Beni-Suef University Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences最新文献

Background

Duloxetine hydrochloride (DL) is a widely prescribed serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor requiring stringent quality control due to the potential presence of 1-naphthol (NP), a genotoxic process-related impurity. DL and NP exhibit nearly identical native fluorescence spectra, posing a significant challenge for their simultaneous quantification by conventional fluorometric methods.

Objective

This study aimed to develop and validate a rapid, sensitive, and sustainable synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy (SFS) method with improved environmental profile for the simultaneous determination of DL and NP in pharmaceutical and biological matrices, without chromatographic separation or chemical derivatization.

Method

A dual-wavelength SFS approach was optimized using a fixed wavelength difference (Δλ = 125 nm), enabling selective detection at 356–362 nm for DL and 359–366 nm for NP in an 80% methanol–Britton–Robinson buffer system (pH 3.0). The method was fully validated by ICH Q2(R1) guidelines and rigorously evaluated for sustainability using four complementary greenness metrics: AGREE, ComplexMoGAPI, Analytical Eco-Scale, and Blue Applicability Grade Index (BAGI).

Results

Linear calibration curves (r² ≥ 0.9996) were obtained over 20–500 ng/mL for both analytes. The limits of detection were 6.19 ng/mL (DL) and 6.54 ng/mL (NP), with intra- and inter-day precision (%RSD < 1.5%) and mean recoveries of 100.26% (DL) and 99.89% (NP). The method showed excellent specificity in Cymbalta® capsules and spiked human plasma. Comprehensive greenness assessment confirmed high sustainability: AGREE score = 0.79, ComplexMoGAPI = 72.5/100, Analytical Eco-Scale = 81, and BAGI = 72.5/100, collectively classifying the method as “excellent green analysis” with strong practical applicability.

Conclusion

The proposed SFS method represents a chromatography-free, derivatization-free, and validated platform with enhanced sustainability features that successfully balance analytical performance, environmental responsibility, and laboratory feasibility. It offers a sustainable, cost-effective, and regulatory-compliant solution for routine quality control and bioanalytical monitoring of DL and its genotoxic impurity NP.

Background

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a leading neurodegenerative disorder that imposes a significant global socioeconomic burden. It is characterised as progressive cognitive decline and a complex multifactorial pathology. Despite extensive research, current therapeutic options are limited. Emerging evidence suggests that oxidative stress is critical in the early pathological event preceding the classical hallmarks of AD. Targeting oxidative stress is a promising strategy for treating AD. Flavonoids are attractive due to their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective effects in AD. Dichamanetin (C₂₉H₂₄O₆) is a rare C-benzylated flavanone that seldom occur in nature with reported antibacterial, and anti-malarial. Importantly, it has been suggested to possess anti-Alzheimer’s disease in-silico. However, neither its antioxidative nor neuroprotective potential has been explored in-vitro. Thus, this study aimed to address this gap by establishing an efficient method for the synthesis of dichamanetin and investigating its antioxidant properties and neuroprotective potential against hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂)-induced cytotoxicity in-vitro.

Methods

In this study, we described the synthesis of dichamanetin using microwave irradiation and investigated its antioxidative activity using DPPPH and FRAP assay. Furthermore, we studied dichamanetin’s neuroprotective potential against hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂)-insult as an in-vitro AD model using three treatment conditions include pre-treatment, co-treatment, and staggered co-treatment using CCK-8 cell viability assay.

Results

Dichamanetin was synthesised via microwave irradiation method, overcoming the limitations of isolation and purification from natural sources which often resulted in low yield. The improved synthesis method produced a good yield of 50% and purity of 95–97% determined via LC-MS and ¹H NMR analyses. It shows that dichamanetin has low antioxidative activity as shown by FRAP ability. Importantly, it was non-cytotoxic to cholinergic neurons at concentrations below 3.125 µg/mL. It is shown to be a potent neuroprotectant in protecting the cholinergic neurons against H₂O₂-insult at 0.781 µg/mL, eliciting the highest neuroprotective effect in 6-hour staggered co-treatment comparable to quercetin and donepezil.

