Fipronil use and associated effects on hematological and biochemical parameters of blue land crab (Cardisoma guanhumi Latreille): Ecological implication.

Fipronil is used to control pests to improve farm yield, however, indiscriminate use of fipronil has been reported to endanger crabs leading to their extinction. Therefore, this study investigated the impact of fipronil on several hematological and biochemical parameters of blue land crabs. We exposed blue land crabs to either fipronil or to a control treatment; fipronil reduced the protein content of the crab and also led to hematological and oxidative damages to the crabs' oxy-hemocyanin. Based on our results, there is need for guided use of agrochemicals such as fipronil to avoid/reduce their adverse effects on economically important species such as crabs.

Substrate specificity of a new laccase from Trametes polyzona WRF03.

Various aromatic compounds that are structurally analogous to lignin were tested as possible/preferred substrates for purified laccase from newly isolated white rote fungi, Trametes polyzona WRF03. The pH optima were tested using different substrates and kinetic studies were conducted at these pH optima. The pH optima in the presence of ABTS, α-naphthol, o-dianisidine, and catechol were 4.5 but 5.0 and 5.5 in the presence of guaiacol and pyrogallol, respectively. The initial velocities obtained from the kinetic study were analyzed using Graph Pad Prism 7 and Lineweaver-Burk plot to obtain kinetic constants (k m and Vmax) which were used to calculate substrate specificity. Amongst all the substrates tested, ABTS had the highest specificity-constant (181.51 M-1s-1), and therefore, the most preferred substrate was followed by α-naphthol, o-dianisidine, guaiacol, pyrogallol, and catechol. Resorcinol, orcinol, and veratryl alcohol did not display any considerable chemical shift in the presence of Trametes polyzona WRF03 laccase. Also, oxidation of phenolic substrates appeared to be dependent on the nature of the substituent groups and their relative position on the aromatic nucleus. Since most of these substrates are structural analogs of lignin and many recalcitrant environmental pollutants, the enzyme may find application in delignification, treatment of wastewater containing dyes, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

Evaluation of 6-Gingerol and its modified analogues as therapeutic candidates against Schistosoma mansoni phosphofructokinase

The African most prevalent tropical disease after malaria is schistosomiasis and this disease in the developing countries is a massive socio-economic and public health burden. The disease also caused over 200,000 deaths. The development and design of new and novel antischistosomal drugs is now very important, as there are no vaccines currently and there is only one drug at the moment for the treatment of schistosomiasis. In this article, 6-gingerol was docked against the Schistosoma mansoni phosphofructokinase and the docking result was compared to those obtained from the docking of its modified analogues against the same enzyme. The chemical structure of 6-gingerol was obtained from the PubChem database while the modified analogues were designed using the ChemAxon software. The molecular docking procedure was carried out with the aid of the AutoDock Vina software while polar interactions which were eventually used in predicting the amino acid residues at the Schistosoma mansoni phosphofructokinase active site were visualized using the Pymol software. The Schistosoma mansoni phosphofructokinase 3D crystallized structure was modeled using the Swiss Model server. The molecular docking result showed that the modifications made on 6-gingerol had a positive effect on the binding energy of the compound to the enzyme active site as an appreciable increase was observed. 6-Gingerol and its modified analogues also violated none of the Lipinski's rule with suggests that the experimental compounds are drug-like. The C2H5 analogue of 6 gingerol was selected as the ideal therapeutic agent based on the pharmacokinetics study and the exhibited binding energy(AU)

La enfermedad tropical con más prevalencia en África después de la malaria es la esquistosomiasis; en los países en vías de desarrollo constituye una carga socio-económica y de salud pública enorme. La enfermedad ha ocasionado más de 200.000 muertes anuales. El desarrollo y diseño de nuevas y novedosas drogas antiesquistosomales es muy importante, ya que actualmente no existe vacuna disponible y solo hay una sola droga licenciada para su tratamiento. En esta investigación, el compuesto 6-gingerol se acopló a la enzima fosfofructoquinasa de Schistosoma mansoni y se comparó con los resultados obtenidos a partir de las interacciones de sus análogos modificados a la misma enzima. La estructura química del 6-gingerol se obtuvo de la base de datos PubChem, mientras que los análogos modificados se diseñaron utilizando el software ChemAxon. El procedimiento de acoplamiento molecular se llevó a cabo con la ayuda del software AutoDockVina, mientras las interacciones polares eventualmente utilizadas para predecir los residuos de aminoácidos en el sitio activo de la enzima fosfofructoquinasa de Schistosoma mansoni se visualizaron empleando el software Pymol. La estructura cristalizada tridimensional de la enzima fosfofructoquinasa de Schistosoma mansoni se modeló utilizando el programa Swiss Model. Se demostró que las modificaciones realizadas en el 6-gingerol tuvieron un efecto positivo en la energía de unión del compuesto al sitio activo de la enzima, tras observarse un aumento apreciable de dicha energía. El compuesto 6-Gingerol y sus análogos modificados tampoco violaron ninguna de las reglas de Lipinski, lo que sugiere que estos compuestos experimentales tienen propiedades similares a los medicamentos. El análogo C2H5 de 6-gingerol se seleccionó como el agente terapéutico ideal, basados en el estudio de farmacocinética y la energía de enlace demostrada(AU)