Bharathi Avula

University of Mississippi | UM

Gene expression signatures associated with breast cancer metastases suggest that metabolic re-wiring is important for metastatic growth in lungs, bones, and other organs. However, since pathway fluxes depend on additional factors such as ATP demand, allosteric effects, and post-translational modification, flux analysis is necessary to conclusively...

The members of the genus Phyllanthus have long been used in the treatment of a broad spectrum of diseases. They exhibited antiproliferative activity against various human cancer cell lines. Breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer and a leading cause of cancer death among women. Doxorubicin (DOX) is an anticancer agent used to treat breast cancer...

In this study, the anti-inflammatory effects of the methanolic extract (TE) of Plumeria obtusa L. (aerial parts) and its fractions were evaluated in vitro, and active fraction was evaluated in vivo. Among tested extracts, dichloromethane fraction (DCM-F) exhibited the strongest inhibition of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide (NO) in RAW...

The methanolic fraction (M-F) of the total extract (TE) of Plumeria obtusa L. aerial parts showed promising antibacterial effects against the MDR (multidrug-resistant) gram-negative pathogens Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli O157:H7 [Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC)]. In addition, M-F had a synergistic effect (in combination with vanc...

Anthocyanins are reported to exhibit a wide variety of remedial qualities against many human disorders, including antioxidative stress, anti-inflammatory activity, amelioration of cardiovascular diseases, improvement of cognitive decline, and are touted to protect against neurodegenerative disorders. Anthocyanins are water soluble naturally occurri...

Background: Turmeric is a commonly used herbal product that has been implicated in causing liver injury. The aim of this case series is to describe the clinical, histologic and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) associations of turmeric-associated liver injury enrolled the U.S. Drug Induced Liver Injury Network (DILIN). Methods: All adjudicated cases...

Three unique 5,6-seco-hexahydrodibenzopyrans (seco-HHDBP) machaeridiols A–C, reported previously from Machaerium Pers., have displayed potent activities against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium, and E. faecalis (VRE). In order to enrich the pipeline of natural product-derived antimicrobia...

Ethnopharmacological relevance The last three decades have witnessed a surge in popularity and consumption of herbal products. An unintended consequence of such popularity is that chronic consumption of these products can often modulate the functions of various proteins involved in drug disposition and may, in turn, impose risks for herb-drug inter...

Introduction: Sarcocephalus latifolius is one of the most used plants in West African traditional medicine to treat malaria. Objective: The aim is to establish a strategy to control the quality of herbal preparations made from S. latifolius. Method: A UHPLC-PDA method was developed for the determination and quantification of the two main bioac...

The raw materials of “licorice root” in the commerce consist of roots and/or rhizomes (stolons) of different species of Glycyrrhiza . Licorice products and raw materials are frequently mislabeled and often have mixed, misidentified, or unidentified species and parts. This paper provides a detailed comparative analysis of the morpho-anatomies of the...

Infected mosquitos from the genus Aedes have become one of the world's most influential contributors to human morbidity and death. To explore new biopesticides with activity against Aedes aegypti, Streptomyces distallicus, a species related to the subspecies group of Streptomyces netropsis, was investigated. Six metabolites, aureothin, allo-aureoth...

In this study, hydroethanolic extracts of 30 top-selling botanicals (herbs) commonly used as ingredients of herbal dietary supplements in the US were screened for their potential to activate the human pregnane X receptor (hPXR) and human aryl hydrocarbon receptor (hAhR) and to increase the activities of hPXR- and hAhR-regulated drug metabolizing cy...

Introduction: Centrophenoxine (meclofenoxate) is prescribed in China and elsewhere to treat a variety of conditions including alcoholism and dementia, but the US Food and Drug Administration has not approved the drug for any indication. We designed our study to determine the presence and quantity of centrophenoxine in dietary supplements sold over...

Importance: Cold, flu, and immunity dietary supplement product sales have skyrocketed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Supporting or boosting the immune system has become an important reason for using dietary supplements, and many consumers are purchasing products through online platforms. Objectives: To examine whether select dietary s...

This case series assesses the levels of levodopa in Mucuna pruriens supplements available in the US that are included in the National Institutes of Health Dietary Supplement Label Database.

Saffron, the most expensive spice in the world, is comprised of the dried and dark red stigma of Crocus sativus L. flowers of the Iridaceae family. It is mainly used as a spice for imparting color, fragrance, and flavor to food but its medicinal and dyeing properties were also well known. In the USA, saffron products are used as dietary supplements...

The roots and rhizomes of several Glycyrrhiza species are widely used as sweetening and flavoring agents in food, as well as important ingredients in formulations of traditional medicines. Five Glycyrrhiza species, G. uralensis, G. glabra, G. inflata, G. echinata, and G. lepidota, often share the name "licorice roots" in the botanicals’ marketplace...

