Gurudeeban Selvaraj

Effect of Glycosin alkaloid from Rhizophora apiculata in non-insulin dependent diabetic rats and its mechanism of action: In vivo and in silico studies

BACKGROUND AND AIM Diabetes mellitus is a complex multifactorial disorder that remains a great challenging task in the clinical practice. Rhizophora apiculata from Indian medicinal mangrove is widely used to treat inflammation, wound healing and diabetes. Bioassay guided fractionation was followed to isolate Glycosin from the ethanolic extract of R. apiculata. The antidiabetic effect of Glycosin in diabetic rats was investigated and determined their possible mechanism of action. METHODS Diabetes was induced in adult Wistar rats by a single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin and nicotinamide. Based on the oral glucose tolerance test, Glycosin (50mg/kg b.wt.) was orally administrated to diabetic rats for a period of 45 days. In different intervals, blood glucose and body weight were recorded. After 45 days, blood samples were collected to determine serum lipid profile, level of plasma insulin, hemoglobin, liver, and kidney functions using the appropriate tests. In addition the levels of carbohydrate metabolic enzymes in the liver homogenate were also measured. To determine the molecular mechanism of action, we followed the molecular docking of Glycosin in its possible targets, dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-IV), Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ), phosphorylated insulin receptor, and protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP-1B). RESULTS Glycosin treatment significantly (p<0.01) reduced the blood-glucose level, increased the body weight, increase hemoglobin, high-density lipoprotein and insulin level, protein, in addition the activity of hexokinase when compared to untreated rats. Decreased activities of liver function enzymes as well as level of urea, and creatinine were observed in Glycosin treated rats. Docking simulation confirmed that Glycosin interacted with DPP-IV, Insulin receptor and PTP-1B and PPARγ with more affinity and binding energy. CONCLUSION Glycosin acts as antihyperglycemic agent, associated with antihyperlipidemic and possibility function as a ligand for proteins that are targets for antidiabetes drugs.

Production and characterization of spherical thermostable silver nanoparticles from Spirulina platensis (Cyanophyceae)

Abstract: Biological production of silver nanoparticles (SNP) has recently received considerable attention because of their therapeutic applications. The present study reports the production and characterization of spherical-thermostable SNP from Spirulina platensis. Wet biomass harvested from optimized logarithmic-phase culture was used for production of SNP in 1, 3, or 5 mM silver nitrate solution. Formation and concentration of spherical SNP was highest when S. platensis was treated with 3 mM silver nitrate. Fourier transform infrared spectra of SNP indicate that vanillin, coumarins, tannins, amide, and glycogen may act as stabilizing agents for bioreduction. The crystalline nature of the produced SNP was evidenced from X-ray diffractometer analysis. Weight loss of SNP occurred at 210°C, 310°C, and 510°C as shown by thermogravimetric analysis. This study shows that S. platensis may be used as an efficient tool for production of spherical, crystalline, and thermostable SNP.

Insight on Excoecaria agallocha: An Overview

Excoecaria agallocha is a milky mangrove widely distributed in Indian coastal regions. This review article explains chemical composition, pharmaceutical and environmental applications of E. agallocha. There are 20 different polyphenols, 15 terpenoids and more than 50 volatile derivatives were identified from leaves, stem, latex and root extract. Enormous number of compounds isolated from ethanolic extact of leaves. In conclusion, E. agallocha has huge amount of polyphenols and terpenoids, which was reported to have endocrine, epidemic and endemic disease control as anti-microbial, anti-cancer and anti-diabetic agent.