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Topic Review
Fruit Plants in the Management of Diabetes
Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by a lack of insulin action and/or generation. Discrepancies in protein, carbohydrate, and lipid metabolism can emerge due to the insufficiency of insulin. Low insulin levels, insulin resistance in target tissues, insulin-receptor expression, especially in adipose tissue and skeletal muscles, and to a lesser extent in the liver, effector enzymes, and/or signal transduction system all can play vital roles in metabolic disorders. Herbal products, such as fruit, seed, bark, fruit peel, and leaf, are always considered as promising sources of bioactive phytochemicals to treat different ailments including diabetes, pain, fever, cancer, hypertension, and so on. Phytomedicines are believed to be sanctified with lesser side effect, and thus, almost 80% of drug moieties are directly plant-extracted or their modified versions. Fruits are one of the most notable natural sources which provide fiber, minerals, vitamins, and many other essential nutrients which are included in daily diets. Fruits are also rich sources of flavonoids, saponins, polyphenols, carotenoids, isothiocyanates, and several other bioactive phytochemicals. Fruits are thought to be useful in the management of diabetes, cancer, obesity, and other disease states, including cardiovascular complications. From ancient Chinese therapies to modern approaches, local fruits are heavily incorporated to treat diabetic patients. Ayurveda medicines in the Indian subcontinent, including Bangladesh, also use a wide variety of locally produced fruits. It is believed that fruits and other plant parts can exhibit antidiabetic potential through several mechanism of actions.
  • 1.2K
  • 15 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Extracellular Vesicles Based Drug Delivery
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play major roles in intracellular communication and participate in several biological functions in both normal and pathological conditions. Surface modification of EVs via various ligands, such as proteins, peptides, or aptamers, offers great potential as a means to achieve targeted delivery of therapeutic cargo, i.e., in drug delivery systems (DDS). This study summarizes recent studies pertaining to the development of EV-based DDS and its advantages compared to conventional nano drug delivery systems (NDDS). 
  • 1.2K
  • 30 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Hyaluronan Structure and Physicochemical Properties
Hyaluronan (HA) is a naturally occurring non-sulfated glycosaminoglycan (GAG), cell-surface-associated biopolymer, and is the crucial component of tissue extracellular matrix (ECM). HA is a regular polymer of disaccharides composed of glucuronic acid and N-acetylglucosamine linked via alternating β-1,4 and β-1,3 glycosidic bonds.
  • 1.2K
  • 04 May 2023
Topic Review
Polyphenols’ Cardioprotective Potential
According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular diseases are responsible for 31% of global deaths. A reduction in mortality can be achieved by promoting a healthy lifestyle, developing prevention strategies, and developing new therapies. Polyphenols are present in food and drinks such as tea, cocoa, fruits, berries, and vegetables. These compounds have strong antioxidative properties, which might have a cardioprotective effect.  
  • 1.2K
  • 19 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Mitochondrial Aging and Natural Products with Protective Potential
It was found that mitochondrial activity decreases with aging and that degeneration is linked to the reductions in mitochondria, mRNA transcripts, protein expression, and mtDNA and increased oxidative stress. In particular, reduced protein synthesis hinders protein turnover. The inability to replace damaged proteins may explain why aging is related to reduced mitochondrial function. Mitochondria, the cellular organelles that produce most of the ATP, become dysfunctional during aging. This condition is coupled with inflammation, oxidative stress, and reduced cellular functionalities in every organ. Numerous genes have been linked to aging, with some favoring it (gerontogenes) and others blocking it (genes of longevity pathways). The desire for eternal youth is a constant in the history of humanity. The increased life expectancy in industrialized countries has unfortunately also led to a significant increase in the incidence of age-related diseases (ARDs) such as neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancers.
  • 1.2K
  • 27 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Established Opto-Chemical Tools
As light inherently possesses exceptional spatiotemporal precision, photo-responsive molecules are great candidates for the modulation of biological activities with high spatiotemporal resolution. The two most common opto-chemical strategies are photo-induced conformational changes and light-induced uncaging which typically implies chemical caging of small molecules, oligonucleotides, and peptides and proteins.
