Reconnoitering the Therapeutic Role of Curcumin in Disease Prevention and Treatment: Lessons Learnt and Future Directions.

Turmeric is a plant with a very long history of medicinal use across different cultures. Curcumin is the active part of turmeric, which has exhibited various beneficial physiological and pharmacological effects. This review aims to critically appraise the corpus of literature associated with the above pharmacological properties of curcumin, with a specific focus on antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer and antimicrobial properties. We have also reviewed the different extraction strategies currently in practice, highlighting the strengths and drawbacks of each technique. Further, our review also summarizes the clinical trials that have been conducted with curcumin, which will allow the reader to get a quick insight into the disease/patient population of interest with the outcome that was investigated. Lastly, we have also highlighted the research areas that need to be further scrutinized to better grasp curcumin's beneficial physiological and medicinal properties, which can then be translated to facilitate the design of better bioactive therapeutic leads.

In silico screening of antiviral compounds from Moringa oleifera for inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 main protease

COVID-19 as per early April 2021, has globally exceeded 129 million cases and is the cause of about 2.8 million deaths. Since the illness is known to have a wide array of symptoms, in addition to its ability to spread rapidly through contact and the complexity involved in developing drugs, there is an immediate need to look into alternative treatment regimes. This study was intended to identify potential antiviral compounds from Moringa oleifera against the selected target main protease (Mpro), which is vital for the survival of the virus. In silico molecular docking and dynamics was performed to determine a potential inhibitor against Mpro. Phytochemicals of Moringa olifera reported in literature were retrieved from public databases and employed for molecular docking studies against Mpro. PyRx software was used to perform docking analysis. Visualization of amino acid interactions between the ligand and target was performed using Maestro and Discovery studio visualizer to analyze the type of interactions. Compounds displaying high binding affinities were subjected for analysis of pharmacokinetic studies, later molecular dynamics (MD) and MM-PBSA studies was conducted over selected compounds using GROMACS. Rutin and Isorhamnetin-3-O-rutinoside, both flavonoids thoroughly studied for their medicinal properties showcased strong interactions and the highest binding affinity of −8.9 kcal/mol with the Mpro. The binding energy calculated employing MM-PBSA for Rutin and Isorhamnetin-3-O-rutinoside were −86.832 kJ/mol and −72.984 kJ/mol, respectively. The overall studies revealed that Rutin and Isorhamnetin-3-O-rutinoside are portenial in inhibiting the SARS-CoV-2 Mpro and can be validated through in-vitro and in-vivo studies.