Previously I posted about hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and COVID-19. Yesterday I found two papers that explain how polyphenols (plant-based antioxidants) play their important function of protecting cells from damage by oxidizing H2S into polysulfide chains.1,2 I have also been finding lots of reviews about COVID therapies with quinone-related structures (oxygen molecules hanging from a benzene ring) like thymoquinone (found in Nigella black seed oil),3 quercetin4 and other flavonoids;5,6 as well as drugs with aryl β-hydroxy-carbonyl motifs like doxycycline and niclosamide.7 Even the notorious Ivermectin has one of these motifs, as well as being full of weird heterocyclic oxygen structures.
“This structural motif is resident in a large number of diverse biological natural products isolated from plants, fungus and bacteria, and it is resident in multiple approved medicines across a variety of therapeutic categories.8”
I can’t say for sure if it’s a meaningful connection, but it sure sees to be an interesting coincidence!
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Olson et al. (2021). ‘Antioxidant’ Berries, Anthocyanins, Resveratrol and Rosmarinic Acid Oxidize Hydrogen Sulfide to Polysulfides and Thiosulfate: A Novel Mechanism Underlying Their Biological Actions. ↩︎
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Olson et al. (2021). Oxidation of Hydrogen Sulfide by Quinones: How Polyphenols Initiate Their Cytoprotective Effects. ↩︎
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Badary et al. (2021) Thymoquinone: A Promising Natural Compound with Potential Benefits for COVID-19 Prevention and Cure. ↩︎
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Di Pierro et al. (2021). Potential Clinical Benefits of Quercetin in the Early Stage of COVID-19: Results of a Second, Pilot, Randomized, Controlled and Open-Label Clinical Trial. ↩︎
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Liskova et al. (2021). Flavonoids against the SARS-CoV-2 induced inflammatory storm. ↩︎
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Kaul et al. (2021). Promising Antiviral Activities of Natural Flavonoids against SARS-CoV-2 Targets: Systematic Review ↩︎
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Al-kuraishy et al. (2021). Niclosamide for Covid-19: bridging the gap. ↩︎
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Chen et al. (2018). Niclosamide: Beyond an antihelminthic drug. ↩︎