Background Toxicological assessments of nanoparticles are becoming more and more necessary due to the current rapid increase in interest in them for biomedical applications. This study aimed to synthesize and characterize zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using Ocimum tenuiflorum (black tulsi) and Ocimum gratissimum (African basil) herbal formulation extracts and to evaluate their cytotoxic effects. Methods The synthesis of AgNPs and ZnONPs was monitored using UV-visible spectra analysis at different time intervals. The nanoparticles\' morphology and elemental composition were examined via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Furthermore, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) spectra analysis was employed to identify the functional groups within the nanoparticles. The cytotoxic effects of the nanoparticles were evaluated using the brine shrimp lethality assay. Results The UV-visible spectra analysis revealed the successful synthesis of AgNPs and ZnONPs, with maximum absorption peaks observed at 430 nm and 380 nm, respectively. SEM images showed that AgNPs were spherical in shape and tended to agglomerate, while ZnONPs displayed a unique rod-like to short prism shape, and EDX analysis confirmed the presence of both silver and zinc in these nanoparticles, alongside other elements from the herbal extracts. FT-IR analysis indicated the existence of diverse functional groups on the nanoparticles\' surfaces. The brine shrimp lethality assay results demonstrated a concentration-dependent cytotoxic effect of the nanoparticles. Conclusion The study successfully synthesized and characterized AgNPs and ZnONPs using Ocimum tenuiflorum and Ocimum gratissimum herbal formulation extracts. The nanoparticles exhibited significant cytotoxic effects, suggesting their potential applications in various fields. Our results highlight the need for a more discrete use of nanoparticles for biomedical applications. Further studies are needed to explore their potential uses and ensure their safe and effective application.

BACKGROUND: Nanotechnology, a field bridging material science and biology, explores various applications. Silver nanoparticles, ranging from 1 nm to 100 nm, are commonly labeled as \"silver,\" although some contain a substantial quantity of silver oxide owing to the heightened ratio of silver atoms on the surface compared to the bulk. This characteristic establishes silver as a prominent nanoparticulate material. Stevia, valued for its leaf\'s sweetness and purported therapeutic qualities, has been utilized for centuries in South America functioning both as a natural sweetener and in traditional health remedies. The objective of this study was to evaluate the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity of Ocimum tenuiflorum- and Stevia rebaudiana-mediated silver nanoparticles.
METHODS: The methods employed involved evaluating the anti-inflammatory effects using the bovine serum albumin (BSA) assay and antioxidant effects using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, with varying concentrations (10 µL, 20 µL, 30 µL, 40 µL, and 50 µL) of the nanoparticles.
RESULTS: The results indicated that the anti-inflammatory properties of the nanoparticles surpassed standard values at concentrations of 10 µL, 20 µL, and 30 µL, while the antioxidant properties were also notably surpassing standard values at equivalent concentrations. The maximum inhibition percentage was noted with 10 µL (72.5%).
CONCLUSIONS: The silver nanoparticles, fortified with extracts from Ocimum tenuiflorum and Stevia rebaudiana, exhibited a promising potential as effective anti-inflammatory and antioxidant agents, suggesting their viability as alternatives to commercially available products.

UNASSIGNED: Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are the nanoparticles of silver between 1 nm and 100 nm in size. In this study, AgNPs were extracted from Ocimum tenuiflorum and Stevia rebaudiana which is a medicinal plant of Indian origin, worshipped by the Hindus and used in Ayurvedic medicine since ancient times.
UNASSIGNED: The aim of the study was to assess the antimicrobial and cytotoxic effect of AgNPs reinforced with the herb O. tenuiflorum and S. rebaudiana against oral pathogens.
UNASSIGNED: In this in vitro study, the organisms used were Streptococcus mutans, Staphylococcus aureus, Lactobacillus sp., and Candida albicans. Agar well-diffusion method was used to assess the antimicrobial efficacy of the nanoparticles at 25 mL, 50 mL, and 100 mL. To assess the cytotoxic effect, brine shrimp lethality assay was used.
UNASSIGNED: Zone of inhibition was found to be highest at 100 mL against S. mutans, S. aureus, Lactobacillus sp., and C. albicans. The cytotoxic activity at 5 mL and 10 mL was 0%. The maximum cytotoxicity was seen at 80 mL where 30% of the Nauplii\'s died.
UNASSIGNED: The findings from this study suggest that AgNPs reinforced with O. tenuiflorum and S. rebaudiana extracts has the potential as an antimicrobial agent and has less cytotoxic effect on brime shrimp and can be used as an alternative to commercially available antimicrobial agents.

