells than MRC-5 fetal lung fibroblasts (SI > 9). Melanoma colony formation was significantly suppressed by MS47 and MS49, and time- and dose-dependent apoptosis induction was also observed. Furthermore, MS47 significantly arrested melanoma cells at the G0/G1 cell cycle phase. While the expression levels of Hsp90 protein in melanoma cells were significantly decreased by MS49, corroborating its binding to the G4-DNA promoter of the Hsp90 gene. Both ligands failed to induce senescence in the human melanoma cells after 72 h of treatment, corroborating their weak stabilization of the telomeric G4-DNA.

BACKGROUND: Microvascular dysfunction is a main contributor to morbidity and mortality worldwide. Sophisticated technical tools (e.g. miniaturizedhardware, automated software), along with skilled personnelare the prerequisite for quantitative observa

ObjectiveTo investigate the presence of different phytoconstituents in Mangifera indica (M. indica) peel and evaluate its cytotoxicity to Artemia salina and hypoglycemic potential in Swiss albino mice.MethodsThe methanolic extract of M. indica peel was used to determine the presence of phytoconstituents. Brine shrimp lethality bioassay method was followed to determine the cytotoxic potential of plant extract. In the case of hypoglycemic activity, oral administration of extract at 200 and 400 mg/kg and standard glibenclamide at 10 mg/kg was done, followed by determining the percentage of reduction of plasma glucose from the initial level.ResultsThe methanolic extract of M. indica peel showed the presence of flavonoid, saponin, steroid, tannins, terpenoids, glycosides and alkaloids. In brine shrimp lethality bioassay, the LC50 of the extract and standard vincristine sulfate was found to be 2.04 and 0.41 μg/mL, respectively. After 90 and 150 min, the methanolic extract at 200 and 400 mg/kg showed prominent plasma glucose reduction of 13.95%, 22.48% and 14.16%, 26.18% respectively compared to standard glibenclamide showing 14.90% and 20.67% plasma glucose reduction.ConclusionsThis current research affirms prominent cytotoxic and moderate hypoglycemic potential of M. indica peel. Further bioactivity guided isolation of phytoconstituents and investigation on higher animals can lead to development of new drug molecules