30 results match your criteria: "Center for Biodiversity and Drug Discovery[Affiliation]"
J Alzheimers Dis
December 2024
Center for Biodiversity and Drug Discovery, Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología (INDICASAT AIP), Panama City, Panama.
Background: Carotenoids, potent antioxidants in fruits and vegetables, have recently garnered attention for their potential therapeutic effects against neurodegenerative diseases. This study focuses on the interaction and anti-aggregation properties of conventional and unconventional carotenoids found in red mamey fruit, a nutraceutical fruit that is a rich source of these compounds.
Objective: To assess computational the interaction between of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide with a set of carotenoids and three carotenoids previously explored in experimental assays as well as to assess ADMET prediction of carotenoids selected by computational analysis results.
Intervirology
July 2024
Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Introduction: Diarrheal diseases constitute a significant public health problem in terms of mortality and morbidity. In Honduras and around the world, RVs have consistently emerged as the single most important etiologic agent in acute childhood diarrhea. However, other viruses, such as NoVs and HAstVs, have also been shown to be responsible for viral gastroenteritis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMolecules
November 2023
Sistema Nacional de Investigación (SNI), SENACYT, Panama City 0816-02852, Panama.
Tetrahydrocurcumin, the most abundant curcumin transformation product in biological systems, can potentially be a new alternative therapeutic agent with improved anti-inflammatory activity and higher bioavailability than curcumin. In this article, we describe the synthesis and evaluation of the anti-inflammatory activities of tetrahydrocurcumin derivatives. Eleven tetrahydrocurcumin derivatives were synthesized via Steglich esterification on both sides of the phenolic rings of tetrahydrocurcumin with the aim of improving the anti-inflammatory activity of this compound.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Mol Sci
February 2023
Sistema Nacional de Investigación (SNI), SENACYT, Panama City 0816-02852, Panama.
Herein, we describe the synthesis and evaluation of anti-inflammatory activities of new curcumin derivatives. The thirteen curcumin derivatives were synthesized by Steglich esterification on one or both of the phenolic rings of curcumin with the aim of providing improved anti-inflammatory activity. Monofunctionalized compounds showed better bioactivity than the difunctionalized derivatives in terms of inhibiting IL-6 production, and known compound presented the highest activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Biomater
November 2022
Biological Engineering, Faculty of Biosciences and Public Health, Universidad Especializada de las Americas (UDELAS), Panama City, Panama.
Braz J Biol
January 2022
Center for Biodiversity and Drug Discovery, Institute of Scientific Research and High Technology Services (INDICASAT-AIP), City of Knowledge, Clayton, Panama, Republic of Panama.
Endophytic fungi are a ubiquituos group that colonize all plant species on earth. Studies comparing the location of endophytic fungi within the leaves and the sampling time in Manihot esculenta Crantz (cassava) are limited. In this study, mature leaves of M.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhytopathology
March 2022
Purdue University, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, West Lafayette, IN 47901, U.S.A.
is the most important fungal pathogen of coffee and the causal agent of recurrent disease epidemics that have invaded nearly every coffee growing region in the world. The development of coffee varieties resistant to requires fundamental understanding of the biology of the fungus. However, the complete life cycle of remains unknown, and conflicting studies and interpretations exist as to whether the fungus is undergoing sexual reproduction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntibiotics (Basel)
December 2020
Center for Biodiversity and Drug Discovery, Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología (INDICASAT AIP), Panama City 0843-01103, Panama.
The present research aimed to evaluate the antibacterial activity of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced by octocoral-associated bacteria sp. BO53 and sp. GA327.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Cardiovasc Med
November 2020
Biomedicine Research Unit, Center for Biodiversity and Drug Discovery, Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología (INDICASAT Asociation of Public Interest), Panama City, Panama.
Ecological release from herbivory due to chemical novelty is commonly predicted to facilitate biological invasions by plants, but has not been tested on a community scale. We used metabolomics based on mass spectrometry molecular networks to assess the novelty of foliar secondary chemistry of 15 invasive plant species compared to 46 native species at a site in eastern North America. Locally, invasive species were more chemically distinctive than natives.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChirality
May 2020
Department of Biochemistry and Medical Chemistry, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary.
Am J Bot
February 2020
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Unit 9100 Box 0948, DPO AA 34002-9998, USA.
Premise: Interactions between fungal endophytes and their host plants present useful systems for identifying important factors affecting assembly of host-associated microbiomes. Here we investigated the role of secondary chemistry in mediating host affinity of asymptomatic foliar endophytic fungi using Psychotria spp. and Theobroma cacao (cacao) as hosts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Mol Sci
November 2019
Center for Neuroscience, Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología (INDICASAT AIP), Clayton, City of Knowledge 0843-01103, Panama.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most devastating neurodegenerative disorder that affects the aging population worldwide. Endogenous and exogenous factors are involved in triggering this complex and multifactorial disease, whose hallmark is Amyloid-β (Aβ), formed by cleavage of amyloid precursor protein by β- and γ-secretase. While there is no definitive cure for AD to date, many neuroprotective natural products, such as polyphenol and carotenoid compounds, have shown promising preventive activity, as well as helping in slowing down disease progression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPeerJ
September 2019
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Ancón, Republic of Panama.
