Bennett Nwanguma - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Bennett Nwanguma

Journal of chemistry and nutritional biochemistry, Jul 11, 2023

Background: When prescribing painkillers for acute, chronic, and degenerative pain disorders, one... more Background: When prescribing painkillers for acute, chronic, and degenerative pain disorders, one must take into account safety issues for continuous long-term use of anti-inflammatory drugs due to the side effects. As a result, the therapeutic safety of anti-inflammatory supplements utilizing natural forms, such as omega-3 fatty acids (n-3 fatty acids), is more important than its effectiveness. Method: The nutritional intervention of n-3 fish oil extract (owing to its eicosapentaenoic acid, EPA, and docosahexaenoic acid, DHA contents) in experimental animal for acute inflammatory models was investigated in this work using standard methods (Carageenan, Arachidonic acid, and PGE2). Result: Results obtained demonstrated a notable reduction in inflammation caused by fish oil due to its EPA and DHA content. For groups 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, the percentage inhibition of the carrageenan-induced paw edema inflammation after 24 hours was 78.57%, 57.14%, 50.00%, 100.00% and 92.85%, respectively. Arachidonic acid-induced ear edema was inhibited by 30, 24, 27, 37, and 40%, whilst the PGE-2 test was inhibited by 44.16, 52.48, 61.34, 74, and 80.05%. Conclusion: The findings demonstrated that eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) and docosahexanoic acid (DHA), the active components in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, have the ability to disrupt the prostaglandin metabolic pathway by competing with arachidonic acids for the COX active site and thereby inhibiting their synthesis. The novelty of the work is demonstrated in the use of diet instead SAIDs to resolve inflammation.

Journal of applied science and environmental management, Feb 16, 2021

Although dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) occupies a prominent position for its recalcitranc... more Although dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) occupies a prominent position for its recalcitrance in the environment which led to its ban by the Stockholm Convention. This pesticide is still unregulated used in low and middle-income countries, which contributes to the global burden of this hazardous contaminant. In the recent time, biological approach has been proven to be effective and environmentally safer for the decontamination of the residual DDT. In this research, we reported a gel-purified p,p'-DDT dehalogenase from Aeromonas sp. strain MY1, revealing a single band with a molecular weight of approximately 37 kDa. The dehalogenase was unique for its capability to release chloride ions from p, p'-DDT substrate with optimum dechlorination activity at pH 8.0 and 35°C. The enzyme followed Michaelis-Menten's kinetics and measurement of its initial velocities with various p,p'-DDT concentrations showed a Km of 27.05 μmol L-1 and Vmax of 476.19 μmol L-1 min-1. However, the enzyme lost its dechlorination activity in the presence of Ag 2+ and Hg 2+ This dehalogenase could pave a way for the effective decontamination of p,p'-DDT contaminated environment, suggesting its potentials for p,p'-DDT bio-cleansing applications.

Asian journal of soil science and plant nutrition, Mar 11, 2021

Magna Scientia Advanced Biology and Pharmacy, Mar 30, 2023

Recent advances have shown how polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) regulate molecular signaling, ... more Recent advances have shown how polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) regulate molecular signaling, especially in the context of inflammation. Nutritional intervention/ supplementation with PUFAs in experimental animal models have exhibited anti-inflammatory properties. In this study, chronic inflammation was assayed by cotton pellet-induced granuloma method to evaluate the anti-inflammatory and anti-granuloma effects of omega-3-polyunsaturated fatty acid using experimentally induced inflammatory models in rats. Obtained results indicate that omega-3 oil extract significantly (p<0.05) reduced the granuloma tissue formation (58.36 ± 3.52, 65.40 ± 1.30, 57.78 ± 3.89, 50.93 ± 0.60 and 42.17 ± 0.70 mg) representing 33.78, 25.79, 34.44, 42.21 and 52.15 % inhibition respectively for the proliferative phase when compared to the control. These results showed that omega-3 oil extract studied, possess both anti-inflammatory and anti-granuloma properties.

