Pharmacology Commons^™

Characterization Of Carbon Dots From Fructus Gardeniae (Zhi-Zi) And Gardenia Charcoal (Black Zhi-Zi) Via Microwave-Assisted Extraction, Hung-Wen Tsai, Nelly Fitri Tampubolon, Tsunghsueh Wu, Mei-Yao Wu, Yang-Wei Lin

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

We employed a straightforward microwave-assisted extraction technique to investigate the presence of carbon dots (CDs) in Chinese herbal extracts derived from fructus gardeniae and gardenia charcoal, designated as CDs-1 and CDs-2, respectively. The found CDs exhibited unique photoluminescence with quantum yields of 0.95% for CDs-1 and 1.81% for CDs-2, indicating significant potential for bioimaging applications. Both CD types maintain approximately 80% of their fluorescence intensity after 120 minutes of continuous 365 nm UV exposure, underscoring their stability and suitability for prolonged biological studies. Moreover, antioxidant activity tests showed that CDs-2 have a higher scavenging capacity, with an SC-50 value of …

Optimization, Physicochemical Stability And In Vivo Study Of Alginate-Chitosan Composites As Nanocarriers For Low Molecular Weight Angiotensin I-Converting Enzyme (Ace)-Inhibitory Peptide, Shehu Muhammad Auwal, Siti Balqis Muhammad Ghanisma, Nazamid Saari

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Chitosan and alginate, are non-toxic and biodegradable polymers used to enhance the stability of biotherapeutics by loading them into nanocarriers. In this study, the stone fish-derived low molecular weight peptide (Ala-Leu-Gly-Pro-Gln-Phe-Tyr), exhibited an in vitro ACE-inhibitory activity of 94.43 ± 2.05% and an IC₅₀ of 0.012 ± 0.001 mM. The peptide was encapsulated via ionic gelation with alginate followed by polyelectrolyte complexation with chitosan. The resulting ACE-inhibitory peptide-loaded alginate-chitosan nanoparticles (ACE-I-ALG-CS NPs) were optimized to achieve small particle size (212.60 nm) and high encapsulation efficiency (EE, 74.48%). This was based on an optimum chitosan concentration (0.420%w/v), homogenization speed (6000 …

Sensitive Electrochemical Sensor Of Levofloxacin Using Boron-Doped Diamond (Bdd) Electrode Modified With Ti3c2tx (Mxene) Material, Prastika Krisma Jiwanti, Indah Harindy Putri, Grandprix T.M. Kadja, Yasuaki Einaga, Laurencia Gabrielle Sutanto, Siti Wafiroh, Dewi Kartika Azizah Sukardi, Anis Puspita Sari, Tahta Amrillah, Ilma Amalina, Qonita Kurnia Anjani, Wan Jeffrey Basirun

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Overuse of levofloxacin (LEV) is often associated with bacterial resistance and serious health problems, underscoring the need for reliable sensing and monitoring of LEV molecules. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate LEV using boron-doped diamond (BDD) and boron-doped diamond modified with MXene (Ti₃C₂T_X) (BDD-MXene) electrode. The successful deposition of MXene on the BDD surface was confirmed using scanning electron microscope (SEM). Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and square wave voltammetry (SWV) methods were also applied to evaluate the electrochemical behavior. The results showed that both electrodes had a linear response in the range of 30-100 µM. …

Production And Characterization Of Encapsulated Thymoquinone Loaded Bacterial Cellulose/Chitosan Composite Nano Film And Investigation Of Its In Vitro Antibacterial Activity, Aytul Bayraktar, Tunc Tuba

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

In this study, nanostructured thin films were produced from thymoquinone (TQ)-loaded composites encapsulated with different ratios of bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) to chitosan (CS). The study aimed to investigate their characterization, antibacterial effects, and potential as drug film coating materials. Chemical features and morphological characteristics were determined, and release tests and antibacterial assays were conducted on the thin film layers. As a result, BNC/CS-thymoquinone composite films obtained at different ratios were found to exhibit the highest antibacterial effect, particularly films with a 70% BNC/CS to 30% thymoquinone ratio, against Salmonella typhimurium bacteria.

