Chemical Composition of Scrophularia lucida and the Effects on Tumor Invasiveness in Vitro

Anti-Biofilm Activity of Carnosic Acid from Salvia rosmarinus against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

The Salvia rosmarinus "Eretto Liguria" ecotype was studied as a source of valuable bioactive compounds. LC-MS analysis of the methanolic extract underlined the presence of diterpenoids, triterpenoids, polyphenolic acids, and flavonoids. The anti-virulence activity of carnosic acid along with the other most abundant compounds against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was evaluated. Only carnosic acid induced a significant reduction in the expression of agrA and rnaIII genes, which encode the key components of quorum sensing (QS), an intracellular signaling mechanism controlling the virulence of MRSA. At a concentration of 0.05 mg/mL, carnosic acid inhibited biofilm formation by MRSA and the expression of genes involved in toxin production and made MRSA more susceptible to intracellular killing, with no toxic effects on eukaryotic cells. Carnosic acid did not affect biofilm formation by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a human pathogen that often coexists with MRSA in complex infections. The selected ecotype showed a carnosic acid content of 94.3 ± 4.3 mg/g. In silico analysis highlighted that carnosic acid potentially interacts with the S. aureus AgrA response regulator. Our findings suggest that carnosic acid could be an anti-virulence agent against MRSA infections endowed with a species-specific activity useful in multi-microbial infections.

Pharmacology, phytochemistry, and traditional uses of Scrophularia ningpoensis Hemsl

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Scrophularia ningpoensis Hemsl. (known as Xuanshen) has been used in China for centuries as a traditional medicinal plant to treat numerous diseases including inflammation, hypertension, cancer, and diabetes.

AIM OF REVIEW

In this review, we provide an update on the botany, pharmacology, phytochemistry, pharmacokinetics, traditional uses, and safety of S. ningpoensis to highlight future research needs and potential uses of this plant.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

All information on S. ningpoensis was obtained from scientific databases including ScienceDirect, Springer, PubMed, Sci Finder, China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Google Scholar, and Baidu Scholar. Additional information was collected from Chinese herbal medicine books, Ph.D. dissertations, and M.Sc. Theses. Plant taxonomy was verified by "The Plant List" database (http://www.theplantlist.org).

RESULTS

S. ningpoensis displays fever reducing, detoxifying, and nourishing 'Yin' effects in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). More than 162 compounds have been identified and isolated from S. ningpoensis, including iridoids and iridoid glycosides, phenylpropanoid glycosides, organic acids, volatile oils, terpenoids, saccharides, flavonoids, sterols, and saponins. These compounds possess a diverse variety of pharmacological properties that affect the cardiovascular, hepatic, and nervous systems, and protect the body against inflammation, oxidation, and carcinogenesis.

CONCLUSIONS

Modern pharmacological studies have confirmed that S. ningpoensis is a valuable Chinese medicinal herb with many pharmacological uses in the treatment of cardiovascular, diabetic, and liver diseases. Most of the S. ningpoensis activity may be attributed to iridoid glycosides and phenylpropanoid glycosides; however, detailed information on the molecular mechanisms, metabolic activity, toxicology, and structure-function relationships of active components is limited. Further comprehensive research to evaluate the medicinal properties of S. ningpoensis is needed.

Extraction Kinetics of Phenolic Antioxidants from the Hydro Distillation Residues of Rosemary and Effect of Pretreatment and Extraction Parameters

Rosemary residue, remaining after the distillation of essential oil, is currently unexploited, while it is a source of phenolic antioxidant components. This raw material was used for the extraction of phenolic compounds by aqueous ethanol or acetone in a continuously stirred reactor. The experimental results were fitted with a two-stage diffusion model. The highest extraction rates, total phenolic content (TPC) recovery, and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging capacity were obtained by acetone 60% and ethanol 60%. Grinding of the raw material enhanced the extraction rate and increased TPC yield and antioxidant capacity as the particle size decreased. Pre-treatment by maceration in water (4 h) dissolved a high amount of TPC and shortened the extraction time, while the combination with the pulsed electric field process did not provide further improvement. The use of ultrasound increased the efficiency of the extraction.

Hispidulin: A novel natural compound with therapeutic potential against human cancers

Cancer is one of the most devastating disease and leading cause of death worldwide. The conventional anticancer drugs are monotarget, toxic, expensive and suffer from drug resistance. Development of multi-targeted drugs from natural products has emerged as a new paradigm to overcome aforementioned conventionally encountered obstacles. Hispidulin (HIS), is a biologically active natural flavone with versatile biological and pharmacological activities. The anticancer, antimutagenic, antioxidative and anti-inflammatory properties of HIS have been reported. The aim of this review is to summarize the findings of several studies over the last few decades on the anticancer activity of HIS published in various databases including PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus. HIS has been shown to reduce the growth of cancer cells by inducing apoptosis, arresting cell cycle, inhibiting angiogenesis, invasion and metastasis via modulating multiple signaling pathways implicated in cancer initiation and progression. Multitargeted anticancer activity of HIS remains the strongest point for developing it into potential anticancer drug. We also highlighted the natural sources, anticancer mechanism, cellular targets, and chemo-sensitizing potential of HIS. This review will provide bases for design and conduct of further pre-clinical and clinical trials to develop HIS into a lead structure for future anticancer therapy.

Flavonoids Distinctly Stabilize Lymph Endothelial- or Blood Endothelial Disintegration Induced by Colon Cancer Spheroids SW620

The health effects of plant phenolics in vegetables and other food and the increasing evidence of the preventive potential of flavonoids in “Western Diseases” such as cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and others, have gained enormous interest. This prompted us to investigate the effects of 20 different flavonoids of the groups of flavones, flavonols and flavanones in 3D in vitro systems to determine their ability to inhibit the formation of circular chemorepellent induced defects (CCIDs) in monolayers of lymph- or blood-endothelial cells (LECs, BECs; respectively) by 12(S)-HETE, which is secreted by SW620 colon cancer spheroids. Several compounds reduced the spheroid-induced defects of the endothelial barriers. In the SW620/LEC model, apigenin and luteolin were most active and acacetin, nepetin, wogonin, pinocembrin, chrysin and hispidulin showed weak effects. In the SW620/BEC model acacetin, apigenin, luteolin, wogonin, hispidulin and chrysin exhibited weak activity.

Scrophularia Tenuipes Coss and Durieu: Phytochemical Composition and Biological Activities

Scrophularia tenuipes is an Algerian-Tunisian endemic species, which has not been studied yet. Ethyl acetate (EA) and n-butanol (Bu) fractions obtained from Scrophularia tenuipes were investigated for their health benefit properties, in particular with respect to in vivo/in vitro anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities, as well as their potential to inhibit key enzymes with impact in diabetes (α-glucosidase and α-amylase). The fractions had a distinct phytochemical composition, of which EA was richer in total phenolic compounds (225 mg GAE/g) and mostly composed of the phenylethanoid acetyl martynoside. Compared to EA, Bu had higher amounts of total flavonoids, and according to the result obtained from UHPLC-DAD-ESI-MSn analysis, harpagoside (iridoid) was its major phytochemical. EA fraction was quite promising with regard to the in vivo (at 200 mg/kg, po) anti-inflammatory effect (62% and 52% for carrageenan-induced rat paw edema and xylene-induced ear edema tests, respectively), while Bu fraction exhibited a stronger antioxidant capacity in all tests (IC50 = 68 µg/mL, IC50 = 18 µg/mL, IC50 = 18 µg/mL and A0.50 = 43 µg/mL for DPPH●, ABTS•+, O2•- scavenging assays and cupric-reducing antioxidant capacity method, respectively). Both fractions also showed a strong effect against α-amylase enzyme (IC50 = 8 µg/mL and 10 µg/mL for EA and Bu fraction, respectively).

Global and Regional IUCN Red List Assessments: 8

In this contribution, the conservation status assessment of four vascular plants according to IUCN categories and criteria are presented. It includes the assessment of Ophrys normanii J.J.Wood at global level, and the regional assessment of Genista anglica L., Helianthemum lippii (L.) Dum.Cours., and Scrophularia lucida L. (Italy).

Structural Insight into the In Vitro Anti-Intravasative Properties of Flavonoids

We investigated the effect of 21 flavonoids in a three-dimensional in vitro system for their ability to inhibit gap formation by MCF-7 breast cancer spheroids in monolayers of lymphendothelial cells. Different representatives of the classes of flavones, flavonols, and flavanones were tested in the circular chemorepellent-induced defects (CCID)-assay. Bay11-7082, a known inhibitor of CCID formation served as the positive control. This study provides the first comparison of the potential of flavonoids to suppress features influencing the intravasation of MCF-7 breast cancer cells aggregates through the lymph endothelial barrier. The most significant effects were seen after incubation with the flavones luteolin, chrysin, and apigenin. Additional hydroxylation or methoxylation in positions 6 or 8, as expected, resulted in decreased activity. The tested flavanones remained without or low efficacy.

Clerodendrum petasites S. Moore: The therapeutic potential of phytochemicals, hispidulin, vanillic acid, verbascoside, and apigenin

Clerodendrum petasites S. Moore has been prescribed in Thai traditional medicine for over 30 years for the treatment of ailments including asthma, inflammation, fever, cough, vomiting, and skin disorders. The phytochemicals from this plant have been identified as phenolic acids, flavones, flavone glycosides, glycosides, phenylpropanoid, and diterpenoid. The pharmacological activities both in vitro and in vivo have mostly been reported from crude extracts and not from pure compounds. This review, therefore, brings together information on the specific phytochemicals found in C. petasites in order to provide a guide to the natural bioactive compounds that are potentially used in medicines together with mechanisms underlying their pharmacological uses. All relevant information was searched for the terms of plant name, naturally-occurring compounds, and traditional uses from reliable databases, such as PubMed, Science Direct and Google Scholar, along with Thai traditional medicine textbooks. There was no specific timeline set for the search and this review selected to report only mechanisms studied by using standard compounds for their biological activities. Four dominant compounds comprising hispidulin, vanillic acid, verbascoside, and apigenin, have robust evidence to support their medical effects. Hispidulin was discovered to be possibly responsible for the treatment of cancer, osteolytic bone diseases, and neurological diseases. Other compounds were also found to tentatively support the uses in inflammation and neurological diseases. C. petasites extracts may provide an option as complimentary medicine, and or for the pharmacological development of new drugs derived from the phytochemicals found within.

