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Background At the end of 2019, the new Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) strain causing severe acute respiratory syndrome swept the world. From November 2019 till February 2021, this virus infected nearly 104 million, with more than two million deaths and about 25 million active cases. This has prompted scientists to discover effective drugs to combat this pandemic. Area covered Drug repurposing is the magic bullet for treating severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2). Therefore, several drugs have been investigated in silico, in vitro, as well as through human trials such as anti-SARS-CoV2 agents, or to prevent the complications resulting from the virus. In this review, the mechanisms of action of different therapeutic strategies are summarized. According to the WHO, different classes of drugs can be used, including anti-malarial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and anti-coagulant drugs, as well as angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, antibiotics, vitamins, zinc, neutralizing antibodies, and convalescent plasma therapy. Recently, there are some vaccines which are approved against SARS-CoV2. Expert opinion A complete understanding of the structure and function of all viral proteins that play a fundamental role in viral infection, which contribute to the therapeutic intervention and the development of vaccine in order to reduce the mortality rate.

The medicinal potential of marine invertebrates' bioactive components that may act as anti-COVID-19 demonstrated promising results. Ophiocoma dentata, which is common in the Red Sea, is one such source. Therefore, this study aimed to isolate a new compound from the brittle star, Ophiocoma dentata, and evaluate its efficacy as anti-COVID-19 in-silico and in-vitro. Standard procedures were followed in order to assess the isolated compound’s preliminary toxicity and anti-inflammatory properties. Computer virtual screening technology through molecular docking and ADMET studies was conducted as well as a new steroid derivative was isolated for the first time, named 5α-cholesta-4(27), 24-dien-3β, 23 β-diol. Investigation of the Anti-Covid-19 activity of the isolated compound using a Plaque reduction assay revealed 95% inhibition at a concentration of 5 ng/µl (12.48 µM). Moreover, this compound showed an IC50 of 11,350 ± 1500 ng/ml against the normal fibroblast cells, indicating its safety. Interestingly, this compound exhibited anti-inflammatory activity with an IC50 of 51.92 ± 0.03 μg/ml compared to a reference drug’s IC50 of 53.64 ± 0.01 μg/ml, indicating that this compound is a potent anti-inflammatory. In silico data have proved that the isolated compound is a promising viral inhibitor against SARS-CoV2 and is thus recommended as a future nature preventive and curative antiviral drug.

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The objective of the current study was to develop innovative quinoa-coated chicken nuggets by using quinoa flour instead of wheat flour and evaluate the impact of this substitution on the shelf life of the product and its nutritional and sensorial stability. The evaluation of the product has been done through physiochemical and microbiological analysis every three days of the storage period compared with negative control (NC) and positive control (BHT) through 24 days of cold storage (4 ± 1°C). During storage, the quinoa flour-coated chicken nuggets showed the best ability for delay of lipid oxidation with a lowest TBARS value of 1.07 mg MDA/kg compared to negative control (NC) (2.39 mg MDA/kg) and positive control (BHT) (2.00 mg MDA/kg). The same trend was observed in protein oxidation, where the quinoa flour was able to retard the protein oxidation better than negative and positive control (BHT) where it showed a carbonyl content of 6.44, 5.39, and 4.20 nmol carbonyl content/mg protein, respectively. The quinoa-coated chicken nuggets showed the lowest microbial load (5.8 × 103 cfu/g) compared to negative and positive controls (1.8 × 105 and 3.8 × 104 cfu/g) at 24 days of cold storage. These findings could be emphasized such that the utilization of quinoa flour in the coating of chicken nuggets is more effective in retarding lipid and protein oxidation, furthermore preventing microbial contamination during cold storage. All these findings might be playing a crucial role in the extending of the shelf life of the product in addition to giving the product a pleasant taste and flavor to consumers.