Nocapyrones: α- and γ-Pyrones from a Marine-Derived Nocardiopsis sp.

One new α-pyrone (nocapyrone R (1)), and three known γ-pyrones (nocapyrones B, H and L (2–4)) were isolated from the culture extract of a Nocardiopsis strain collected from marine sediment. Structures of these compounds were determined on the basis of spectroscopic data including NMR and MS. γ-Pyrones 2–4 were found to induce adiponectin production in murine ST-13 preadipocyte cells but the α-pyrone 1 had no activity. The absolute configuration of the anteiso-methyl branching in 4 was determined by HPLC comparison of a degraded product of 4 with standard samples as a 2:3 enantiomeric mixture of (R)- and (S)-isomers.     

Determination of the Antimicrobial and Antioxidative Properties and Total Phenolics of Two “Endemic” Lamiaceae Species from Turkey: <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ballota rotundifolia</Emphasis> L. and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Teucrium chamaedrys</Emphasis> C. Koch

This study was designed to examine the in vitro antimicrobial and antioxidant activities and the amount of total phenolics of the methanol extracts of Ballota rotundifolia L. and Teucrium chamaedrys C. Koch. In the case of antimicrobial activity tests, polar sub-fractions of the methanol extracts of plant species exhibited weakest antimicrobial activity when compared with the non-polar ones. While, non-polar sub-fraction of B. rotundifolia showed moderate activity against A. lwoffii, C. perfringens and the yeasts, T. chamaedrys performed excellent activity pattern against all of the tested microorganisms. The sub-fractions were also screened for their possible antioxidant activities by two complementary tests, namely DPPH free radical-scavenging and β-carotene/linoleic acid assays. Non-polar extracts of the plant species remained inactive in both test systems. On the other hand polar extracts showed remarkable antioxidant activities. In DPPH system, free radical scavenging effect of T. chamaedrys was measured as 18.00 ± 1.42 μg.mg⁻¹. It is extremely important to point out that, polar sub-fraction of T. chamaedrys is found as effective as the positive control BHT. Non-polar sub-fraction of T. chamaedrys found to have the highest total phenolic amount (97.12 ± 1.28 μg/mg). Results obtained from this experiment confirm the relationship between the amount of phenolics and biological activities.     

Preparation and characterization of electrospun polyvinyl alcoholstyrylpyridinium/<Emphasis Type="Italic">β</Emphasis>-cyclodextrin composite nanofibers: Release behavior and potential use for wound dressing

Biocompatible polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-styrylpyridinium (SbQ)/β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) composite nanofibers were obtained by electrospinning in this study. PVA-SbQ was used as the foundation polymer as well as crosslinking agent, β-CD was incorporated to achieve expected properties such as improved mechanical properties and thermal stability. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra confirmed the existence of β-CD, and the morphologies and average fiber diameters of the electrospun composite nanofibers were also analyzed by SEM. X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD) of PVA-SbQ/β-CD composite nanofibers revealed that the inclusion of β-CD in the nanofibers affected the ordered phase of PVA. Besides, the thermal analyses revealed the improvement in the thermal properties for PVA-SbQ/β-CD composite nanofibers. It was found that the crosslinked composite nanofibers showed a clear higher tensile strength (TS) as well as a greater elongation at break (EB). Eventually, antifungal drug griseofulvin (GSV) has been loaded into the composite nanofibers by formation of its inclusion complex with β-CD in aqueous solution, ultraviolet light (UV-Vis) spectral analysis showed that the drug-loading nanofibers had certain sustained release effect.