Rosemary and neem: an insight into their combined anti-dandruff and anti-hair loss efficacy.

Dandruff, a common scalp disorder characterized by flaking dead skin, is often treated with conventional topical products. However, limitations exist due to potential side effects and high costs. Therefore, searching for natural, cost-effective solutions for dandruff and hair loss is crucial. Rosemary herb and neem tree, both cultivated in Egypt, possess well-documented anti-inflammatory properties derived from their rich phenolic phytoconstituents. This study formulated a standardized combined extract of rosemary and neem (RN-E 2:1) into hair gel and leave-in tonic formats. This extract demonstrated superior efficacy against Malassezia furfur (a causative agent of dandruff) and Trichophyton rubrum (associated with scalp disorders) compared to the conventional antifungal agent, ketoconazole. The combined extract (RN-E 2:1) also exhibited potent anti-inflammatory activity. Additionally, the suppression of iNOS expression is considered concentration-dependent. Quality control verified formulation stability, and ex-vivo studies confirmed effective ingredient penetration into the epidermis, the primary site of fungal presence. Remarkably, both formulations outperformed the standard treatment, minoxidil in hair growth trials. These findings highlight the potential of natural extracts for scalp and hair health.

The potential off-target neuroprotective effect of sister gliflozins suggests their repurposing despite not crossing the blood-brain barrier: From bioanalytical assay in rats into theory genesis.

Gliflozins are successfully marketed antidiabetic agents with a reported neuroprotective effect, and this study tests their blood-brain barrier crossing ability. Henceforward, a computational hypothesis interpreting their effects was reasonable after failure to cross into the brain. A chromatographic bioassay for canagliflozin, dapagliflozin, and empagliflozin was developed, validated, and applied to the rat's and rat's plasma and brain. HPLC method robustness was tested over two levels using Design of Experiment on MINITAB. It is the first method for gliflozins' detection in rats' brain tissue. The method was applied on 18 rats and six for each drug. Concentrations in plasma were determined but neither of them was detected in brain at the described chromatographic conditions. A computational study for the three drugs was endorsing two techniques. First, ligand-based target fishing reveals possible targets for gliflozins. They showed an ability to bind with human equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1, a regulator of adenosine extracellularly. Second, a docking study was carried out on this protein receptor. Results showed perfect alignment with a minimum of one hydrogen bond. Dapagliflozin achieved the lowest energy score with two hocking hydrogen bonds. This is proposing gliflozins ability to regulate equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 receptors in peripheries, elevating the centrally acting neuroprotective adenosine.

Omarigliptin attenuates rotenone-induced Parkinson's disease in rats: Possible role of oxidative stress, endoplasmic reticulum stress and immune modulation.

The current study aimed to explore the potential neuroprotective effect of omarigliptin (OG), an antidiabetic drug that crosses the blood-brain barrier (BBB), in a Parkinson's disease (PD) rotenone-based rat-model. Results showed that OG attenuated motor impairment, histological aberrations, α-synuclein accumulation, and rescued the dopaminergic neurons in rotenone-administered rats. Furthermore, OG halted rotenone-induced oxidative stress; as shown by reduced lipid peroxidation, decline in the oxidative stress sensor (nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2) and its downstream heme oxygenase-1. In addition, OG abrogated neuroinflammation and apoptosis in rotenone-treated rats. Moreover, OG ameliorated endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in rotenone-administered rats; as evidenced by reduced levels of ER resident proteins such as glucose-regulated protein 78, C/EBP homologous protein and apoptotic caspase-12. In conclusion, this study implies repurposing of OG, as a novel neuroprotective agent due to its antioxidant properties, its effects on ER stress in addition to its anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic activities.

Repurposing of Omarigliptin as a Neuroprotective Agent Based on Docking with A2A Adenosine and AChE Receptors, Brain GLP-1 Response and Its Brain/Plasma Concentration Ratio after 28 Days Multiple Doses in Rats Using LC-MS/MS.

