Publications by authors named "Gerardo Cebrian Torrejon"

Oxidative stress is a biological imbalance that contributes to cellular damage and is a major driver of aging and age-related disorders, prompting the search for natural antioxidant agents. Our study is a phytochemical, electrochemical, and biological characterization of the antioxidant potential of aqueous extracts from aerial parts of -leaves, bark, fruit, and cashew nuts-traditionally used in folklore medicine. Extracts were analyzed using FT-IR spectroscopy, GC × GC-TOFMS, polyphenol quantification, and antioxidant capacity assays (ABTS, FRAP, DPPH).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The mosquito, vector of dengue, is a major public health threat in the Caribbean. In Guadeloupe, where dengue outbreaks occur frequently, traditional plant-based remedies are part of the local heritage but remain poorly documented. This study aimed to evaluate the anti-mosquito potential of 38 Guadeloupean plants through an ethnobotanical survey.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In the present work, the adsorption of vitamin B12 (VB12) on sugarcane-derived activated carbon (AC) was investigated with the purpose of developing a hybrid material able to degrade highly toxic and recalcitrant chlordecone (CLD) for remediating the severe environmental issue of pesticide pollution of water and soil. The AC used is made from locally accessible sugarcane bagasse. The experimental kinetic and isothermic data of VB12 adsorption on AC were modeled using multiple models, including Pseudo-Order 1 (Lagergren), Pseudo-Order 2, Elovich, and Brouers-Sotolongo models for the kinetics.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This publication reports the controlled cultivation of var. Engl. (Rutaceae) in several growth substrates under controlled greenhouse conditions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The use of medicinal herbs is highly developed in Haiti. However, there is a significant lack of knowledge in the literature on medicinal plants and their uses. The objective of this study was to determine the knowledge and practices of Haitian families for the prevention/treatment of COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory diseases, as well as the mode of preparation and administration of the plants.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Influxes of sargassos are responsible for economic and environmental disasters in areas where they bloom, especially in regions whose main income relies on tourism and with limited capacity for sanitation and public health response. A promising way of valorization would be to convert this incredible biomass into tools to fight the deadly vector mosquito Aedes aegypti. In the present study, we generated hydrolates and aqueous extracts from three main Sargassum morphotypes identified in Guadeloupe (French West Indies): Sargassum natans VIII, Sargassum natans I and Sargassum fluitans.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Gastrointestinal parasitism is a major health and welfare problem in ruminants. Synthetic chemical anthelmintic drugs have led to the emergence of resistance in gastrointestinal strongyles, inducing the search for alternatives to control the infections that affect ruminants. The objective of this work was to evaluate the anthelmintic potential of plant extracts against Rudolphi.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The search for potent antimicrobial compounds is critical in the face of growing antibiotic resistance. This study explores Poepp. (), a Caribbean plant traditionally used for disease treatment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Targeting gravid females through chemical lures is a promising strategy in vector control; however, it requires the understanding of the factors susceptible to alter female oviposition behavior. Here, we evaluated the effect of infection with chikungunya virus (CHIKV) and the number of gonotrophic cycles (GCs) on oviposition activity in . Dual choice oviposition assays were performed, where dodecanoic acid, pentadecanoic acid, -heneicosane and a (Børgesen) Børgesen extract were tested in uninfected females and females infected with CHIKV, at the 1st and 2nd GC.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The island of Grande-Terre is a French overseas region that belongs to the Guadeloupean archipelago, a biodiversity hotspot with unique flora. Herbal medicine is widely used in the island for therapeutical purposes; however, there is a significant knowledge gap in the records relating to medicinal plants and their associated uses. Ethnobotanical survey methodology using quantitative parameters (informant consensus factor, species use value, relative frequency of citation, frequency use of a treatment and plant for an ailment) provided insights into the traditional medicinal use of a given plant.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The article examines the chemical interactions between two organisms, focusing on their antimicrobial effects using various analytical techniques, including an innovative electrochemical method.
  • The study finds a similar chemical profile in the leaves of healthy plants and the waste of caterpillars, indicating that caterpillars selectively excrete compounds rather than metabolizing them fully.