UNASSIGNED: The application of traditional medicinal plants and their products for treatment has been an integral part of our culture and continues to play a key role as many infectious microorganisms are resistant to synthetic drugs. Tinospora cordifolia and Ocimum tenuiflorum herbs have shown medicinal properties and have gained importance in modern research.
UNASSIGNED: This study assessed the antimicrobial activities of Tinospora cordifolia and Ocimum tenuiflorum against Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans to conventional medications such as chlorhexidine and nystatin.
UNASSIGNED: The S. mutans and C. albicans were grown and maintained on Columbia agar plates and yeast malt extract agar respectively. An ethanolic extract was made and subjected to rotary evaporation to remove the ethanol. The antimicrobial activity of plant extracts was determined using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. The standard drugs, 10 μg/disc nystatin and 0.12% chlorhexidine, were used as a positive control. The zone of inhibition was measured after 24 hours.
UNASSIGNED: At a concentration of 3 mgs., the zone of inhibition of 25.6 mm was found with T. cordifolia, followed by 15.8 mm with O. tenuiflorum against S. mutans, and 0.12% chlorhexidine, at 21.7 ± 0.43 mm. A zone of inhibition of 23 mm and 22.9 mm was observed in both T. cordifolia and O. tenuiflorum against C. albicans, respectively. Positive control of nystatin showed 26.1 ± 0.46 mm.
UNASSIGNED: Tinospora cordifolia has better antimicrobial activity against S. mutans compared to Ocimum tenuiflorum. Whereas at higher concentrations, both extracts were effective against C. albicans.

Herein, we report the extraction, characterization, linear and third-order nonlinear optical (TONLO) features of the natural pigment from Ocimum tenuiflorum leaves using different polar solvents. The polar solvents such as, ethanol, acetone, methanol and dimethyl sulfonate (DMSO) were used to extract the natural pigment from Ocimum tenuiflorum leaves. The effect of solvent on linear and TONLO properties of the natural pigment was studied and multi- parameter scale known as Kamlet-Abboud-Taft was used to analyse the solvent characteristics on solute molecule. The functional groups of the extracted natural pigments were examined via Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer. TONLO characteristics of the natural pigment was scrutinised by a continuous wave (CW) diode laser working at 650 nm wavelength. The nonlinear refractive index (n2) and nonlinear coefficient of absorption (β) of the natural pigment was ascribed to the behavior of self-defocusing, saturable absorption (SA) and reverse saturable absorption (RSA). The TONLO susceptibility (χ(3)) of the natural pigment in polar solvents was found to be the order of 10-6 esu. The natural pigment extracted from Ocimum tenuiflorum leaves is a potential material for applications in nonlinear optical.

The positive effect of herbal supplements on aging and age-related disorders has led to the evolution of natural curatives for remedial neurodegenerative diseases in humans. The advancement in aging is exceedingly linked to oxidative stress. Enhanced oxidative stress interrupts health of humans in various ways, necessitating to find stress alleviating herbal resources. Currently, minimal scientifically validated health and cognitive booster resources are available. Therefore, we explored the impact of plant extracts in different combinations on oxidative stress, life span and cognition using the multicellular transgenic humanized C. elegans, and further validated the same in Mus musculus, besides testing their safety and toxicity. In our investigations, the final product-the HACBF (healthy ageing cognitive booster formulation) thus developed was found to reduce major aging biomarkers like lipofuscin, protein carbonyl, lipid levels and enhanced activity of antioxidant enzymes. Further confirmation was done using transgenic worms and RT-PCR. The cognitive boosting activities analyzed in C. elegans and M. musculus model system were found to be at par with donepezil and L-dopa, the two drugs which are commonly used to treat Parkinson\'s and Alzheimer\'s diseases. In the transgenic C. elegans model system, the HACBF exhibited reduced aggregation of misfolded disease proteins α-synuclein and increased the health of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, levels of Acetylcholine and Dopamine contents respectively, the major neurotransmitters responsible for memory, language, learning behavior and movement. Molecular studies clearly indicate that HACBF upregulated major genes responsible for healthy aging and cognitive booster activities in C. elegans and as well as in M. musculus. As such, the present herbal product thus developed may be quite useful for healthy aging and cognitive boosting activities, and more so during this covid-19 pandemic.
UNASSIGNED:
UNASSIGNED: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13237-022-00407-1.

