Project description:German chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) is an essential oil- containing medicinal plant used worldwide. The aim of this study was to gain knowledge of the phytochemical composition and the analgesic and soporific activity of Matricaria chamomilla L. (German chamomile) flower extract and its amino acid preparations, to predict the mechanisms of their effects by molecular docking and to develop aqueous printing gels and novel 3D-printed oral dosage forms for the flower extracts. In total, 22 polyphenolic compounds and 14 amino acids were identified and quantified in the M. chamomilla extracts. In vivo animal studies with rodents showed that the oral administration of such extracts revealed the potential for treating of sleep disorders and diseases accompanied by pain. Amino acids were found to potentiate these effects. Glycine enhanced the analgesic activity the most, while lysine and β-alanine improved the soporific activity. The molecular docking analysis revealed a high probability of γ-aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA) and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonism and 5-lipoxygenase (LOX-5) inhibition by the extracts. A polyethylene oxide (PEO)-based gel composition with the M. chamomilla extracts was proposed for preparing a novel 3D-printed dosage form for oral administration. These 3D-printed extract preparations can be used, for example, in dietary supplement applications.
Project description:AimsThis paper aimed to investigate the antiviral drugs against Sars-Cov-2 main protease (MPro) using in silico methods.Material and methodA search was made for antiviral drugs in the PubChem database and antiviral drugs such as Bictegravir, Emtricitabine, Entecavir, Lamivudine, Tenofovir, Favipiravir, Hydroxychloroquine, Lopinavir, Oseltamavir, Remdevisir, Ribavirin, Ritonavir were included in our study. The protein structure of Sars-Cov-2 Mpro (PDB ID: 6LU7) was taken from the Protein Data Bank (www.rcsb. Org) system and included in our study. Molecular docking was performed using AutoDock/Vina, a computational docking program. Protein-ligand interactions were performed with the AutoDock Vina program. 3D visualizations were made with the Discovery Studio 2020 program. N3 inhibitor method was used for our validation.ResultsIn the present study, bictegravir, remdevisir and lopinavir compounds in the Sars-Cov-2 Mpro structure showed higher binding affinity compared to the antiviral compounds N3 inhibitor, according to our molecular insertion results. However, the favipiravir, emtricitabine and lamuvidune compounds were detected very low binding affinity. Other antiviral compounds were found close binding affinity with the N3 inhibitor.ConclusionBictegravir, remdevisir and lopinavir drugs showed very good results compared to the N3 inhibitor. Therefore, they could be inhibitory in the Sars Cov-2 Mpro target.
Project description:The recently emerged COVID-19 virus caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and instigated a widespread fear, threatening the world's most advanced health security. In 2020, chloroquine derivatives are among the drugs tested against the coronavirus pandemic and showed an apparent efficacy. In the present work, the chloroquine and the chloroquine phosphate molecules have been proposed as potential antiviral for the treatment of COVID-19 diseases combining DFT and molecular docking calculations. Molecular geometries, electronic properties and molecular electrostatic potential were investigated using density functional theory (DFT) at the B3LYP/6-31G* method. As results, we found a good agreement between the theoretical and the experimental geometrical parameters (bond lengths and bond angles). The frontier orbitals analysis has been calculated at the same level of theory to determine the charge transfer within the molecule. In order to perform a better description of the FMOs, the density of states was determined. The molecular electrostatic potential maps were calculated to provide information on the chemical reactivity of molecule and also to describe the intermolecular interactions. All these studies help us a lot in determining the reactivity of the mentioned compounds. Finally, docking calculations were carried out to determine the pharmaceutical activities of the chloroquine derivatives against coronavirus diseases. The choice of these ligands was based on their antiviral activities.