Plant interactions with other organisms are mediated by chemistry, yet chemistry varies among conspecific and within individual plants. The foliar metabolome-the suite of small-molecule metabolites found in the leaf-changes during leaf ontogeny and is influenced by the signaling molecule jasmonic acid. Species differences in secondary metabolites are thought to play an important ecological role by limiting the host ranges of herbivores and pathogens, and hence facilitating competitive coexistence among plant species in species-rich plant communities such as tropical forests.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEcology
November 2019
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 2072, Balboa, Panama.
Lianas are more abundant in seasonal forests than in wetter forests and are thought to perform better than trees when light is abundant and water is limited. We tested the hypothesis that lianas perform better than trees during seasonal drought using a common garden experiment with 12 taxonomically diverse species (six liana and six tree species) in 12 replicated plots. We irrigated six of the plots during the dry season for four years, while the remaining six control plots received only ambient rainfall.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Cardiovasc Disord
July 2019
School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Background: Anthracyclines are highly effective anticancer medication prescribed for the treatment of breast cancer. Nevertheless, the use of anthracyclines as chemotherapeutic agents involves a risk for development of cardiac toxicity which may cause restrictive and dilated cardiomyopathy. Currently, genetic predisposition is not considered as a risk factor for cardiotoxicity associated to the use of anthracyclines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurr Opin Insect Sci
April 2019
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancón, Panama; Center for Biodiversity and Drug Discovery, Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología, Apartado 0843-01103, Ciudad del Saber, Ancón, Panama. Electronic address:
Understanding coexistence in species-rich communities remains a primary challenge of ecology. Interactions mediated through multitrophic networks are thought to play an important role in sustaining species coexistence in the face of competition for resources. The identity of trophic partners and the intensity with which they interact are often mediated by diverse secondary metabolites.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEcology
December 2018
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancón, Republic of Panama.
Plant enemies that attack chemically similar host species are thought to mediate competitive exclusion of chemically similar plants and select for chemical divergence among closely related species. This hypothesis predicts that plant defenses should diverge rapidly, minimizing phylogenetic signal. To evaluate this prediction, we quantified metabolomic similarity for 203 tree species that represent >89% of all individuals in large forest plots in Maryland and Panama.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPremise Of The Study: We describe a field collection, sample processing, and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) instrumental and bioinformatics method developed for untargeted metabolomics of plant tissue and suitable for molecular networking applications.
Methods And Results: A total of 613 leaf samples from 204 tree species was collected in the field and analyzed using UHPLC-MS/MS. Matching of molecular fragmentation spectra generated over 125,000 consensus spectra representing unique molecular structures, 26,410 of which were linked to at least one structurally similar compound.
Clin Interv Aging
November 2017
Center for Biodiversity and Drug Discovery, Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología (INDICASAT AIP), Panama, Republic of Panama.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia, affecting approximately 33.5 million people worldwide. Aging is the main risk factor associated with AD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFParasit Vectors
May 2017
Center of Cellular and Molecular Biology of Diseases (CBCMe), Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología (INDICASAT AIP), City of Knowledge, Panama.
Background: In order to identify new ways to prevent transmission of vector-borne diseases such as malaria, efforts have been made to understand how insects are attracted to humans. Vector-host interaction studies have shown that several volatile compounds play an important role in attracting mosquitoes to human targets. A headspace solid-phase micro-extraction/gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HSPME GC-MS) analysis of the volatile organic composition of extracellular vesicles (EVs) and supernatants of ultracentrifugation (SNUs) was carried out in Plasmodium falciparum-infected cultures with high and low parasitemias.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Alzheimers Dis
April 2018
Center for Biodiversity and Drug Discovery, Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología (INDICASAT AIP), Republic of Panama.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disorder affecting the elderly population worldwide. Brain inflammation plays a key role in the progression of AD. Deposition of senile plaques in the brain stimulates an inflammatory response with the overexpression of pro-inflammatory mediators, such as the neuroinflammatory cytokine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNew Phytol
May 2017
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancón, Republic of Panama.
Contents 952 I. 952 II. 953 III.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEcology
March 2017
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Ancón, Panama.
Specialist herbivores and pathogens could induce negative conspecific density dependence among their hosts and thereby contribute to the diversity of plant communities. A small number of hyperdiverse genera comprise a large portion of tree diversity in tropical forests. These closely related congeners are likely to share natural enemies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMolecules
June 2016
Center for Biodiversity and Drug Discovery, Institute for Scientific Research and Technology Services (INDICASAT), Clayton, City of Knowledge 0843-01103, Panama.
Three new diterpenes, uprolide N (1), uprolide O (2), uprolide P (3) and a known one, dolabellane (4), were isolated from the CH₂Cl₂-MeOH extract of the gorgonian octocoral Eunicea succinea, collected from Bocas del Toro, on the Caribbean coast of Panama. Their structures were determined using spectroscopic analyses, including 1D and 2D NMR and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) together with molecular modeling studies. Compounds 1-3 displayed anti-inflammatory properties by inhibiting production of Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) and Interleukin (IL)-6 induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in murine macrophages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF