NEW MORINGA-COVID RESEARCH PUBLISHED IN 2021

We are pleased to report that as of July 2021 more research on moringa and COVID-19 was underway and several new studies had been published with promising results.  This further supports our original idea, advanced early in the pandemic, that moringa should receive high priority for investigation as a potential multi-functional therapeutic agent for treatment of COVID-19 infections.

Other new publications indicate that inclusion of moringa in the diet may also reduce the risk of infections and support patients by improving their nutritional status. 

These studies are summarized below with excerpts from the abstracts and reference citations.

 

 

Identification of Compounds Active Against Drug Targets

Most of the recent research has focused on investigations of the ability of various natural compounds (phytochemicals) in Moringa oleifera to bind with and inhibit the main protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2.  This is an enzyme critical to the replication of the virus, and therefore a prime target for antiviral drugs.  The intestinal absorption, clearance time and toxicity of these compounds has also been investigated with favorable results.

  1. Three flavonoid compounds from oleifera – isorhamnetin, kaempferol and apigenin have shown binding properties with Mpro that were similar to those of baicalein, a known inhibitor of the viral protease. This an indication that different components of the plant have emerged as a potential preventive and therapeutic agents for COVID-19 (Sen et al 2021).
  2. In a study to explore the possibility of producing an effective treatment for COVID-19, Ullah and Ullah (2021) found that the flocculating protein from oleifera binds to Mpro reducing its flexibility at domain junctions and the motion necessary for dimerization. The catalytic functions of the proteinase are dependent on its dimeric form.
  3. Shaji et al. (2021) investigated the binding properties of 12 compounds from oleifera on Mpro. Among the 12 compounds, niaziminin was found to bind the strongest to the protease and binding can be enhanced by adding a hydroxyl group into the niaziminin. The authors of the study proposed that these niaziminin derivatives could be promising candidate drugs for the treatment of COVID-19.
  4. Umar et al. (2021) used molecular docking techniques to assess inhibitory effects of some bioactive phytochemicals from oleifera and other plants against Mpro. The investigated phytochemicals exhibited relative inhibitory potentials against this proteinase and they had preferred pharmacological features when compared with hydroxychloroquine. Their findings indicated that these compounds are potential antiviral candidates against SARS-CoV-2.
  5. Mathpal et al. (2021) constructed a library of 294 filtered phytochemicals of oleifera and carried out molecular docking (MD) studies to investigate their binding interactions with Mpro. Additional studies were performed on the four compounds with the highest binding energy scores. ADMET prediction was analyzed to determine the therapeutic aspects of the compounds and indicated that all four would have minimal toxic effects and good absorption. Vicenin-2 had the highest binding affinity as compared to the reference molecule.  Molecular dynamics simulation of the compounds showed that Kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside and Vitexin had good stability with Mpro and very good binding free energy.  These promising outcomes from MD  simulations evidence the worth of these compounds for development therapeutic agents for COVID-19.
  6. Using quantum chemical, molecular docking and dynamic methods Muhammad et al. (2021) investigated potential antiviral compounds from Moringa oliefera. Ellagic acid and apigenin were found to have the highest binding affinities. These compounds also had the highest intestinal absorption and total clearance rate compared to the other compounds under investigation without any toxicity.

 

Dietary Intake of Moringa and COVID

  1. The incidence of COVID-19 and the number of deaths from the disease in sub-Saharan Africa is lower than that of North Africa, Europe and North America and many other parts of the world where there are higher rates of metabolic syndrome and related diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. Losso et al. (2021) speculated that this pattern may relate to the relatively young age of populations in sub-Saharan Africa and their native plant-based diet that includes whole grains and a wide variety of fruits and vegetables including moringa leaves.  This diet may reduce the rate of metabolic syndrome and diabetes, diseases that contribute to more severe COVID infections.
  2. In Madagascar, malnutrition and the percentage of stunted children under age five is extremely high and the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to increase the risk of all forms of malnutrition, especially in low-income countries, like Madagascar, with serious intergenerational repercussions. Moringa is being promoted as a highly nutritious, sustainable alternative food source to counteract food insecurity and malnutrition (Conti et al. 2021).

