In this study, we have analyzed water-extracted polysaccharides of Gracilaria corticata. The water extract (WE), a galactan-containing sub-fraction (F3) and their hyper sulfated derivatives (WES1, WES2, F3S1 and F3S2) had anti-HSV activity with inhibitory concentration 50% (IC50) from 1.1 to 27.4 microg/ml. Sub-fraction F3, which has a molecular mass of 30 kDa, consists of a backbone of beta-(1...

We report the computational and experimental efforts in the design and synthesis of novel neuraminidase (NA) inhibitors from ferulic acid and vanillin. Two proposed ferulic acid analogues, MY7 and MY8 were predicted to inhibit H1N1 NA using molecular docking. From these two analogues, we designed, synthesised and evaluated the biological activities of a series of ferulic acid and vanillin deriv...

As a result of screening for inhibitors of glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, which may be effective to prevent corpulence, we isolated two inhibitors named adipostatin A and adipostatin B from the culture broth of Streptomyces cyaneus 2299-SV1. Their structures have been established to be 5-n-pentadecylresorcinol and 5-isopentadecylresorcinol, respectively. Adipostatin A and adipostatin B inh...

Many applications utilizing artificial lipid bilayers require the ability to exchange the bilayer's solution environment. However, because of the instability of the bilayer, the rate of solution exchange is limited, which significantly hinders the measurement rate and throughput. We have developed an artificial bilayer system that can withstand high flow speeds, up to 2.1 m/s, by supporting the...

This work aims to synthesize new trehalase inhibitors selective towards the insect trehalase versus the porcine trehalase, in view of their application as potentially non-toxic insecticides and fungicides. The synthesis of a new pseudodisaccharide mimetic 8, by means of a stereoselective α-glucosylation of the key pyrrolizidine intermediate 13, was accomplished. The activity of compound 8 as tr...

The development of cruzain inhibitors has been driven by the urgent need to develop novel and more effective drugs for the treatment of Chagas' disease. Herein, we report the lead optimization of a class of noncovalent cruzain inhibitors, starting from an inhibitor previously cocrystallized with the enzyme (K(i) = 0.8 μM). With the goal of achieving a better understanding of the structure-activ...

The seeds of Alpinia katsumadai yielded two new acyclic triterpenoids, 2,3,6,22,23-pentahydroxy-2,6,11,15,19,23-hexamethyl-tetracosa-7,10,14,18-tetraene (3) and 2,3,6,22,23-pentahydroxy-2,10,15,19,23-hexamethyl-7-methylenetetracosa-10,14,18-triene (4), as well as two known compounds, 2,3,22,23-tertrahydroxy-2,6,10,15,19,23-hexamethyl-tetracosa-6,10,14,18-tetraene (1) and 2,3,5,22,23-pentahydrox...

Biflavonoids are associated with a variety of biologically useful properties. However, synthetic biflavonoids are poorly explored within drug discovery. There is considerable structural diversity possible within this compound class and large regions of potentially biologically relevant biflavonoid chemical space remain untapped or underexplored. Herein, we report the development of a modular an...

A new generation of HIV broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) with remarkable potency, breadth and epitope diversity has rejuvenated interest in immunotherapeutic strategies. Potencies defined by in vitro IC50 and IC80 values (50 and 80% inhibitory concentrations) figure prominently into the selection of clinical candidates; however, much higher therapeutic levels will be required to reduce m...

Atpenin B, a new antifungal antibiotic produced by Penicillium sp. FO-125, inhibited the growth of Raji cells (IC50, 30 microM). The incorporation of [14C]leucine and [3H]thymidine into Raji cells was inhibited by atpenin B with IC50 values of 0.10 and 0.12 microM, respectively. The incorporation of [14C]palmitate into the cells was not inhibited but its incorporation into lipid fractions was i...