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. Adv Pharmacol Pharm Sci. 2024 Oct 28;2024:9288481. doi: 10.1155/2024/9288481. eCollection 2024. In Vitro Evaluation of Wound Healing, Stemness Potentiation, Antioxidant Activity, and Phytochemical Profile of Cucurbita moschata Duchesne Fruit Pulp Ethanolic Extract. Phiboonchaiyanan PP(1), Harikarnpakdee S(2), Songsak T(3), Chowjarean V(4). Author information: (1)Department of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, Rangsit University, Pathum Thani 12000, Thailand. (2)Department of Industrial Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Rangsit University, Pathum Thani 12000, Thailand. (3)Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, Rangsit University, Pathum Thani 12000, Thailand. (4)Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, College of Pharmacy, Rangsit University, Pathum Thani 12000, Thailand. Wound healing comprises an intricate process to repair damaged tissue. Research on plant extracts with properties to expedite wound healing has been of interest, particularly their ability to enhance the stemness of keratinocyte stem cells. Hence, the present study aims to determine the wound healing and stemness potentiation properties of an ethanolic extract derived from Cucurbita moschata fruit pulp (PKE). Human keratinocytes (HaCaT) and primary skin fibroblast cells were used in this study. The migration of the cells was examined by using a scratch wound healing assay, and spheroid behavior was determined by using a spheroid formation assay. The proteins related to migration and stemness were further measured by using Western blotting to explore the mechanism of action of PKE. The methods used to evaluate PKE's antioxidant properties were 2,2-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging, ABTS radical scavenging activity, and superoxide anion radical scavenging (SOSA) assays. The phytochemistry of the PKE was investigated using phytochemical screening and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. The results of this study indicate that nontoxic concentrations of PKE increase the rate of migration and spheroid formation. Mechanistically, PKE increased the expression of the migratory-related protein active FAK (phosphorylated FAK), and the subsequence increased the level of p-AKT. The expression of stem cell marker CD133, upstream protein signaling β-catenin, and self-renewal transcription factor Nanog was increased. The PKE also possessed scavenging properties against DPPH, ABTS, and SOSA. The phytochemistry analyses exhibited the presence of alkaloids, glycosides, xanthones, triterpenes, and steroids. Additionally, bioactive compounds such as ɑ-tocopherol, riboflavin, protocatechuic acid, β-carotene, and luteolin were detected. The presence of these chemicals in PKE may contribute to its antioxidant, stem cell potentiation, and wound-healing effects. The findings could be beneficial in the identification of valuable natural resources that possess the capacity to be used in the process of wound healing through the potentiation of stemness via a readily detectable molecular mechanism. Copyright © 2024 Preeyaporn Plaimee Phiboonchaiyanan et al. DOI: 10.1155/2024/9288481 PMCID: PMC11535185 PMID: 39502575 Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest. 2. Food Sci Nutr. 2024 Sep 3;12(10):8377-8386. doi: 10.1002/fsn3.4443. eCollection 2024 Oct. Physicochemical properties of oleaster extract and the role of oleaster antioxidants on oxidative induced DNA damage. Şahin S(1), Aybastıer Ö(1). Author information: (1)Chemistry Department, Science and Arts Faculty Bursa Uludağ University Bursa Türkiye. Oleaster (Elaeagnus angustifolia L.) is a plant with high medicinal value and economic and nutritional importance, which has been used in traditional medicine for a long time. Oleaster contains phenolic compounds that have the ability to prevent a wide variety of diseases. In this study antioxidant capacity, total phenolic content, and total carbohydrate content were found as 108.70 ± 0.20 μg GAE/g of oleaster extract, 28.80 ± 0.01 μg TE/g of oleaster extract, and 15.40 ± 0.01 mg D-glucose/g of oleaster extract, respectively. The oleaster extract was analyzed using the HPLC-DAD system. The results showed rutin, caffeic acid, protocatechuic acid, and ferulic acid. The protective abilities of rutin, caffeic acid, protocatechuic acid, ferulic acid, and oleaster extract were tested against the oxidation of DNA. The mix of phenolic compounds (inhibited about 93.29% of the damage) and oleaster extract (inhibited about 94.14% of the damage) showed better protect DNA against oxidation than phenolic compounds. The results obtained from this study are guiding for new applications involving the physicochemical properties of oleaster extract with high antioxidant properties for food applications. © 2024 The Author(s). Food Science & Nutrition published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. DOI: 10.1002/fsn3.4443 PMCID: PMC11521664 PMID: 39479667 3. Nat Commun. 2024 Oct 28;15(1):9288. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-53609-3. Lignin valorization to bioplastics with an aromatic hub metabolite-based autoregulation system. Zhao Y(#)(1), Xue L(#)(1), Huang Z(1), Lei Z(1), Xie S(1), Cai Z(1), Rao X(1), Zheng Z(1), Xiao N(2), Zhang X(1), Ma F(1), Yu H(1), Xie S(3)(4). Author information: (1)Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China. (2)National key Laboratory of Non-food Biomass Energy Technology, Guangxi Academy of Sciences, Nanning, Guangxi, China. (3)Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China. shangxian_xie@hust.edu.cn. (4)National key Laboratory of Non-food Biomass Energy Technology, Guangxi Academy of Sciences, Nanning, Guangxi, China. shangxian_xie@hust.edu.cn. (#)Contributed equally Exploring microorganisms with downstream synthetic advantages in lignin valorization is an effective strategy to increase target product diversity and yield. This study ingeniously engineers the non-lignin-degrading bacterium Ralstonia