Scrophularia lucida L. as a valuable source of bioactive compounds for pharmaceutical applications: In vitro antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, enzyme inhibitory properties, in silico studies, and HPLC profiles

The genus Scrophularia has received much interest with regards to its traditional uses against eczema, psoriasis, and mastitis. Yet, the medicinal properties of some species still need to be scientifically validated. The present study was designed to investigate into the biological properties of various solvent extracts (ethyl acetate, methanol, and aqueous) of the roots and aerial parts of Scrophularia lucida based on its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and enzyme inhibitory activities together with phytochemical screening. Our results revealed that the solvent extracts differed in their biological effectiveness. The root ethyl acetate extract showed the highest ABTS scavenging, FRAP, CUPRAC, and inhibitory activity against AChE and α-glucosidase. The ethyl acetate extract of the aerial parts displayed the highest BChE and α-amylase inhibition and antioxidant effect in the phosphomolybdenum assay, while the methanol extracts of both parts were the most effective DPPH• scavengers and tyrosinase inhibitors. The methanol extracts of the root and aerial parts also inhibited NO production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated murine leukemic monocyte-macrophage cell (4.99% and 10.77%, respectively), at 31.25 μg/mL concentration. The highest TPC (34.98 mg GAE/g extract) and TFC (48.33 mg RE/g extract) were observed in the ethyl acetate extract of the root and aerial parts, respectively. The most abundant compounds in the root ethyl acetate extract were luteolin (852 μg/g extract), rosmarinic acid (522 μg/g extract), and hesperidin (394 μg/g extract) while kaempferol was most abundant in the ethyl acetate extract of the aerial parts (628 μg/g extract). In silico experiments were conducted on tyrosinase and the higher docking values were observed for rosmarinic acid and hesperidin. The present findings provide base line information which tend to support the potential use of S. lucida in the management of several chronic diseases, including Alzheimer's disease and diabetes mellitus.

Apigenin and Luteolin Attenuate the Breaching of MDA-MB231 Breast Cancer Spheroids Through the Lymph Endothelial Barrier in Vitro

Flavonoids, present in fruits, vegetables and traditional medicinal plants, show anticancer effects in experimental systems and are reportedly non-toxic. This is a favorable property for long term strategies for the attenuation of lymph node metastasis, which may effectively improve the prognostic states in breast cancer. Hence, we studied two flavonoids, apigenin and luteolin exhibiting strong bio-activity in various test systems in cancer research and are readily available on the market. This study has further advanced the mechanistic understanding of breast cancer intravasation through the lymphatic barrier. Apigenin and luteolin were tested in a three-dimensional (3-D) assay consisting of MDA-MB231 breast cancer spheroids and immortalized lymph endothelial cell (LEC) monolayers. The 3-D model faithfully resembles the intravasation of breast cancer emboli through the lymphatic vasculature. Western blot analysis, intracellular Ca²⁺ determination, EROD assay and siRNA transfection revealed insights into mechanisms of intravasation as well as the anti-intravasative outcome of flavonoid action. Both flavonoids suppressed pro-intravasative trigger factors in MDA-MB231 breast cancer cells, specifically MMP1 expression and CYP1A1 activity. A pro-intravasative contribution of FAK expression in LECs was established as FAK supported the retraction of the LEC monolayer upon contact with cancer cells thereby enabling them to cross the endothelial barrier. As mechanistic basis, MMP1 caused the phosphorylation (activation) of FAK at Tyr397 in LECs. Apigenin and luteolin prevented MMP1-induced FAK activation, but not constitutive FAK phosphorylation. Luteolin, unlike apigenin, inhibited MMP1-induced Ca²⁺ release. Free intracellular Ca²⁺ is a central signal amplifier triggering LEC retraction through activation of the mobility protein MLC2, thereby enhancing intravasation. FAK activity and Ca²⁺ levels did not correlate. This implicates that the pro-intravasative contribution of FAK and of Ca²⁺ release in LECs was independent of each other and explains the better anti-intravasative effects of luteolin in vitro. In specific formulations, flavonoid concentrations causing significant anti-intravasative effects, can certainly be achieved in vivo. As the therapeutic strategy has to be based on permanent flavonoid treatment both the beneficial and adverse effects have to be investigated in future studies.