Diabetes mellitus is a major global health concern in the current scenario which is chiefly characterized by the rise in blood sugar levels or hyperglycemia. In the context, DPP4 enzyme plays a critical role in glucose homeostasis. DPP4 targets and inactivates incretin hormones such as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP) as physiological substrates, which are essential to regulate the amount of insulin that is secreted after eating. Since the inactivation of incretins occurs, the hyperglycemic conditions continue to rise, and result in adverse physiological conditions linked with diabetes mellitus. Hence, inhibition of DPP4 has been the center of focus in the present antidiabetic studies. Although few DPP4 inhibitor drugs, such as alogliptin, saxagliptin, linagliptin, and sitagliptin, are available, their adverse effects on human metabolism are undeniable. Therefore, it becomes essential for the phytochemical intervention of the disease using computational methods prior to performing in vitro and in vivo studies. In this regard, we used an in-silico approach involving molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations, and binding free energy calculations to investigate the inhibitory potential of Ocimum tenuiflorum phytocompounds against DPP4. In this regard, three phytocompounds (1S-α-pinene, β-pinene, and dehydro-p-cymene) from O. tenuiflorum have been discovered as the potential inhibitors of the DPP4 protein. To summarize, from our in-silico experiment outcomes, we propose dehydro-p-cymene as the potential lead inhibitor of DPP4 protein, thereby discovering new a phytocompound for the effective management of hyperglycemia and diabetes mellitus. The reported compound can be taken for in vitro and in vivo analyses in near future.

The ligand-activated transcription factor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) has become a major target for type 2 diabetes. It belongs to the nuclear receptor superfamily, which controls the expression of proteins involved in glucose metabolism, lipid metabolism, adipocyte proliferation and differentiation, and insulin sensitivity. Ocimum tenuiflorum, often known as Krishna tulsi, is the most sacred herb in India. It was utilized for a variety of medicinal purposes. Therefore, it is of interest to document the molecular docking analysis data of PARγ modulators from Ocimum tenuiflorum. Four of the twenty substances (rosmarinic acid, permethrin, luteolin, and isosakuranetin) have a considerable binding affinity for the PPARγ. These phytochemicals are a source of potential anti-diabetic medicines.

Ocimum basilicum and Ocimum tenuiflorum are two basil species widely used medicinally as an anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and cardioprotective agent. This study focuses on the chemical characterization of the majoritarian compounds of both species and their anti-inflammatory potential. Up to 22 compounds such as various types of salvianolic acids, derivatives of rosmaniric acid and flavones were identified in both plants. The identified compounds were very similar between both plants and are consistent with previous finding in other studies in Portugal and Italy. Based on the identified molecules a consensus target prediction was carried out. Among the main predicted target proteins, we found a high representation of the carbonic anhydrase family (CA2, CA7 and CA12) and several key proteins from the arachidonic pathway (LOX5, PLA2, COX1 and COX2). Both pathways are well related to inflammation. The interaction between the compounds and these targets were explored through molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation. Our results suggest that some molecules present in both plants can induce an anti-inflammatory response through a non-steroidal mechanism of action connected to the carbon dioxide metabolism.

The present study involves the integrated network pharmacology and phytoinformatics-based investigation of phytocompounds from Ocimum tenuiflorum against diabetes mellitus-linked Alzheimer\'s disease. It aims to investigate the mechanism of the Ocimum tenuiflorum phytocompounds in the amelioration of diabetes mellitus-linked Alzheimer\'s disease through network pharmacology, druglikeness and pharmacokinetics, molecular docking simulations, GO analysis, molecular dynamics simulations, and binding free energy analyses. A total of 14 predicted genes of the 26 orally bioactive compounds were identified. Among these 14 genes, GAPDH and AKT1 were the most significant. The network analysis revealed the AGE-RAGE signaling pathway to be a prominent pathway linked to GAPDH with 50.53% probability. Upon the molecular docking simulation with GAPDH, isoeugenol was found to possess the most significant binding affinity (-6.0 kcal/mol). The molecular dynamics simulation and binding free energy calculation results also predicted that isoeugenol forms a stable protein-ligand complex with GAPDH, where the phytocompound is predicted to chiefly use van der Waal\'s binding energy (-159.277 kj/mol). On the basis of these results, it can be concluded that isoeugenol from Ocimum tenuiflorum could be taken for further in vitro and in vivo analysis, targeting GAPDH inhibition for the amelioration of diabetes mellitus-linked Alzheimer\'s disease.