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Some plants used in traditional medicine to manage sickle cell disease have been validated pharmacologically to ascertain their anti-sickling properties. However, there is no global systematic review of the evidence in support of their use for sickle cell management. This research aimed to conduct a systematic review of the pharmacological evidence to highlight species, genera, and some phytochemicals which could be primed for novel anti-sickling medications. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were used. Articles in English, published from 2000 to 2022 were included in the analysis. The literature search covered 411 publications of which 82 were found to be eligible. More than half (53.65%) of the articles were published from 2016 to 2022. Anti-sickling research from Africa accounted for 86.58% of the publications, with more than half coming from Nigeria, 12.20% from Asia and only 1.22% from Europe. The Fabaceae, Euphorbiaceae, and Annonaceae were the top three plant families whereas Zanthoxylum and Terminalia were the most reported genera. Carica papaya and Terminalia catappa were the most reported species. Sickling reversal (n = 33/82) and hemoglobin polymerization studies (n = 29/82) were the most reported assays. Benzoic acid derivatives, butyl stearate, ellagic acid derivatives, and some pentacyclic triterpenoids were the only plant derived compounds validated for anti-sickling activities. A total of 117 plant species with anti-sickling activities were documented. Studies on secondary metabolites with anti-sickling properties to serve as scaffolds for novel drug development for sickle cell management were limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reduction in agricultural production due to the negative impact of insects and weeds, as well as the health and economic burden associated with vector-borne diseases, has promoted the wide use of chemicals that control these "enemies." However, the use of these synthetic chemicals has been recognized to elicit negative impacts on the environment as well as the health and wellbeing of man. In this study, we presented an overview of recent updates on the environmental and health impacts of synthetic pesticides against agro-pest and disease vectors while exhaustive reviewing the potentials of natural plant products from Zanthoxylum species (Rutaceae) as sustainable alternatives. This study is expected to spur further research on exploiting these plants and their chemicals as safe and effective pesticide entities to minimize the impact of their chemical and synthetic counterparts on health and the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zanthoxylum plants are usually deciduous trees or shrubs of Rutaceae , as industrial crops widely cultivated in China. Three representative Zanthoxylum species, Z. bungeanum , Z. schinifolium , and Z. armatum , are well-known for their pericarps rich in bioactive compounds and can be utilized as functional additives or phytomedicine. These mentioned Zanthoxylum species are distributed and intermixed with each other as " Zanthoxylum " on markets, which creates obstacles for consumers to identify them. In the present study, 49 batches of Zanthoxylum extracts were examined for anti-inflammatory activity and then employed in acquiring corresponding multi-constituent profiles by UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap-HRMS and UHPLC-MS/MS. The obtained data were further used for the construction of extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) classification and regression models. A Shapley additive explanations (SHAP) algorithm was subsequently applied to interpret the XGBoost classification/regression model output for desirable information. Isoquercitrin, rutin, and arctigenin were identified as the important chemical markers for discriminating Zanthoxylum origins through the classification algorithm. Furthermore, six constituents, consisting of hydroxy- γ -sanshool, avicularin, bergapten, rutin, scopoletin, and narcissoside, were screened for their major anti-inflammatory activity by modeling using the regression approach. Unraveling the diversities and connections of constituents and biological activities in these three species could contribute to their reasonable industrial and medicinal applications. [Display omitted] • Chemical profiling of three Zanthoxylum species was depicted. • Anti-inflammatory effects of Zanthoxylum extracts and phytochemicals were evaluated. • XGBoost and SHAP were used to classify species and identify bioactive metabolites. • Three chemicals were identified for discriminating against three Zanthoxylum species. • Six chemicals contribute to the major anti-inflammatory potential of Zanthoxylum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The molecular networking and in silico annotation methods were applied for the variables annotation in Zanthoxlyum samples. • Two in silico annotation tools, NAP and ClassyFire, helped the global classification of metabolites. • Hesperidin and poncirin were tentatively annotated as the discriminant markers between Zanthoxlyum samples. • Z. bungeanum and Z. piperitum were more closely related than Z. schinifolium. In liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) metabolomics, data matrices with up to thousands of variables for each ion peak are subjected to multivariate analysis (MVA) to assess the homogeneity between samples. The large dimensions of LC/MS datasets hinder the identification of the discriminant or the metabolic markers. In the present study, the molecular network (MN) approach and two in silico annotation tools, network annotation propagation (NAP) and the hierarchical chemical classification method, ClassyFire, were used to annotate the metabolites of three Zanthoxylum species, Z. bungeanum , Z. schinifolium and Z. piperitum. The in silico annotation results of the MN nodes and the MVA variables were combined and visualized in loading plots. This approach helped intuitive detection of the variables that greatly contributed to the separation of the samples in the score plot as discriminant or metabolic markers, thereby allowing rapid annotation of two flavanone derivatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zanthoxylum species (Syn. Fagara species) of the Rutaceae family are widely used in many countries as food and in trado-medicinal practice due to their wide geographical distribution and medicinal properties. Peer reviewed journal articles and ethnobotanical records that reported the traditional knowledge, phytoconstituents, biological activities and toxicological profiles of Z. species with a focus on metabolic and neuronal health were reviewed. It was observed that many of the plant species are used as food ingredients and in treating inflammation, pain, hypertension and brain diseases. Over 500 compounds have been isolated from Z. species, and the biological activities of both the plant extracts and their phytoconstituents, including their mechanisms of action, are discussed. The phytochemicals responsible for the biological activities of some of the species are yet to be identified. Similarly, biological activities of some isolated compounds remain unknown. Taken together, the Z. species extracts and compounds possess promising biological activities and should be further explored as potential sources of new nutraceuticals and drugs.