eutropha H16 (also known as Cupriavidus necator H16) to convert lignin, a typically underutilized by-product of biorefinery, into valuable bioplastic polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB). The aromatic metabolism capacities of R. eutropha H16 for different lignin-derived aromatics (LDAs) are systematically characterized and complemented by integrating robust functional modules including O-demethylation, aromatic aldehyde metabolism and the mitigation of by-product inhibition. A pivotal discovery is the regulatory element PcaQ, which is highly responsive to the aromatic hub metabolite protocatechuic acid during lignin degradation. Based on the computer-aided design of PcaQ, we develop a hub metabolite-based autoregulation (HMA) system. This system can control the functional genes expression in response to heterologous LDAs and enhance metabolism efficiency. Multi-module genome integration and directed evolution further fortify the strain's stability and lignin conversion capacities, leading to PHB production titer of 2.38 g/L using heterologous LDAs as sole carbon source. This work not only marks a leap in bioplastic production from lignin components but also provides a strategy to redesign the non-LDAs-degrading microbes for efficient lignin valorization. © 2024. The Author(s). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-53609-3 PMCID: PMC11519575 PMID: 39468081 [Indexed for MEDLINE] Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no competing interests. 4. Molecules. 2024 Oct 20;29(20):4959. doi: 10.3390/molecules29204959. Cholesteryl Phenolipids as Potential Biomembrane Antioxidants. Costa V(1), Costa M(1), Arques F(1), Ferreira M(1), Gameiro P(1), Geraldo D(2), Monteiro LS(2), Paiva-Martins F(1). Author information: (1)REQUIMTE-LAQV, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal. (2)Chemistry Centre, University of Minho, Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal. The lipophilization of polyphenols (phenolipids) may increase their affinity for membranes, leading to better antioxidant protection. Cholesteryl esters of caffeic, dihydrocaffeic, homoprotocatechuic and protocatechuic acids were synthetized in a one-step procedure with good to excellent yields of ~50-95%. After evaluation of their radical scavenging capacity by the DPPH method and establishing the anodic peak potential by cyclic voltammetry, their antioxidant capacity against AAPH-induced oxidative stress in soybean PC liposomes was determined. Their interaction with the liposomal membrane was studied with the aid of three fluorescence probes located at different depths in the membrane. The cholesteryl esters showed a better or similar radical scavenging capacity to that of α-tocopherol and a lower anodic peak potential than the corresponding parental phenolic acids. Cholesteryl esters were able to protect liposomes to a similar or greater extent than α-tocopherol. However, despite their antiradical capacity and being able to penetrate and orientate in the membrane in a parallel position to phospholipids, the antioxidant efficiency of cholesteryl esters was deeply dependent on the phenolipid polyphenolic moiety structure. When incorporated during liposome preparation, cholesteryl protocatechuate and caffeate showed more than double the activity of α-tocopherol. Thus, cholesteryl phenolipids may protect biomembranes against oxidative stress to a greater extent than α-tocopherol. DOI: 10.3390/molecules29204959 PMCID: PMC11510111 PMID: 39459327 [Indexed for MEDLINE] Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest. 5. Molecules. 2024 Oct 15;29(20):4886. doi: 10.3390/molecules29204886. Simultaneous Qualitative and Quantitative Analyses of 41 Constituents in Uvaria macrophylla Leaves Screen Antioxidant Quality-Markers Using Database-Affinity Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Quadrupole Orbitrap Tandem Mass Spectrometry. Xu X(1), Li X(2), Chen S(2), Liang Y(2), Zhang C(3), Huang Y(2). Author information: (1)College of Pharmacy, Gansu Medical University, Pingliang 744000, China. (2)School of Chinese Herbal Medicine, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510006, China. (3)School of Pharmacy, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China. To date, no study has focused on Uvaria macrophylla leaves with various traditional efficiencies. This paper therefore applied a database affinity ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography with quadrupole Orbitrap tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap-MS/MS) strategy to analyze the lyophilized aqueous extract of U. macrophylla leaves. Through database comparison and MS fragment elucidation, this study has putatively identified 41 constituents belonging to flavonoid, phenolic acid, steroid, and saccharide natural product classifications. Significantly, four groups of isomers (liquiritigenin vs. isoliquiritigenin vs. pinocembrin; oroxylin A vs. wogonin vs. galangin 3-methyl ether; isoquercitrin vs. hyperoside; protocatechuic acid vs. 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid) have been successfully distinguished from each other. All of 41 constituents were then subjected to a quantitative analysis based on linear regression equation established by the above UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap-MS/MS strategy and an ABTS+•-scavenging antioxidant assay. Finally, the chemical content was multiplied by the corresponding ABTS+•-scavenging percentage to calculate the antioxidant contribution. It was shown that the chemical contents of 41 constituents varied from 0.003 ± 0.000 to 14.418 ± 1.041 mg/g, and gallic acid showed the highest antioxidant contribution. Gallic acid is considered as a suitable antioxidant quality-marker (Q-marker) of U. macrophylla leaves. These findings have scientific implications for the resource development and quality control of U. macrophylla leaves. DOI: 10.3390/molecules29204886 PMCID: PMC11510267 PMID: 39459254 [Indexed for MEDLINE] Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.