The authors in the current work suggested the potential repurposing of omarigliptin (OMR) for neurodegenerative diseases based on three new findings that support the preliminary finding of crossing BBB after a single dose study in the literature. The first finding is the positive results of the docking study with the crystal structures of A2A adenosine (A2AAR) and acetylcholine esterase (AChE) receptors. A2AAR is a member of non-dopaminergic GPCR superfamily receptor proteins and has essential role in regulation of glutamate and dopamine release in Parkinson's disease while AChE plays a major role in Alzheimer's disease as the primary enzyme responsible for the hydrolytic metabolism of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine into choline and acetate. Docking showed that OMR perfectly fits into A2AAR binding pocket forming a distinctive hydrogen bond with Threonine 256. Besides other non-polar interactions inside the pocket suggesting the future of the marketed anti-diabetic drug (that cross BBB) as a potential antiparkinsonian agent while OMR showed perfect fit inside AChE receptor binding site smoothly because of its optimum length and the two fluorine atoms that enables quite lean fitting. Moreover, a computational comparative study of OMR docking, other 12 DPP-4 inhibitors and 11 SGLT-2 inhibitors was carried out. Secondly, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) concentration in rats' brain tissue was determined by the authors using sandwich GLP-1 ELISA kit bio-analysis to ensure the effect of OMR after the multiple doses' study. Brain GLP-1 concentration was elevated by 1.9-fold following oral multiple doses of OMR (5 mg/kg/day, p.o. for 28 days) as compared to the control group. The third finding is the enhanced BBB crossing of OMR after 28 days of multiple doses that had been studied using LC-MS/MS method with enhanced liquid-liquid extraction. A modified LC-MS/MS method was established for bioassay of OMR in rats' plasma (10-3100 ng/mL) and rats' brain tissue (15-2900 ng/mL) using liquid-liquid extraction. Alogliptin (ALP) was chosen as an internal standard (IS) due to its LogP value of 1.1, which is very close to the LogP of OMR. Extraction of OMR from samples of both rats' plasma and rats' brain tissue was effectively achieved with ethyl acetate as the extracting solvent after adding 1N sodium carbonate to enhance the drug migration, while choosing acetonitrile to be the diluent solvent for the IS to effectively decrease any emulsion between the layers in the stated method of extraction. Validation results were all pleasing including good stability studies with bias of value below 20%. Concentration of OMR in rats' plasma were determined after 2 h of the latest dose from 28 days multiple doses, p.o, 5 mg/kg/day. It was found to be 1295.66 ± 684.63 ng/mL estimated from the bio-analysis regression equation. OMR passed through the BBB following oral administration and exhibited concentration of 543.56 ± 344.15 ng/g in brain tissue, taking in consideration the dilution factor of 10. The brain/plasma concentration ratio of 0.42 (543.56/1295.66) was used to illustrate the penetration power through the BBB after the multiple doses for 28 days. Results showed that OMR passed through the BBB more effectively in the multiple dose study as compared to the previously published single dose study by the authors. Thus, the present study suggests potential repositioning of OMR as antiparkinsonian agent that will be of interest for researchers interested in neurodegenerative diseases.

Design and novel synthetic approach supported with molecular docking and biological evidence for naphthoquinone-hydrazinotriazolothiadiazine analogs as potential anticancer inhibiting topoisomerase-IIB.

A novel synthetic approach was developed for the synthesis of 3-hydrazinotriazolothiadiazines in just one step from Purpald and phenacyl bromides. They were then selectively tethered to naphthoquinone fragments through hydrazine moiety generating novel Naphthoquinone-hydrazinotriazolothiadiazine analogues. In vitro cytotoxicity for the synthesized chemical entities was validated against HepG2 and MCF-7 cell lines and recorded IC50 inhibitory profile range of 0.07-19.68 µM and 1.19-67.32 µM respectively. Among the synthesized series, compound 4c had maximal cytotoxicity against HepG2 and was therefore selected for further downstream biological investigations. Caspase 3 apoptotic marker was significantly upregulated in cells treated with compound 4c with induction of apoptosis at Pre-G1 phase and cell death at G2/M phase. Compounds 4a, 4c and 4d exhibited the most powerful inhibitory range (0.55-0.64 µM) against Topo IIB. Molecular docking study revealed potential interactions of those compounds within the ATP catalytic binding domain of Topo-IIB with high scores. In conclusion, the novel Naphthoquinone-hydrazinotriazolothiadiazine analogues could serve as promising anticancer agents through inhibition of Topoisomerase-IIB.

Structure-based drug design, synthesis, In vitro, and In vivo biological evaluation of indole-based biomimetic analogs targeting estrogen receptor-α inhibition.

Offering novel scaffolds targeting estrogen receptor creates huge necessity to overcome the evolving resistance developed by tumors. Structure-based drug design coupled with ring opening strategy of the steroids skeleton revealed the potential of indole-based analogs to be synthesized targeting the ligand binding domain of estrogen receptor-α. In vitro studies revealed the potential of the total sub-classes of the synthesized analogs to show anti-proliferative activity against estrogen receptor-dependent cancer cell lines at IC50 ranging from 28.23 to 57.13 µM. This was further validated by evaluating the potential of the synthesized analogs to compete along with estradiol via ER-α ELISA assay to show inhibitory profile at IC50 ranging from 1.76 to 204.75 nM. Two analogs (YMA-005 and YMA-006) showed significant reduction in tumor size at two dose levels with extensive degeneration and necrosis. Both YMA-005 and YMA-006 showed in-situ reduction of ER-α Immunohistochemical expression at both dose levels. Ultimately, novel analogs of indole-based biomimetic of estrone scaffolds were offered as estrogen receptor-α inhibitors.

Comparative Liquid Chromatographic Study for Concurrent Determination of Canagliflozin and Metformin in Combined Tablets.

New HPLC-UV method (method A), for simultaneous determination of metformin (MET) and canagliflozin (CANA), was developed and compared to another novel UPLC-UV method (method B) in their tablet combination. Concerning method A, isocratic separation was done by C18 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 3 µm) using methanol and 0.03 M phosphate buffer (75 : 25, v/v) at pH 3.2 as a mobile phase. Meanwhile, chromatographic separation in method B was achieved via Hypersil® gold (50 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.9 µm). Mobile phase was methanol and 0.03 M phosphate buffer at ratio of 80 : 20 v/v. In both, detection was done at wavelength of 240 nm. Method A showed satisfactory linearity results over 1-50 µg·mL-1 and 0.5-100 µg·mL-1, while method B linearity was at 0.1-50 µg·mL-1 and 0.25-100 µg·mL-1 for CANA and MET, respectively. In terms of accuracy and precision, method A accuracy was 99.81 ± 0.73 and 99.37 ± 0.54, while method B gave accuracy of 99.47 ± 1.03 and 99.73 ± 0.89 for CANA and MET, respectively. For precision, the % RSD was found to be less than 2% for three concentrations analyzed three times. The two methods are convenient for quality laboratories, yet the UPLC method offered the advantage of shorter run times and higher sensitivity.

Enhanced Chromatographic Determination of Nicotine in Human Plasma: Applied to Human Volunteers.

Development of enhanced UPLC-UV method for determination of nicotine in human plasma was achieved on a Symmetry(®) C18 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 2.2 µm) applying isocratic elution based on Methanol: Acetonitrile: Phosphate Buffer (pH: 2.7) with the ratio (20:30:50, v/v/v) as a mobile phase. The ultraviolet detector was operated at 260 nm. The mobile phase was pumped through the column at a flow rate of 0.2 mL min(-1). The column temperature was adjusted to 50ºC and the injection volume was 2 µL. Quinine was selected as an internal standard (IS) due to its structure similarity to nicotine having basic pyridine ring to optimize the liquid liquid extraction procedure using diethyl ether coupled with vacuum evaporation at 40°C. Validation parameters for nicotine were found to be acceptable over the concentration range of 2.5-50 ng ml(-1). The application of the proposed method on four healthy human volunteers was approved by the ethical committee. The study was carried out under fasting conditions and the concerned subjects were informed about the objectives and possible risks involved in the study. The proposed method proved to be simple and fast which is a major advantage to analyze large number of samples per day using the accelerated vacuum evaporation technique. The method showed satisfactory data for all the parameters tested within the limits for bioanalytical assays. The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) permits the application of the method for further pharmacological and clinical studies.

Improved Chromatographic Separation of Sitagliptin Phosphate and Metformin Hydrochloride.

New UPLC method was developed for determination of sitagliptin and metformin using Symmetry C18 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 2.2 µm) and isocratic elution (methanol 20%), pH (3.5) as a mobile phase. The ultraviolet detector was operated at 220 nm and the column temperature was 50°C. Linearity parameters were acceptable over the concentration ranges of 2-12 µgml(-1) and 5-35 µgml(-1) for sitagliptin and metformin, respectively. The variables were premeditated to adjust the chromatographic conditions using design of experiment. The proposed method was proved to be accurate for the quality control of the mentioned drugs in their pharmaceutical dosage form.