This study examines the frequency of product recalls and the presence of FDA-prohibited drugs in supplements after FDA warning letters.

The genus Glycyrrhiza, comprising approximately 36 spp., possesses complex structural diversity and is documented to possess a wide spectrum of biological activities. Understanding and finding the mechanisms of efficacy or safety for a plant-based therapy is very challenging, yet it is crucial and necessary to understand the polypharmacology of tra...

Members of the genus Salvia are used as culinary herbs and are prized for their purported medicinal attributes. Since physiological effects can vary widely between species of Salvia, it is of great importance to accurately identify botanical material to ensure safety for consumers. In the present study, an in-depth chemical investigation is perform...

Sponges in the genus Agelas produce a diversity of bromopyrrole alkaloid secondary metabolites, some of which are known to inhibit predators and pathogens. Selective pressures on sponges to produce chemical defenses vary in time and space, often resulting in differences in the production of secondary metabolites. To characterize intraspecific varia...

Licorice is obtained from the roots of several species of Glycyrrhiza (Fabaceae), a genus containing about 20 species. The Chinese Pharmacopeia specifies three Glycyrrhiza species (G. glabra, G. uralensis, G. inflata). In an effort to unambiguously differentiate roots of five Glycyrrhiza species (G. glabra, G. uralensis, G. inflata, G. echinata, an...

Simultaneous identification and quantification of phenolic acid (chlorogenic acid), sesquiterpene lactone (cnicin), lignan (arctiin), and flavonoids (bracteoside, 6-methoxybracteoside, isokaempferide and viscosine) in mixed parts of Centaurea benedicta (Syn. Cnicus benedictus) were performed for the first time. The liquid chromatography method show...

This work was initiated to develop a simple, quick, and reliable UHPLC-PDA-MS method to identify chemical markers for authentication and compare fruit samples of four elder species, Sambucus nigra, S. ebulus, S. canadensis, and S. cerulea. The UHPLC method showed an adequate separation of 11 compounds including anthocyanins, phenolic acids, and fla...

The dried roots and rhizomes of Glycyrrhiza species (G. glabra, G. uralensis and G. inflata), commonly known as licorice, have long been used in traditional medicine. In addition, two other species, G. echinata and G. lepidota are also considered “licorice” in select markets. Currently, licorice is an integral part of several botanical drugs and di...

Background Primaquine (PQ) has been used for the radical cure of relapsing Plasmodium vivax malaria for more than 60 years. PQ is also recommended for prophylaxis and prevention of transmission of Plasmodium falciparum . However, clinical utility of PQ has been limited due to toxicity in individuals with genetic deficiencies in glucose 6-phosphate...

Aquilaria sinensis (Lour.) Spreng is known for its resinous secretion (agarwood), often secreted in defense against injuries. We investigated the effects of A. sinensis flower extract (AF) on peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors alpha and gamma (PPARα and PPARγ), liver X receptor (LXR), glucose uptake, and lipid accumulation (adipogenesis)....

Several Salvia species, commonly known as sage plants, are an integral part of various culinary and folklore preparations for the perceived wide range of effects from organoleptic to psychological. As a result, many of these species are an integral part of botanical drug applications, highlighting the need for accurate identification and quality co...

Salvia mellifera, native to California, Baja California, and Mexico, is a medicinal herb traditionally used to relieve pain, body aches, including chronic pain. A detailed phytochemical investigation of aerial parts of S. mellifera was accomplished to find species-specific markers and to differentiate the closely related, often (un)intentionally su...

Background: Bulbine natalensis Baker and Bulbine frutescens (L.) Willd. belonging to the family Asphodelaceae are widely distributed in South Africa and traditionally used as an aphrodisiac and skin remedies. Objective: The aim of this study is to develop an analytical method for chemical profiling and identification of components in Bulbine spe...

The presence of bio-macromolecules as major ingredients is a primary factor in marketing many biologically derived macromolecular supplements. Workflows for analyzing these supplements for quality assurance, adulteration, and other supply-chain difficulties must include a qualitative assessment of small-molecule and macromolecular components; howev...

In an attempt to find species specific markers, a phenoxychromone (1) and eight isoflavonoids including six isoflavans (2-7) and two isoflavanones (8 and 9) were isolated from the root of Glycyrrhiza uralensis. Among the isolated phenolic compounds, glycyurelone (1), glycyurelvanins A and B (2 and 3) were found to be undescribed while others, (-)-v...

Stem and leaf of Cissus quadrangularis L. (Vitaceae), indigenous to Asia and Africa, were used for medicinal and dietary purposes with limited information about the plant's phytochemistry. Stem and leaf samples were assessed for the simultaneous determination of polyphenolic compounds (catechin, epicatechin, quercetin-3-O-β-glucopyranoside, kaempfe...

Background Bulbine natalensis is an African-folk medicinal plant used as a dietary supplement for enhancing sexual function and muscle strength in males by presumably boosting testosterone levels, but no scientific information is available about the possible herb-drug interaction (HDI) risk when bulbine-containing supplements are concomitantly take...

This study was carried out to assess the drug interaction potential of a variety of beauty and sports/nutritional supplements when co-administered with antiviral drug therapy, especially anti-HIV drugs. Ethanolic extracts of seven dietary supplements (two beauty products, three nutritional protein supplement products and two weight loss/body buildi...

Background : Kratom is a botanical product used as an opium substitute with abuse potential. Methods : Assessment of suspected cases of kratom-induced liver injury in a prospective US cohort. Results : Eleven cases of liver injury attributed to kratom were identified with a recent increase. The majority were male with median age 40 years. All wer...

Gentiana species including G. crassicaulis, G. macrophylla, G. dahurica, and G. straminea are used in traditional Chinese medicine as "Qinjiao" for the treatment of rheumatism, hepatitis, and pain. Four antifungal bisphosphocholines [irlbacholine (2) and three new analogues, gentianalines A-C (1, 3, and 4)] were identified from G. crassicaulis by a...

The hydrolysis reaction of rebaudioside A and stevioside was studied under mild and strong acidic conditions at different temperatures and times. Exposure of rebaudioside A to vigorous acid conditions yielded three different aglycone cores which were purified by silica gel chromatography: compound 1 (isosteviol), 2 (steviol) and 3 (endocyclic isome...

Current study aimed at formulating and optimizing natamycin (NT) loaded PEGylated NLCs (NT-PEG-NLCs) using Box-Behnken Design and investigating their potential in ocular applications. Response surface methodology (RSM) computations and plots for optimization were performed using Design Expert® software, to obtain optimum values for response variabl...

Bioassay-guided fractionation and chemical investigation of Colvillea racemosa stems led to identification of two new α, β-dihydroxydihydrochalcones, colveol A (1) and colveol B (2) along with fifteen known compounds. The structures were elucidated via interpretation of spectroscopic data. The absolute configurations of the dihydrochalcones 1 and 2...

Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa), a native herb of Southeast Asia, is widely known for its psychoactive properties. Recent increase in the use of kratom as a recreational drug has increased the risk of its interaction with conventional drugs if taken concomitantly. A few reports are available related to the effects of kratom on the activity of cytochrom...

Eupolauridine and liriodenine are plant-derived aporphinoid alkaloids that exhibit potent inhibitory activity against the opportunistic fungal pathogens Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans However, the molecular mechanism of this antifungal activity is unknown. In this study, we show that eupolauridine 9591 (E9591), a synthetic analog of e...

Herbal dietary supplements have gained wide acceptance as alternatives to conventional therapeutic agents despite concerns regarding their efficacy and safety. In 2013, a spate of severe liver injuries across the United States was linked to the dietary supplement OxyELITE Pro-New Formula (OEP-NF), a multi-ingredient product marketed for weight loss...

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has introduced manufacturing standards for dietary supplements, including red yeast rice, to assure their identity, purity, strength, and composition. One supplement commonly used to self-treat high cholesterol, red yeast rice, may contain monacolin K, an ingredient identical to prescription lova...

Ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QToF-MS) profiling was used for the identification of marker compounds and generation of metabolic patterns that could be interrogated using chemometric modeling software. UHPLC-QToF-MS was used to generate comprehensive fingerprints of three botanicals (...

A hexose phosphate recycling model previously developed to infer fluxes through the major glucose consuming pathways in cultured cerebellar granule neurons (CGNs) from neonatal rats metabolizing [1,2–¹³C2]glucose was revised by considering reverse flux through the non-oxidative pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) and symmetrical succinate oxidation wit...

A rapid, effective method applying vortex-assisted liquid-liquid microextraction before ultra high performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry and evaporative light scattering detection was developed for the analysis of four cucurbitane triterpenoids (momordicoside L, momordicoside K, momordicoside F2 , and 3?,7?,25-trihydroxy cucurbit...

The roots of Eleutherococcus senticosus (Rupr. & Maxim.) Maxim., a well-known medicinal plant from Eastern Asia, are used worldwide for their known beneficial medicinal properties. Recently, the leaves have been used as an alternative to the roots. The present study was aimed at exploring the leaf essential oil as a potential source of compounds fo...

Characterizing the specific binding between protein targets and small molecules is critically important for drug discovery. Conventional assays require isolation and purification of small molecules from complex matrices through multistep chromatographic fractionation, which may alter their original bioactivity. Most proteins undergo posttranslation...