Project description:BackgroundGeneralized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is one of the most common anxiety disorders treated in primary care, yet current therapies have limited efficacy and substantial side effects.PurposeTo evaluate long-term chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) use for prevention of GAD symptom relapse.MethodsOutpatients from primary care practices and local communities with a primary diagnosis of moderate-to-severe GAD were enrolled for this two-phase study at a large US academic medical center. During Phase 1, eligible participants received 12 weeks of open-label therapy with chamomile pharmaceutical grade extract 1500mg (500mg capsule 3 times daily). During Phase 2, treatment responders were randomized to either 26 weeks of continuation chamomile therapy or placebo in a double-blinded, placebo-substitution design. The primary outcome was time to relapse during continuation therapy, analyzed using Cox proportional hazards. Secondary outcomes included the proportion who relapsed, treatment-emergent adverse events, and vital sign changes. This study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT01072344.ResultsBetween March 1, 2010, and June 30, 2015, we enrolled 179 participants. Of those, 93 (51.9%) were responders and agreed to continue in the double-blind randomized controlled trial. A numerically greater number of placebo-switched (n=12/47; 25.5%) versus chamomile-continuation (n = 7/46; 15.2%) participants relapsed during follow-up. Mean time to relapse was 11.4 ± 8.4 weeks for chamomile and 6.3 ± 3.9 weeks for placebo. Hazard of relapse was non-significantly lower for chamomile (hazard ratio, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.20-1.33; P = 0.16). During follow-up, chamomile participants maintained significantly lower GAD symptoms than placebo (P = 0.0032), with significant reductions in body weight (P = 0.046) and mean arterial blood pressure (P = 0.0063). Both treatments had similar low adverse event rates.ConclusionsLong-term chamomile was safe and significantly reduced moderate-to-severe GAD symptoms, but did not significantly reduce rate of relapse. Our limited sample size and lower than expected rate of placebo group relapse likely contributed to the non-significant primary outcome finding. Possible chamomile superiority over placebo requires further examination in large-scale studies.
Project description:Phytochemical investigations of Matricaria chamomilla L. (Asteraceae) stated the presence of several compounds with an established therapeutic and antioxidant potential. The chamomile non-enzymatic antioxidant system includes low molecular mass compounds, mainly polyphenols such as cinnamic, hydroxybenzoic and chlorogenic acids, flavonoids and coumarins. The objective of this work was to evaluate the role of the non-enzymatic antioxidant system after stimulation by ethylene in tetraploid chamomile plants. Seven days of ethylene treatment significantly increased the activity of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, which influenced the biosynthesis of protective polyphenols in the first step of their biosynthetic pathway. Subsequently, considerable enhanced levels of phenolic metabolites with a substantial antioxidant effect (syringic, vanillic and caffeic acid, 1,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid, quercetin, luteolin, daphnin, and herniarin) were determined by HPLC-DAD-MS. The minimal information on the chlorogenic acids function in chamomile led to the isolation and identification of 5-O-feruloylquinic acid. It is accumulated during normal conditions, but after the excessive effect of abiotic stress, its level significantly decreases and levels of other caffeoylquinic acids enhance. Our results suggest that ethephon may act as a stimulant of the production of pharmaceutically important non-enzymatic antioxidants in chamomile leaves and thus, lead to an overall change in phytochemical content and therapeutic effects of chamomile plants, as well.
Project description:Covid-19 is a beta-coronavirus that was first identified during the Wuhan COVID-19 epidemic in 2019. This study is focused on the quantum descriptors of the proposed antiviral drugs, molecular docking, and dynamics simulation with the main protease of coronavirus. Such drugs are Baloxavir, Chloroquine, Avigan, Plaquenil, oseltamivir, Remdesivir, Arbidol, and Sofosbuvir were used for comparison. Density functional theory (DFT) may help find the relevancy of quantum chemical descriptors to explain the potential antiviral activity, Some quantum descriptors such as ΔE; the energy gap, η; global hardness, S; global softness, I: ionization potential, A: electron affinity, χ: absolute electronegativity, ω; ΔE Back-donation; the back donation were calculated based on EHOMO; energy of the highest occupied molecular orbital, and ELUMO; energy of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital. Fukui indices (f+, f−); for local nucleophilic and electrophilic attacks are investigated for the investigated antiviral drugs. The reported genomic sequence of Covid-19 main protease in complex with an inhibitor N3 (DOI: https://doi.org//10.2210/pdb6LU7/pdb) was used as a precursor for docking with the selected drugs after removing the attached inhibitors N3 and water. Molecular docking was performed using Autodock 4.2, with the Lamarckian Genetic Algorithm, and was analyzed by Autodock 1.5.6 and Pymol version 1.7.4.5 Edu, However, further research is necessary to investigate their potential medicinal use.