Conclusions

Dichamanetin attenuated H₂O₂-induced cytotoxicity in RA-differentiated SH-SY5Y cells, supporting its potential as a neuroprotective candidate against oxidative stress. Further studies are warranted to elucidate the underlying mechanisms and validate its efficacy, pharmacokinetics, safety, and therapeutic potential in relevant in vivo models of Alzheimer’s disease.

Graphical Abstract

Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) is simultaneously a food, traditional medicine, and source of chemically diverse phenolic and volatile constituents. Its antimicrobial promise is supported by numerous in vitro studies, yet translation remains constrained by inconsistent botanical identification, extraction-dependent composition, non-comparable susceptibility assays, limited pharmacokinetic–pharmacodynamic integration, and a scarcity of controlled clinical evidence. This critical narrative review integrates botanical identity, genotype–environment and post-harvest effects, chemistry, analytical standardization, antimicrobial mechanisms, pathogen-specific evidence, human disposition, and formulation science. Rather than ranking cultivars on isolated measurements, the review treats cultivar, environment, maturity, processing, extraction, and analytical platform as interacting determinants of the final chemical phenotype. Evidence is organized mechanistically—membrane perturbation, biofilm and quorum-sensing interference, metabolic and enzymatic inhibition, oxidative stress, host-directed effects, and antimicrobial synergy—and then appraised by pathogen class. Gingerols and shogaols are rapidly transformed and extensively conjugated; therefore, nominal extract dose cannot be equated with systemic exposure to free parent compounds. HPTLC, HPLC/UPLC, LC–MS/MS, GC–MS, chemometrics, and validated reference materials are positioned as prerequisites for reproducible biological claims. Nanoformulations and ginger-derived vesicles may improve stability, localization, and exposure, but their safety, scalability, compositional definition, and comparative advantage require rigorous evaluation. Overall, ginger is best regarded as a platform for standardized antimicrobial adjuncts and food- or material-based applications, not as a clinically validated replacement for conventional anti-infective therapy. Future progress requires authenticated multicenter sample sets, harmonized assays, exposure-linked mechanistic studies, resistance-aware designs, and appropriately powered clinical trials.

Background

Research on phosphorylation in organoid models has experienced rapid expansion; however, the knowledge structure, academic impact, and depth of evidence in this field remain inadequately characterized.

Methods

Publications indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection (SCI-EXPANDED) from 2005 to 2025 were retrieved on April 2, 2026. Following document-type restriction, deduplication, and manual screening, a total of 236 studies were included. CiteSpace was employed to analyze publication trends, collaboration patterns, co-citation structures, highly cited studies, keyword evolution, and citation-based impact. The included studies were further classified according to evidence type.

Results

Publication output experienced a significant increase after 2017, with the United States and China emerging as the primary contributors. However, the levels of productivity did not consistently correlate with citation impact or collaborative centrality. Co-citation analysis indicated that the field predominantly focuses on the establishment of stem cell-derived organoids, translational oncology, cerebral organoid disease models, and the signaling pathways that regulate organoid growth and differentiation. The most highly cited studies primarily centered on mechanistic phospho-signaling research, while more recent influential works have expanded into disease modeling and phosphoproteomics. Notably, 184 out of 236 studies (77.97%) were classified as providing signaling evidence, whereas only 24 studies (10.27%) offered direct evidence of phosphorylation. Furthermore, intestinal and brain organoids comprised the majority of the studies included, highlighting a pronounced tissue bias within the research.

Conclusions

Research on phosphorylation within organoid models is a rapidly expanding yet heterogeneous field, predominantly characterized by studies focused on signaling pathways, while direct evidence of phosphorylation remains scarce. These findings underscore significant disparities in impact, model utilization, and the depth of evidence, which should guide future mechanistic and translational research endeavors.

Background

Marsilea minuta L., a medicinal aquatic fern is of ethnopharmacological importance as per various traditional systems of medicine. It is used to treat skin disorders like wound in India.This study aims to explore the effect of the methanolic extract of M. minuta by using both in silico and in-vivo techniques in the treatment of wounds.

