In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, was identified. Infected patients revealed symptoms of fever, cough (dry), sore throat, and fatigue, which began manifesting after 5 days of incubation. Hoping to prevent transmission, many countries adopted a mandatory mask use in closed public spaces. However, most mask options display a passive action against COVID-19. To overcome such restrictions, this work proposes the incorporation of anti-viral essential oils (EOs) loaded onto a nanofibrous layer that can be adapted to both community and commercial masks.

Twenty EOs selected based on their antimicrobial nature were examined for the first time against the Escherichia virus MS2. The most effective were the lemongrass (LO), Niaouli (NO) and eucalyptus (ELO) with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 356.0 mg/mL, 365.2 mg/mL and 586.0 mg/mL, respectively. Polycaprolactone (PCL) and cellulose acetate (CA) were prepared individually at 14 wt% in chloroform/dimethylformamide (DMF) and 10 wt% in acetone/DMF, respectively, and combined at 3:1 ratio. Polymeric solutions were then processed via eletrospinning with processing parameters being optimized to 24.7 kV, 3.2 mL/h and 21 cm. Uniform, beadless nanofibers were obtained. Mats were characterized as mechanically resilient, to endure movements arising from mask positioning, and hydrophobic in nature, to repel droplets coming from the exterior. Loading of the nanofibrous mats was accomplished via physisorption using the free -OH groups of the CA as linkers. Mats were loaded with the EOs at MIC concentration for 72 h (saturation). Presence of the EOs was confirmed along the mats. Antimicrobial testing via halo determination, verified their diffusion abilities. More importantly, time-kill kinetics testing of the loaded mats attested to the EOs capability to fight the virus MS2 even when bonded to the nanofibers. Data demonstrated the potential of these EOs-loade

The incidence of chronic wounds (CW) is growing at an accelerated rate around the world, becoming a huge burden on healthcare and social systems. CW are characterized for failing to progress through the orderly phases of the healing process, establishing in a self-perpetuating inflammatory stage getting predisposed to infections, resulting in long-term morbidity and mortality. To address this problem, wound dressings with a new intricated nano-architecture and functionalized with active biomolecules are being developed to treat CW. The introduction of peptides with renown antimicrobial capacities, as pexiganan (or MSI-78), which display a broad spectrum of antibacterial activity and capacity to reduce bacterial resistance, has been considered a viable solution. Tiger 17, a not so explored peptide with improved regenerative potential is also being investigated to unveil its antimicrobial potential so far unknown. In this study, combinations of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and cellulosic compounds, such as cellulose acetate (CA) and cellulose nanocrystalline (CNC), were processed via electrospinning to give rise to porous, highlight intricate and flexible, biocompatible, biodegradable, and mechanically stable mats and, then, modified with combinations of pexiganan and Tiger 17. PVA/CA and PVA/CNC mats were prepared at different ratios and submitted to crosslinking process to avoid their instant solubilization in aqueous media. Antimicrobial efficacy of pexiganan and Tiger 17 was evaluated against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The biomolecules were initially screened for their antibacterial efficacy by the determination of minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs). Mats were modified with pexiganan at 2xMIC (60 µg/mL) and with Tiger 17 at twice the concentration required to induce regenerative effects (40 µg/mL). The Mal-PEG2-OH spacer was used as a binding agent. Data revealed the ability of the peptide-modified surfaces to fight P. aeruginosa infection above the unaltered mats, demonstrating the potential of this strategy for CW care.

The re-emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) in Wuhan city of China has placed unprecedented economic and health burden globally. The SARS-CoV-2 high mortality rate has brought great challenges to researchers, clinicians, and health workers in their bid to discover appropriate therapeutic interventions. The search for the ultimate remedy was initially centered on the use of antiviral agents targeting receptors and proteins involved in the pathophysiology of SARS-CoV-2 such as spike (S) proteins, papain-like protease (PLpro), replicase polyproteins 1a, main protease, RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RDRP), RNA binding protein of NSP9, and 3-chymotrypsin-like protease (3CLpro). However, the upsurge of interest in repositioning anti-inflammatory agents was borne out of the revealed role played by cytokine storm in COVID-19 fatality. Hypercytokinemia as a result of the unregulated production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and other chemical mediators trigger coagulopathy, viral sepsis, pneumonitis shock, and acute respiratory syndrome which may lead directly to respiratory and organs failure and ultimately death of patient. Emerging evidence has shown that early prediction of cytokine storm with serum chemistry and hematological markers (D-dimer, ferritin, cytokine, lactate dehydrogenase, C-Reactive proteins, alanine aminotransferase, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate) and the use of an appropriate anti-inflammatory agents (synthetic drugs, biologicals and herbal products) will nip cytokine storm on the bud thereby averting COVID-19 fatality. A wide array of targets will arrest cytokine storm such as the use of inhibitors of interleukin-1-beta converting enzyme (caspase-1), beta-2-adrenergic receptors (ADRB₂), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interferons (IFNs), Janus kinase (JAKs) as well as interleukin -6 (IL-6). This review critically used information retrieved from PubMed, China National knowledge infrastructure, Embase, Medline, and Google Scholar to elaborate the therapeutic interventions for COVID-19, highlighted shortfalls of some of the interventions, and way forward for discovering effective biocompatible drug target.

