Evaluation of Antioxidant, Anti-inflammatory, and Antimicrobial Activities of Raspberry Fruit Extract: An In Vitro Study.

Introduction Rubus idaeus (R. idaeus)is an edible fruit that contains numerous significant bioactive compounds that hold important biological properties and are categorized as nutraceuticals owing to the health benefits it imparts including decreasing the risk of chronic diseases like diabetes mellitus, cancer, heart disease, and many other diseases. The objective of the present research was to explore the antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory characteristics of the aqueous raspberry extract through in vitro assays. Materials and methods R. idaeus aqueous extract was prepared and examined for its antimicrobial activity against Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) bacteria and Candida albicans (C. albicans) fungi using the agar-well diffusion method, and the antioxidant activity was evaluated using the DPPH (2, 2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl hydrate) radical scavenging assay and the hydrogen peroxide radical scavenging assay. The anti-inflammatory activity of the prepared extract was investigated using bovine serum albumin (BSA) and egg albumin denaturation assays.  Results R. idaeus fruit extract displayed strong antimicrobial activity at a higher concentration of 100 µL with a 26 mm zone of inhibition against Streptococcus mutans and 24 mm for Candida albicans. The extract showed 87.42% hydrogen peroxide free radical scavenging activity and inhibited 91.12% DPPH free radicals at the highest concentration of 50 µg/mL. The extract showed effective anti-inflammatory activity by preventing the denaturation of bovine serum albumin (80%) and egg albumin proteins (77%) at the highest concentration of 50 µg/mL. The free radical scavenging activity positively correlates with the increased concentration of the prepared extract against DPPH and hydrogen peroxide free radicals, thus showing the raspberry extract's potent antioxidant activity. Similarly, the anti-inflammatory assay result shows that the prepared raspberry aqueous extract has excellent anti-inflammatory activity by preventing the denaturation of bovine serum albumin and egg albumin protein in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusion The meticulously prepared raspberry extract exhibited noteworthy antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory characteristics, and owing to its astounding therapeutic benefits it holds a tremendous promise as a natural alternative in the field of oral medicine especially in the management of oral mucosal lesions, oral potentially malignant lesions such as lichen planus and leukoplakia, candidiasis, oral cancer and oral mucositis. Further animal studies and clinical trials are recommended to fully reap the therapeutics potential of raspberry extract.

Transgenic sugarcane with higher levels of BRK1 showed improved drought tolerance.

KEY MESSAGE: Transgenic sugarcane overexpressing BRK1 showed improved tolerance to drought stress through modulation of actin polymerization and formation of interlocking marginal lobes in epidermal leaf cells, a typical feature associated with BRK1 expression under drought stress. BRICK1 (BRK1) genes promote leaf epidermal cell morphogenesis and division in plants that involves local actin polymerization. Although the changes in actin filament organization during drought have been reported, the role of BRK in stress tolerance remains unknown. In our previous work, the drought-tolerant Erianthus arundinaceus exhibited high levels of the BRK gene expression under drought stress. Therefore, in the present study, the drought-responsive gene, BRK1 from Saccharum spontaneum, was transformed into sugarcane to test if it conferred drought tolerance in the commercial sugarcane cultivar Co 86032. The transgenic lines were subjected to drought stress, and analyzed using physiological parameters for drought stress. The drought-induced BRK1-overexpressing lines of sugarcane exhibited significantly higher transgene expression compared with the wild-type control and also showed improved physiological parameters. In addition, the formation of interlocking marginal lobes in the epidermal leaf cells, a typical feature associated with BRK1 expression, was observed in all transgenic BRK1 lines during drought stress. This is the first report to suggest that BRK1 plays a role in sugarcane acclimation to drought stress and may prove to be a potential candidate in genetic engineering of plants for enhanced biomass production under drought stress conditions.

Adaptive physiological and biochemical response of sugarcane genotypes to high-temperature stress.

Impact of elevated temperature on physiological and biochemical changes were evaluated in 5 commercial sugarcane genotypes and 2 wild species clones at two different growth phases. The study revealed that heat stress decreased chlorophyll content, chlorophyll stability index (CSI), SPAD value, maximum quantum efficiency of PSII photochemistry (Fv/Fm ratio), leaf gas exchange parameters, relative water content (RWC), and activities of nitrate reductase (NR), sucrose-metabolizing enzymes (SPS, SS, AI, NI) in all the genotypes and species clones. In contrast, elevated temperature induced an increase in proline, total phenolics content (TP), antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD and POX), lipid peroxidation (LP), membrane injury index (MII) and soluble sugar content in all clones. Principal component analysis based on physiological heat tolerance indexes could clearly distinguish sugarcane genotypes into three heat tolerance clusters. Noteworthy in comparison to the heat-sensitive varieties, sugarcane genotype that possessed higher degrees of heat tolerance Co 99004 displayed higher chlorophyll content, CSI, antioxidant enzyme activities, NR activity, RWC, total phenols, sucrose-metabolizing enzymes, soluble sugar content and leaf gas exchange and lower level of lipid peroxidation and membrane injury index.

Synthesis and NMR spectral study of some t(3)-aryl-r(2),c(4)-bisethoxycarbonyl-t(5)-hydroxy-c(5)-methylcyclohexanones.

Six t(3)-aryl-r(2),c(4)-bisethoxycarbonyl-t(5)-hydroxy-c(5)-methylcyclohexanones (6-11) were synthesized by condensing ArCHO (Ar = Ph, p-O(2)NC(6)H(4), p-CH(3)OC(6)H(4), p-ClC(6)H(4), m-O(2)NC(6)H(4) and m-C(6)H(5)O(6)H(4)) with ethyl acetoacetate in the presence of methylamine and their (1)H and (13)C NMR spectra were recorded. (1)H-(1)H COSY and NOESY spectra were recorded for 6 and 7 and also HSQC and HMBC spectra for 6 and 8. Elemental analysis was carried out for all compounds. The mass spectrum was recorded for 8. All analytical data are consistent with the proposed molecular formulae. Analysis of NMR spectral data suggests that these compounds largely adopt chair conformations with the hydroxyl group occupying an axial orientation and all the other substituents occupying equatorial orientations. Long-range coupling (2-3 Hz) between the OH proton and the axial methylene proton at C-6 is observed in 6, 7, 8 and 11.

Sublethal effect of naphthalene on lipid peroxidation and antioxidant status in the edible marine crab Scylla serrata.

The effect of naphthalene on lipid peroxidation and antioxidants status was studied in hepatopancreas, haemolymph and ovary of the Scylla serrata with reference to the active vitellogenic stage. There was an overall increase in lipid peroxidation activity in the tested samples. In contrast, the enzymatic (catalase, glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase) and non-enzymatic antioxidants (vitamins C, E and glutathione) showed decreased activities for hepatopancreas, haemolymph and ovary.