Latest ArticlesThis study was designed to compare normal and diabetic rats in the pharmacokinetic and tissue distribution of honokiol and its metabolites. Type 2 diabetic rat model was established using high-fat diet feeding for 6 weeks followed by single intraperitoneal injection of low dose (30 mg·kg-1) strepotozotocin. The concentration of honokiol and its metabolites were determined by high performance liquid chromatography. Pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated using DAS 3.0 software. The Cmax of honokiol in the normal rats and diabetic rats are 872.5 ±233.1 and 614.7 ±182.4 μg·L-1 respectively (P < 0.05), and the AUC are 3 827.2 ±926.9 and 3 004.7 ±391.4 μg·h·L-1 respectively. Meanwhile, AUC0-t and Cmax of the metabolite M2 were significantly increased in diabetic rats. The concentrations of honokiol in liver, kidney and brain in the diabetic model group were higher than those of the normal control group. Meanwhile, the exposure of M1 in liver, M2 in liver and kidney of the model group were higher than that in the normal group. The data suggest that the pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of honokiol and its metabolites are changed in the pathological state of diabetes.
The therapeutic application of artemisinin (ART) is restricted in application due to its poor water solubility and stability. In this study, the long-circulating liposomes (L-Lip) were constructed to improve the solubility and stability of ART. The preparation method, physicochemical properties, serum stability, in vitro release profile and cytotoxicity of the ART loaded long-circulating liposomes were investigated. Using the particle size and entrapment efficiency (EE) as the evaluation index, the preparation procedure was optimized by the Box-Behnken response surface design based on the single factor screening method. The ART loaded long-circulating liposomes were prepared by filming rehydration method, and evaluated with particle size and entrapment efficiency. The optimal formulation was as follows:lipid-cholesterol=5.22:1 (mass ratio), drug-lipid=1:23.15 (mass ratio), lipid concentration=14.35 mg·mL-1, and molar percentage of mPEG=2%. The morphology of L-Lip was uniformly spherical shape according to optimal formulation. The mean size and polydispersity index (PDI) were about (113.3 ±4.7) nm and 0.227 ±0.022 respectively, the zeta potential was (-12.9 ±2.6) mV, and the entrapment efficiency (EE) of ART was (95.88 ±4.8)%. The L-Lip had good stability at 4℃ for 15 days and the particle sizes did not exhibit significant variations in 50% rat plasma over 24 h at 37℃. The in vitro release study of formulation showed a sustained release. Moreover, the cytotoxicity exhibited that blank liposomes were of great safety. Compared with the free ART, the liposome formulation achieved lower cytotoxicity at the high concentration. The L-Lip successfully prepared by a simple filming-rehydration method exhibited ideal physicochemical properties and were enhanced safety, which may sever as a promising nanoplatform for clinical application.
Anti-tumor antibiotics exhibit great application potential in the anti-tumor therapy. Some drugs have become the first-line medication clinically. However, there are always various problems associated with anti-tumor antibiotics, such as poor solubility and instability as well as severe systemic side effects. It is important to choose suitable delivery carriers for a reasonable delivery system for a good targeting ability, enhanced anti-tumor efficacy and reduced adverse effects of the anti-tumor antibiotics, especially in the smart delivery systems. This review summarizes the carriers and the advances in the delivery systems of anti-tumor antibiotics, including anti-tumor antibiotic drugs currently on the market, in the clinical research stage and in the basic research stage.
Due to the potent bactericidal activity and low incidence of drug resistance, the novel cyclic lipopeptide antibiotic - daptomycin has emerged as one of the first line antimicrobial agents in the treatment of serious infections caused by gram-positive resistant pathogens. This review summarizes the research advances of daptomycin in recent years, mainly including spectrum of antimicrobial activity, biosynthesis, mode of action, mechanism of drug resistance, structure-activity relationships, surotomycin and siderophore-daptomycin conjugate to kill multidrug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii. The findings summarized in this review highlight the directions of next-generation of daptomycin derivatives.
In current study, adefovir dipivoxil (AD)-acetaminophen (AP) cocrystal (molar ratio, 1:1) was prepared by slow evaporation from acetonitrile, followed by physicochemical characterizations using differential scanning calorimetry, powder X-Ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Molecular modeling showed that the phosphoester group of AD was connected with the amide group of AP through hydrogen bonds. In comparison to crystalline AD, the solubility and dissolution rate of AD from AD-AP cocrystal were significantly enhanced by 1.5-fold and 1.6-fold, respectively. In addition, based on the rat single-pass intestinal perfusion study, the permeabilities of AD in various intestinal sections (i.e., duodenum, jejunum, ileum and colon) were significantly improved (e.g., about 3-fold enhancement in duodenum) after cocrystallization with AP by inhibiting P-glyprotein mediated efflux of AD, which will benefit absorption in vivo and subsequent oral bioavailability of poorly permeable drug AD.
