BackgroundBerberis vulgaris is a well known plant with traditional herbal medical history. The aims of this study was to bioscreen and compare the in vitro biological activity (antioxidant, cholinergic, antidaibetic and the anticancer) of barberry crude extract and berberine active compound.MethodsThe effect of B. vulgaris extract and berberine chloride on cellular thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS) formation, diphenyle–α-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) oxidation, cellular nitric oxide (NO) radical scavenging capability, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and α-gulcosidase activities were spectrophotometrically determined. On the other hand, the effect of extract and berberine as anticancer was estimated on three different cell lines which were MCF-7, HepG-2, and Caco-2 cells by using neutral red uptake assay which compared with control normal cells (PBMC).ResultsOur results showed that barberry crude extract contains 0.6 mg berberine/mg crude extract. Barberry extract showed potent antioxidative capacity through decreasing TBARS, NO and the oxidation of DPPH that associated with GPx and SOD hyperactivation. Inhibitory effect of berberis crude extract on α-glucosidase was more potent than that of berberine chloride, while both had the same AChE inhibitory effect. Besides, different concentrations of both berberine chloride and barberry ethanolic extract showed to have no growth inhibitory effect on normal blood cells (PBMC). Otherwise, both berberine chloride and barberry ethanolic extract showed to have inhibitory effect on the growth of breast, liver and colon cancer cell lines (MCF7, HepG2 and CACO-2, respectively) at different incubation times starting from 24 hrs up to 72 hrs and the inhibitory effect increased with time in a dose dependant manner.ConclusionThis work demonstrates the potential of the barberry crude extract and its active alkaloid, berberine, on suppressing lipid peroxidation, suggesting a promising use in the treatment of hepatic oxidative stress, Alzheimer and idiopathic male factor infertility. Beside, berberis vulgaris ethanolic extract is safe non-toxic extract as it was not inhibit the growth of PBMC that can induce cancer cell death that could return to its powerful antioxidant activity.

Halophilic archaea are a promising natural source of carotenoids. However, little information is available about the biological impacts of these archaeal metabolites. Here, carotenoids of Natrialba sp. M6, which was isolated from Wadi El-Natrun, were produced, purified and identified by Raman spectroscopy, Gc-mass spectrometry, and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Lc-mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. the c 50 carotenoid bacterioruberin was found to be the predominant compound. Because cancer and viral hepatitis are serious diseases, the anticancer, anti-HcV and anti-HBV potentials of these extracted carotenoids (pigments) were examined for the first time. In vitro results indicated that the caspase-mediated apoptotic anticancer effect of this pigment and its inhibitory efficacy against matrix metalloprotease 9 were significantly higher than those of 5-fluorouracil. Furthermore, the extracted pigment exhibited significantly stronger activity for eliminating HcV and HBV in infected human blood mononuclear cells than currently used drugs. this antiviral activity may be attributed to its inhibitory potential against HcV RnA and HBV DnA polymerases, which thereby suppresses HcV and HBV replication, as indicated by a high viral clearance % in the treated cells. These novel findings suggest that the C 50 carotenoid of Natrialba sp. M6 can be used as an alternative source of natural metabolites that confer potent anticancer and antiviral activities. Halophilic archaea (haloarchaea) belong to the family Halobacteriaceae. This family includes a group of microorganisms that are able to live in hypersaline environments with high salt concentrations (up to 4 M), such as solar salterns, salt lakes and salt deposits 1. Interestingly, these organisms have received increasing attention due to their ability to produce a plethora of compounds with potential applications in many fields of biotechnology, including salt-tolerant enzymes, biodegradable polyesters, exopolysaccharides, antimicrobial halocins, biosurfactants, and photon-driven retinal protein 2. Most haloarchaeal species (e.g., Natrialba) can produce pigments, including carotenoids. Natrialba is an organism in our research that belongs to the Halobacteriaceae family. However, the genus has recently been reassigned to the novel family Natrialbaceae 3. Natrialba sp. M6 is an extreme haloalkaliphile that grows at pH 10.0 and 20-25% w/v NaCl and utilizes a wide range of carbohydrate and noncarbohydrate substrates. Carotenoids are lipid-soluble pigments that vary in colour between yellow, orange, and red. Carotenoids are classified based on the number of carbons in their backbones into the categories C 30 , C 40 and C 50. Most carotenoids exist as a C 40 structure in different living organisms, including bacteria, archaea, fungi, algae, and plants 4. Meanwhile, haloarchaea can produce C 50 bacterioruberin (BR), a rare carotenoid form that contains four hydroxyl groups 5. These pigments are divided into two major groups: xanthophylls (molecu...

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The quest for eco-friendly and biocompatible nanoparticles (NPs) is an urgent issue in the agenda of the scientific community and applied technology, which compressing synthesis routes. For the first time, a simple route for the biosynthesis of functionalized CuFe-hybrid nanocomposites (FCFNCs) was achieved using Streptomyces cyaneofuscatus through a simultaneous bioreduction strategy of Cu and Fe salts. The suitability of FCFNCs was evaluated medically and environmentally as an anticancer agent, antimicrobial agent and dye bio-sorbent. The physicochemical characteristics of FCFNCs using XRD, EDX, elemental mapping, FTIR, UV–Vis., TEM and ζ-potential confirmed the formation of spheres agglomerated into chains (37 ± 2.2 nm), self-functionalized nanocomposite by proteinaceous moieties with considerable stability (− 26.2 mV). As an anticancer agent, FCFNCs displayed the highest apoptotic impact (> 77.7%) on Caco-2, HepG-2, MCF-7 and PC-3 cancer cells at IC50 ≤ 17.21 μg/mL with the maximum up regulation of p53 and caspase 3 expression and the lowest Ki-67 level, relative to both functionalized CuNPs (FCNPs) and FeNPs (FFNPs). Meanwhile, it maintained the viability of normal human cells by EC100 up to 1999.7 μg/mL. Regarding the antimicrobial activity, FCFNCs offered > 70% growth reduction among wide spectrum prokaryotic and eukaryotic pathogens. Additionally, the synergistic feature of FCFNCs disintegrated the pre-established biofilm and algal growth in a dose-dependent manner. However, as a bio-sorbent, FCFNCs decolorized > 68% of malachite green and congo red dyes (200 mg/L), reflecting considerable remediation efficiency, confirmed by FTIR of FCFNCs- adsorbed dyes and microtoxicity/cytotoxicity of solutions after remediation. This study offers new insights into promising CuFe-hybrid nanocomposites for recruitment in several applications.

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