  • The findings help explain how the caterpillar can feed on toxic plants from the Apocynaceae family, as specific natural products in their excretions may aid in detoxification.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The essential oil (EO) from the leaves of (syn. ) (Rutaceae) was studied previously for its acaricidal, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and insecticidal properties. In prior studies, the most abundant compound class found in leaf oils from Brazil, Costa Rica, and Paraguay was terpenoids.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Huanglongbing (HLB) is a disease that is responsible for the death of millions of trees worldwide. The bacterial causal agent belongs to Liberibacter spp., which is transmitted by psyllids.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by hyperglycemia, insulin insufficiency or insulin resistance, and many issues, including vascular complications, glycative stress and lipid metabolism dysregulation. Natural products from plants with antihyperglycemic, hypolipidemic, pancreatic protective, antioxidative, and insulin-like properties complement conventional treatments. Throughout this review, we summarize the current status of knowledge of plants from the Caribbean basin traditionally used to manage DM and treat its sequelae.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Neurodegenerative disorders, caused by prone-to-aggregation proteins, such as Alzheimer disease or Huntington disease, share other traits such as disrupted homeostasis of essential metal ions, like copper. In this context, in an attempt to identify Cu chelating agents, we study several organic compounds (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, phenylenediamine, metformin, salicylate, and trehalose) and organic extracts obtained from L., which has been used in Ayurvedic therapies and presented a broad spectrum of biological properties.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Species richness in tropical forests is correlated with other dimensions of diversity, including the diversity of plant-herbivore interactions and the phytochemical diversity that influences those interactions. Understanding the complexity of plant chemistry and the importance of phytochemical diversity for plant-insect interactions and overall forest richness has been enhanced significantly by the application of metabolomics to natural systems. The present work used proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( H-NMR) profiling of crude leaf extracts to study phytochemical similarity and diversity among Piper plants growing naturally in the Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Malaria, a widespread parasitic disease particularly in regions like Africa and Southeast Asia, faces challenges due to drug resistance, prompting the need for new antimalarial medications.
  • This study identifies phylloquinone (vitamin K1) in the malaria-causing organism, which was not previously documented, and explores the potential biosynthesis and transport mechanisms of this compound.
  • The findings suggest that phylloquinone could play a significant role in the parasite's metabolism, indicating it as a potential target for developing new antimalarial drugs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Pests and diseases are responsible for most of the losses related to agricultural crops, either in the field or in storage. Moreover, due to indiscriminate use of synthetic pesticides over the years, several issues have come along, such as pest resistance and contamination of important planet sources, such as water, air and soil. Therefore, in order to improve efficiency of crop production and reduce food crisis in a sustainable manner, while preserving consumer's health, plant-derived pesticides may be a green alternative to synthetic ones.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A number of antimalarial drugs interfere with the electron transport chain and heme-related reactions; however, the biosynthesis of heme derivatives in Plasmodium parasites has not been fully elucidated. Here, we characterized the steps that lead to the farnesylation of heme. After the identification of a gene encoding heme O synthase, we identified heme O synthesis in blood stage parasites through the incorporation of radioactive precursors.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Three novel PyNcobalt(III) complexes with the 5-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone nuclei (NQ) were evaluated as potential hypoxia-activated anticancer prodrugs. The complexes were synthesized and fully characterized by IR and UV-Visible spectroscopies, ESI mass spectrometry and CHN elemental analysis. Structural information was obtained from density functional theory (DFT) calculations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * The two enantiomers of HLM0066474 are separated using semi-preparative techniques on Chiralpak ID, and their absolute configurations are confirmed by vibrational circular dichroism analysis.
  • * Biological testing shows that only the (+)-R enantiomer is effective in repressing E2F1 transcriptional activity, while the (-)-S enantiomer shows no activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The present study pretends to evaluate the efficacy of the crude chloroform bark extract of , then the activity will be compared with the reference drug, benznidazole, in acute infected mice when administered by oral route. The chloroformic extract of was administered by oral route at 5, 10 and 50 mg/kg daily for two weeks. This study has shown a moderate efficacy of the bark extract in reducing parasitaemia in 42 to 54% after a monitoring of 60 days post-infection and when compared with control groups.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The electrochemical response of four natural cytotoxic thiazinoquinones isolated from the species was studied using conventional solution-phase and solid-state techniques, based on the voltammetry of immobilized particles methodology. The interaction with O₂ and electrochemically generated reactive oxygen species (ROS) was electrochemically monitored. At the same time, a molecular modeling study including density functional theory (DFT) calculations was performed in order to analyze the conformational and electronic properties of the natural thiazinoquinones, as well as those of their reduced intermediates.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A longstanding paradigm in ecology is that there are positive associations between herbivore diversity, specialization, and plant species diversity, with a focus on taxonomic diversity. However, phytochemical diversity is also an informative metric, as insect herbivores interact with host plants not as taxonomic entities, but as sources of nutrients, primary metabolites, and mixtures of attractant and repellant chemicals. The present research examines herbivore responses to phytochemical diversity measured as volatile similarity in the tropical genus Piper.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: An innovative application of the voltammetry of microparticles methodology to characterize the phytochemical composition of extracts of different parts of Zanthoxylum chiloperone var. angustifolium Engl. is described.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF