Coumestrol Counteracts Interleukin-1β-Induced Catabolic Effects by Suppressing Inflammation in Primary Rat Chondrocytes

Effective methods for increasing coumestrol in soybean sprouts

Coumestrol (CM), a biologically active compound found in Leguminosae plants, provides various human health benefits. To identify easy and effective methods to increase CM content in vegetables, we developed a quantitative analysis method using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Using this method, we found that soybean sprouts (1.76 ± 0.13 μg/g) have high CM contents among nine vegetables and evaluated the difference in CM contents between two organs of the sprouts: cotyledons and hypocotyls. Next, soybean sprouts were cultivated under different light, temperature, and water conditions and their CM contents were evaluated. CM content was higher in hypocotyls (4.11 ± 0.04 μg/g) than in cotyledons. Cultivating soybean sprouts at 24°C enhanced CM content regardless of light conditions, the growth of fungi and bacteria, and sprout color. Thus, we identified methods of soybean sprout cultivation to increase CM content, which may provide health benefits and enhance value.

Current Therapies for Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischaemic and Infection-Sensitised Hypoxic-Ischaemic Brain Damage

Neonatal hypoxic-ischaemic brain damage is a leading cause of child mortality and morbidity, including cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and cognitive disabilities. The majority of neonatal hypoxic-ischaemic cases arise as a result of impaired cerebral perfusion to the foetus attributed to uterine, placental, or umbilical cord compromise prior to or during delivery. Bacterial infection is a factor contributing to the damage and is recorded in more than half of preterm births. Exposure to infection exacerbates neuronal hypoxic-ischaemic damage thus leading to a phenomenon called infection-sensitised hypoxic-ischaemic brain injury. Models of neonatal hypoxia-ischaemia (HI) have been developed in different animals. Both human and animal studies show that the developmental stage and the severity of the HI insult affect the selective regional vulnerability of the brain to damage, as well as the subsequent clinical manifestations. Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) is the only clinically approved treatment for neonatal HI. However, the number of HI infants needed to treat with TH for one to be saved from death or disability at age of 18-22 months, is approximately 6-7, which highlights the need for additional or alternative treatments to replace TH or increase its efficiency. In this review we discuss the mechanisms of HI injury to the immature brain and the new experimental treatments studied for neonatal HI and infection-sensitised neonatal HI.

Temperature-Dependent Dynamical Evolution in Coum/SBE-β-CD Inclusion Complexes Revealed by Two-Dimensional FTIR Correlation Spectroscopy (2D-COS)

A combination of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in attenuated total reflectance geometry (FTIR-ATR) and 2D correlation analysis (2D-COS) was applied here for the first time in order to investigate the temperature-dependent dynamical evolution occurring in a particular type of inclusion complex, based on sulfobutylether-β-cyclodextrin (SBE-β-CD) as hosting agent and Coumestrol (7,12-dihydorxcoumestane, Coum), a poorly-soluble active compound known for its anti-viral and anti-oxidant activity. For this purpose, synchronous and asynchronous 2D spectra were calculated in three different wavenumber regions (960-1320 cm^-1, 1580-1760 cm^-1 and 2780-3750 cm^-1) and over a temperature range between 250 K and 340 K. The resolution enhancement provided by the 2D-COS offers the possibility to extract the sequential order of events tracked by specific functional groups of the system, and allows, at the same time, the overcoming of some of the limits associated with conventional 1D FTIR-ATR analysis. Acquired information could be used, in principle, for the definition of an optimized procedure capable to provide high-performance T-sensitive drug carrier systems for different applications.

Naturally occurring coumestans from plants, their biological activities and therapeutic effects on human diseases

Naturally occurring coumestans are known as a collection of plant-derived polycyclic aromatic secondary metabolites which are characterized by the presence of an oxygen heterocyclic four-ring system comprising a coumarin moiety and a benzofuran moiety sharing a C˭C bond. Recently, there is an increasing attention in excavating the medicinal potential of coumestans, particularly coumestrol, wedelolactone, psoralidin and glycyrol, in a variety of diseases. This review is a comprehensive inventory of the chemical structures of coumestans isolated from various plant sources during the period of 1956-2020, together with their reported biological activities. 120 molecules were collected and further classified as coumestans containing core skeleton, dimethylpyranocoumestans, furanocoumestans, O-glycosylated coumestans and others, which showed a wide range of pharmacological activities including estrogenic, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-osteoporotic, organ protective, neuroprotective, anti-diabetic and anti-obesity, antimicrobial, immunosuppressive, antioxidant and skin-protective activities. Furthermore, this review focuses on the counteraction of coumestans against bone diseases and organ damages, and the involved molecular mechanisms, which could provide important information to better understand the medicinal values of these compounds. This review is intended to be instructive for the rational design and development of less toxic and more effective drugs with a coumestan scaffold.

Acteoside Counteracts Interleukin-1β-Induced Catabolic Processes through the Modulation of Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases and the NFκB Cellular Signaling Pathway

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common degenerative joint disease with chronic joint pain caused by progressive degeneration of articular cartilage at synovial joints. Acteoside, a caffeoylphenylethanoid glycoside, has various biological activities such as antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antioxidative, cytoprotective, and neuroprotective effect. Further, oral administration of acteoside at high dosage does not cause genotoxicity. Therefore, the aim of present study is to verify the anticatabolic effects of acteoside against osteoarthritis and its anticatabolic signaling pathway. Acteoside did not decrease the viabilities of mouse fibroblast L929 cells used as normal cells and primary rat chondrocytes. Acteoside counteracted the IL-1β-induced proteoglycan loss in the chondrocytes and articular cartilage through suppressing the expression and activation of cartilage-degrading enzyme such as matrix metalloproteinase- (MMP-) 13, MMP-1, and MMP-3. Furthermore, acteoside suppressed the expression of inflammatory mediators such as inducible nitric oxide synthase, cyclooxygenase-2, nitric oxide, and prostaglandin E2 in the primary rat chondrocytes treated with IL-1β. Subsequently, the expression of proinflammatory cytokines was decreased by acteoside in the primary rat chondrocytes treated with IL-1β. Moreover, acteoside suppressed not only the phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases in primary rat chondrocytes treated with IL-1β but also the translocation of NFκB from the cytosol to the nucleus through suppression of its phosphorylation. Oral administration of 5 and 10 mg/kg acteoside attenuated the progressive degeneration of articular cartilage in the osteoarthritic mouse model generated by destabilization of the medial meniscus. Our findings indicate that acteoside is a promising potential anticatabolic agent or supplement to attenuate or prevent progressive degeneration of articular cartilage.

Coumestrol mitigates retinal cell inflammation, apoptosis, and oxidative stress in a rat model of diabetic retinopathy via activation of SIRT1

Diabetes-induced oxidative stress is vital in initiating neuronal damage in the diabetic retina, leading to diabetic retinopathy (DR). This study investigates the possible effects of coumestrol (CMS) on streptozotocin (STZ)-induced DR. First, we established a rat model of DR by STZ injection and a cell model involving high-glucose (HG) exposure of human retinal microvascular endothelial cells (hRMECs). We characterized the expression patterns of oxidative stress indicators, pro-inflammatory cytokines, and pro-apoptotic proteins in hRMECs. Polymerase chain reaction showed sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) to be poorly expressed in the retinal tissues of STZ-treated rats and HG-exposed hRMECs, but its expression was upregulated upon treatment with CMS treatment. Furthermore, CMS treatment attenuated the STZ-induced pathologies such as oxidative stress, inflammation, and cell apoptosis. Consistent with the in vivo results, CMS activated the expression of SIRT1, thereby inhibiting oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis of HG-treated hRMECs. From these findings, we concluded that CMS ameliorated DR by inhibiting inflammation, apoptosis and oxidative stress through activation of SIRT1.

A Review of Plant Extracts and Plant-Derived Natural Compounds in the Prevention/Treatment of Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Brain Injury

Neonatal hypoxic-ischemic (HI) brain injury is one of the major drawbacks of mortality and causes significant short/long-term neurological dysfunction in newborn infants worldwide. To date, due to multifunctional complex mechanisms of brain injury, there is no well-established effective strategy to completely provide neuroprotection. Although therapeutic hypothermia is the proven treatment for hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), it does not completely chang outcomes in severe forms of HIE. Therefore, there is a critical need for reviewing the effective therapeutic strategies to explore the protective agents and methods. In recent years, it is widely believed that there are neuroprotective possibilities of natural compounds extracted from plants against HIE. These natural agents with the anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, anti-apoptotic, and neurofunctional regulatory properties exhibit preventive or therapeutic effects against experimental neonatal HI brain damage. In this study, it was aimed to review the literature in scientific databases that investigate the neuroprotective effects of plant extracts/plant-derived compounds in experimental animal models of neonatal HI brain damage and their possible underlying molecular mechanisms of action.

A mechanistic insight of phytoestrogens used for Rheumatoid arthritis: An evidence-based review

Assessment of the potential therapeutic benefits offered by naturally occurring phytoestrogens necessitate inspection of their potency and sites of action in impeding the chronic, systemic, autoimmune, joint destructing disorder Rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Possessing structural and functional similarity with human estrogen, phytoestrogen promisingly replaces the use of hormone therapy in eradicating RA symptoms with their anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, anti-proliferative, anti-angiogenesis, immunomodulatory, joint protection properties abolishing the harmful side effects of synthetic drugs. Scientific evidences revealed that use of phytoestrogens from different chemical categories including flavonoids, alkaloids, stilbenoids derived from different plant species manifest beneficial effects on RA through various cellular mechanisms including suppression of pro-inflammatory cytokines in particular tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), interleukin(IL-6) and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and destructive metalloproteinases, inhibition of oxidative stress, suppressing inflammatory signalling pathways, attenuating osteoclastogenesis ameliorating cartilage degradation and bone erosion. This review summarizes the evidences of different phytoestrogen treatment and their pharmacological mechanisms in both in vitro and in vivo studies along with discussing clinical evaluations in RA patients showing phytoestrogen as a promising agent for RA therapy. Further investigations and more clinical trials are mandatory to clarify the utility of these plant derived compounds in RA prevention and in managing oestrogen deficient diseases in patients.

