Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences

Siamese neem flower extract suppresses cholesterol absorption by interfering NPC1L1 and micellar property in vitro and in intestinal Caco-2 cells Acharaporn Duangjai, Atcharaporn Ontawong, Chutima Srimaroeng Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences 2019 14(3):190-200 Siamese neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss var. siamensis Valeton) (A. indica) leaf extract, a traditional ayurvedic medicine, has been reported to exhibit antipyretic, antibacterial, antidyslipidemic, and antihyperglycemia effects. This study investigated the mechanism of hypocholesterolemic effect of methanolic extract of Siamese neem flowers in in vitro studies and in Caco-2 cells. Pancreatic cholesterol esterase and 3-hydroxy 3-methylglutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA) reductase activities were assessed. Cholesterol micelle formation was prepared for in vitro cholesterol physicochemical property analyses, micelle size and solubility, and transport of cholesterol into the Caco-2 cells. The expression of niemann-pick C1 like 1 (NPC1L1), and its major regulator, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor δ (PPARδ), were determined by western blot and real time polymerase chain reaction, respectively. A. indica flower extract inhibited pancreatic cholesterol esterase activity and increased cholesterol micelles size. Uptake of cholesterol into Caco-2 cells was inhibited by A. indica flower extract in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, A. indica extract inhibited HMG-CoA reductase activity, resulting in low level of intracellular cholesterol accumulation, together with increased cytosolic NPC1L1 protein expression and decreased PPARδ gene expression. In conclusion, A. indica flower extract has cholesterol-lowering effects by inhibiting intestinal cholesterol absorption, interfering micellar cholesterol formation, and attenuating cholesterol synthesis. As such, A. indica flower extract has potential for developing into nutraceutical product for prevention of hypocholesterolemia.

Protective effects of melatonin solid lipid nanoparticles on testis histology after testicular trauma in rats Mehri Mirhoseini, Zahra Rezanejad Gatabi, Majid Saeedi, Katayoun Morteza-Semnani, Fereshteh Talebpour Amiri, Hamid Reza Kelidari, Abbas Ali Karimpour Malekshah Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences 2019 14(3):201-208 Testicular traumatic injuries occur frequently, which can result in an alteration in spermatogenesis. These injuries can also cause oxidative stress and male infertility. Antioxidant efficiency of melatonin (MLT), known as a potent antioxidant, will be improved if used in a form of solid lipid nanoparticles (MLT-SLN). The aim of the current study is to evaluate the effect of MLT-loaded SLN on traumatic testis in rats. In this study 32 adult male Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups. Group 1 (sham group), right testicle was drawn out from the scrotum and returned without manipulation. Group 2, right testicle was dropped by 25 g sinker for 4 times. Group 3, animals were received a single dose (25 mg/kg) of MLT intraperitoneally after trauma. Group 4, animals were received a single dose of MLT-SLN intraperitoneally after trauma. Under anaesthesia, rats were sacrificed, and their testicles were removed three days after the surgery. After tissue processing, the sample sections were H&E stained. MLT and MLT-SLN could partially repair spermatogenesis by Johnson’s criteria but the repairs were significant only in MLT-SLN group (P = 0.02). Trauma decreased seminiferous tubule diameter and its epithelium height. MLT could restore epithelium height (P ≤ 0.05) but its NPs improved both epithelium diameter (P ≤ 0.05) and thickness (P ≤ 0.001). The Malondialdehyde increased significantly in trauma group (P = 0.002), but decreased in MLT and NPs groups compared to trauma group (P = 0.098 and P = 0.002 respectively). This decrease was significant only in NPs group. Testicular trauma disturbed spermatogenesis, morphometric, and oxidative parameters. MLT and specially MLT-SLN improved traumatic damages.

