Burn wounds are susceptible to microbial invasion from both resident and exogenous bacteria, which becomes a critical public health issue and causes substantial economic burden. There is a perceived demand to produce new antimicrobial wound dressings that hinder bacterial colonization while accelerating the healing process and hence would provide an improved standard of care for patients. Since ancient times, herbal extracts from medicinally important plants have extensively been used for treating burn injuries. This work reports the utility of electrospun nanofibers containing plant extracts and antibiotics combination as a multifunctional scaffold for treating second-degree burns. First, we determined the various components of plant extracts from Gymnema sylvestre by two different processing methods and their synergism with minocycline antibiotics. Then, we prepared core− shell nanofibrous dressings with poly-ε-caprolactone/gelatin laden with minocycline hydrochloride as a shell and gelatin infused with G. sylvestre extracts (ultrasound-assisted extracts and cold macerated extracts) as the core using coaxial electrospinning. The electrospun nanofibers displayed a smooth, continuous, and bead-free morphology with adequate wettability. The presence of extract components in the core−shell nanofibers resulted in enhanced mechanical properties when compared to pristine mats. The core− shell structures resulted in sustained release of the bioactive components when compared to nanofiber blends. Core−shell nanofiber mats containing plant extracts and antibiotic combinations displayed potent antimicrobial and antibiofilm properties while promoting the spread and proliferation of skin cells when compared to pristine mats. In a porcine model of cutaneous second-degree burns, we showed that wounds treated with the antimicrobial dressing improved re-epithelialization and collagen organization in comparison to untreated wounds.

Triterpenes and phytosterols enriched herbal formulations are known for glucose regulation and lipid metabolism. In this study, triterpenes and phytosterols from Moringa oleifera stem bark have been tested for their role in adipocyte differentiation. Chromatographic analysis revealed a wide range of phenolics, highlighting the presence of flavonoids (kaempferol, quercetin, and rutin), terpenoids (lupeol), and phytosterol (stigmasterol, β‐sitosterol). Lupeol and β‐sitosterol reduced cell viability in a dose‐dependent manner showcasing increased G1 phase cell accumulation while reducing other cell cycle phases (S and G2/M) and significant lowering of intracellular lipid accumulation. Additionally, lupeol (35.37% at 32 μM) and β‐sitosterol (42.97% at 16 μM) inhibited reactive oxygen species generation and increased glucose uptake in adipocytes. Collectively, our results indicate that lupeol and β‐sitosterol efficaciously attenuated adipogenesis via a controlled cell cycle progression and enhanced glucose uptake in adipocytes. Practical applications Active components of Moringa oleifera effectively regulate adipocyte differentation suggest that it can be good medicial supllement for control of obesity.

Background: To understand the mechanism underlying tamoxifen-induced multidrug resistance (MDR) and stem-like phenotypes in breast cancer cells, we treated the MCF-7 cells with 4-hydroxy-tamoxifen (TAM) for 6 months continuously and established MCF-7 tamoxifen resistance (TR) phenotypes.Methods: In the present study, the following methods were used: cell viability assay, colony formation, cell cycle analysis, ALDEFLUOR assay, mammosphere formation assay, chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay, PCR array, western blot analysis and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (QRT-PCR).Results: The expression of ERα was significantly higher in MCF7-TR cells when compared with parental MCF-7 cells. MCF7-TR cells exposed to TAM showed a significant increase in the proliferation and rate of colony formation. The number of cancer stem cells was higher in MCF7-TR cells as observed by the increase in the number of ALDH+ cells. Furthermore, the number of mammospheres formed from the FACS-sorted ALDH+ cells was higher in MCF7-TR cells. Using PCR array analysis, we were able to identify that the long-term exposure of TAM leads to alterations in the epigenetic and MDR stem cell marker genes. Furthermore, western blot analysis demonstrated elevated levels of Notch-1 expression in MCF-TR cells compared with MCF-7 cells. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay revealed that Notch-1 enhanced the cyclin D1 expression significantly in these cells. In addition, we observed that MCF7-TR cells were resistant to doxorubicin but not the MCF-7 cells.Conclusions: In the present study, we conclude that the treatment with tamoxifen induces multiple epigenetic alterations that lead to the development of MDR and stem-like phenotypes in breast cancers.Therefore, our study provides better insights to develop novel treatment regime to control the progression of breast cancer.

Objective Chronic migraine (CM) is characterised by unilateral/bilateral pulsatile headaches at least 15 days per month. Central sensitization can be demonstrated by a prolonged increase in trigeminal nucleus caudalis (TNC) neuron activity in response to painful stimuli. Scientists are continually researching migraine treatments, hoping herbal remedies may work better. Network pharmacological approach was used to assess Chrysanthemum indicum (CIHE) leaf hydroalcoholic extract to evaluate antimigraine activity. Methods We investigated specific genes involved in the migraine, extracted gene ontology, biological pathways, and protein-protein interaction analysis were determined with the screened 61 common genes by network pharmacological approach added with docking analysis. In vivo studies have been carried out with CD1 Mice (25-30g) randomly made into five groups. CIHE is prepared to evaluate antimigraine activity. MMP9, TNF-α, NFkB, IL-1β, CGRP, and iNOS were evaluated after administration of Nitroglycerine (10mg/kg; i.p). Results The elevated protein levels were significantly reduced with the treatment of CIHE (200mg/kg and 400mg/kg; p.o). Additionally histological and western blot analysis confirmed the reduction of specified proteins in the brain as well as blood. Docking analysis revealed that 1,5-Bis(4-dimethylaminophenyl)-1,4-pentadien-3-one (-10.3 KJ/mol), Naphthalene-1-carboxylic acid 4-formyl-phenyl ester (-9.7KJ/mol), and 3-(3-Nitrophenyl)-2'-acrylonaphthone (-9.7KJ/mol) are shown highest binding affinity. Interpretation: CIHE may attain antimigraine activity through suppression of neuroinflammatory cytokines by the natural extract of Chrysanthemum indicum in a dose dependent manner and isolation of hit molecules from the CIHE is required for further investigation.