Development of stable emulsified formulations of Terminalia arjuna for topical application: evaluation of antioxidant activity of final product and molecular docking study

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this work was to develop stable emulsified formulations containing Terminalia arjuna (T. arjuna) extract and to assess antioxidant potential of the final product with in silico molecular screening.

Methods: Terminalia arjuna emulsified formulations were prepared by application of ternary phase diagram design and were evaluated for phytochemical screening, solubility studies, ex vivo permeation study, DPPH free radical scavenging assay, anti-tyrosinase activity, skin irritation, stability studies, molecular docking study, and pharmacophore modeling.

Results: Phytochemical screening resulted in the presence of secondary metabolites. The result of the solubility study exhibited that olive oil, tween 80, and PEG 400 could be the most appropriate combination for preparation of the emulsified system. The ex vivo study showed adequate release from its emulsified formulation. Globule size determination and Zeta potential analysis indicate the stability of the emulsified system. The result of DPPH free radical scavenging activity and anti-tyrosinase activity of the final product were satisfactory. Skin irritation test on albino rats resulted in no allergic dermal effects. All the prepared formulations were found to be stable upon storage for 3?months. Molecular docking resulted in antioxidant potential via tyrosinase inhibitory mechanism mainly by hydrogen bonding interaction with His60B, Glu158B, His208B, Asn205B, Met215B, His42B, and Asn57B whereas ionic interactions by Arg209B and Val218B of tyrosinase. Pharmacophore modeling describes the similarity features with the standard.

Conclusions: The results suggest that developed emulsified formulations with T. arjuna extract for topical application demonstrate interesting attributes to be explored as potential pharmaceutical products.     

Use of ion exchange resins in the extraction of proteins from defatted groundnut and soya flours

A novel method of extraction of proteins from defatted oilseed flours by anionic and cationic exchange resins is described. Extraction was performed under varying conditions with respect to type of resin, resin:flour ratio, flour:water ratio and temperature, and the optimum conditions determined. Amberlite IRC-50 (Na⁺) and Zeokarb-225 (Ca²⁺) extracted 92.0 and 96.5% of the proteins from defatted groundnut flour, respectively. Zeokarb-225 (Na⁺) extracted nearly 66.0% of the proteins from defatted soya flour. Ion exchange resins were superior to alkaline extractants for the solubilisation of proteins from these oilseed flours.     

Expressed alpha 1-adrenoceptors in adult rat brown adipocytes are primarily of alpha 1A subtype

The load distribution between two internal spinal fixation devices depends, besides other factors, on their stiffness. The stiffness ranges were determined experimentally for the clamps of the AO internal fixator with lateral nut and with posterior nut as well as for the clamps of the SOCON fixator. The stiffness of eight devices each differed by a factor of 3.1 for the clamp with lateral nut, by a factor of 1.5 for the clamp with posterior nut, and by a factor of 1.4 for the clamp of the SOCON fixator. For the AO clamp with lateral nut, the influence of the nut-tightening torque on the stiffness was determined. Using instrumented internal spinal fixation devices mounted to plastic vertebrae and simulating a corpectomy, the load distribution between the implants was measured for different tightening torques. It could be shown that, for the AO internal fixator whose clamps have a lateral nut, a nut-tightening torque > 5 Nm has only a negligible influence on load-sharing between the implants. Tooth damage occurs when the teeth of the clamp body and clamping jaw of the clamp with lateral nut do not gear together exactly, which leads to changes in the clamping stiffness and load-sharing between the two implants.     

Effect of Temperature on Structural and Optical Properties of Boehmite Nanostructure

The nanocrystalline boehmite, γ‐AlOOH, was synthesized by the hydrothermal method using AlCl₃·6H₂O and urea as precursors, and the effect of different annealing temperatures resulting in different phases of alumina (Al₂O₃) was obtained. The effects of different temperature on the phase and micrographs of the prepared γ‐AlOOH nanostructures were investigated. The obtained products were characterized by X‐ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and Raman spectroscopy techniques. The XRD results show that with the increasing temperature, the transformation of boehmite into well‐crystallized α‐Al₂O₃ and the morphology from nanoplatelets with spindle‐like edges to vermicular structure take place. The crystallite size and lattice parameters were calculated by Rietveld refinement. The convincing evidence for the crystal phase of the as‐prepared and annealed samples was provided by FTIR spectra. The Raman spectra unveil the change in vibrational modes of the phase transition alumina.     

Synthesis and Properties of a Cationic Surfactant Based on Amidoamine and Glycerol

Lauramidopropyl dimethyl amine was quaternized with 3‐chloroglycerol for synthesis of a cationic surfactant. The surfactant was synthesized in good yield without the use of a solvent. The structure of this surfactant was confirmed by infrared, nuclear magnetic resonance, and mass spectrometry. The effect exerted by the chemical moiety present in the structure was analyzed by comparing various physicochemical properties such as surface tension, critical micelle concentration, foaming, etc.     

Interoperability of GADU in using heterogeneous grid resources for bioinformatics applications.

Bioinformatics tools used for efficient and computationally intensive analysis of genetic sequences require large-scale computational resources to accommodate the growing data. Grid computational resources such as the Open Science Grid and TeraGrid have proved useful for scientific discovery. The genome analysis and database update system (GADU) is a high-throughput computational system developed to automate the steps involved in accessing the Grid resources for running bioinformatics applications. This paper describes the requirements for building an automated scalable system such as GADU that can run jobs on different Grids. The paper describes the resource-independent configuration of GADU using the Pegasus-based virtual data system that makes high-throughput computational tools interoperable on heterogeneous Grid resources. The paper also highlights the features implemented to make GADU a gateway to computationally intensive bioinformatics applications on the Grid. The paper will not go into the details of problems involved or the lessons learned in using individual Grid resources as it has already been published in our paper on genome analysis research environment (GNARE) and will focus primarily on the architecture that makes GADU resource independent and interoperable across heterogeneous Grid resources.