Differentiation of adult human mesenchymal stem cells into dopaminergic neurons Marjan Khademizadeh, Manoochehr Messripour, Nazem Ghasemi, Fariborz Momen beik, Ahmad Movahedian Attar Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences 2019 14(3):209-215 The striatal dopamine (DA) deficiency is known as the main cause of the clinical picture of Parkinson’s disease (PD). The disease is a progressive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the striatum. The treatment of PD is based on compensation for the brain’s supply of DA lost by drug therapy, deep brain stimulation, surgery, gene and cell therapies. Clinical studies have focused on the utility of stem cell-based therapies in PD. Embryonic and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are widely used. Recently, human adipose derived stem cells (hADSCs) have been considered as a suitable source of tissue for this purpose. In this project, hADSCs differentiated into dopaminergic neurons and the specificity of the cell preparations was examined. Human adipose tissues were collected from healthy volunteers undergoing liposuction and hADSCs were isolated by collagenase-based enzymatic method. Flow cytometry was performed using the surface cluster of differentiation (CD) markers to confirm the cell typical properties. Then hADSCs were differentiated to dopaminergic neurons in neurobasal medium in the presence of differentiation factors and confirmed by immunocytochemistry via neuronal and dopaminergic markers. The isolated hADSCs were cultured and identified by the expression of MSCs surface markers including CD90, and CD44. These cells did not express hematopoietic surface markers such as CD45 and CD14. Differentiated cells express neuronal marker NeuN and dopaminergic marker tyrosine hydroxylase (TH). It is concluded that hADSCs can be easily taken from the patient’s own body and differentiated into dopaminergic cells having a lower risk of transplant rejection.

β-lactoglobulin-irinotecan inclusion complex as a new targeted nanocarrier for colorectal cancer cells Nooshin Bijari, Sirous Ghobadi, Katayoun Derakhshandeh Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences 2019 14(3):216-227 Beta-lactoglobulin (β-LG) is a lipocalin family member whose general function appears to be solubilizing and transport of hydrophobic molecules. Some properties such as avalability, ease of purification, and peculiar resistance to acidic environments can make β-LG as a carrier for hydrophobic and acid labile drugs for oral administration. In this protein vehicle, drug could be protected in acidic environment of stomach and then released within the basic small intestine. In this study, the potential of β-LG as a nanocarrier for oral delivery of a potent agent in colorectal cancer treatment, irinotecan, was evaluated. The nanoparticle was prepared by the physical inclusion complex method. Size, drug loading, encapsulation efficiency, and in vitro drug release at various pH values were investigated. The optimum formulation showed a narrow size distribution with an average diameter of 139.86 ± 13.75 nm and drug loading about 84.33 ± 5.03%. Based on the results obtained from docking simulation of irinotecan-complex, there are two distinct binding sites in this nanocarrier. Cytotoxicity of this nanocarrier on the HT-29 cancer cell line and AGS was measured by MTT assay. The cytotoxicity experiment showed that the drug-loaded nanocarrier was more effective than free drug. The higher release percent of drug from the β-LG complex at pH 7.4 compared to pH 1.2 indicated that the proposed nanocarrier could be introduced as a suitable nanovehicle for labile drugs in acidic medium targeted for colorectal segment.

Anti-inflammatory effects of alosetron mediated through 5-HT3 receptors on experimental colitis Azadeh Motavallian, Mohsen Minaiyan, Mohammad Rabbani, Parvin Mahzouni, Sasan Andalib Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences 2019 14(3):228-236 Development of new medicine with fewer deleterious effects and more efficacies for treatment of inflammatory bowel disease is needed. 5-Hydroxytryptamine 3 receptor (5-HT3R) antagonists have exhibited analgesic and anti-inflammatory features in vitro and in vivo. The present study was designed to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effect of alosetron, a 5-HT3R antagonist, on trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced ulcerative colitis in rats. Two h subsequent to induce colitis (intracolonic instillation of TNBS, 50 mg/kg) in male Wistar rats, alosetron (1 mg/kg), dexamethasone (1 mg/kg), meta-chlorophenylbiguanide (mCPBG, a 5-HT3R agonist, 5 mg/kg), or alosetron + mCPBG were administrated intraperitoneally for 6 days. Animals were thereafter sacrificed and the efficacy of drugs was evaluated macroscopically, histologically, and biochemically (myeloperoxidase, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-6, and interleukin-1 beta) on distal colon samples. Treatment with alosetron and dexamethasone improved macroscopic and microscopic colonic damages significantly and decreased myeloperoxidase activity and colonic levels of inflammatory cytokines. The profitable effects of alosetron were antagonized by concurrent administration of mCPBG. Our data provided evidence that the protective effects of alosetron on TNBS-induced colitis can be mediated by 5- HT3R.