VacciMonitor, Apr 1, 2019

The African most prevalent tropical disease after malaria is schistosomiasis and this disease in ... more The African most prevalent tropical disease after malaria is schistosomiasis and this disease in the developing countries is a massive socioeconomic and public health burden. The disease also caused over 200,000 deaths. The development and design of new and novel antischistosomal drugs is now very important, as there are no vaccines currently and there is only one drug at the moment for the treatment of schistosomiasis. In this article, 6-gingerol was docked against the Schistosoma mansoni phosphofructokinase and the docking result was compared to those obtained from the docking of its modified analogues against the same enzyme. The chemical structure of 6-gingerol was obtained from the PubChem database while the modified analogues were designed using the ChemAxon software. The molecular docking procedure was carried out with the aid of the AutoDock Vina software while polar interactions which were eventually used in predicting the amino acid residues at the Schistosoma mansoni phosphofructokinase active site were visualized using the Pymol software. The Schistosoma mansoni phosphofructokinase 3D crystallized structure was modeled using the Swiss Model server. The molecular docking result showed that the modifications made on 6-gingerol had a positive effect on the binding energy of the compound to the enzyme active site as an appreciable increase was observed. 6-Gingerol and its modified analogues also violated none of the Lipinski's rule with suggests that the experimental compounds are drug-like. The C 2 H 5 analogue of 6 gingerol was selected as the ideal therapeutic agent based on the pharmacokinetics study and the exhibited binding energy.

Recent advances have shown how PUFA regulate molecular signaling, especially in the context of in... more Recent advances have shown how PUFA regulate molecular signaling, especially in the context of inflammation. Nutritional interventions with PUFA in experimental animal models have exhibited anti-inflammatory properties. In this study, chronic inflammation was assayed by Cotton-Pellet Induced Granuloma to evaluate the anti-inflammatory and anti-granuloma effects of Omega-3-polyunsaturated fatty acid using experimentally induced inflammatory models in rats. Obtained results indicates that omega-3 oil extract significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the granuloma tissue formation (58.36 ± 3.52, 65.40 ± 1.30, 57.78 ± 3.89, 50.93 ± 0.60 and 42.17 ± 0.70mg representing 33.78, 25.79, 34.44, 42.21 and 52.15% inhibition respectively for the proliferative phase) when compared to the control. This results showed that omega-3 oil extract studied, posses both anti-inflammatory and anti-granuloma properties

Asian Journal of Biotechnology and Bioresource Technology, 2020

Background: Despite the banned on the use of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and other Pers... more Background: Despite the banned on the use of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and other Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) by the Stockholm Convention for their toxicity, emerging shreds of evidence have indicated that DDT is, however, still in use in developing countries. This might increase the global burden of DDT contamination and its hazardous effects. Aim: This study focused on the isolation and characterization of p,p’-DDT-degrading bacterium from a tropical agricultural soil. Methodology: Standard isolation procedure was used for the screening and isolation of the strain. The 16S rRNA and phylogenetic analyses were used to identify the isolate and established protocols were followed to characterize the strain. Results: A new strain belonging to the genus Aeromonas was isolated from agricultural soil using minimal salt-p,p’-DDT enrichment medium. The 16S rRNA sequencing was used to identify the strain and the partial sequence was deposited in the NCBI GenBank as Aeromo...

Asian Journal of Chemical Sciences, 2020

Catalases are key components of cellular detoxification pathways that prevent the formation of hi... more Catalases are key components of cellular detoxification pathways that prevent the formation of highly reactive hydroxyl radicals through catalyzing the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide into water and molecular oxygen. Their presence in brewery grains prevent the inactivation of important brewery enzymes and also stop lipid peroxidation. To determine their occurrence and establish some of its properties in sorghum, which has become as an important brewery grain similar to barley, crude catalase was obtained from a sorghum grain variety. Preliminary purification of catalase from the sorghum grain variety used, NRL-3, showed that the enzyme was purified 3.2-fold from the crude protein to give a 49% yield of the partially purified enzyme, with a final specific activity of 32 Umg-1 proteins. There was also a positive indication of sorghum catalase presence on SDS PAGE with positive bands occurring between the range of 48-62 kDa. Therefore, the molecular weight of sorghum catalase most ...

Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, Feb 25, 2013

How to cite this article Nwanguma B.C. & Okorie C.H. (2013) Salt (sodium chloride) content of ret... more How to cite this article Nwanguma B.C. & Okorie C.H. (2013) Salt (sodium chloride) content of retail samples of Nigerian white bread: implications for the daily salt intake of normotensive and hypertensive adults.

Journal of Rural and Tropical Public Health, 2007

Scientific Reports

SARS-CoV-2 infection has led to several million deaths worldwide and ravaged the economies of man... more SARS-CoV-2 infection has led to several million deaths worldwide and ravaged the economies of many countries. Hence, developing therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2 remains a core priority in the fight against COVID-19. Most of the drugs that have received emergency use authorization for treating SARS-CoV-2 infection exhibit a number of limitations, including side effects and questionable efficacy. This challenge is further compounded by reinfection after vaccination and the high likelihood of mutations, as well as the emergence of viral escape mutants that render SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein-targeting vaccines ineffective. Employing de novo drug synthesis or repurposing to discover broad-spectrum antivirals that target highly conserved pathways within the viral machinery is a focus of current research. In a recent drug repurposing study, masitinib, a clinically safe drug against the human coronavirus OC43 (HCoV-OC43), was identified as an antiviral agent with effective inhibitory activ...

Toxic metals such as aluminum accumulation in the brain have been associated with the pathophysio... more Toxic metals such as aluminum accumulation in the brain have been associated with the pathophysiology of several neurodegenerative disorders. Bryophyllum pinnatum leaves contain a vast array of polyphenols, particularly flavonoids, that may play a role in the prevention of toxic and degenerative effects in the brain. This study assessed the neuro-restorative potential of leaves of B. pinnatum enriched flavonoid fraction (BPFRF) in aluminum-induced neurotoxicity in rats. Neurotoxicity was induced in male Wistar rats by oral administration of 150 mg/kg body weight of aluminum chloride (AlCl3) for 21 days. Rats were grouped into five (n = 6); Control (untreated), Rivastigmine group, AlCl3 group and BPFRF group (50 and 100 mg/kg b.wt.) for 21 days. Neuronal changes in the hippocampus and cortex were biochemically and histologically evaluated. Expression patterns of acetylcholinesterase...

Malaysian Journal of Applied Sciences, Dec 31, 2019

A cytosolic glutathione S-tranferase from Acidovorax sp. KKS102, a biphenyl/polychlorobiphenyl de... more A cytosolic glutathione S-tranferase from Acidovorax sp. KKS102, a biphenyl/polychlorobiphenyl degrading organism is recently known to have a dehalogenation function on various organochlorine substrates. However, little is known about the specific amino acids involved in this catalytic process. The in silico sitedirected mutagenesis of a highly conserved region; Ala 154 , Asp 155 and Tyr 157 in the C-terminal domain of the cytosolic glutathione S-transferase from Acidovorax sp. was carried out using Deep View/Swiss-Pdb Viewer molecular graphics program for all the proteinogenic amino acids. Sustitutions at position 154 of Ala for Phe, Trp and Tyr showed tendency of greater effect on the protein. At position 155, substitution of Asp for His, Phe, Trp and Tyr have greater effect on the 3D model of the protein. For substitution of Tyr at position 157, only Pro substitution showed greater effect on the protein model. The amino acid substitutions in this region may likely affect the theoretical 3D model of the transferase protein entity through alterations of some stabilization forces which may in turn affect the structural stability and perhaps the activity of the enzyme.