Euphorbia umbellata (Pax) Bruyns, Euphorbiaceae, is commonly used in folk medicine of southern Brazil to treat several kinds of cancer. The latex (part of the plant used for this purpose) is mixed with water and taken as treatment; but this matrix contains toxic potential related to the presence of some phorbol type diterpenes. So the aim of this s...

Ultra-high-performance supercritical fluid chromatography (UHPSFC) is an efficient analytical technique and has not been fully employed for the analysis of cannabis. Here, a novel method was developed for the analysis of 30 cannabis plant extracts and preparations using UHPSFC/PDA-MS. Nine of the most abundant cannabinoids, viz. CBD, ∆8-THC, THCV,...

Introduction: Decarboxylation is an important step for efficient production of the major active components in cannabis, for example, Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ⁹-THC), cannabidiol (CBD), and cannabigerol (CBG). These cannabinoids do not occur in significant concentrations in cannabis but can be formed by decarboxylation of their corresponding acids,...

RATIONALE: Steviol glycosides with an ent-kaurene core are being used in the Food Industry as non-caloric sweeteners. These compounds are chemically similar in terms of sugar types and sugar arrangements. In order to assign sugar positions, we describe herein, the dissociation pattern for steviol glycosides under varying collision energies. METHODS...

Background There has been some evidence to suggest that the addition of chloroquine (CQ) or quinine (QN) to 8-aminoquinoline (8-AQ) treatment regimens may increase the therapeutic efficacy of the 8-AQ and simultaneously mitigate against its haemolytic toxicity. However, both CQ and QN are considered effective, although perhaps moderate inhibitors o...

Sceletium tortuosum, is an indigenous herb of South Africa which is widely used as an herbal supplement in the treatment of anxiety and stress. Mesembrenone and mesembrine are the two main pharmacologically active alkaloids present in the extract. Despite the wide therapeutic applications of Sceletium extract, there are no reports of in vivo pharma...

_Euphorbia umbellata_ (_leitosinha_) is used in southern Brazilian folk medicine to treat gastric problems, as well as for its analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties. To evaluate the anti-ulcer effects of methanolic bark fraction (MF) against _in vivo_ and _in vitro_ assays, as well as an antioxidant, antibacterial and chromatographic study of...

A selective UHPLC-DAD-QToF-MS method was developed to screen grapefruit seeds, and the seeds of other Citrus species for limonoid aglycones, acids, glucosides, and flavonoids. These classes of compounds were identified in positive and negative ion modes over a mass-to-charge range from 100-1500. Accurate mass values, elution times, and fragmentatio...

Supercritical fluid chromatography was used to resolve and determine ginkgolic acids (GAs) and terpene lactones concurrently in ginkgo plant materials and commercial dietary supplements. Analysis of GAs (C13:0, C15:0, C15:1, and C17:1) was carried out by ESI (-) mass detection. The ESI (-) spectra of GAs simply displayed only the [M-H](-) pseudo-mo...

Background The clinical utility of primaquine (PQ), used as a racemic mixture of two enantiomers, is limited due to metabolism-linked hemolytic toxicity in individuals with genetic deficiency in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. The current study investigated differential metabolism of PQ enantiomers in light of the suggestions that toxicity and e...

Dendrobium nobile is one of the fundamental herbs in traditional Chinese medicine. Sesquiterpene alkaloids are the main active components in this plant. Due to weak ultraviolet absorption and low content in D. nobile, these sesquiterpene alkaloids have not been extensively studied using chromatographic methods. Herein, tandem mass spectrometry comb...

A fast UHPLC-PDA method was developed for the simultaneous analysis of one alkaloid, aegeline, and six coumarins, viz., umbelliferone, scopoletin, marmesinin, 8-hydroxypsoralen, angelicin, and marmelosin, from the leaf, fruit, root, and bark of Aegle marmelos. The UHPLC method was validated for linearity, accuracy, repeatability, limits of detectio...

Oxilofrine (4-[1-hydroxy-2-(methylamino)propyl]phenol) is a pharmaceutical stimulant prescribed in dosages of 16 to 40 mg to stimulate the heart and increase blood pressure. It has never been approved for use in the USA as a prescription drug or as a dietary supplement. Several athletes, however, have been banned from sport for testing positive for...

Bee propolis is a resinous, gummy and balsamic material collected from flora by honey bees (Apis mellifera L. belongs to Apidae family). Bee propolis is official in the United States Pharmacopeia and natural health product monograph Canada (USP. 2009), (Health Canada 2009). The main phytoconstituents reported to have been isolated from the bee prop...

1, 3-Dimethylbutylamine (DMBA), is a CNS stimulant which has been identified in multiple dietary supplements and sometimes labeled as a natural constituent of Pouchung tea. DMBA is an homologue of 1,3-dimethylamylamine (DMAA) which the US Food and Drug Administration has attempted to remove from all dietary supplements after DMAA consumption was li...