Enhancing Mango Shelf Life Through Natural Preservation: Investigating The Efficacy Of Polysaccharide Edible Coating And Leaf Extracts, Binh Minh Nguyen Dac, Khoa Hai Le, Van Anh Phan Thi, Van Minh Dao, Trung Dinh Do, Phuong Nguyen-Tri, S. Woong Chang, D. Duc Nguyen, Duong Duc La

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

A sustainable solution to prevent the waste of fruits and vegetables from spoilage is the use of edible coatings or films. This research project aimed to create a fresh coating recipe that could effectively extend the shelf life of mangoes. The coating was composed of chitosan, glycerol, and gum Arabic mixed with the extract obtained from the extraction of Cleistocalyx operculatus plant. The prepared exact has a total polyphenol content of 17% and showed potent free radical scavenging abilities in a dose-dependent manner. The chitosan/gum Arabic/Glycerol/extract edible coatings were analyzed using SEM and FTIR spectroscopy, revealing a smooth and uniform …

Unlocking Early Detection Of Alzheimer's Disease: The Emerging Role Of Nanomaterial-Based Optical Sensors, Chun-Hsien Chen, Hsin-Hua Liang, Chun-Chi Wang, Yi-Ting Yang, Yi-Hui Lin, Yen-Ling Chen

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic and progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects millions of individuals worldwide. Researchers have conducted numerous studies to find accurate biomarkers for early AD diagnosis and develop more effective treatments. The main pathological hallmarks of AD are amyloid beta and Tau proteins. Other biomarkers, such as DNA, RNA, and proteins, can also be helpful in early AD diagnosis. To diagnose and treat AD promptly, it is essential to accurately measure the concentration of biomarkers in the cerebrospinal fluid or blood. However, due to the low concentrations of these biomarkers in the body, highly sensitive analytical techniques …

Harnessing Gold Nanomaterials For Advanced Multicolor Colorimetric Biosensors In Food Hazards Detection, Longyingzi Xie, Chenxi Guo, Lu Yang, Yue He

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Hazards such as pathogenic bacteria, mycotoxins, pesticides, antibiotics, heavy metal ions, etc., cause serious food safety problems worldwide due to their toxicity and frequent contamination. Rapid screening is an effective way for food safety control, which highly relies on the development of sensitive, specific, and convenient detection methods. The multicolor colorimetric biosensors based on gold nanomaterials have evolved into advanced tools for detecting various hazards in food, with intuitive readout. The excellent localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) properties of gold nanomaterials enable them to exhibit bright colors when used as chromophores. In addition, the small changes in the morphology of …

Functional Gold Nanoparticles For Analysis And Delivery Of Nucleic Acids, Po-Tsang Huang, Yen-Ling Chen, Yi-Hui Lin, Chun-Chi Wang, Huan-Tsung Chang

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have become the rising stars in the field of nanotechnology and made a revolution in exploiting the profundity of genomics due to their distinguished properties such as stability, ease in preparation and conjugation, biocompatibility, and unique optical properties. These characteristics have greatly expanded their applications such as sensitive and selective quantitation of nucleic acids and as effective carriers for specifically delivering various important molecules/biomolecules to various targets, which are the cornerstone in treating genetic disorders. This review comprehensively discusses the most recent progress in utilization of AuNPs in quantitation and delivery of nucleic acids. The future prospects …

Preface, Chih-Ching Huang, Yang-Wei Lin, Amit Nain

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

No abstract provided.

Characterizing Gait In Young Male 5xfad Mice, Sophiya L. Sims, Kate E. Pauss, Sami L. Case, Ruei-Lung Lin, Leopoldine B. Galopin, Nicholas A. Wright, Olivier Thibault

Journal of Pharmacology & Nutritional Sciences

Gait control represents a non-cognitive domain that is affected negatively during late stages of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and AD Related Dementias (ADRDs). In some cases, early identification can be predictive of worsened cognitive function. Prompt detection could help define intervention windows, perhaps even years prior to formal diagnosis of dementia. In this study, the locomotor function of 3-month-old male 5xFAD mice was evaluated using several variables (speed, deviance from center, paw precision index, stride length, stride length deviation, and stride time) to characterize the change in ambulatory behavior prior to the onset of cognitive decline. The data presented here show …

Development Of Targeted, Statin Loaded Nanoparticle Delivery Systems, Stephanie Judkins