Journal of Periodontal Research, 2009

Periodontitis is an infective disease caused predominantly by gram-negative anerobes. The host in... more Periodontitis is an infective disease caused predominantly by gram-negative anerobes. The host inflammatory response to these bacteria causes alveolar bone loss, which characterizes periodontitis. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids have recognized anti-inflammatory effects; their oxygenated derivatives are key mediators in reducing inflammation. In this study we tested the hypothesis that dietary supplementation with tuna fish oil rich in the n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid, docosahexaenoic acid, would reduce alveolar bone loss in mice inoculated with periodontopathic bacteria.

Alliance for African Partnership Perspectives

Although dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is prominent in the ban list of the Stockholm Conv... more Although dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is prominent in the ban list of the Stockholm Convention on the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), there is recently an emergence of reports indicating the re-surfacing of residual DDT in the domestic waters and some commonly consumed food items. This indicated a progressive increase in the burden of DDT in the ecosystem. In this paper, we report the isolation and characterization of a bacterial strain with the ability to degrade and utilize p,p’-DDT as a sole carbon source. The strain was isolated from a tropical irrigation site and tentatively identified as Bacillus velezensis strain MY 83295S. This strain demonstrated a mesophilic nature in its aerobic degradation and utilization of the p,p’-DDT contaminant. Additionally, a low Fe concentration enhances the strain’s ability to degrade and utilize p,p’-DDT. While Cu, Pb, Hg, Ag and Cr ions have demonstrated various patterns of an inhibitory effect on the strain’s p,p’-DDT degradati...

Infection and Drug Resistance

Background: Resistance to antifungal drugs for treating Candida infections remains a major concer... more Background: Resistance to antifungal drugs for treating Candida infections remains a major concern globally despite the range of medications available. Most of these drugs target key proteins essential to the life cycle of the organism. An enzyme essential for fungal cell membrane integrity, lanosterol 14-α demethylase (CYP51), is encoded by the ERG11 gene in Candida species. This enzyme is the target of azole-based drugs. The organism has, however, devised molecular adaptations to evade the activity of these drugs. Materials and Methods: Classical methods were employed to characterize clinical isolates sampled from women and dogs of reproductive age. For fluconazole efficacy studies, CLSI guidelines on drug susceptibility testing were used. To understand the susceptibility pattern, various molecular and structural analytic approaches, including sequencing, in silico site-directed mutagenesis, and protein-ligand profiling, were applied to the ERG11 gene and CYP51 protein sequences. Several platforms, comprising Clustal Omega, Pymol plugin manager, Pymol molecular visualizer, Chimera-curated Dynameomics rotamer library, protein-ligand interaction profiler, Charmm36 force field, GROMACS, Geneious, and Mega7, were employed for this analysis. Results: The following Candida species distribution was obtained: 37.84% C. albicans, 8.12% C. glabrata, 10.81% C. krusei, 5.41% C. tropicalis, and 37.84% of other unidentified Candida species. Two codons in the nucleotide sequence of the wild-type (CTC and CCA) coding for LEU-370 and PRO-375, respectively, were mutated to L370S and P375H in the resistant strain. The mutation stabilized the protein at the expense of the heme moiety. We found that the susceptible isolate from dogs (Can-iso-029/dog) is closely related to the most resistant isolate from humans. Conclusion: Taken together, our results showed new mutations in the heme-binding pocket of caCYP51 that explain the resistance to fluconazole exhibited by the Candida isolates. So far, the L370S and P375H resistance-linked mutations have not been previously reported.

Journal of Herbs, Spices & Medicinal Plants, 1996

... J. Sci. Fd & Agric. 27:928-932. 5. Dalziel, J. I948. The Useful Plants ofWesrAﬁica. In J.... more ... J. Sci. Fd & Agric. 27:928-932. 5. Dalziel, J. I948. The Useful Plants ofWesrAﬁica. In J. Hutchison and J. Dalziel, ed. Flora of West Tropical Africa. Oxford Press. Londoon. pp. 5-9. 6. Eggelings, WJ I952. The Indigrenous Trees of/he Uganda Prntectorate Government. ...