Soroush Sardari

Bio: Soroush Sardari is an academic researcher from Pasteur Institute of Iran. The author has contributed to research in topics: Antimicrobial & Antimycobacterial. The author has an hindex of 22, co-authored 166 publications receiving 2165 citations. Previous affiliations of Soroush Sardari include University of Saskatchewan & Shahid Beheshti University.

Irreversible changes in protein conformation due to interaction with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles

Abstract: The understanding of the interactions between nanomaterials and proteins is of extreme importance in medicine. In a biological fluid, proteins can adsorb and associate with nanoparticles, which can have significant impact on the biological behavior of the proteins and the nanoparticles. We report here on the interactions of iron saturated human transferrin protein with both bare and polyvinyl alcohol coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs). The exposure of human transferrin to SPIONs results in the release of iron, which changes the main function of the protein, which is the transport of iron among cells. After removal of the magnetic nanoparticles, the original protein conformation is not recovered, indicating irreversible changes in transferrin conformation: from a compact to an open structure.

Application of antimicrobial peptides in agriculture and food industry

Abstract: Antimicrobial peptides have captured the attention of researchers in recent years because of their efficiency in fighting against pathogens. These peptides are found in nature and have been isolated from a wide range of organisms. Furthermore, analogs or synthetic derivatives have successfully been developed on the basis of natural peptide patterns. Long use of pesticides and antibiotics has led to development of resistance among pathogens and other pests as well as increase of environmental and health risks. Antimicrobial peptides are under consideration as new substitutes for conventional pesticides and antibiotics. Many plants and animals have been manipulated with antimicrobial peptide-encoding genes and several pesticides and drugs have been produced based on these peptides. Such strategies and products may still have a long way to go before being confirmed by regulatory bodies and others need to surmount technical problems before being accepted as applicable ones. In spite of these facts, several cases of successful use of antimicrobial peptides in agriculture and food industry indicate a promising future for extensive application of these peptides. In this review, we consider the developing field of antimicrobial peptide applications in various agricultural activities.

In vitro and in vivo anti-malarial activity of Boerhavia elegans and Solanum surattense

Abstract: There is an urgent need to identify new anti-malarial drug targets for both prophylaxis and chemotherapy, due to the increasing problem of drug resistance to malaria parasites. In the present study, the aim was to discover novel, effective plant-based extracts for the activity against malaria. Ten plants found in Iran were selected by ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants. The crude ethanolic extracts were tested for in vitro anti-plasmodial activity against two strains of Plasmodium falciparum: K1 (chloroquine-resistant strain) and CY27 (chloroquine-sensitive strain), using the parasite lactate dehydrogenase (pLDH) assay. The anti-plasmodial activity of the extracts was also assessed in the 4-day suppressive anti-malarial assay in mice inoculated with Plasmodium berghei (ANKA strain). Crude ethanolic extracts showed good anti-plasmodial activity were further fractionated by partitioning in water and dichloromethane. Of 10 plant species assayed, three species: Boerhavia elegans (Choisy), Solanum surattense (Burm.f.) and Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) showed promising anti-plasmodial activity in vitro (IC50 ≤ 50 μg/ml) and in vivo with no toxicity. The dichloromethane fraction of three extracts revealed stronger anti-plasmodial activity than the total extracts. Anti-plasmodial activities of extracts of B. elegans and S. surattense are reported for the first time.

In vitro antiplasmodial and phytochemical study of five Artemisia species from Iran and in vivo activity of two species.

Abstract: The extract from Artemisia annua, containing artemisinin, has been proven active against multidrug resistant Plasmodium falciparum in previous studies. The purpose of this paper was to study five Artemisia species from Iran for their in vitro and in vivo antimalarial property and detection of artemisinin in the active species by chromatographic and spectroscopic methods including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Dried plants were extracted by 80% ethanol, and total extracts were investigated for antiplasmodial property and artemisinin content by TLC, HPLC, and 1H-NMR techniques. Two plants (A. annua L. and Artemisia absinthium L.) showed good antiplasmodial activity against multidrug resistant and sensitive strain of P. falciparum. A. absinthium and A. annua at concentrations of 200 mg/kg for 4 days reduced parasitemia in BALB/C mice infected with Plasmodium bergei by 94.28% and 83.28%, respectively, but we could not detect artemisinin in all plants studied in this research. The antiplasmodial property of these two herbs is possibly related to essential oils that present in high amounts in their extracts.

The Future of Peptide‐based Drugs

Abstract: The suite of currently used drugs can be divided into two categories - traditional 'small molecule' drugs with typical molecular weights of 5000 Da that are not orally bioavailable and need to be delivered via injection. Due to their small size, conventional small molecule drugs may suffer from reduced target selectivity that often ultimately manifests in human side-effects, whereas protein therapeutics tend to be exquisitely specific for their targets due to many more interactions with them, but this comes at a cost of low bioavailability, poor membrane permeability, and metabolic instability. The time has now come to reinvestigate new drug leads that fit between these two molecular weight extremes, with the goal of combining advantages of small molecules (cost, conformational restriction, membrane permeability, metabolic stability, oral bioavailability) with those of proteins (natural components, target specificity, high potency). This article uses selected examples of peptides to highlight the importance of peptide drugs, some potential new opportunities for their exploitation, and some difficult challenges ahead in this field.

Protein-nanoparticle interactions: opportunities and challenges.

Abstract: Protein Nanoparticle Interactions: Opportunities and Challenges Morteza Mahmoudi,* Iseult Lynch, Mohammad Reza Ejtehadi, Marco P. Monopoli, Francesca Baldelli Bombelli, and Sophie Laurent National Cell Bank, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran Nanotechnology Research Center, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran School of Chemistry and Chemical Biology & Conway Institute for Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland Department of Physics, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran School of Pharmacy, UEA, Norwich Research Park, Norwich,U.K. Department of General, Organic, and Biomedical Chemistry, NMR and Molecular Imaging Laboratory, University of Mons, Avenue Maistriau 19, B-7000 Mons, Belgium