Zanthoxylum species (Syn. Fagara species) of the Rutaceae family are widely used in many countries as food and in trado-medicinal practice due to their wide geographical distribution and medicinal properties. Peer reviewed journal articles and ethnobotanical records that reported the traditional knowledge, phytoconstituents, biological activities and toxicological profiles of Z. species with a focus on metabolic and neuronal health were reviewed. It was observed that many of the plant species are used as food ingredients and in treating inflammation, pain, hypertension and brain diseases. Over 500 compounds have been isolated from Z. species, and the biological activities of both the plant extracts and their phytoconstituents, including their mechanisms of action, are discussed. The phytochemicals responsible for the biological activities of some of the species are yet to be identified. Similarly, biological activities of some isolated compounds remain unknown. Taken together, the Z. species extracts and compounds possess promising biological activities and should be further explored as potential sources of new nutraceuticals and drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Mass fragmentation behavior of two sanshoamides isomers was firstly proposed. • Totally 23 compounds were identified in Sichuan pepper by UHPLC-Q-TOF. • Sanshoamides constituted the predominated α-glucosidase inhibitors profile. • Excellent α-glucosidase inhibition was found on two sanshoamides isomers. Sichuan pepper, commonly used as a food seasoning, possesses unique anti-diabetic properties. This study uses ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF) to elucidate the chemical profile of Sichuan pepper. Further, an ultra-filtration was coupled with UHPLC-Q-TOF to screen the α-glucosidase inhibitors (AGIs) for the first time. Results confirmed significant variation in the content of hydroxyl-α-sanshool (HAS) (44.27–115.28 mg/g DW) and hydroxyl-β-sanshool (HBS) (0.36–1.22 mg/g DW). A total of 23 compounds were identified by UHPLC-Q-TOF. Among these, eleven sanshoamides predominantly constituted AGIs. It is worth noting that both HAS and HBS demonstrated the significantly higher inhibition of α-glucosidase activity (IC 50 = 9.5 and 18.6 μg/mL), approximately 13∼25 times higher than that of acarbose (IC 50 = 241 μg/mL). This study provided vital phytochemical information on Sichuan peppers, which could be applied to the management of type-2 diabetes mellitus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) using oligonucleotide probes for (GAA) 6 (18 bp) and ribosomal DNA (rDNA) (5S rDNA, 41 bp) was applied to analyse Zanthoxylum armatum. (GAA) 6 loci were detected on the pericentromeric regions of five chromosome pairs, and 5S rDNA loci were also detected on the pericentromeric regions of another two chromosome pairs. The densities and locations of (GAA) 6 and 5S rDNA signals varied between individual chromosomes. High-intensity (GAA) 6 signals were detected at the centromeres of two large and two smaller metacentric chromosomes. Relatively strong (GAA) 6 signals were detected at the centromeres of two relatively small metacentric chromosomes, although strong 5S rDNA signals were detected at the centromeres of two additional smaller metacentric chromosomes. Weak (GAA) 6 signals were detected at the centromeres of four large metacentric chromosomes, whereas weak 5S rDNA signals were detected at the centromeres of two smaller metacentric chromosomes. The remaining chromosomes exhibited no signals. Zanthoxylum armatum had 2n = ∼128. The lengths of the mitotic metaphase chromosomes ranged from 1.22 to 2.34 μm. Our results provide information that may be beneficial for future cytogenetic studies and could contribute to the physical assembly of the Zanthoxylum genome.