Chalcones are a class of privileged scaffolds with high medicinal significance due to the presence of an α,β-unsaturated ketone functionality. Numerous functional modifications of chalcones have been reported, along with their pharmacological behavior. The present review aims to summarize the structures from natural sources, synthesis methods, biological characteristics against infectious and non-infectious diseases, and uses of chalcones over the past decade, and their structure–activity relationship studies are detailed in depth. This critical review provides guidelines for the future design and synthesis of various chalcones. In addition, this could be highly supportive for medicinal chemists to develop more promising candidates for various infectious and non-infectious diseases.

Over the past few decades, various forms of platelet concentrates have evolved with significant clinical utility. The newer generation products, including leukocyte-platelet-rich fibrin (L-PRF) and advanced platelet-rich fibrin (A-PRF), have shown superior biological properties in musculoskeletal regeneration than the first-generation concentrates, such as platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and plasma rich in growth factors. These newer platelet concentrates have a complete matrix of physiological fibrin that acts as a scaffold with a three-dimensional (3D) architecture. Further, it facilitates intercellular signaling and migration, thereby promoting angiogenic, chondrogenic, and osteogenic activities. A-PRF with higher leukocyte inclusion possesses antimicrobial activity than the first generations. Due to the presence of enormous amounts of growth factors and anti-inflammatory cytokines that are released, A-PRF has the potential to replicate the various physiological and immunological factors of wound healing. In addition, there are more neutrophils, monocytes, and macrophages, all of which secrete essential chemotactic molecules. As a result, both L-PRF and A-PRF are used in the management of musculoskeletal conditions, such as chondral injuries, tendinopathies, tissue regeneration, and other sports-related injuries. In addition to this, its applications have been expanded to include the fields of reconstructive cosmetic surgery, wound healing in diabetic patients, and maxillofacial surgeries.

The acidic fraction (P3a) of Pleurotus eous was successfully sulfated by sulphur trioxide-pyridine complex method. The effect of sulfate modification (SP3a) on the structure, physicochemical properties and in vitro biological activity of P3 was studied. The structural characteristics were established by UV absorption, FT-IR, HPGPC and GC-MS. Biological studies were carried out, such as in vitro antioxidant, anticoagulant, anti-tumour and antibacterial activities. The sulfation process changed its physicochemical and biological characteristics. Compared with P3a, the molecular weight of SP3a is reduced. P3a and SP3a are composed of galactose, xylose, arabinose with different molar percentages. Sulfated derivatives have strong antioxidant and anticoagulant properties. Compared with P3a, SP3a showed obvious cytotoxicity to Jurkat and HeLa cells. SP3a showed a higher inhibition zone for Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. This article demonstrates that sulfation is an effective way to enhance biological activity, especially SP3a is a promising candidate for bioactive macromolecules and has great potential for industrial and biomedical applications.

The initial structural features and in vitro biological study of crude polysaccharides from Calocybe indica (CICP) extracted by hot water followed by ethanol precipitation was investigated. High-performance gel permeation chromatography, HPLC-DAD, UV, IR and NMR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and Congo red methods were used to determine structural features. The results revealed that CICP is a hetero-polysaccharide with a molecular weight of 9.371 × 10⁴ Da and 2.457 × 10³ Da which is composed of xylose, mannose, fucose, rhamnose, arabinose, galactose, and glucose. The antioxidant activity of CICP was evaluated using radical scavenging activity (three methods), reducing ability (three methods), metal chelating activity, and lipid peroxidation inhibition activity (two methods). It was found that the antioxidant capacity is concentration-dependent and EC₅₀ values were found to be 1.99–3.82 mg/mL (radical scavenging activities), 0.78–2.78 mg/mL (reducing ability), 4.11 mg/mL (metal chelating activity), and 0.56–4.18 mg/mL (lipid peroxidation inhibition activity). In vitro anticoagulant assay revealed that CICP could prolong activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), thrombin time (TT), but not prothrombin time (PT). CICP exhibited antiproliferative activity on HeLa, PC3, HT29, HepG2, and Jurkat cell lines with IC₅₀ (μg/mL) values of 148.40, 143.60,151.00, 168.30, and 156.30, respectively. The above findings suggested that CICP could be considered a natural antioxidant and cancer preventative.

An acidic polysaccharide fraction was obtained from Calocybe indica (CIP3a) after subjecting it to hot water extraction followed by purification through DEAE-cellulose 52 and Sepaharose 6B column chromatography. The CIP3a was further modified using chloroacetic acid to yield carboxymethylated derivatives (CMCIP3a). The modified polysaccharide was characterized using various spectroscopic methods. In addition, further antioxidant, antitumor and anticoagulant activities were also investigated. The polysaccharides CIP3a and CMCIP3a were heterogeneous in nature and composed of various molar percentages of glucose, arabinose and mannose with molecular weights of 1.456 × 10³ and 4.023 × 10³ Da, respectively. The NMR and FT-IR data demonstrated that the carboxymethylation on the polysaccharide was successful. In comparison to CIP3a polysaccharides, the modified derivatives had lower sugar and protein contents, and higher levels of uronic acid. The in vitro antioxidant activity showed that CMCIP3a with higher molecular weight displayed an elevated ability in scavenging the DPPH radical, ABTS, superoxide, hydroxyl radical, ferric reducing power, cupric reducing power and erythrocyte hemolysis inhibition with an EC₅₀ value of 2.49, 2.66, 4.10, 1.60, 3.48, 1.41 and 2.30 mg/mL, respectively. The MTT assay results revealed that CMCIP3a displayed a dose-dependent inhibition on five cancer cells (HT29, PC3, HeLa, Jurkat and HepG-2) in the range of 10–320 μg/mL. The APTT, PT and TT were significantly extended by CMCIP3a in relation to dosage, indicating that the anticoagulant effect of CIP was both extrinsic and intrinsic, along with a common coagulation pathway. These findings demonstrated that carboxymethylation might effectively improve the biological potential of the derivatives and offer a theoretical framework for the creation of novel natural antioxidants, low-toxicity antitumor and antithrombotic drugs.