Master's Theses

Statins lower endogenous production of cholesterol through their inhibition of the mevalonate pathway. Lipophilic statins in particular exhibit anti-inflammatory effects at supraphysiological doses by preventing downstream signaling through small molecule GTPases. Interest lies in development of statins as anti-inflammatory therapeutics, however, achieving effective doses locally incurs serious off-target effects. Our goal was to develop and optimize a targeted delivery system to traffic these drugs to inflamed sites and unload the drug at effective concentrations while avoiding systemic exposure. Lipophilic statins (lovastatin, simvastatin, and atorvastatin) were incorporated into polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) due to their hydrophobicity. We have shown that statins released …

Pharmacokinetics And Tissue Distribution Of A Lipid-Based Extended-Release Nano-Formulation Of Mo-Oh-Nap Tropolone To Enhance Pulmonary Delivery For The Treatment Of Pulmonary Metastatic Osteosarcoma, Wafaa N. Aldhafiri

Theses & Dissertations

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone tumor in children and adolescents. Metastasis is prevalent in 25% of patients, at diagnosis, with the lungs being the most common metastatic site. Pulmonary metastatic osteosarcoma is a significant therapeutic challenge with a 5-year survival rate of ≤30%. Patients with pulmonary metastatic disease at diagnosis receive the same standard of care as patients with local disease, which hasn’t changed over the past 30 years. The treatment and prevention of pulmonary metastatic osteosarcoma represents a significant critical and unmet need.

MO-OH-Nap tropolone is a novel small molecule with cytotoxic activity across multiple human osteosarcoma …

Bridging The Gap: Psychopharmacologic Education And Side Effect Screening For Non-Prescribing Mental Health Professionals, Elaine Fitzgerald

Dissertations

Abstract

Problem: The United States is experiencing a growing demand for pediatric mental health support. Surges in mental health diagnoses and psychotropic medication prescriptions have occurred, compounded by a shortage of psychiatric providers. Non-prescribing mental health professionals are well-positioned to recognize psychotropic medication side effects. However, psychologists and counselors lack formal pharmacology education.

Methods: The quality improvement (QI) initiative was guided by the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) model. The evidence-based psychopharmacologic education for non-prescribers utilized a quasi-experimental pre- and post- test design. Data collected from clinicians included knowledge, confidence, and skill concerning psychotropic medications. The Psychotropic Medication Monitoring Checklist (PMMC) screen clients …

T. Boudieri Extract Potentiates The Effects Of Capecitabine Treatment In Human Colon Cancer Cells, Katia Sawaya, Mahmoud Khalil, Ghada Khawaja

BAU Journal - Science and Technology

Resistance to chemotherapy remains a major challenge for colorectal cancer patients worldwide, hence the persistent need to uncover alternative treatments as well as new adjunct therapies in the fight against cancer. Natural extracts constitute an excellent source of bioactive substances that have a promising potential in that regard, with minimal negative side effects. We have previously demonstrated that both the ethanolic as well as the water extracts of Terfezia boudieri, a black desert truffle abundant in and part of the cuisine of the Mediterranean region, have significant antiproliferative effects against colon cancer cells. Our aim in this study was …

Fluorescent Carbon Nanodot-Based Rapid Cell Nucleus Staining And Application For Diagnosis, Daiming Zhong, Huamin Yuan, Qiuyan Tian, Gongping Deng, Yanhong Ouyang, Yi Chen, Yang Wang, Zhiqin Yuan

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Cell nucleus status decides the activities of corresponding cells, making its rapid and effective staining important for revealing the actual condition of biological environment in life science and related fields. In this study, fast staining of cell nucleus is realized by fluorescent carbon nanodots (CDs). The staining mechanism is due to the positively charged CD surface-induced cell membrane penetration, which facilitates the CD-nucleus binding via electrostatic attraction. The size of cell nucleus is easily measured with fluorescence imaging technique. In addition, the CD-based cell nucleus stain is applied for discriminating the normal and cancer cells by determining the cell-to-nucleus ratio …

Effects Of Ibuprofen In The Zdf Rat Model Of Type 2 Diabetes, Alexander Gosslau, Unsal Ozdogru, Emmanuel Zachariah, Shiming Li, Chi-Tang Ho