  • 1.2K
  • 11 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Tetrazoles as Antidiabetic Agents
Tetrazole heterocycle is a promising scaffold in drug design, and it is incorporated into active pharmaceutical ingredients of medications of various actions: hypotensives, diuretics, antihistamines, antibiotics, analgesics, and others. This heterocyclic system is metabolically stable and easily participates in various intermolecular interactions with different biological targets through hydrogen bonding, conjugation, or van der Waals forces.
  • 1.2K
  • 20 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Drosophila melanogaster
Drosophila melanogaster has proved to be a dynamic model organism that can produce high-quality data in a short time frame. One of the fly’s most prominent feature is the possibility to perform genetic alterations through the well-known Gal4/UAS expression system, thus making it possible to express target proteins in a specific cell type or tissue.
  • 1.2K
  • 30 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Value-Added Polyhydroxyalkanoates
The synthesis of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), a bioplastic that can be used to replace traditional (petrol-based) plastics, is an important focus in today’s politically and environmentally conscious society. 
  • 1.2K
  • 19 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Obstructive Sleep Apnoea, Inflammation and Cardio-Metabolic Diseases
Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a prevalent underdiagnosed disorder whose incidence increases with age and weight. Uniquely characterised by frequent breathing interruptions during sleep—known as intermittent hypoxia (IH)—OSA disrupts the circadian rhythm. Patients with OSA have repeated episodes of hypoxia and reoxygenation, leading to systemic consequences. OSA consequences range from apparent symptoms like excessive daytime sleepiness, neurocognitive deterioration and decreased quality of life to pathological complications characterised by elevated biomarkers linked to endocrine-metabolic and cardiovascular changes. OSA is a well-recognized risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
  • 1.2K
  • 24 Apr 2023
Topic Review
Radiolabeled Gold Nanoseeds and Glioblastoma Multiforme
Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), classified as a grade IV brain tumor, represents the most frequent brain tumor, accounting for approximately 12–15% of all intracranial neoplasms. Current therapeutic strategies for GBM rely on open surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Despite some progress in the past 30 years, the overall survival of patients with glioblastoma remains extremely poor. The average lifespan is approximately 15 months after diagnosis, with most patients experiencing tumor relapse and outgrowth within 7–10 months of initial radiation therapy.
  • 1.2K
  • 14 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Diagnosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma
There are several risk factors of HCC such as viral hepatitis (B, C), cirrhosis, tobacco and alcohol use, aflatoxin-contaminated food, pesticides, diabetes, obesity, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and metabolic and genetic diseases. Diagnosis of HCC is based on different methods such as imaging ultrasonography (US), multiphasic enhanced computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and several diagnostic biomarkers.
  • 1.2K
  • 17 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Active Transport and Solute Transporters
A phospholipid membrane covers all living cells, forming an impenetrable barrier circumvented by solute transporters in the cell membrane. These proteins comprise energy-requiring systems, called active transporters, and those not requiring energy, called passive transporters. The major facilitator superfamily harbors thousands of transport proteins found in all living organisms, from bacteria to humans. Alignments of multiple amino acid sequences uncovered highly conserved sequence motifs are known to play important functional roles. One of these conserved sequences, the antiporter sequence motif or motif C, participates in the molecular mechanism of antimicrobial efflux in cancer cells and bacterial pathogens.
  • 1.2K
  • 03 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Succinate Dehydrogenase and Cellular Energy Metabolism
Succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) is one of the enzymes of the tricarboxylic acid cycle (Krebs cycle) and complex II of the mitochondrial respiratory chain. Succinate dehydrogenase by pesticides (SDHIs) constitute a class of pesticides to fight against fungi. This represents roughly a dozen different molecules sharing the property to inhibit the succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), an enzyme implicated in carbon metabolism and cellular respiration.