Methods

The plant material Marsilea minuta L., (MEMM) was defatted first with petroleum ether to remove the fat and then extracted with solvent methanol in a Soxhlet apparatus. GC-MS analysis was used to identify the compound annotations tentatively in the methanolic extract. The methanolic extract was prepared into a hydrogel for the investigation of wound-healing activity using the excision model in rats. The animals were divided into four groups i.e. a standard group (STD) that treated with Silver nitrate gel, a normal control group (NC) treated with Gel base, and two groups treated with the MEMM-loaded hydrogel formulations (MEMM 5 % w/v and MEMM 10 % w/v), containing six animals per group. The primary end point was wound contraction area, and additionally % of wound-healing and histopathological examination were adopted. Additionally, in-silico molecular docking was conducted against the target proteins to support our findings. One-way ANOVA was used to examine group differences, followed by Tukey's post hoc test for multiple comparisions.

Results

The experimental evidence shows that the 10 % w/v hydrogel group exhibits effective wound-healing activity as compared to that of the standard group. Histopathological examination confirms collagen formations, which accelerated re-epithelialization and remodelling of the wound. Further, the in-silico investigations support our findings, as the tentatively identified compounds showed moderate to strong binding affinities for wound-healing targets such as VEGFR-2, COX-2, and MMP-9.

Conclusion

This study concludes that M. minuta contains a diverse array of tentatively identified compounds that support the plant’s wound-healing activity. Overall, this investigation of scientific evidence supports the ethnopharmacological claim and highlights it as a promising, adjunctive natural therapeutic candidate for wound-healing.

Background

Blastocystis spp. is a common intestinal protozoan with a controversial role in gastrointestinal disease, and the variable efficacy of conventional therapies has prompted the search for alternative treatment options. This study evaluated the therapeutic effects of crude Origanum essential oil in experimentally infected mice compared with nitazoxanide (NTZ).

Methods

Forty male Swiss albino mice were allocated into four groups: negative control, infected untreated, NTZ-treated ((:100text{:mg/kg/day})), and crude Origanum oil-treated ((:0.5text{:mL/kg/day})). The essential oil was evaluated in its crude form without chemical characterization (e.g., GC-MS). Mice were orally infected with (:1times:{10}^{5}text{:Blastocystis}) cysts and treated for seven days. Treatment efficacy was assessed by fecal cyst counts, intestinal nitric oxide (NO) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, and histopathological examination of intestinal tissues. Data was analyzed using one-way ANOVA.

Results

Infected untreated mice exhibited reduced activity and soft stools. Clinical improvement was observed in both treatment groups within 5–7 days, and no mortality occurred during the study. The infected untreated group showed the highest cyst burden ((:6.2times:{10}^{5}pm:0.4times:{10}^{5}text{:cysts/g:stool})), whereas NTZ and crude Origanum oil treatment significantly reduced cyst shedding by (:85.6%) and (:91.3%), respectively, compared with infected controls ((:p<0.001)). No cysts were detected in the non-infected control group. Infection was associated with significant increases in intestinal NO and MDA levels, indicating oxidative stress and inflammation. Both treatments significantly reduced these markers ((:p<0.001)), with values in the Origanum-treated group approaching those of the negative control group. Histopathological examination revealed villous atrophy, epithelial desquamation, and inflammatory cell infiltration in infected untreated mice. NTZ treatment resulted in partial improvement of these lesions, whereas crude Origanum oil treatment was associated with marked restoration of villous architecture and minimal inflammatory changes.

Conclusions

Under this experimental model, crude Origanum vulgare essential oil improved parasitological, biochemical, and histopathological parameters in Blastocystis-infected mice. Because chemical profiling was not performed, these effects reflect the biological activity of the crude extract as a whole. Further studies incorporating GC-MS characterization are needed to identify active constituents, optimize dosing, and confirm these findings in other models and clinical settings.

Background

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a leading cause of infectious mortality worldwide, exacerbated by the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains and the dose-limiting toxicity of existing chemotherapeutics. Targeting regulatory mechanisms that potentiate current drugs offers a promising alternative strategy. EthR, a TetR-family transcriptional repressor that downregulates ethA and thereby limits ethionamide activation, has emerged as an attractive molecular target. Inhibiting EthR can enhance ethionamide efficacy while potentially reducing required dosage. Although 2-(3-methoxyphenoxy)-N-methylacetamide derivatives have been reported as EthR binders, their pharmacophoric features, structure–activity relationships, and dynamic interaction profiles remain insufficiently characterized.

