Sampa Sarkar

Bactericidal activity of 2-nitroimidazole against the active replicating stage of Mycobacterium bovis BCG and Mycobacterium tuberculosis with intracellular efficacy in THP-1 macrophages

This study evaluated the antituberculous potential of 2-nitroimidazole under in vitro conditions. Minimal bactericidal concentrations of the compound against actively replicating Mycobacterium bovis BCG and Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra were found to be 0.226 microg/mL and 0.556 microg/mL in enriched and minimal medium, respectively. Minimal inhibitory concentrations were >100 times lower than reported antituberculous nitroimidazoles such as nitrofurantoin and furaltadone, indicating the greater potential of 2-nitroimidazole. No discernible effect of 2-nitroimidazole was seen on saprophytic Mycobacterium smegmatis and the representative bacterial strain Escherichia coli DH5alpha, indicating the specificity of the molecule against tuberculous mycobacteria. The compound was also found to be effective against M. tuberculosis in the intracellular environment of the human monocytic cell line THP-1, with a reduction in viability of bacilli by 2.5 log after 144 h of incubation at a concentration of 0.113 microg/mL. A five-fold higher concentration (0.565 microg/mL) of 2-nitroimidazole sterilised the macrophages of intracellular pathogens within 192 h, without affecting the host. However, 2-nitroimidazole was unable to affect significantly the viability of dormant non-replicating bacilli of M. bovis BCG and M. tuberculosis in Waynes in vitro model. Overall, the results indicate that 2-nitroimidazole is a potent antituberculous agent active against the organisms active replicating stage, with promising intracellular efficacy as well.

Self-Assembled Functional Nanostructure of Plasmid DNA with Ionic Liquid [Bmim][PF6]: Enhanced Efficiency in Bacterial Gene Transformation

The electrostatic interaction between the negatively charged phosphate groups of plasmid DNA and the cationic part of hydrophobic ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([Bmim][PF6]), initiates spontaneous self-assembly to form the functional nanostructures made up of DNA and ionic liquid (IL). These functional nanostructures were demonstrated as promising synthetic nonviral vectors for the efficient bacterial pGFP gene transformation in cells. In particular, the functional nanostructures that were made up of 1 μL of IL ([Bmim][PF6]) and 1 μg of plasmid DNA can increase the transformation efficiency by 300-400% in microbial systems, without showing any toxicity for E. coli DH5α cells. (31)P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron (XPS) spectroscopic analysis revealed that the electrostatic interaction between negatively charged phosphate oxygen and cationic Bmim(+) tends to initiate the self-assembly process. Thermogravimetric analysis of the DNA-IL functional nanostructures showed that these nanostructures consist of ∼16 wt % ionic liquid, which is considered to provide the stability to the plasmid DNA that eventually enhanced the transformation efficiency.

Self-assembled Lyotropic Liquid Crystalline Phase Behavior of Monoolein–Capric Acid–Phospholipid Nanoparticulate Systems

We report here the lyotropic liquid crystalline phase behavior of two lipid nanoparticulate systems containing mixtures of monoolein, capric acid, and saturated diacyl phosphatidylcholines dispersed by the Pluronic F127 block copolymer. Synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) was used to screen the phase behavior of a library of lipid nanoparticles in a high-throughput manner. It was found that adding capric acid and phosphatidylcholines had opposing effects on the spontaneous membrane curvature of the monoolein lipid layer and hence the internal mesophase of the final nanoparticles. By varying the relative concentration of the three lipid components, we were able to establish a library of nanoparticles with a wide range of mesophases including at least the inverse bicontinuous primitive and double diamond cubic phases, the inverse hexagonal phase, the fluid lamellar phase, and possibly other phases. Furthermore, the in vitro cytotoxicity assay showed that the endogenous phospholipid-containing nanoparticles were less toxic to cultured cell lines compared to monoolein-based counterparts, improving the potential of the nonlamellar lipid nanoparticles for biomedical applications.

Targeting dormant tuberculosis bacilli: results for molecules with a novel pyrimidone scaffold.

Our inability to completely control TB has been due in part to the presence of dormant mycobacteria. This also renders drug regimens ineffective and is the prime cause of the appearance of drug‐resistant strains. In continuation of our efforts to develop novel antitubercular agents that especially target dormant mycobacteria, a set of 55 new compounds belonging to the pyrimidone class were designed on the basis of CoMFA and CoMSIA studies, and these were synthesized and subsequently tested against both the dormant and virulent BCG strain of M. tuberculosis. Some novel compounds have been identified which selectively inhibit the dormant tuberculosis bacilli with significantly low IC50 values. This study reports the second molecule after TMC‐207, having the ability to inhibit tuberculosis bacilli exclusively in its dormant phase. The synthesis was accomplished by a modified multicomponent Biginelli reaction. A classification model was generated using the binary QSAR approach – recursive partitioning (RP) to identify structural characteristics related to the activity. Physicochemical, structural, topological, connectivity indices, and E‐state key descriptors were used for generation of the decision tree. The decision tree could provide insights into structure–activity relationships that will guide the design of more potent inhibitors.

A method to extract intact and pure RNA from mycobacteria

We describe a high-yielding, simple, and aerosol-free protocol for the isolation of RNA from mycobacteria that does not require sophisticated instruments. The method yielded 50 μg of RNA from 10(7) cells, 50 times more than a recently reported method. Our method can extract total RNA from aerobically grown bacteria and from in vitro hypoxia-induced dormant bacilli and mycobacteria residing within infected macrophages.

