Worldwide, there are plants known as psychoactive plants that naturally contain psychedelic active components. They have a high concentration of neuroprotective substances that can interact with the nervous system to produce psychedelic effects. Despite these plants' hazardous potential, recreational use of them is on the rise because of their psychoactive properties. Early neuroscience studies relied heavily on psychoactive plants and plant natural products (NPs), and both recreational and hazardous NPs have contributed significantly to the understanding of almost all neurotransmitter systems. Worldwide, there are many plants that contain psychoactive properties, and people have been using them for ages. Psychoactive plant compounds may significantly alter how people perceive the world.
1. Mikrochim Acta. 2024 Oct 23;191(11):692. doi: 10.1007/s00604-024-06770-x. Portable alkaloid discrimination via nanozyme-mediated colorimetric paper-based sensor array integrated with smartphone detection. Liu X(#)(1), Chen M(#)(1), Wang F(2), Zhu L(3)(4). Author information: (1)Department of Pharmacy, Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, 510500, China. (2)School of Food and Biological Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, China. fbwang@hfut.edu.cn. (3)School of Tea and Food Science Technology, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, 230036, China. ustczl@mail.ustc.edu.cn. (4)Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, 999077, China. ustczl@mail.ustc.edu.cn. (#)Contributed equally A paper-based colorimetric sensor array mediated by a novel nanozyme (CuCo2O4) was developed using a screen-printing technology. The aim was to facilitate the identification of different kinds of alkaloids. Typically, three chromogenic substrates (3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine, 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid), and o-phenylenediamine) were selected as sensing elements, which can be catalyzed by a CuCo2O4 nanozyme with peroxidase-like activity to yield corresponding oxidized products, thereby inducing color changes. Owing to the varying inhibitory ability of different alkaloids on acetylcholinesterase (AChE), a decrease in choline (Ch) concentration occurs and subsequently results in the restoration of color within the units of sensor array. Color data can be transformed into hue information with a smartphone. The above color variations generated a unique "fingerprint" pattern on five alkaloids (berberine, palmatine, jatrorrhizine, eserine, and harmane), which can be successfully discriminated through linear discriminant analysis in the range 0.2 to 20 µM. Furthermore, the sensor arrays allowed successful discrimination of the above five alkaloids in Chinese herbal medicine samples and recognition of 22 blind samples. This work presents a novel nanozyme-based paper sensor array, which is a user-friendly and reliable platform for probing different alkaloids. In addition, the developed sensing strategy enables the identification of AChE-related diseases, positively contributing to the screening available of AD-associated drugs. © 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature. DOI: 10.1007/s00604-024-06770-x PMID: 39438355 [Indexed for MEDLINE] 2. Nat Prod Res. 2024 Aug 21:1-8. doi: 10.1080/14786419.2024.2394096. Online ahead of print. Indole alkaloids from Ochreinauclea maingayi (Rubiaceae) as butyrylcholinesterase inhibitors and their paralysis effect in transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans. Osman N(1), Awang K(1)(2), Khaw KY(3), Qi Mak W(3), Tiamas SG(1), Maulana S(4), Zubair MS(4), Pudjiastuti P(5), Hazni H(2), Liew SY(2)(6), Zahari A(1)(2). Author information: (1)Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (2)Centre for Natural Products Research and Drug Discovery (CENAR), Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (3)School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia, Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. (4)Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Tadulako University, Palu, Indonesia. (5)Department of Pharmaceutical Science, Faculty of Pharmacy, Airlangga University, Surabaya, Indonesia. (6)Chemistry Division, Centre for Foundation Studies in Science, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This