Nutraceutical prospects of Houttuynia cordata against the infectious viruses.

The novel enveloped ß-coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) has offered a surprising health challenge all over the world. It develops severe pneumonia leading to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Like SARS-COV-2, other encapsulated viruses like HIV, HSV, and influenza have also offered a similar challenge in the past. In this regard, many antiviral drugs are being explored with varying degrees of success to combat the associated pathological conditions. Therefore, upon scientific validation & development, these antiviral phytochemicals can attain a futuristic nutraceutical prospect in managing different encapsulated viruses. Houttuynia cordata (HC) is widely reported for activities such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral properties. The major antiviral bioactive components of HC include essential oils (methyl n-nonyl ketone, lauryl aldehyde, capryl aldehyde), flavonoids (quercetin, rutin, hyperin, quercitrin, isoquercitrin), and alkaloids (norcepharadione B) & polysaccharides. HC can further be explored as a potential nutraceutical agent in the therapy of encapsulated viruses like HIV, HSV, and influenza. The review listed various conventional and green technologies that are being employed to extract potent phytochemicals with diverse activities from the HC. It was indicated that HC also inhibited molecular targets like 3C-like protease (3CLPRO) and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) of COVID-19 by blocking viral RNA synthesis and replication. Antioxidant and hepatoprotective effects of HC have been evident in impeding complications from marketed drugs during antiviral therapies. The use of HC as a nutraceutical is localized within some parts of Southeast Asia. Further technological advances can establish it as a nutraceutical-based functional food against pathogenic enveloped viruses like COVID 19.

Synthesis, Characterizations, and Use of O-Stearoyl Mannose Ligand-Engineered Lipid Nanoarchitectonics for Alveolar Macrophage Targeting.

The main challenging aspect in the management of tuberculosis (TB) diseases is effective alveolar macrophages targeting. Macrophage mannose receptor plays a predominant role in stimulating immune systems by TB pathogen. Our earlier in silico computational studies revealed that O-stearoyl mannose (OSM) possesses a higher affinity with macrophage mannose receptors. Therefore, keeping this in view, we developed OSM with the association of stearic acid and d-mannose as initial reactants by the esterification process. Preliminary confirmation of reaction was assessed with thin-layer chromatography experimentation, whereas further confirmation followed by in vitro characterization with several analytical experimental tools such as fourier transform near-infrared, differential scanning calorimetry, and electrospray ionization-assisted mass spectrometry confirms the formation of the OSM. This synthesized and well-characterized OSM as a ligand was further incubated with surface-engineered lipid nanoarchitectonics to achieve OSM ligand-engineered lipid nanoarchitectonics and earlier explored for its safety study through hemolysis assay and potential in vitro triggering efficiency in human alveolar macrophages (THP-1 cells) to validate its active targeting efficiency. Graphical Abstract [Figure: see text].

Analyzing a Potential Drug Target N-Myristoyltransferase of Plasmodium falciparum Through In Silico Approaches.

BACKGROUND: Despite concerted global efforts to combat malaria, malaria elimination is still a remote dream. Fast evolution rate of malarial parasite along with its ability to respond quickly to any drug resulting in partial or complete resistance has been a cause of concern among researcher communities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Molecular modeling approach was adopted to gain insight about the structure and various analyses were performed. Modeller 9v3, Protparam, Protscale, MEME, NAMD and other tools were employed for this study. PROCHECK and other tools were used for stereo-chemical quality evaluation. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: It was observed during the course of study that this protein contains 32.2% of aliphatic amino acids among which Leucine (9.5%) is predominant. Theoretical pI of 8.39 identified the protein as basic in nature and most of the amino acids present in N-Myristoyltransferase are hydrophobic (46.1%). Secondary structure analysis shows predominance of alpha helices and random coils. Motif analyses revealed that this target protein contains 2 signature motifs, i.e., EVNFLCVHK and KFGEGDG. Apart from motif search, three-dimensional model was generated and validated and the stereo-chemical quality check confirmed that 97.7% amino acid residues fall in the core region of Ramachandran plot. Molecular dynamics simulation resulted in maximum 1.3 Å Root Mean Square Deviation (RMSD) between the initial structure and the trajectories obtained later on. The template and the target molecule has shown 1.5 Å RMSD for the C alpha trace. A docking study was also conducted with various ligand molecules among which specific benzofuran compounds turned out to be effective. This derived information will help in designing new inhibitor molecules for this target protein as well in better understanding the parasite protein.