 

Use of Moringa as a Bioactive Agent on Facemasks

Face masks made from cloth fabrics are routinely used for protection against COVID-19 infections.  Nanofiber fabrics manufactured by electrospinning may be most suitable for this application because of their better filtration efficiency and breathability. Their electrospinning manufacturing process also provides opportunities for fine tuning of the surface functionality through polymer chemistry and encapsulation of a layer of bioactive agents such as moringa and curcumin) in single step process has been proposed (Sundhari et al. 2021).

 

References Cited

Conti, M. V., Kalmpourtzidou, A., Lambiase, S., De Giuseppe, R., & Cena, H. (2021). Novel Foods and Sustainability as Means to Counteract Malnutrition in Madagascar. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland), 26(8), 2142. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26082142

Hamza, M., Ali, A., Khan, S., Ahmed, S., Attique, Z., Ur Rehman, S., Khan, A., Ali, H., Rizwan, M., Munir, A., Khan, A. M., Siddique, F., Mehmood, A., Nouroz, F., & Khan, S. (2021). nCOV-19 peptides mass fingerprinting identification, binding, and blocking of inhibitors flavonoids and anthraquinone of Moringa oleifera and hydroxychloroquine. Journal of biomolecular structure & dynamics, 39(11), 4089–4099. https://doi.org/10.1080/07391102.2020.1778534

Losso, J. N., Losso, M. N., Toc, M., Inungu, J. N., & Finley, J. W. (2021). The Young Age and Plant-Based Diet Hypothesis for Low SARS-CoV-2 Infection and COVID-19 Pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa. Plant foods for human nutrition (Dordrecht, Netherlands), 1–11. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11130-021-00907-6

Mathpal, S., Sharma, P., Joshi, T., Joshi, T., Pande, V., & Chandra, S. (2021). Screening of potential bio-molecules from Moringa olifera against SARS-CoV-2 main protease using computational approaches. Journal of biomolecular structure & dynamics, 1–12. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/07391102.2021.1936183

Muhammad, S., Hassan, S. H., Al-Sehemi, A. G., Shakir, H. A., Khan, M., Irfan, M., & Iqbal, J. (2021). Exploring the new potential antiviral constituents of Moringa oliefera for SARS-COV-2 pathogenesis: An in silico molecular docking and dynamic studies. Chemical physics letters, 767, 138379. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cplett.2021.138379

Sen, D., Bhaumik, S., Debnath, P., & Debnath, S. (2021). Potentiality of Moringa oleifera against SARS-CoV-2: identified by a rational computer aided drug design method. Journal of biomolecular structure & dynamics, 1–18. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/07391102.2021.1898475

Shaji, D., Yamamoto, S., Saito, R., Suzuki, R., Nakamura, S., & Kurita, N. (2021). Proposal of novel natural inhibitors of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 main protease: Molecular docking and ab initio fragment molecular orbital calculations. Biophysical chemistry, 275, 106608. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpc.2021.106608

Sundhari, D., Dhineshbabu, N. R., Sutha, S., & Raja Saravanan, M. E. (2021). Encapsulation of bioactive agent (Curcumin, Moringa) in electrospun nanofibers – Some insights into recent research trends. Materials today. Proceedings, 46, 2682–2685. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2021.02.367

Ullah, A., & Ullah, K. (2021). Inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 3CL Mpro by Natural and Synthetic Inhibitors: Potential Implication for Vaccine Production Against COVID-19. Frontiers in molecular biosciences, 8, 640819. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmolb.2021.640819

Umar, H. I., Josiah, S. S., Saliu, T. P., Jimoh, T. O., Ajayi, A., & Danjuma, J. B. (2021). In-silico analysis of the inhibition of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease by some active compounds from selected African plants. Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences, 16(2), 162–176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtumed.2020.12.005

 

This page was last updated on July 13, 2021.

 

 
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