Effects of thyroxine on adhesion molecules and proinflammatory cytokines secretion on human umbilical vein endothelial cells Attabak Milani, Mohammad Hassan Khadem-Ansari, Yousef Rasmi Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences 2019 14(3):237-246 Thyroid dysfunction is associated with elevated cardiovascular risk factors and atherosclerosis. It could be suggested that, hyperthyroidism is related to a higher prevalence of arterial abnormalities. Therefore, evaluating the endothelial dysfunction (ED) related biomarkers seem to be an important issue. It is not clear whether endothelial cells are biologically responsive to thyroid hormones (THs) or how THs induces the production of endothelial cells (EC)-derived proinflammatory mediators. Hence, in this study the effects of thyroxine (T4) on ED and inflammatory related mediators were evaluated. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells was used as endothelial cell model which was treated with concentrations of 50, 100, 200 nmol/L of T4 in various exposure times. In the following, gene and protein expression levels of EC-related markers including intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and E-selectin were determined using real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blotting methods. Also, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) protein levels as proinflammatory cytokines were determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Gene and protein expression analysis revealed that T4 treatments up regulated the levels of VEGF, ICAM-1, and E-selectin as ED markers. In addition, T4-treated cells had higher significant levels of IL-6 and TNF-α versus untreated cells in different incubation times. This study proposed the atherosclerotic effects of thyroid hormone. Based on our findings, T4 had strong effects on the gene and protein expression levels of pro-inflammatory, angiogenesis, and ED major mediators associated with atherosclerosis development.

Synthesis and cytotoxic evaluation of novel quinozalinone derivatives with substituted benzimidazole in position 3 Elham Taherian, Ghadamali Khodarahmi, Marzieh Khajouei, Farshid Hassanzadeh, Nasim Dana Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences 2019 14(3):247-254 Quinazolinone and benzimidazole are both fused heterocyclic compounds which have shown valuable biological properties including cytotoxic, antibacterial, and antifungal activities. In this study, a series of novel quinazolinone derivatives substituted with benzimidazole were synthesized in two parts. In the first part 2 - phenyl - 1H - benzimidazol - 6 - amine (4) was synthesized from the reaction of 4-nitro-o-phenylenediamine and benzoic acid. In the second part, new 3-(2-phenyl-1H benzoimidazol-5-yl)- 3H-quinazolin-4-one derivatives (8a-8f) were also prepared. Finally compound 4 was reacted with the different benzoxazinone derivatives (8a-8f) to give the target compounds. The structures of the synthesized compounds were confirmed by IR and 1HNMR. Cytotoxic activities of the final compounds were assessed at 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 μM against MCF-7 and HeLa cell lines using the MTT colorimetric assay. Almost all compounds exhibited good cytotoxic activity against both cell lines. Compound 9d demonstrated the highest cytotoxic activity against MCF7 and Hela cell lines with IC50 70 μM and 50 μM, respectively.

The regulatory effect of saffron stigma on the gene expression of the glucose metabolism key enzymes and stress proteins in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats Maryam Motamedrad, Alireza Shokouhifar, Mina Hemmati, Maryam Moossavi Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences 2019 14(3):255-262 Oxidative stress plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of hyperglycemia mediated complications. Since a great number of researches have reported antioxidant features of saffron, this study investigated the antioxidant effect of saffron stigma extract (SSE) in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Twenty eight diabetic male Wistar rats were divided in four groups containing: two diabetic groups receiving 25 and 100 mg/kg SSE respectively, one diabetic group receiving glibenclamide (0.6 mg/kg) and one diabetic control group receiving normal saline. Seven healthy adult male Wistar rats were also used as normal control group. After treatment (21 days), fasting blood glucose, insulin, oxidative stress markers, and pancreatic regeneration were assessed. The gene expression level of heat shock factor1, heat shock protein 27, and heat shock protein 70, also glucokinase (GK), and glucose 6-phosphatase (G6Pase) were determined using real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). SSE in high dose (100 mg/kg) reduced fasting blood glucose (8.3 ± 0.4 mmol/L) compared with diabetic control (24.6 ± 1.2 mmol/L) (P < 0.05). Furthermore, SSE in high dose increased insulin level compared with diabetic control group (12.7 ± 0.6 vs 7.1 ± 0.3 μϋ/mL). RT-PCR analysis revealed decline in mRNA levels of stress proteins and G6Pase and increase in mRNA level of GK in treatment diabetic groups compared with diabetic control group. Data showed antioxidant and antidiabetic effects of SSE through altering insulin release and glucose metabolism pathways. Hypoglycemic potential of SSE may be due to change in GK and G6Pase enzymes expression. These findings provide a basis for the therapeutic potential of saffron in treatment of diabetes.

