Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences
Volume:7 Issue: 2, May 2012

In recent years, the use of antifungal drugs in human medicine has increased, especially with the advent of AIDS epidemic. Efforts have focused on the development of new, less toxic and more efficacious antifungal drugs with novel mechanism of action. The purpose of this study was to synthesize of some new benzimidazole, benzotriazole and aminothiazole derivatives and to evaluate their activity against some species of Candida, Aspergillus and dermatophytes. The desired compounds were synthesized by the reaction of benzimidazole and benzotriazole with bromoalkanes and also by the reaction of an amide derivative of aminothiazole with 2-piperazino-1-ethanol in an efficient solvent in the presence of tetraethyl ammounim bromide or triethylamine) as catalyst. Chemical structures of all the new compounds were confirmed by spectrophotometric methods. Antifungal activities of the new compounds were evaluated by broth micro dilution method as recommended by CLSI. Among the tested compounds, 1-nonyl-1H-benzo[d]imidazole and 1-decyl-1H-benzo[d]imidazole exhibited the best antifungal activities. Of the examined synthetic compounds in different categories, benzimidazole derivatives established better antifungal activities than benzotriazole derivatives, and the piperazine analogue had no significant antifungal effect.

Aloe littoralis Baker (Asphodelaceae family) is a well known plant in southern parts of Iran. Because of its use in Iranian traditional medicine as a wound-healing agent, the present study was carried out to investigate anti-inflammatory and wound healing activities of this plant in Wistar rats. A. littoralis raw mucilaginous gel (ALRMG) and also two gel formulations prepared from the raw mucilaginous gel were used in this study. Gel formulations (12.5% and 100% v/w Aloe mucilage in a carbomer base) were applied topically (500 mg once daily) for 24 days in the thermal wound model. Also Aloe gel formulation (100%) and ALRMG (500 mg daily) were evaluated in incisional wound model. Carrageenan-induced paw edema was used to assess the anti-inflammatory effect of intraperitoneal injection of ALRMG. In burn wound, ALRMG and Aloe formulated gel (100%) showed significant (P<0.05) healing effect. Topical application of ALMRG and Aloe formulated gel (100%) promoted healing rate of incisional wound. In carrageenan test, ALRMG (2.5 and 5 ml/Kg) revealed significant (P<0.05) anti-inflammatory activity. Results showed that A. littoralis is a potential wound-healing and anti-inflammatory agent in rats. Further studies are needed to find out the mechanism of these biological effects and also the active constituents responsible for the effects.

Entrapment of permeabilized whole cells within a matrix is a common method for immobilization. Chitosan possesses distinct chemical and biological properties, which make it a suitable matrix for entrapment and immobilization of penicillin G acylase (PGA). In the first step, Escherichia coli (ATCC 11105) cells were permeabilized using N-cetyl-N,N,N-trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) (0.1% w/v, 45 min, 45 rpm) which then immobilized using glutaraldehyde (5% w/v) as cross-linker and chitosan (3% w/v) as the matrix. These conditions were established after preliminary trials with CTAB and glutaraldehyde concentrations in the range of 0.05-0.25% w/v and 1-9% v/v, respectively. The hydrolytic activity was assayed using Ehrlich reagent. Permeabilization of cells caused 9% increase in Penicillin G Acylase (PGA) conversion after 15 min compared to the intact cells. Although, immobilization on chitosan decreased the conversion compared to un-immobilized treated cells (13%), the new biocatalyst showed acceptable operational stability, maintaining more than 90% of the initial activity after 20 cycles. Optimum conditions for immobilization of E. coli cells were: CTAB 0.1% w/v and glutaraldehyde 5% v/v. A new combination method was successfully developed and optimized for immobilization of treated whole cells on chitosan matrix.

Quinazolinone ring system is renown because of its wide spectrum of pharmacological activities due to various substitutions on this ring system. In this study, the minimum inhibitory concentration of the synthesized compounds in our laboratory was determined by micro dilution Alamar Blue® Assay against six strains of bacteria (three Gram-positive and three Gram-negative) and three strains of fungi. Following a broth micro dilution minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) test, Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) and Minimum Fungicidal Concentration (MFC) tests were performed. Cytotoxic effects of the compounds were measured using the MTT colorimetric assay on HeLa cell line. Results of antimicrobial screening showed that compounds had better bacteriostatic activity against Gram-negative bacteria. Results from MBC revealed that these compounds had more significant bacteriostatic than bactericidal activities. Nearly all screened compounds showed good activity against C. albicans and A. niger. Results from MFC indicated that these compounds had better fungistatic rather than fungicidal activities. The synthesized target molecules were found to exhibit different cytotoxicity in the range of 10 to 100 µM on HeLa cell line. Compounds 6 and 7 exhibited acceptable cytotoxicity approximately 50% at 10 µM concentration.