Methods

In this study, a comprehensive in silico workflow was employed to design and evaluate novel 2-(3-methoxyphenoxy)-N-methylacetamide analogs as EthR inhibitors. An energetically optimized e-pharmacophore model was developed and used to virtually screen a curated compound library. Quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) modeling was performed to elucidate key molecular descriptors governing inhibitory activity. High-ranking compounds were subjected to molecular docking, MM-GBSA binding free-energy calculations, ADMET prediction, and 100 ns molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to assess binding stability and drug-likeness.

Results

The generated e-pharmacophore hypothesis effectively captured essential steric and electronic features required for EthR inhibition. The QSAR model demonstrated robust predictive performance (R² = 0.8289; Q² = 0.6383), revealing a strong correlation between functional-group distribution and bioactivity. Docking studies identified several analogs with high affinity for the hydrophobic regulatory pocket of EthR, stabilized by persistent hydrogen-bond interactions with key residues including Trp103, Asn179, and Phe184. MMGBSA analysis confirmed favorable binding free energies ranging from − 71.43 to − 96.28 kcal/mol. The selected hits exhibited acceptable pharmacokinetic properties and low predicted toxicity. MD simulations further demonstrated conformational stability of the protein-ligand complexes, with low RMSD fluctuations and sustained intermolecular interactions throughout the simulation period.

Conclusions

This integrative computational investigation identifies 2-(3-methoxyphenoxy)-N-methylacetamide analogs as promising EthR inhibitors with favorable binding energetics, stability, and drug-like characteristics. By elucidating their pharmacophoric requirements and dynamic binding behavior, the study provides a mechanistically informed framework for the rational development of EthR-targeted adjunct therapies, offering a viable pathway toward improved anti-tuberculosis treatment strategies.

In this study, the Banach contraction principle and Schaefer’s fixed point theorem are employed to establish, respectively, the uniqueness and existence of solutions for a coupled fractional differential system subject to mixed boundary conditions. These conditions consist of Dirichlet conditions and nonlocal fractional integral conditions involving the (Psi)-Riemann-Liouville fractional integral evaluated at the interior point (gamma). Furthermore, the Hyers-Ulam stability of the proposed system is examined. Finally, an illustrative example is provided to support the theoretical findings.

Background

Alcohol consumption predisposes one to various hazards like reproductive toxicity. Lycopene, a carotenoid with antioxidant capacity credited with the ability to decrease oxidative stress has been reportedly used to ameliorate reproductive damage in experimental animals. This research investigated the mitigating abilities of lycopene administration on reproductive toxicity caused by alcohol in male Wistar rats.

Methods

Twenty male Wistar rats (150–180 g) were grouped as follows: 1 (control; 3 mL/kg 1% tween 80), 2 (Alcohol; Alc 3.2 g/kg of 30% v/v), 3 (lycopene; Lyc10 mg/kg) and 4 (Alc + Lyc). They were orally treated for 35 days and anaesthetized on day 36. Spermatozoa were profiled microscopically. 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine, Caspase-3 activities, BcL-2 and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) were evaluated using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) technique. Malondialdehyde (MDA) concentrations, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase were spectrophotometrically determined and testicular histopathology was assessed. Data derived was statistically analysed, expressed as Mean ± standard error of mean (Mean ± SEM) and compared using one way analysis of variance followed by Waller-Duncan’s post-hoc test.

Result

Alcohol caused an increase in abnormal morphology of spermatozoa. It also caused an increase in MDA concentration, Caspase-3 and IL-1β expression while a decrease in SOD, catalase activities and zinc level were observed. In addition, alcohol exposure caused histopathological changes within the testicular tissue. However, lycopene administration ameliorated all the observed deleterious changes induced by alcohol exposure.

Conclusion

Lycopene improved sperm morphology, testicular catalase activity and zinc level, lowered MDA level, Caspase 3 and interleukin 1 expression and reversed testicular histopathology in rats subjected to damages caused by alcohol.

Clinical trial number

Not applicable.