Macrolide antibiotics have been widely utilized in the treatment of bacterial infections due to their strengths, low toxicity, and high efficacy. Because of the widespread application of macrolide drugs, the emergence of antibacterial resistance against antibiotics has become prominent. Ketolides, as the third generation macrolides, display improvement in activities against macrolide-resistant pathogens with broad antibacterial spectrum. Due to hepatotoxicity, the use of telithromycin has been limited. It is urgent to identify the novel sources of ketolides. So the structural modification of ketolides become the main research field of macrolide. This review introduces the recent progress in the structural modification of ketolide, with the purpose of providing support to development of new ketolide antibiotics.
As a common Tibetan herb, Bawo Sebo was mainly used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and urarthritis in Traditional Tibetan medicine. Based on our ethnobotanical survey, the origin of the herb was determined as Swertia verticillifolia T. N. Ho et S. W. Liu (Gentianaceae), endemic to the region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The diagnostic characters:perennial; stem leaves in whorls; corolla campanulate, yellow-green, 4-lobed; nectary 1 per corolla lobe, naked. Also, its complete chloroplast (cp) genome was sequenced. It is 151 682 bp in length, including a large single copy (LSC) region of 82 623 bp, a small single copy (SSC) region of 18 335 bp and a pair of inverted repeats (IRs) of 25 362 bp. It contains 129 unique genes, including 84 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNAs and 8 rRNAs. This study provides information for understanding the diversity of Swertia cp genomes, and the alpine species identification, conservation and molecular phylogenetic researches of Swertia and Gentianaceae.
9-Acetoxycycloberberine (1) with a unique skeleton was first identified to display a potent antimicrobial profile against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) with MIC values of 1-16 μg·mL-1. Taking the compound as a lead, 14 target cycloberberine analogues with diverse structures, such as berberine and chelerythrine derivatives, were synthesized and evaluated for their anti-bacterial activities. Analysis of the structure-activity relationship revealed that:① ring E was essential for the activity; ② the removing of ring B decreased the activity against MRSA. However, the antimicrobial activity against vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE) was improved; ③ the introduction of a suitable rigid substituent at the 9-position was beneficial for the activity. Among them, compound 9a showed the most potential activity against methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) and MRSA isolates with MIC values of 0.5-1 μg·mL-1, suggesting a different mechanism from clinical drugs. It displayed higher stability in blood. Therefore, we consider 9a worthy of further investigation. The results provide key scientific evidence for development of such compounds into a new type of anti-MRSA candidates.
Shikimate kinase is a key protein of the shikimic pathway, which is essential for the survival of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In this study, a screening assay for Mycobacterium tuberculosis shikimate ki-nase (MtSK) inhibitor was developed. A 120 000-compound library was screened by the enzyme assay and the phenotype screening using Mycobacterium smegmatis. A hit compound named IMB-T5297[(E)-3-(3-(3-chloro-5-methoxy-4-(prop-2-yn-1-yloxy)phenyl)acryloyl)-6-methyl-2H-pyran-2, 4(3H)-dione] was identified to be a selective inhibitor of MtSK with a half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) value of 1.745 μg·mL-1, which also showed antibacterial activity. The interaction between compound and protein was analyzed by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) experiment, which showed the KD value was 2.151×10-5 mol·L-1. The binding model of MtSK and compound was simulated by the computer program. Five key amino acids in the binding pocket were indispensable site-directed mutated to verify the model. IMB-T5297 inhibited Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of 49.723 μg·mL-1 and displayed low cytotoxicity to mammalian cells. In this study, IMB-T5297 was identified as a selective inhibitor of MtSK enzyme with anti-tuberculosis activity. With additional structural modification, the compound has a potential to become a novel anti-tuberculosis compound.
The metabolites produced by complex and diverse microorganisms are important resources for drug research and development. Using new targets to screen microbial metabolites, many anti-cancer drugs acting on different targets are discovered. Anti-tumor antibiotics acting on various targets and signaling pathways are important members in the study of specific targets for anti-tumor, and some anticancer antibiotics with potent antitumor activity are used as "warheads" of antibody-drug conjugates. Microbial-derived anti-tumor substances acting on different targets with high-efficiency "warheads" molecules are reviewed to provide a literature basis for research on the anti-cancer drugs for specific targets derived from microorganisms.
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