Micronutrients: Essential Treatment for Inflammatory Arthritis?

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Synovial inflammation is characteristic of inflammatory chronic arthropathies and can cause progressive articular damage, chronic pain, and functional loss. Scientific research has increasingly focused on investigating anti-inflammatory micronutrients present in fruits, vegetables, spices, seeds, tea, and wine. This review aims to examine the anti-inflammatory effect of polyphenols (phytonutrients present in plants) and other micronutrients described in randomized clinical trials conducted in patients with chronic inflammatory arthropathies.

RECENT FINDINGS

There is an increasing evidence that differences in micronutrient intake might play an essential role in pathogenesis, therapeutic response, and remission of synovitis. Randomized clinical trials with specific micronutrient- or nutrient-enriched food intake show improvement of symptoms and modulation of both pro- and anti-inflammatory mediators. We found convincing evidence of the anti-inflammatory effect of several micronutrients in arthritis symptoms and inflammation. Although in clinical practice nutritional recommendations to patients with chronic joint inflammation are not consistently prescribed, the addition of these nutrients to day-to-day eating habits could potentially change the natural history of inflammatory arthritis. Future research is needed for a consensus on the specific nutritional recommendations for patients with chronic synovial inflammation.

Euphorbia bicolor (Euphorbiaceae) Latex Phytochemicals Induce Long-Lasting Non-Opioid Peripheral Analgesia in a Rat Model of Inflammatory Pain

The negative side effects of opioid-based narcotics underscore the search for alternative non-opioid bioactive compounds that act on the peripheral nervous system to avoid central nervous system-mediated side effects. The transient receptor potential V1 ion channel (TRPV1) is a peripheral pain generator activated and sensitized by heat, capsaicin, and a variety of endogenous ligands. TRPV1 contributes to peripheral sensitization and hyperalgesia, in part, via triggering the release of proinflammatory peptides, such as calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), both locally and at the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. Ultrapotent exogenous TRPV1 agonists, such as resiniferatoxin identified in the latex of the exotic Euphorbia resinifera, trigger hyperalgesia followed by long lasting, peripheral analgesia. The present study reports on the analgesic properties of Euphorbia bicolor, a relative of E. resinifera, native to the Southern United States. The study hypothesized that E. bicolor latex extract induces long-lasting, non-opioid peripheral analgesia in a rat model of inflammatory pain. Both inflamed and non-inflamed adult male and female rats were injected with the methanolic extract of E. bicolor latex into the hindpaw and changes in pain behaviors were reassessed at various time points up to 4 weeks. Primary sensory neuron cultures also were treated with the latex extract or vehicle for 15 min followed by stimulation with the TRPV1 agonist capsaicin. Results showed that E. bicolor latex extract evoked significant pain behaviors in both male and female rats at 20 min post-injection and lasting around 1–2 h. At 6 h post-injection, analgesia was observed in male rats that lasted up to 4 weeks, whereas in females the onset of analgesia was delayed to 72 h post-injection. In sensory neurons, latex extract significantly reduced capsaicin-evoked CGRP release. Blocking TRPV1, but not opioid receptors, attenuated the onset of analgesia and capsaicin-induced CGRP release. Latex was analyzed by mass spectrometry and eleven candidate compounds were identified and reported here. These findings indicate that phytochemicals in the E. bicolor latex induce hyperalgesia followed by peripheral, non-opioid analgesia in both male and female rats, which occurs in part via TRPV1 and may provide novel, non-opioid peripheral analgesics that warrant further examination.

Effect of Kaempferia parviflora extract on knee osteoarthritis

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is becoming more prevalent worldwide due to increases in the numbers of elderly and obese patients. Currently, pharmaceutical medicines used for the treatment of OA are for symptomatic therapy and therefore new therapeutic agents are needed. Kaempferia parviflora (KP) is a plant growing naturally in Southeast Asia and has various pharmacological effects including an anti-inflammatory effect, but no effect on OA has yet been reported. We therefore conducted a search for the effects KP and the active components of KP extract (KPE) exert on OA as well as its mechanism of action. Results from a study of KPE using the monoiodoacetic acid rat OA model revealed that KPE reduced the pain threshold and severity of osteoarthritic cartilage lesions. The mechanism of action and active components were then investigated using IL-1β-treated human knee-derived chondrocytes. KPE, as well as 5,7-dimethoxyflavone and 5,7,4'-trimethoxyflavone, which are key constituents of KPE and highly absorbable into the body, reduced the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), which are the main extracellular matrix enzymes that degrade collagen within cartilage. As mentioned above, KPE acted to suppress OA and 5,7-dimethoxyflavone and 5,7,4'-trimethoxyflavone were shown to be involved as part of KPE's mechanism that inhibits MMPs.