Intrinsic therapeutic and biocatalytic roles of ionic liquid mediated self-assembled platinum–phytase nanospheres

We herein report the inherent antitumor efficiency of self-assembled phytase enzyme nanospheres and enhance their efficiency by decorating with platinum nanoparticles and with the anticancer drug curcumin. Firstly, controlled self-assembly of phytase enzyme in an Ionic Liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate [Bmim][BF4], led to the formation of therapeutically active phytase nanospheres. These nanospheres were further decorated with platinum nanoparticles by adding the platinum ions to these spheres and the nanoparticles formation was mediated by the specific interaction between the histidine residue (in active site of phytase enzymes) and the platinum ions and subsequent reduction of the ions into nanoparticles. The enzyme spheres act as a functional soft template for the as-formed platinum nanoparticles. These Platinum decorated hybrid biomacromolecular phytase nanospheres were loaded with the anticancer drug curcumin and all the different kinds of nanospheres were subjected to in vitro cytotoxicity for their anticancer effect on three different kinds of cancer cell lines i.e. MCF-7, Hep-G2 and THP-1 derived human macrophages. We observed a gradual increase in the anticancer effect caused by only phytase nanospheres (25%), platinum–phytase nanospheres (37%), phytase–curcumin (78%) and platinum–phytase–curcumin nanospheres (90%) that establishes this protein based system as a robust combinatorial drug delivery vehicle. The platinum–phytase spheres also proved their usability as a highly efficient green and reusable biocatalytic system for phytate degradation. The present work facilitates our understanding of ionic liquid based synthesis for multifunctional protein based drug delivery vehicles incorporating combinatorial chemotherapy for potential application as biopharmaceutical agents for tumor treatment and bio-catalysis.

Self-assembled lipase nanosphere templated one-pot biogenic synthesis of silica hollow spheres in ionic liquid [Bmim][PF6]

The spontaneous self-assembly of hydrophobic enzymatic protein triacylglycerol acylhydrolase (commonly known as lipase and a member of the serine hydrolase family) in hydrophobic 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate [Bmim][PF6] and in hydrophilic 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate [Bmim][BF4] ionic liquids resulted in the formation of lipase enzyme nanocapsules of different morphology. The lipase enzyme capsules were found to retain varying enzyme activity in both cases with both kinds of lipase capsules acting as self-catalyzing functional templates for the hydrolysis of silica precursors into silica. The presence of silica and its interaction with biomolecules was proved by X-ray Photoemission Spectroscopy (XPS). Interestingly, hollow silica spheres were obtained in the case of [Bmim][PF6] ionic liquid, while solid silica spheres were obtained in the case of [Bmim][BF4] ionic liquid for the same enzyme. The structural orientation of the enzyme within the capsules, their functional templating to obtain silica particles of varying morphology and finally their combined catalytic activity depend on the initial lipase-ionic liquid interaction. The enzyme activity of all these materials was evaluated against the esterification reaction between oleic acid (fatty acid) and butanol, i.e. biodiesel production. The relative enzyme activity was found to be 93.30% higher in the case of lipase nanocapsules synthesized in [Bmim][PF6] and its in situ templating action to make hollow silica spheres further enhanced the residual activity. Furthermore time dependent kinetics of esterification by hollow silica spheres has also been shown here. Hollow silica spheres can also be used as a reusable catalyst for up to 6 cycles. This work demonstrates that the choice of ionic liquid is critical in controlling the self-assembly of enzymes as the ionic liquid–enzyme interaction plays a major role in retaining capsule activity and enzyme function.

A QCM-based ‘on–off’ mechanistic study of gas adsorption by plasmid DNA and DNA–[Bmim][PF6] construct

The study of the adsorption behavior of disease markers such as ammonia (NH3) and acetaldehyde (CH3CHO) with biomaterials is important, as it will improve our understanding of their interaction behavior and enable the development of self-diagnosis technologies, among others. In this study, three types of DNA-based biomaterials were synthesized (pGFP plasmid DNA isolated from E. coli DH5α, a DNA–ionic liquid construct (DNA–IL) and DNA–ionic liquid–gold chloride (DNA–IL–Au)) and their adsorption capacities for NH3 and CH3CHO were tested by utilizing a gravimetric transducer, namely, a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). Pristine DNA itself displayed high sensitivity towards both gases, with a pristine DNA-based QCM displaying magnitudes of response of ∼3.74 and 2.62 ng cm−2 μg−1 following 10 minutes of exposure to 600 ppm NH3 and CH3CHO, respectively. Interestingly, no response was observed when these gases were exposed to the DNA–IL complex, which comprised DNA modified with the hydrophobic IL [Bmim][PF6]. However, when the DNA–IL complex was further treated with HAuCl4, the biomaterial (DNA–IL–Au) regained its adsorption capacity, exhibiting magnitudes of adsorption/response up to 140% and 36% higher than its DNA counterpart toward NH3 and CH3CHO, respectively. It was also observed that the utilization of DNA–IL–Au significantly reduced the sensitivity of the QCM device to humidity content, which indicates that the developed biomaterial can be readily employed to detect NH3 and CH3CHO in humid environments. Further study showed that the magnitudes of the QCM response of the DNA and DNA–IL–Au materials toward the different concentrations of NH3 and CH3CHO that were tested follow the loading ratio correlation (LRC), which thus indicates that the developed materials can potentially be utilized as sensitive layers for the detection of biomarker gases that are produced in the body as a result of biomedical disorders. In addition, a plausible sorption mechanism has also been proposed on the basis of the interaction of DNA with the ionic liquid and HAuCl4 (experimentally proved by XPS and FTIR), which strongly indicates the role of the phosphates and nucleobases of DNA for the electrostatic binding of NH3 and CH3CHO, respectively.