Monoterpenes, which have a unique diverse structure and are inexpensive, available and often enantiomerically pure, are an attractive renewable raw material for the development of physiologically active agents. One of the important methods to the utilization of monoterpenes is their interaction with carbonyl compounds resulting in heterocyclic compounds. Often these products exhibit analgesic, antiviral or neuroprotective properties. Earlier, we discovered anti-influenza A (H1N1) virus activity of several compounds with a hydro-2H-chromene scaffold, which were synthesized by the Prins reaction using p-menthane alcohols and carbonyl compounds; montmorillonite K10 or nanosized halloysite catalyst were used as the reaction catalysts [1]. Chromenols produced from an (–)-isopulegol and aliphatic ketones (acetone and cyclopentanone) demonstrated high activity in combination with low toxicity against the influenza virus [1].

The introduction of the fluorine atom into the molecule is an important strategy in the development of new biologically active compounds, which enables changing lipophilicity and electrostatic interactions and increasing the metabolic stability of compounds and, so affects their physiological activity. Here we synthesized fluoro- and hydroxy-containing octahydro-2H-chromenes by the Prins reaction starting from an (–)-isopulegol and a wide range of aromatic aldehydes in the presence of the BF₃∙Et₂O/H₂O system acting as both an acid catalyst and a fluorine source. Activity of the synthesized compounds against the influenza A/Puerto Rico/8/34 (H1N1) virus was studied. The highest activity was demonstrated by fluoro- and hydroxy-containing 2,4,6-trimethoxybenzaldehyde derivatives. These compounds were supposed to be capable of binding to viral hemagglutinin, which is an agreement with data on the effect of compounds on the viral fusogenic activity as well as with molecular docking studies.

[1] N.Salakhutdinov, K.Volcho, O.Yarovaya, Pure Appl. Chem., 2017;89:1105-1117.

Organism’s hypoxia tolerance depends on many factors, including age. High newborn organism’s tolerance and high level of oxidative stress throughout aging were demonstrated by many studies. However, there is still lack of investigations, reflecting the intensity of systemic inflammatory response in different age organisms in correlation to hypoxia tolerance. The aim of study was to determine the relationship between age-related tolerance to hypoxia, HIF-1 and PHD2 (prolyl hydroxylase domain protein) expression levels and the intensity of systemic inflammatory response in newborn, prepubertal and adult Wistar rats. In case of investigation the tolerance to hypoxia, rats were placed into a decompression chamber at altitude simulation of 11,500 m. It was demonstrated that prepubertal rats are the least tolerant to hypoxia and newborns are the most tolerant. Newborn rats are characterized by high mRNA Hif-1α expression level in the liver, accompanied by low content of HIF-1 protein and high level of PHD2. The growth in HIF-1α protein level throughout the age is accompanied by the growth of pro-inflammatory cytokines level. Prepubertal animals are the least hypoxia tolerant and their HIF-1α mRNA expression level was higher than in adult animals. The PHD2 activity in prepubertal animals was significantly reduced in comparison to newborn rats, and the HIF-1α protein level was not changed. The lowest tolerance of the prepubertal males to hypoxia correlated with the greatest manifestations of hepatic inflammation and elevated endotoxin, neopterin, and C-reactive protein levels in LPS-induced systemic inflammatory response. The growth of serum HIF-1α in 3 h after LPS injection was observed only in prepubertal rats. The obtained data should be taken into account during the development of therapeutic strategy for prepubertal children with infectious and inflammatory diseases.