Oliver Baluran Villaflores

University of Santo Tomas | UST · Department of Chemistry

Pathologic hyperreactive inflammatory responses occur when there is excessive activation of a proinflammatory NF-κB pathway and a reduced cytoprotective NRF2 cascade. The noncytotoxic, highly selective COX-2 inhibitory flavonol-enriched butanol fraction (UaB) from Uvaria alba (U. alba) was investigated for its inflammatory modulating potential by t...

Hyperreactive inflammatory response occurs when there is excessive activation of NF-κB leading to a pathologic cascade of inflammatory reactions. Thus, we investigated the inflammatory modulating potentials of the Philippine medicinal endemic plant Uvaria alba. ELISA was initially performed to measure levels of proinflammatory mediators (NO and PGE...

The phenolic natural product magnolol exhibits neuroprotective properties through β-amyloid toxicity in PC-12 cells and ameliorative effects against cognitive deficits in a TgCRND8 transgenic mice model. Its bioavailability and blood–brain barrier crossing ability have been significantly improved using the metal–organic framework (MOF) UiO-66(Zr) a...

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the intraocular pressure (IOP) reduction efficiency of hyaluronic acid-chitosan-latanoprost link nanoparticle (HA-CS-latanoprost link NP) formulated eye drops. Methods: The IOP reduction study was performed in 24 normotensive albino rabbits. The test animals were randomized and grouped according...

DNA methylation plays several roles in regulating neuronal proliferation, differentiation, and physiological functions. The major de novo methyltransferase, DNMT3, controls the DNA methylation pattern in neurons according to environmental stimulations and behavioral regulations. Previous studies demonstrated that knockout of Dnmt3 induced mouse anx...

Donepezil (DPZ) is an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor used for the clinical treatment of mild cognitive impairment. However, DPZ has been reported to have adverse effects, including causing abnormal cardiac rhythm, insomnia, vomiting, and muscle cramps. However, the existence of these effects in subjects without Dementia is unknown. In this study, w...

Donepezil (DPZ) is an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor used for the clinical treatment of mild cognitive impairment. However, DPZ has been reported to have adverse effects, including abnormal cardiac rhythm, insomnia, vomiting, and muscle cramps. However, the existence of these effects in subjects without Dementia is unknown. In this study, we use ze...

Graphene and its oxide are nanomaterials considered currently to be very promising because of their great potential applications in various industries. The exceptional physiochemical properties of graphene, particularly thermal conductivity, electron mobility, high surface area, and mechanical strength, promise development of novel or enhanced tech...

The noteworthy intensification in the development of nanotechnology has led to the development of various types of nanoparticles. The diverse applications of these nanoparticles make them desirable candidate for areas such as drug delivery, coasmetics, medicine, electronics, and contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and so on. Iron o...

The available arable land is unable to fulfill the food production need of rapidly the exponentially growing human population in the world. Pesticides are one of those different measures taken to meet this demand. As a plant growth regulator to block gibberellin, paclobutrazol (PBZ) is used excessively throughout the world to promote early fruit se...

Ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation has drawn more attention over these past few decades since it causes severe DNA damage and induces inflammatory response. Serial gene profiling and high throughput data in UVB-associated phenomenon in human cultured cells or full rack of human skin have been investigated. However, results using different tissue models...

Bioavailability plays an important role in drug activity in the human body, as certain drug amounts should be present to elicit activity. However, low bioavailability of drugs leads to negligible use for human benefit. In this study, the diversely active neolignan, magnolol, was impregnated onto a Zr-based organometallic framework [Uio-66(Zr)] to i...

A T-maze test is an experimental approach that is used in congenital research. However, the food reward-based protocol for the T-maze test in fish has low efficiency and a long training period. The aim of this study is to facilitate the T-maze conditions by using a combination of the principles of passive avoidance and a spatial memory test. In our...

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is an intracellular energy sensor important in metabolic regulation, cell growth, and survival. However, the specific role of AMPK signaling pathway in the inhibition of angiogenesis remains unclear. The study highlights the activity on AMP activated protein kinase signaling pathways of a marine algae, Gracilaria...

Background Electrophilic compounds bearing Michael acceptors present great promise in anticancer drug discovery. Methods Drawing inspirations from cytotoxic Piper lactam alkaloids, twelve N-acylated butyro- and valerolactams were prepared and evaluated for antiproliferative and cytotoxic activities against the normal human umbilical vein endotheli...

Aging and lifestyle factors, including high-sugar and high-fat diets, promote a systemic metabolic imbalance that promotes neurodegeneration. Hericium erinaceus has long been used in traditional Chinese medicine. Recently, its functional activities, such as antimetabolic dysfunction, antineuroinflammatory activities, and stimulation of nerve growth...

Iron, the most abundant transition metal ion in human, participates in biosynthesis, translocation, signal transduction, and transformation of nitric oxide through its encapsulation in the form of heme, [Fe-S], and [Fe(NO)2] cofactors within a variety of enzymes and proteins. After the review on nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and soluble guanylate cyc...

The methanolic extract of Callyspongia samarensis (MCS) significantly inhibited β-secretase 1 (IC50 99.82 µg/mL) in a dose-dependent manner and demonstrated a noncompetitive type of inhibition. Furthermore, it exhibited the highest AMPK activation (EC50 14.47 μg/mL) as compared with the standard, Aspirin (EC50 >100 μg/mL). HPLC/ESI-MS analysis of M...

