Type 2 diabetes mellitus in obesity promotes prolongation of cardiomyocyte contractile function, impaired Ca2+ handling and protein carbonylation damage

AIMS

To investigate whether the obesity associated to T2DM presented cardiomyocyte myocardial contractility dysfunction due to damage in Ca²⁺ handling, concomitantly with increased biomarkers of oxidative stress.

METHODS

Male Wistar rats were randomized into two groups: control (C): fed with standard diet; and obese (Ob) that fed a saturated high-fat. After the characterization of obesity (12 weeks), the Ob animals were submitted to T2DM induction with a single dose of intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of streptozotocin (30 mg/kg). Thus, remained Ob rats that were characterized as to the presence (T2DMOb; n = 8) and/or absence (Ob; n = 10) of T2DM. Cardiac remodeling was measured by post-mortem morphological, isolated cardiomyocyte contractile function, as well as by intracellular Ca²⁺-handling analysis.

RESULTS

T2DMOb presented a significant reduction of all fat pads, total body fat and adiposity index. T2DMOb group presented a significant increase in protein carbonylation and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, respectively. T2DMOb promoted elevations in fractional shortening (15.6 %) and time to 50 % shortening (5.8 %), respectively. Time to 50 % Ca²⁺ decay was prolonged in T2DMOb, suggesting a possible impairment in Ca²⁺recapture and/or removal.

CONCLUSION

Type 2 diabetes mellitus in obesity promotes prolongation of cardiomyocyte contractile function with protein carbonylation damage and impaired Ca²⁺ handling.

Synthesis of Eugenol Derivatives and Evaluation of their Antifungal Activity Against Fusarium solani f. sp. piperis

BACKGROUND

Fusarium solani f. sp. piperis is a phytopathogen that causes one of the most destructive diseases in black pepper crops, resulting in significant economic and crop production losses. Consequently, the control of this fungal disease is a matter of current and relevant interest in agriculture.

OBJECTIVE

The objective was to synthesize eugenol derivatives with antifungal activity.

METHODS

In this study, using bimolecular nucleophilic substitution and click chemistry approaches, four new and three known eugenol derivatives were obtained. The eugenol derivatives were characterized and their antifungal and cytotoxic effects were evaluated.

RESULTS

Eugenol derivative 4 (2-(4-allyl-2-methoxyphenoxy)-3-chloronaphthalene-1,4-dione) was the most active against F. solani f. sp. piperis and showed acceptable cytotoxicity. Compound 4 was two-fold more effective than tebuconazole in an antifungal assay and presented similar cytotoxicity in macrophages. The in silico study of β-glucosidase suggests a potential interaction of 4 with amino acid residues by a cation-π interaction with residue Arg177 followed by a hydrogen bond with Glu596, indicating an important role in the interactions with 4, justifying the antifungal action of this compound. In addition, the cytotoxicity after metabolism was evaluated as a mimic assay with the S9 fraction in HepG2 cells. Compound 4 demonstrated maintenance of cytotoxicity, showing IC50 values of 11.18 ± 0.5 and 9.04 ± 0.2 μg mL-1 without and with the S9 fraction, respectively. In contrast, eugenol (257.9 ± 0.4 and 133.5 ± 0.8 μg mL-1), tebuconazole (34.94 ± 0.2 and 26.76 ± 0.17 μg mL-1) and especially carbendazim (251.0 ± 0.30 and 34.7 ± 0.10 μg mL-1) showed greater cytotoxicity after hepatic biotransformation.

CONCLUSION

The results suggest that 4 is a potential candidate for use in the design of new and effective compounds that could control this pathogen.

Anti-Helicobacter pylori Activity of Isocoumarin Paepalantine: Morphological and Molecular Docking Analysis

The Helicobacterpylori bacterium is one of the main causes of chronic gastritis, peptic ulcers, and even gastric cancer. It affects an average of half of the world population. Its difficult eradication depends upon multi-drug therapy. Since its classification as a group 1 carcinogenic by International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the importance of H. pylori eradication has obtained a novel meaning. There is considerable interest in alternative therapies for the eradication of H. pylori using compounds from a wide range of natural products. In the present study, we investigated the antibacterial property of the isocoumarin paepalantine against H. pylori and it exhibited significant anti-H. pylori activity at a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 128 μg/mL and at a minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of 256 μg/mL. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed significant morphological changes of the bacterial cell as a response to a sub-MIC of paepalantine, suggesting a penicillin-binding protein (PBP) inhibition. Computational studies were carried out in order to study binding modes for paepalantine in PBP binding sites, exploring the active and allosteric sites. The data from the present study indicates that paepalantine exhibits significant anti-H. pylori activity, most likely by inhibiting membrane protein synthesis.

Facile Synthesis of Monodisperse Gold Nanocrystals Using Virola oleifera

The development of new routes and strategies for nanotechnology applications that only employ green synthesis has inspired investigators to devise natural systems. Among these systems, the synthesis of gold nanoparticles using plant extracts has been actively developed as an alternative, efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally safe method for producing nanoparticles, and this approach is also suitable for large-scale synthesis. This study reports reproducible and completely natural gold nanocrystals that were synthesized using Virola oleifera extract. V. oleifera resin is rich in epicatechin, ferulic acid, gallic acid, and flavonoids (i.e., quercetin and eriodictyol). These gold nanoparticles play three roles. First, these nanoparticles exhibit remarkable stability based on their zeta potential. Second, these nanoparticles are functionalized with flavonoids, and third, an efficient, economical, and environmentally friendly mechanism can be employed to produce green nanoparticles with organic compounds on the surface. Our model is capable of reducing the resin of V. oleifera, which creates stability and opens a new avenue for biological applications. This method does not require painstaking conditions or hazardous agents and is a rapid, efficient, and green approach for the fabrication of monodisperse gold nanoparticles. Graphical Abstract The Virola oleifera reduction method for the synthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNP's).

Ascorbic acid potentiates the cytotoxicity of the naphthoquinone 5-methoxy-3,4-dehydroxanthomegnin

The interaction of ascorbic acid with 5-methoxy-3,4-dehydroxanthomegnin, an 1,4-naphthoquinone, was investigated using the cytotoxic index for McCoy cells by neutral red assay. The synergistic effect was observed when such compounds were added simultaneously, most probably due to hydrogen peroxide being generated by ascorbate-driven 5-methoxy-3,4-dehydroxanthomegnin redox cycling. Incubation of cells in the presence of 5-methoxy-3,4-dehydroxanthomegnin/ascorbic acid/catalase, an enzyme that destroys H2O2, resulted in an increase of cell survival, reinforcing the involvement of hydrogen peroxide generated as an important oxidizing agent that kills McCoy cells.