The treatment of most cancers is still inadequate, despite tremendous steady progress in drug discovery and effective prevention. Nature is an attractive source of new therapeutics. Several medicinal plants and their biomarkers have been widely used for the treatment of cancer with less known scientific basis of their functioning. Although a wide array of plant derived active metabolites play a role in the prevention and treatment of cancer, more extensive scientific evaluation of their mechanisms is still required. Styryl-lactones are a group of secondary metabolites ubiquitous in the genusGoniothalamusthat have demonstrated to possess antiproliferative activity against cancer cells. A large body of evidence suggests that this activity is associated with the induction of apoptosis in target cells. In an effort to promote further research on the genusGoniothalamus, this review offers a broad analysis of the current knowledge onGoniothalamin(GTN) or 5, 6, dihydro-6-styryl-2-pyronone (C₁₃H₁₂O₂), a natural occurring styryl-lactone. Therefore, it includes (i) the source of GTN and other metabolites; (ii) isolation, purification, and (iii) the molecular mechanisms of actions of GTN, especially the anticancer properties, and summarizes the role of GTN which is crucial for drug design, development, and application in future for well-being of humans.

Background: Bioactive principles from various natural resources including medicinal herbs have always played a crucial role in healthcare settings and increasingly became key players in drug discovery and development for many biopharmaceutical applications. Additionally, natural products (NPs) have immense arrangement of distinctive chemical structures with diverse functional groups that motivated numerous investigators including synthetic chemists to discover new therapeutic entities. Numerous pre-clinical investigations involving the animal models have evident the usefulness of these NPs against various human diseases including neurodegenerative disorders (NDs). Main text: Ocimum basilicum Linn (O. basilicum L.), also known as sweet basil, is well practiced in traditional healthcare systems and has been used to treat various human illnesses, which include malaria, skin disease, diarrhea, bronchitis, dysentery, arthritis, eye diseases, and insect bites and emphasize the significance of the ethno-botanical approach as a potential source of novel drug leads With the growing interest in advanced techniques, herbal medicine and medicinal plants explorations are still considered to be a novel resource for new pharmacotherapeutic discovery and development. O. basilicum L and its bioactive principles including apigenin, eugenol, myretenal, β-sitosterol, luteolin, rosmarinic acid, carnosic acid, essential oil (EO)-rich phenolic compounds, and others like anthocyanins and flavones could be of therapeutic values in NDs by exhibiting their neuro-protective efficacy on various signaling pathways. The present comprehensive review collected various related information using the following searching engines such as PubMed, Science Direct, Google Scholar, etc. and focused mainly the English written documents. The search period comprised of last two decades until present. Conclusion: Although these efficacious plant genera of prime importance and has potential medical and socioeconomic importance, yet the pivotal evidence for its neuroprotective potential in novel clinical trials remains lacking. However, with the available wealth of obtainable literature on this medicinal plant, which supports this review and concludes that O. basilicum L may function as a promising therapeutics for the treatment of NDs.

BACKGROUND: Corneal blindness resulting from various medical conditions affects millions worldwide. The rapid developing tissue engineering field offers design of a scaffold with mechanical properties and transparency similar to that of the natural cornea. AIM: The present study aimed at to prepare and investigate the properties of PVA/chitosan blended scaffold by further cross-linking with 1-Ethyl-3-(3-dimethyl aminopropyl)-carbodiimide (EDC) and 2 N-Hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) as potential in vitro carrier for human limbal stem cells delivery. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Acetic acid dissolved chitosan was added to PVA solution, uniformly mixed with a homogenizer until the mixture was in a colloidal state, followed by H2SO4 and formaldehyde added and the sample was allowed to cool, subsequently it was poured into a tube and heated in an oven at 60°C for 50 minutes. Finally, samples were soaked in a cross-linking bath with EDC, NHS and NaOH in H2O/EtOH for 24 h consecutively stirred to cross-link the polymeric chains, reduce degradation. After soaking in the bath, the samples were carefully washed with 2% glycine aqueous solution several times to remove the remaining amount of cross-linkers, followed by washed with water to remove residual agents. Later the cross-linked scaffold subjected for various characterization and biological experiments. RESULTS: After viscosity measurement, the scaffold was observed by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR). The water absorbency of PVA/Chitosan was increased 361% by swelling. Compression testing demonstrated that by increasing the amount of chitosan, the strength of the scaffold could be increased to 16×10−1 MPa. Our degradation results revealed by mass loss using equation shows that scaffold degraded gradually imply slow degradation. In vitro tests showed good cell proliferation and growth in the scaffold. Our assay results confirmed that the membrane could increase the cells adhesion and growth on the substrate. CONCLUSION: Hence, we strongly believe the use of this improved PVA/chitosan scaffold has potential to cut down the disadvantages of the human amniotic membrane (HAM) for corneal epithelium in ocular surface surgery and greater mechanical strength in future after successful experimentation with clinical trials.

The evaluation of crude drugs of natural origin as sources of new effective anticancer agents continues to be important due to the lack of effective anticancer drugs currently used in practice which are generally accompanied with adverse effects at different levels of severity. The aim of this concise review is to gather existing literature on anticancer potential of extracts and compounds isolated from Celastraceae species. This review covers six genera (Maytenus, Tripterygium, Hippocratea, Gymnosporia, Celastrus and Austroplenckia) belonging to this family and their 33 isolates. Studies carried out by using different cell lines have shown remarkable indication of anticancer activity, however, only a restricted number of studies have been reported using in vivo tumor models. Some of the compounds, such as triptolide, celastrol and demethylzeylasteral from T. wilfordii, have been extensively studied on their mechanisms of action due to their potent activity on various cancer cell lines. Such promising lead compounds should generate considerable interest among scientists to improve their therapeutic potential with fewer side effects by molecular modification.