study investigated the butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) inhibitory activity of harmane (1), naucledine (2), and dihydrodeglycocadambine (3) isolated from fractions F7 and F9 of Ochreinauclea maingayi. Both fractions demonstrated significant inhibition, exceeding 80%, against BChE at 100 µg/mL. Compound 2, is the most potent inhibitor, exhibiting an IC50 value of 22.08 µM, followed by 1 and 3 (IC50 23.96 and 30.32 µM, respectively). Docking studies revealed that 1 and 2 effectively bind to BChE, with binding energies of -51.24 and -57.17 kcal/mol, respectively. Kinetic analysis of 2 indicated mixed-mode inhibition of BChE, with a Ki of 6.08 μM. In the paralysis assay, 1 showed a weak delay in paralysis and reduced the paralysis ratio from 72.59 ± 4.7% to 60.00 ± 7.0% (12.59% reduction) followed by 2 with 70.00 ± 1.7% (2.59% reduction) compared with negative standard (DMSO 0.1%) on human amyloid β-protein in a transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans (CL4176) model. DOI: 10.1080/14786419.2024.2394096 PMID: 39165195 3. J Ethnopharmacol. 2024 Dec 5;335:118624. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2024.118624. Epub 2024 Jul 24. Antidepressant activity of tricin-7-O-glucoside and anxiolytic-like effect of harmane from Passiflora coriacea Juss. On mice. Castolo-Sanchez S(1), Trejo-Tapia G(2), Herrera-Ruiz M(3), Domínguez-Mendoza BE(4), Vargas-Ruiz R(5), Zamilpa A(6). Author information: (1)Centro de Investigación Biomédica Del Sur, Instituto Mexicano Del Seguro Social, Xochitepec, Morelos, Mexico; Centro de Desarrollo de Productos Bióticos, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Yautepec, Morelos, Mexico. Electronic address: scastolos1600@alumno.ipn.mx. (2)Centro de Desarrollo de Productos Bióticos, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Yautepec, Morelos, Mexico. Electronic address: gttapia@ipn.mx. (3)Centro de Investigación Biomédica Del Sur, Instituto Mexicano Del Seguro Social, Xochitepec, Morelos, Mexico. Electronic address: edanae10@yahoo.com.mx. (4)Centro de Investigaciones Químicas, Universidad Autónoma Del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico. Electronic address: bed@uaem.mx. (5)Unidad Académica Multidisciplinaria Mante, Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas, Cd. Mante, Tamaulipas, Mexico; Dirección Médica, Hospital Regional de Alta Especialidad de Ciudad Victoria "Bicentenario 2010", Cd. Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Electronic address: rodrigovargas9321@yahoo.com.mx. (6)Centro de Investigación Biomédica Del Sur, Instituto Mexicano Del Seguro Social, Xochitepec, Morelos, Mexico. Electronic address: azamilpa_2000@yahoo.com.mx. ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Passiflora coriacea Juss., a medicinal plant in the family Passifloraceae, is widely used to treat anxiety and depression in Mexican folk medicine. However, its chemical profile and biological activity have not been characterized. AIM OF THE STUDY: The aim of the study was to determine the antidepressant activity, anxiolytic effect, and chemical profile of Passiflora coriacea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An organic fraction (PcEA) from a hydroalcoholic extract of the aerial parts of P. coriacea was obtained, followed by a chemical analysis and separation, yielding six fractions (PcEA, T1, T2, T1.1, T2.1, and T2.2). Male ICR mice were used to determine the antidepressant activity of selected treatments (PcEA, T1, T2, and T1.1) based on a forced swim test (FST). The anxiolytic-like effects of various treatments (PcEA, T1, T2, T2.1, and T2.2) were determined using the elevated plus maze (EPM) test. RESULTS: The organic fraction of P. coriacea decreased anxiety-like behaviors in mice and increased the time of mobility in the FST. After chemical separation, two compounds were isolated from the species with antidepressant activity and anxiolytic-like effects, T1.1 (tricin 7-O-glucoside) and T2.2 (harmane), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Compounds isolated from P. coriacea exerted anxiolytic and antidepressant effects in mice based on the EPM and FST. The flavonoid tricin-7-O-glucoside and the alkaloid harmane contributed to these biological activities. Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2024.118624 PMID: 39059684 [Indexed for MEDLINE] Conflict of interest statement: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. 4. Eur J Med Chem. 2024 Oct 5;276:116657. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2024.116657. Epub 2024 Jul 4. Quaternized antimicrobial peptide mimics based on harmane as potent anti-MRSA agents by multi-target mechanism covering cell wall, cell membrane and intracellular targets. Liu J(1), Cao Y(1), Xu C(1), Li R(1), Xiong Y(1), Wei Y(1), Meng X(1), Dan W(2), Lu C(3), Dai J(4). Author information: (1)School of Life Science and Technology, Shandong Second Medical University, Shandong, China. (2)School of Life Science and Technology, Shandong Second Medical University, Shandong, China. Electronic address: dwj586@163.com. (3)School of Life Science and Technology, Shandong Second Medical University, Shandong, China. Electronic address: lucb163@163.com. (4)School of Life Science and Technology, Shandong Second Medical University, Shandong, China. Electronic address: daijkun@hotmail.com. Infectious disease caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) seriously threatens public health. The design of antimicrobial peptide mimics (AMPMs) based on natural products (NPs) is a new strategy to kill MRSA and slow the development of drug resistance recently. Here, we reported the design and synthesis of novel AMPMs based on harmane skeleton. Notably, compound 9b exhibited comparable or even better anti-MRSA activity in vitro and in vivo with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 0.5-2 μg/mL than the positive drug vancomycin. The highly active compound 9b not only showed low cytotoxicity, no obvious hemolysis and good plasma stability, but also presented low tendency of developing resistance. Anti-MRSA mechanism revealed that compound 9b could destroy cell wall structure by interacting with lipoteichoic acid and peptidoglycan, cause membrane damage by depolarization, increased permeability and destructed integrity, reduce cell metabolic activity by binding to lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), interfere cellular redox homeostasis, and bind to DNA. Overall, compound 9b killed the MRSA by multi-target mechanism, which provide a promising light for combating the growing MRSA resistance. Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2024.116657 PMID: 39032402 [Indexed for MEDLINE] Conflict of interest statement: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. 5. Chemistry. 2024 Apr 2;30(19):e202304311. doi: 10.1002/chem.202304311. Epub 2024 Feb 13. Reversible Restrain and Release of the Dynamic Valence Isomerization in a Shape-shifting Bullvalene by Complex Formation. Dohmen C(1), Paululat T(1), Ihmels H(1). Author information: (1)Department of Chemistry-Biology, and Center of Micro-and Nanochemistry and (Bio)Technology (Cμ), University of Siegen, Adolf-Reichwein-Str. 2, 57068, Siegen, Germany. In search for structural features that enable the control of the valence isomerization of the fluxional bullvalene, a bullvalene-bis(harmane) conjugate is identified that acts as chelating ligand in complexes with metal ions. Spectrometric titrations show that this ligand forms 1 : 1 complexes with Ag+, Cu+, Cu2+, and Zn2+. Most importantly, detailed NMR-spectroscopic analysis at different temperatures reveals that the complexation with Ag+ strongly affects the dynamic isomerization of the bullvalene unit of the ligand such that only one predominant valence isomer is formed, even at 5 °C. Detailed 1H-NMR-spectroscopic studies disclose an increased barrier (~11 kJ mol-1) of the Cope rearrangement. Furthermore, the addition of hexacyclene displaces the Ag+ from the complex, so that the valence isomerization is accelerated and an equilibrium with two predominant isomers is formed. In turn, repeated addition of Ag+ regains the complex with the restrained isomerization of the bullvalene unit. This method to control the valence isomerism by straightforward chemical stimuli may be used to simplify structural analysis at elevated temperatures, i. e. a feature not available so far with bullvalenes, and it may be employed as functional element in dynamic supramolecular assemblies. © 2024 The Authors. Chemistry - A European Journal published by Wiley-VCH GmbH. DOI: 10.1002/chem.202304311 PMID: 38275100