What is it about?

Microorganisms are capable of converting a whole range of organic compounds into their modified derivatives. Microorganisms such as Fungi, bacteria, and yeast have been utilized successfully as in vitro models to mimic and predicts the metabolic fate of drugs and other xenobiotics in mammalian systems. In the current study, tibolone was subjected to microbial transformation, and the difference between microbial transformation and human metabolism was studied. As a result of fermentation for 12 days, we discovered antidiabetic and skin whitening agents as transformed products of tibolone. we have used Alpha-glucosidase and tyrosinase enzyme inhibition assay in order to find potent agents for type 2 diabetes and hyperpigmentation.

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Why is it important?

Microbial transformation is an effective tool to synthesize many steroidal drugs with potential biological activities. Microorganisms are capable of producing unique enzymes which are stable towards heat, alkali, and acids. It is a powerful tool for the generation of novel steroidal drugs with their therapeutically and commercially advantageous products. It is a cost-efficient manufacturing process. Microorganisms have great potential for inducing many alternatives of innovative and improvised enzyme systems which are capable of converting unfamiliar substrates. It remains one of the outstanding applications of Green Chemistry within the pharmaceutical industry.

Perspectives

Working on this project and writing this article was a great experience for me. This article is related to Type 2 diabetes mellitus, which is a metabolic disease characterized by hyperglycemia. It is one of the most common noncommunicable diseases, rising to epidemic proportions globally, and undoubtedly one of the most challenging public health problems in the twenty-first​ century.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Syed Adnan Ali Shah
Universiti Teknologi MARA

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This page is a summary of: Alpha-glucosidase and tyrosinase inhibitors from fungal hydroxylation of tibolone and hydroxytibolones, Steroids, December 2010, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.steroids.2010.05.017.
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