Most cardiovascular diseases need to be treated by more than a simple drug and the use of combination products diminishes noncompliance. Advicor® as a combination product of a vitamin and a fat lowering agent has no monograph in official pharmacopeias for its quality control purposes. In this study, first and third derivative signals for NA and LV quantitation at the two pairs of wavelengths, 261 and 273 nm; 245 and 249 nm were monitored with the addition of standard solutions of NA or LV, respectively. The limits of detection were 0.03 and 0.32 mg/L for LV and NA, respectively. The limits of quantitation were 0.09 and 0.78 mg/L for LV and NA, respectively. RSD% for both interday and intraday precision was lower than 2.6 and 2.7% for LV and NA, respectively. Selectivity of the method was assessed for both degradation products produced in stress conditions and common excipients that may present in the pharmaceutical dosage forms. The recommended procedure was successfully applied to real samples.

Cydonia oblonga Miller (Quince) from Rosaceae family is a fruit tree cultivated in many countries mainly in Iran. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of quince juice (QJ) and quince hydroalcoholic extract (QHE) on ulcerative colitis (UC) induced by TNBS (trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid) in rats. Rats were grouped (n=6) and fasted for 36 h before colitis induction. TNBS was instilled into the colon with a hydroalcoholic carrier and then treatments were made for 5 days starting 6 h after colitis induction with different doses of QJ (200, 400, 800 mg/kg), QHE (200, 500 & 800 mg/kg) orally, QJ (400 mg/kg) and QHE (200 and 500 mg/kg) intraperitoneally. The colon tissue was removed and tissue damages were scored after macroscopic and histopathologic assessments. Albeit the examined doses of QJ and QHE were apparently effective to reduce the extent of UC lesions, only the greatest doses (500 and 800 mg/kg) resulted in significant alleviation. Weight/Length ratio as an illustrative of tissue inflammation and extravasation was also diminished with quince treatments while the results correlated with macroscopic and histopathologic evaluations. These data suggest that QJ and QHE were effective to diminish inflammation and ulcer indices in this murine model of acute colitis. Although QHE with different doses was effective in induced colitis, the dose and/or route of administration dependency was not confirmed. So quince fractions could be considered as a suitable anticolitic alternative, however further studies are needed to support this hypothesis for clinical setting.

Natural antioxidants have an important role in the prevention of many age-related diseases and promotion of health. Among natural antioxidants from plants, flavonoids and other phenolic compounds are potent antioxidants and chelating agents. Moringa peregrina (Forssk.) Fiori (Moringaceae) is a small desert tree distributed from tropical Africa to east India. Moringa tree is also growing in south-east of Iran. The antioxidant activity of M. peregrina methanolic leaf extract on 2,2-diphenyl-1-pycrylhydrazyl and superoxide anion radicals was determined in in vitro experiments. It exhibited the scavenging activity on DPPH and superoxide anion radicals with IC50 of 8.06 ± 0.29 μg/ml and 47.93 ± 1.33 μg/mL, respectively. Moreover, total phenolic content of the leaf extract was determined and using 1HNMR, mass and spectroscopic methods, the structure of the isolated flavonoid glycoside, rutin, as one of the compounds responsible for reported antioxidant activities was identified.

Quinazolinone backbone is present in a large number of bioactive substances. Since remarkable cytotoxic activity is associated with some 4(3H)-quinazolinones, in this study some 4(3H)-quinazolinone were synthesized and screened against HeLa cells. The synthesis was performed via reaction of anthranilic acid with dicarboxylic anhydrides to produce carboxylic acids derivatives. The products were heated in acetic anhydride to produce benzoxazinones. Finally, 4(3H)-quinazolinones were synthesized by reaction between benzoxazinones and primary amines. The assessment of the structure of the synthesized compounds was based on spectral data (FT-IR, Mass and 1HNMR). Subsequently, cytotoxic activity of compounds 3, 6, 9 and 13 (individually and in combination with doxorubicin) was evaluated on HeLa cell line using MTT assay. The results indicated that the tested compounds did not show significant cytotoxicity alone and in combination with doxorubicin (1 and 20 μM).