Psychoactive Plant Database - Neuroactive Phytochemical Collection

1. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2022 Dec 21;14(50):55332-55341. doi: 
10.1021/acsami.2c15636. Epub 2022 Dec 12.

Transformation of Hydrophilic Drug into Oil-Miscible Ionic Liquids for 
Transdermal Drug Delivery.

Md Moshikur R(1), Shimul IM(1)(2), Uddin S(1), Wakabayashi R(1)(3), Moniruzzaman 
M(4), Goto M(1)(3)(5).

Author information:
(1)Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyushu 
University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan.
(2)Department of Nutrition and Food Technology, Jashore University of Science 
and Technology, Jashore 7408, Bangladesh.
(3)Advanced Transdermal Drug Delivery System Center, Kyushu University, 744 
Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan.
(4)Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Seri 
Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia.
(5)Division of Biotechnology, Center for Future Chemistry, Kyushu University, 
744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan.

The transdermal delivery of hydrophilic drugs remains challenging owing to their 
poor ability to permeate the skin; formulation with oil media is difficult 
without adding chemical permeation enhancers or co-solvents. Herein, we 
synthesized 12 oil-miscible ionic liquid (IL) drugs comprising lidocaine-, 
imipramine-, and levamisole (Lev)-hydrochloride with fatty acid permeation 
enhancers, i.e., laurate, oleate, linoleate, and stearate as counterions. A set 
of in vitro and in vivo studies was performed to investigate the potency and 
deliverability of the transdermal drug formulations. All of the synthesized 
compounds were freely miscible with pharmaceutically acceptable solvents/agents 
(i.e., ethanol, N-methyl pyrrolidone, Tween 20, and isopropyl myristate (IPM)). 
In vitro permeation studies revealed that the oleate-based Lev formulation had 
2.6-fold higher skin permeation capability than the Lev salts and also superior 
ability compared with the laurate-, linoleate-, and stearate-containing samples. 
Upon in vivo transdermal administration to mice, the peak plasma concentration, 
elimination half-life, and area under the plasma concentration curve values of 
Lev-IL were 4.6-, 2.9-, and 5.4-fold higher, respectively, than those of the Lev 
salt. Furthermore, in vitro skin irritation and in vivo histological studies 
have demonstrated that Lev-IL has excellent biocompatibility compared with a 
conventional ionic liquid-based carrier. The results indicate that oil-miscible 
IL-based drugs provide a simple and scalable strategy for the design of 
effective transdermal drug delivery systems.

DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c15636
PMID: 36508194 [Indexed for MEDLINE]


2. Gene. 2022 Jan 30;809:146010. doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2021.146010. Epub 2021 Oct
22.

Engineering transcriptional regulation in Escherichia coli using an archaeal 
TetR-family transcription factor.

Sybers D(1), Joka Bernauw A(1), El Masri D(1), Ramadan Maklad H(1), Charlier 
D(1), De Mey M(2), Bervoets I(1), Peeters E(3).

Author information:
(1)Research Group of Microbiology, Department of Bioengineering Sciences, Vrije 
Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
(2)Centre for Synthetic Biology, Department of Biotechnology, Ghent University, 
Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Gent, Belgium.
(3)Research Group of Microbiology, Department of Bioengineering Sciences, Vrije 
Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: 
Eveline.Peeters@vub.be.

Synthetic biology requires well-characterized biological parts that can be 
combined into functional modules. One type of biological parts are 
transcriptional regulators and their cognate operator elements, which enable to 
either generate an input-specific response or are used as actuator modules. A 
range of regulators has already been characterized and used for orthogonal gene 
expression engineering, however, previous efforts have mostly focused on 
bacterial regulators. This work aims to design and explore the use of an 
archaeal TetR family regulator, FadRSa from Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, in a 
bacterial system, namely Escherichia coli. This is a challenging objective given 
the fundamental difference between the bacterial and archaeal transcription 
machinery and the lack of a native TetR-like FadR regulatory system in E. coli. 
The synthetic σ70-dependent bacterial promoter proD was used as a starting point 
to design hybrid bacterial/archaeal promoter/operator regions, in combination 
with the mKate2 fluorescent reporter enabling a readout. Four variations of proD 
containing FadRSa binding sites were constructed and characterized. While 
expressional activity of the modified promoter proD was found to be severely 
diminished for two of the constructs, constructs in which the binding site was 
introduced adjacent to the -35 promoter element still displayed sufficient basal 
transcriptional activity and showed up to 7-fold repression upon expression of 
FadRSa. Addition of acyl-CoA has been shown to disrupt FadRSa binding to the DNA 
in vitro. However, extracellular concentrations of up to 2 mM dodecanoate, 
subsequently converted to acyl-CoA by the cell, did not have a significant 
effect on repression in the bacterial system. This work demonstrates that 
archaeal transcription regulators can be used to generate actuator elements for 
use in E. coli, although the lack of ligand response underscores the challenge 
of maintaining biological function when transferring parts to a phylogenetically 
divergent host.

Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2021.146010
PMID: 34688814 [Indexed for MEDLINE]


3. Nat Prod Res. 2022 Mar;36(6):1570-1574. doi: 10.1080/14786419.2021.1882455.
Epub  2021 Feb 4.

Effect of solvent-solvent partition on antioxidant activity and GC-MS profile of 
Ilex guayusa Loes. leaves extract and fractions.