  • 1.2K
  • 07 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Pancreatic Stellate Cells
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), is characterized by an overall poor prognosis and a five-year survival that is less than 10% due to late diagnosis, aggressive disease progression, and resistance to conventional chemotherapy. A large proportion of a pancreatic tumor is made up of stromal fibroblasts, the pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs, also known as cancer-associated fibroblasts – CAFs). Increasing evidence indicates that PSCs contribute to the overall tumor progression, drug resistance, and metabolic rewiring in PDAC.
  • 1.2K
  • 20 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Prion Organotypic Slice Culture
The prion organotypic slice culture assay (POSCA) is a cerebellar slice culture that was originally developed to take advantage of the transmissible nature of prions, propagating prion infection ex vivo. Because much of the cytoarchitexture is preserved, this system allows the study of pathogenesis in an open system and is amenable to manipulation of cell types and testing of therapeutics. The culture has been adapted to other brain areas, different prion strains, and has also been applied to other neurodegenerative diseases that are prion-like in their transmissible propagation of protein misfolding, including Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Huntington’s disease. This entry provides a review of POSCA as used in the prion field. For a review of its application to other neurodegenerative diseases, please see the associated review article in Biomolecules.
  • 1.2K
  • 11 Aug 2020
Topic Review
Ring Finger Protein 11
RNF11 (Ring Finger Protein 11) is a 154 amino-acid long protein that contains a RING-H2 domain, whose sequence has remained substantially unchanged throughout vertebrate evolution. RNF11 has drawn attention as a modulator of protein degradation by HECT E3 ligases.
  • 1.2K
  • 24 Nov 2020
Topic Review
BTK Targeting in Multiple Myeloma
Multiple myeloma (MM), a clonal plasma cell disorder, disrupts the bones’ hematopoiesis and microenvironment homeostasis and ability to mediate an immune response against malignant clones. Despite prominent survival improvement with newer treatment modalities since the 2000s, MM is still considered a non-curable disease. Patients experience disease recurrence episodes with clonal evolution, and with each relapse disease comes back with a more aggressive phenotype. Bruton’s Tyrosine Kinase (BTK) has been a major target for B cell clonal disorders and its role in clonal plasma cell disorders is under active investigation. BTK is a cytosolic kinase which plays a major role in the immune system and its related malignancies. The BTK pathway has been shown to provide survival for malignant clone and multiple myeloma stem cells (MMSCs). BTK also regulates the malignant clones’ interaction with the bone marrow microenvironment. Hence, BTK inhibition is a promising therapeutic strategy for MM patients
  • 1.2K
  • 08 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Regenerative Medicine
The use of biological templates for the suitable growth of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AD-MSC) and “neo-tissue” construction has exponentially increased over the last years. The bioengineered scaffolds still have a prominent and biocompatible framework playing a role in tissue regeneration. In order to supply AD-MSCs, biomaterials, as the stem cell niche, are more often supplemented by or stimulate molecular signals that allow differentiation events into several strains, besides their secretion of cytokines and effects of immunomodulation. This systematic review aims to highlight the details of the integration of several types of biomaterials used in association with AD-MSCs, collecting notorious and basic data of in vitro and in vivo assays, taking into account the relevance of the interference of the cell lineage origin and handling cell line protocols for both the replacement and repairing of damaged tissues or organs in clinical application. Our group analyzed the quality and results of the 98 articles selected from PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science. A total of 97% of the articles retrieved demonstrated the potential in clinical applications. The synthetic polymers were the most used biomaterials associated with AD-MSCs and almost half of the selected articles were applied on bone regeneration.
  • 1.2K
  • 22 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Treatments of Hyperuricemia
Hyperuricemia is significantly associated with the development and severity of the metabolic syndrome. The increased urate transporter 1 (URAT1) and glucose transporter 9 (GLUT9) expression, and glycolytic disturbances due to insulin resistance may be associated with the development of hyperuricemia in metabolic syndrome. Hyperuricemia was previously thought to be simply the cause of gout and gouty arthritis.
  • 1.2K
  • 01 Sep 2021
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