Background: Glutathione is a major antioxidant in the body that serves as a substrate for conjugation reactions and regulates cell proliferation. Low levels of glutathione have been linked to cancer, liver problems and other chronic diseases. Studies have shown that oral supplementation is not effective in increasing the glutathione level in the bo...

In this work, coconut coir fibers, which are a good source of lignocellulosic biomass with a composition of 34.80% glucan, 18.30% xylan, 35.80% lignin and 8.70% extractives, were successfully pretreated with ammonium carbonate solution (20 and 25 wt.%) at 80°C for 4, 8 and 12 h working time at laboratory scale. The maximum yield of enzymatic hydrol...

In order to reduce the CO2 produced from the combustion of fossil fuel, bioethanol produced from biomass can serve as an alternative fuel. Rice husk, known as a widely available lignocellulosic biomass and one of the most prominent agricultural residues would be a suitable alternative. For producing bioethanol and improving enzymatic hydrolysis, th...

Coconut coir fibers, which analyzed 34.8% glucan, 18.3% xylan, 35.8% lignin and 8.7% extractives, were pretreated with acidified aqueous glycerol (10% water) at a solid/liquid ratio loading of 1:20 and 1:30, a temperature of 130 °C and 60,30, and 15 min contact time. The maximum yield of glucan digestibility was 79.7% and 81.8% for the respective s...

Rice husk as an abundant biomass was used in this study, and it contained 30.1% glucan and 13.5% xylan, 22.4% lignin. The pretreated rice husk with glycerol carbonate and acidified aqueous glycerol (10% water) at 90°C and 130°C for 60min had the maximum yield of glucan digestibility which was 78.2% and 69.7% respectively, using cellulase for 72h. T...

Insect cells have been extensively used for the production of recombinant proteins. The baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS) are routinely used both in laboratories and in industries for the production of recombinant proteins. However, it has been established that secretory proteins can be produced more efficiently in the non-lytic, plasmid-...

Tuberculosis is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, more than HIV and malaria. New TB cases are emerging, including multidrug-resistant TB. The development of antimycobacterial assays led to the discovery of secondary metabolites that elicit promising inhibitory activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This review covers literature pu...

The anti-angiotensin I converting enzyme activity of box jellyfish, Chiropsalmus quadrigatus Haeckel venom hydrolysate was studied. The venom extract was obtained by centrifugation and ultrasonication. Protein concentration of 12.99 μg/mL was determined using Bradford assay. The pepsin and papain hydrolysate was tested for its toxicity by Limit tes...

Objective: To determine the toxicity profile, anti-angiogenic and antibacterial activity of the crude and semi-crude leaf extracts of Tinomiscium philippinense (T. philippinense). Methods: The leaves of T. philippinense were extracted with methanol and partitioned with solvents of different polarities, namely, hexane, dichloromethane and butanol. T...

The antibacterial and angiogenic potentials of the saponin-containing n-butanol extract and fractions of Schefflera luzoniensis were assessed using paper disc-diffusion, MABA and chicken chorioallantoic membrane assays. Moderately strong zone of inhibitions and a 50µg/mL minimum inhibitory concentration were observed for the n-butanol sub-extract a...

Clostridial botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) is one of the most toxic proteins causing the food borne disease, botulism. In previous studies, recombinant BoNT production by E. coli and yeast P. pastoris has been hampered by high AT content and codon bias in the gene encoding BoNT and required a synthetic gene to resolve this intrinsic bottleneck. This p...

Alzheimer disease (AD) is by far the most common cause of dementia globally. This neurodegenerative disorder of the brain is chronic and progressive, characterized clinically by the deterioration in the key symptoms of behavioral and cognitive abilities. Treatment options for this disease currently are limited. Deposition of amyloid-β and tau hyper...

This study aims to determine the effects of curcumin and demethoxycurcumin on the internal ribosome entry site of the amyloid-β precursor protein (APP) and tau protein through a bi-cistronic reporter assay for screening of anti-Alzheimer's disease agents. A bi-cistronic assay was performed wherein the expression of the first cistron, a β-galactosid...

Baculoviruses are one of the most studied insect viruses both in basic virology research and in biotechnology applications. Incorporating an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) into the baculovirus genome generates bi-cistronic baculoviruses expression vectors that produce two genes of interest. The bi-cistronic baculoviruses also facilitate recomb...

The interaction between the synaptic adhesion molecules neuroligins and neurexins is essential for connecting the pre- and post-synaptic neurons, modulating neuronal signal transmission, and facilitating neuronal axogenesis. Here, we describe the simultaneous expression of the extracellular domain of rat neuroligin-1 (NL1) proteins along with the e...

A bi-cistronic baculovirus-insect/larval system containing a polyhedron promoter, an internal ribosome entry site (IRES), and an egfp gene was developed as a cost-effective platform for the production of recombinant human interferon gamma (rhIFN-γ). There was no significant difference between the amounts of rhIFN-γ produced in the baculovirus-infec...

Alpinia purpurata or red ginger was studied for its phytochemical constituents as part of our growing interest on Philippine Zingiberaceae plants that may exhibit antimycobacterial activity. The hexane and dichloromethane subextracts of the leaves were fractionated and purified using silica gel chromatography to afford a mixture of C(28)-C(32) fatt...

Numerous species of the Apocynaceous genus Voacanga Thouars have been demonstrated to elaborate a host of indole alkaloids that display various structural complexities and a wide array of biological activities. Monoterpenoid indole alkaloids are nitrogenous metabolites borne from the biosynthetic union of tryptophan and the terpene-derived iridoid,...