Chóez-Guaranda I(1), Viteri-Espinoza R(1), Barragán-Lucas A(1), Quijano-Avilés 
M(1), Manzano P(1)(2)(3).

Author information:
(1)Centro de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas del Ecuador, ESPOL Polytechnic 
University, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
(2)Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, ESPOL Polytechnic University, Escuela 
Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
(3)Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Matemáticas, ESPOL Polytechnic University, 
Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Guayaquil, Ecuador.

The use of guayusa (Ilex guayusa Loes.) leaves as functional food has increase 
recently. This work discusses the antioxidant activity and volatile compounds of 
guayusa leaves extract and fractions. The methanol crude extract was obtained by 
maceration, subsequently hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, and aqueous 
fractions were collected by solvent-solvent partition. Total phenolic content 
(TPC), total flavonol/flavone content (TFC), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl 
(DPPH) radical scavenging activity, and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) 
were measured by ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometry. The results 
revealed that ethyl acetate fraction showed highest inhibition against DPPH 
radical (93.86 ± 0.95%) at 500 µg/mL, and reduce the ferric-tripyridyltriazine 
complex (Fe3+-TPTZ) at 1619.81 mg trolox equivalent (TE)/g, followed by aqueous 
fraction. This bioactivity could be related to phenolic acids, flavones and 
flavonols content, as well as the caffeine, dodecanoic acid isopropyl ester, 
caffeic acid, and malic acid identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry 
(GC-MS). These findings support the antioxidant properties of this plant 
material.

DOI: 10.1080/14786419.2021.1882455
PMID: 33538193 [Indexed for MEDLINE]


4. Nat Prod Res. 2022 Jul;36(14):3741-3743. doi: 10.1080/14786419.2020.1871343. 
Epub 2021 Jan 19.

The scent of Neotinea orchids from Basilicata (Southern Italy).

D'auria M(1), Lorenz R(2), Mecca M(1), Racioppi R(1), Romano VA(1), Viggiani 
L(1).

Author information:
(1)Dipartimento di Scienze, Università della Basilicata, Potenza, Italy.
(2)Arbeitskreis Heimische Orchideen Bade-Württemberg, Weinheim, Germany.

The scent of Neotinea species has been performed by using solid-phase 
microextraction- gas chromatography- mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS). The scent 
of Neotinea ustulata showed the presence of 9-tricosene, 1-nonadecanol and 
heinecosane. The analysis of the scent of Neotinea tridentata gave α-ionone as 
the main component. The scent of Neotinea lactea showed the presence of 
pentadecane, heptadecane and isopropyl palmitate. Neotinea maculata showed the 
presence in the scent of 1-decene and ethyl dodecanoate.

DOI: 10.1080/14786419.2020.1871343
PMID: 33461336 [Indexed for MEDLINE]


5. Eur J Pharm Sci. 2018 Aug 30;121:59-64. doi: 10.1016/j.ejps.2018.05.002. Epub 
2018 May 7.

Topical delivery of anthramycin II. Influence of binary and ternary solvent 
systems.

Haque T(1), Rahman KM(2), Thurston DE(2), Hadgraft J(1), Lane ME(3).

Author information:
(1)UCL School of Pharmacy, 29-39 Brunswick Square, London WC1N 1AX, United 
Kingdom.
(2)School of Cancer and Pharmaceutical Science, King's College London, 150 
Stamford Street, London, SE1 9NH, United Kingdom.
(3)UCL School of Pharmacy, 29-39 Brunswick Square, London WC1N 1AX, United 
Kingdom. Electronic address: majella.lane@btinternet.com.

Anthramycin (ANT) is a member of the pyrolobenzodiazepine family and is a potent 
cytotoxic agent. Previously, we reported the topical delivery of ANT from a 
range of solvents that may also act as skin penetration enhancers (SPEs). The 
skin penetration and uptake was monitored for simple solutions of ANT in 
propylene glycol (PG), dipropylene glycol (DiPG), Transcutol P (TC), isopropyl 
myristate (IPM), propylene glycol monocaprylate (PGMC) and propylene glycol 
monolaurate (PGML). The amounts of PG, DiPG and TC that were taken up by, and 
that penetrated the skin were also measured, with a clear dependence of ANT 
penetration on the rate and extent of PG and TC permeation. The present work 
investigates ANT skin delivery from a range of binary and ternary systems to 
determine any potential improvement in skin uptake compared with earlier results 
for the neat solvents. Following miscibility and stability studies a total of 
eight formulations were taken forward for evaluation in human skin in vitro. 
Binary systems of PG and water did not result in any skin permeation of ANT. 
Combining PG with either PGMC or PGML did promote skin penetration of ANT but no 
significant improvement was evident compared with PG alone. More complex ternary 
systems based on PG, DiPG, PGMC, PGML and water also did not show significant 
improvements on ANT permeation, compared with single solvents. Total skin 
penetration and retention of ANT ranged from 1 to 6% across all formulations 
studied. Where ANT was delivered to the receptor phase there were also high 
amounts of PG permeation with >50% and ~35% PG present for the binary systems 
and ternary vehicles, respectively. These findings along with our previous paper 
confirm PG as a suitable solvent / SPE for ANT either alone or in combination 
with PGML or PGMC. The results also underline the necessity for empirical 
testing to determine whether or not a vehicle is acting as a SPE for a specific 
active in a topical formulation.

Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1016/j.ejps.2018.05.002
PMID: 29746912 [Indexed for MEDLINE]