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

We aimed to investigate the therapeutic potential of ibuprofen against type 2 diabetes (T2D) using obese Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats as type 2 diabetes model. ZDF rats were hyperglycemic, dyslipidemic and expressed pro-inflammatory markers in contrast to lean controls, thus reflecting the relationship between obesity and chronic inflammation promoting T2D. Chronic treatment with ibuprofen (2-(4-Isobutylphenyl)propanoic acid) was used to study the impact on pathological T2D conditions as compared to metformin (1,1-dimethylbiguanide) treated ZDF as well as lean controls. Ibuprofen decreased A1c but induced a high insulin release with improved glucose tolerance only after early time points (i.g., 15 and …

Citrus Depressa Peel Extract Act As A Prebiotic To Reduce Lipid Accumulation And Modulate Gut Microbiota In Obese Mice, Zheng-Yuan Su, Jie-An Liao, Ching-Ting Lin, Guor-Jien Wei, Yen-Chen Tung

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Citrus peels contain abundant polyphenols, particularly flavonoids, and have been shown to exert lipid accumulation decreasing ability. In this study, Citrus depressa peel applied to oven drying and extracted with ethanol extract as CDEE to analyze its flavonoids compositions and investigated its effects on a high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese mice model. CDEE contained several flavonoids such as hesperidin, sinesentin, nobiletin, tangeretin, 5-demethylnobiletin, and 5-demethyltangeretin. The mice fed an HFD, and administration of 2% CDEE to could decrease weight gain, abdominal fat weight, inguinal fat weight, and the adipocyte size, and CDEE also reduced serum total cholesterol (TCHO), triacylglycerol (TG) compared …

Antityrosinase Activity And Lc-Ms/Ms Analysis Of Optimized Ultrasound-Assisted Condition Extracts And Fractions From Strawberry Tree (Arbutus Unedo L.), Serdar Demir, Halil Koyu, Mustafa Abdullah Yilmaz, Abbas Tarhan, Sura Baykan Ozturk

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Investigation of utilization possibilities of natural sources has been an important area for research. Tyrosinase inhibitory activity plays a key role in food and medicine industry. Strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo), a widely distributed plant among Mediterranean countries, possess fruits and leaves with rich bioactive phytochemicals, especially polyphenolic compounds. In this study, we aimed to investigate the antityrosinase activity of the fruit and leaf extracts of the plant, and to determine the phenolic compounds that contribute to the antityrosinase activity. In this regard, we evaluated the effect of solvent composition on the extraction of phenolic compounds from A. unedo …

Detection Of Aflatoxin B1 In Chili Powder Using Attenuated Total Reflectance–Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Thin Thin Sein, Urairat Mongmonsin, Patutong Chatchawal, Molin Wongwattanakul, Oranee Srichaiyapol, Rungrueang Pattanakul, Patcharaporn Tippayawat

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Aflatoxin B₁, a major global food safety concern, is produced by toxigenic fungi during crop growing, drying, and storage, and shows increasing annual prevalence. This study aimed to detect aflatoxin B₁ in chili samples using ATR–FTIR coupled with machine learning algorithms. We found that 83.6% of the chili powder samples were contaminated with Aspergillus and Penicillium species, with aflatoxin B₁ levels ranging from 7.63 to 44.32 µg/kg. ATR–FTIR spectroscopy in the fingerprint region (1800−400 cm^-1) showed peak intensity variation in the bands at 1587, 1393, and 1038 cm^-1, which are mostly related …

Comparative Bioactivity Assessment Of Bixin Pigment And Associated Phytochemicals Extracted From Annatto Seeds Using Conventional And Green Solvents, Sonakshi Puri, Sumit Kumar Mandal, Harshit Jain, Pankaj Kumar Sharma, Perinkulam Ravi Deepa

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Nutraceuticals, that include food ingredients and bioactives from natural products, confer physiological health benefits and protection against chronic diseases. Annatto is a tropical shrub grown in Central and South America and parts of India. Its seeds are rich in the edible carotenoid-derived apocarotenoid pigment, bixin, which is used as a natural colorant in food, textiles, and cosmetics, and is now gaining attention for its potential health-promoting attributes. Here, we compared a green solvent (ethyl lactate) based extraction of bixin and associated metabolites in annatto seeds (crushed and seed coat) with two other conventional solvents (acetone and acid-base). Bixin was characterized …