Phytochemical analysis and antiproliferative activity of the aerial parts of Scrophularia subaphylla Abbas Delazar, Solmaz Asnaashari, Elhameh Nikkhah, Parina Asgharian Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences 2019 14(3):263-272 Scrophularia subaphylla (S. subaphylla) L., a medicinal plant from the Scrophulariaceae family, has been reported to possess potential profits in the treatment and prophylaxis of different diseases. Some phenolic compounds in this genus have been displayed decent effects on different types of cancer via multiple mechanisms. The current study aimed to bioassay guided isolation of cytotoxic constituents from the aerial parts of S. subaphylla against breast (MCF-7) and colon (HT-29) cancer cell lines as well as normal cells (L929). Different extracts of S. subaphylla were acquired by Soxhlet apparatus and then subjected to brine shrimp lethality test and MTT assay for assessing their cytotoxic characteristics. Cytotoxic extract subjected to further phytochemical fractionation using solid phase extraction, reversed-phase high pressure liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), and one dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (1D-NMR) spectroscopy. The biological activity of the isolated pure components, verbascoside and 3´ O rhamnosyl -4´ O para coumaryl 7- hydroxyl salidroside, was assessed using MTT assay against MCF-7 and HT-29 carcinoma cells. Two known phenylpropanoid compounds were isolated from this species. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic data (using 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR) and compared with the previous literature. Both pure compounds in comparison with control group demonstrated significant antiproliferative activity against cancerous cells (P < 0.001). In our study, verbascoside and its derivative could inhibit proliferation of cancerous cells without any side effects on normal cells.

Vitex rotundifolia fractions induce apoptosis in human breast cancer cell line, MCF-7, via extrinsic and intrinsic pathways Gul-e-Saba Chaudhry, Rehmat Jan, Habsah Mohamad, Tengku Sifzizul Tengku Muhammad Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences 2019 14(3):273-285 Breast cancer is amongst frequently diagnosed cancer type throughout the world. Due to reduced efficacy of current chemotherapeutics, several natural products have been screened for better alternatives. The cytotoxic activity of fractions prepared from leaves extract of Vitex rotundifolia (V. rotundifolia) on human breast cancer cell line, MCF-7 was studied. The fractions F1, F2, F3, and F5 of V. rotundifolia produced concentration-dependent cytotoxic effects on MCF-7 cell line. The relative potential of cytotoxicity of the fractions on MCF-7 cell line was found to be F3 > F2 > F5 > F1. The active fractions induce apoptosis in MCF-7 cell line determined by annexin V base assay. The phosphatidylserine externalization and the presence of DNA fragmentation in treated cells confirms the early and late apoptosis in treated cells. The V. rotundifolia fractions induced apoptosis by both pathways; extrinsic pathways via activation of caspase-8 and intrinsic pathways through enhanced bax/bcl-2 ratio and activation of caspase-3/7 and caspase-9 proapoptotic proteins. Furthermore, chemical profiling indicates various phenolic, flavonoids, and terpenoids compounds in the active fractions. Thus, V. rotundifolia might be a suitable candidate to investigate further and develop molecular targeted cancer therapeutics by understanding the fundamental mechanisms involved in the regulation of cell death in cancer cells.

Alexandros Sfakianakis
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