Current Issue : July - September Volume : 2017 Issue Number : 3 Articles : 5 Articles
Background: Androgen deficiency is a clinical syndrome resulting from the inability of the testes to produce\nphysiological levels of testosterone due to a disturbance occurring at one or more levels of the hypothalamicpituitary-\ntesticular axis. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the androgenic properties of aqueous and\nmethanolic extracts of Ficus asperifolia on normal and castrated immature rats.\nMethods: Normal rats were treated either per os with aqueous or methanolic extract of Ficus asperifolia (100 mg/kg\nor 500 mg/kg b.w.), distilled water (10 ml/kg b.w.), 5% Tween 80 (10 ml/kg b.w.) or subcutaneously with\ntestosterone propionate (0.5 mg/kg b.w.). Castrated rats were treated with plant extracts (100 mg/kg b.w. or\n500 mg/kg b.w.) alone or with the co-administration of plant extracts and testosterone propionate (s.c., 0.5 mg/kg\nb.w.) or bicalutamide (2 mg/kg b.w. per os). Animals were treated once a day during four weeks. Body weight\ngrowth and relative sexual organ weights were recorded at the end of each treatment. Some biomedical\nparameters were measured in the plasma (proteins, cholesterol), testes (cholesterol) and epididymis (proteins).\nResults: In normal rats, Ficus asperifolia significantly (p < 0.05) increased the relative weights of the testes and all\nsexual-dependent organs whereas total testicular cholesterol concentration was significantly (p < 0.05) decreased. In\ncastrated groups, treatment with Ficus asperifolia was followed by an increase in the sexual organ weights, epididymal\nprotein and prostatic acid phosphatase concentrations. The co-administration of testosterone and plant extracts\nsignificantly (p < 0.05) increased the weight of accessory sexual organs and epididymal protein contents. In the\npresence of bicalutamide (an anti-androgen), the sexual stimulating activity of Ficus asperifolia was diminished with\nremarkable effects on vas deferens weight (p < 0.05), plasma (p < 0.01) and epididymal (p < 0.05) protein contents.\nConclusion: Ficus asperifolia possesses androgen-like activity through possible stimulation of cytoplasmic and/or\nnuclear receptors by the bioactive compounds found in its extracts....
Background: This study explored Bacopa monnieri, a medicinal Ayurvedic herb, as a cardioprotectant against\nischemia/reperfusion injury using cardiac function and coronary flow as end-points.\nMethods: In normal isolated rat hearts, coronary flow, left ventricular developed pressure, heart rate, and functional\nrecovery were measured using the Langendorff preparation. Hearts were perfused with either (i) Krebs-Henseleit\n(normal) solution, (control), or with 30, 100 Ã?¼g/ml B. monnieri ethanolic extract (30 min), or (ii) with normal solution\nor extract for 10 min preceding no-perfusion ischemia (30 min) followed by reperfusion (30 min) with\nnormal solution. Infarct volumes were measured by triphenyltetrazolium staining. L-type Ca2+-currents (ICa, L)\nwere measured by whole-cell patching in HL-1 cells, a mouse atrial cardiomyocyte cell line. Cytotoxicity of\nB. monnieri was assessed in rat isolated ventricular myocytes by trypan blue exclusion.\nResults: In normally perfused hearts, B. monnieri increased coronary flow by 63 Ã?± 13% (30 Ã?¼g/ml) and 216 Ã?± 21%\n(100 Ã?¼g/ml), compared to control (5 Ã?± 3%) (n = 8ââ?¬â??10, p < 0.001). B. monnieri treatment preceding ischemia/reperfusion\nimproved left ventricular developed pressure by 84 Ã?± 10% (30 Ã?¼g/ml), 82 Ã?± 10% (100 Ã?¼g/ml) and 52 Ã?± 6% (control)\ncompared to pre- ischemia/reperfusion. Similarly, functional recovery showed a sustained increase. Moreover, B.\nmonnieri (100 Ã?¼g/ml) reduced the percentage of infarct size from 51 Ã?± 2% (control) to 25 Ã?± 2% (n = 6-8, p < 0.0001).\nB. monnieri (100 Ã?¼g/ml) reduced ICa, L by 63 Ã?± 4% in HL-1 cells. Ventricular myocyte survival decreased at higher\nconcentrations (50ââ?¬â??1000 Ã?¼g/ml) B. monnieri.\nConclusions: B. monnieri improves myocardial function following ischemia/reperfusion injury through recovery of\ncoronary blood flow, contractile force and decrease in infarct size. Thus this may lead to a novel cardioprotectant\nstrategy....
Papaver libanoticumis an endemic plant to Lebanese region (family Papaveraceae) that has not been investigated before.The present\nstudy aimed to explore the analgesic activity of dried ethanolic extract of Papaver libanoticum (PLE) using tail flick, hot plate, and\nacetic acid induced writhingmodels in mice.The involvement of opioid receptors in the analgesic mechanism was investigated using\nnaloxone antagonism. Results demonstrated that PLE exhibited a potent dose dependent analgesic activity in all tested models\nfor analgesia. The analgesic effect involved activation of opioid receptors in the central nervous system, where both spinal and\nsupraspinal components might be involved.The time course for analgesia revealed maximum activity after three hours in both tail\nflick and hot plate methods, which was prolonged to 24 hours. Metabolites of PLE could be responsible for activation of opioid\nreceptors. The EC50 of PLE was 79 and 50 mg/kg in tail flick and hot plate tests, respectively.The total coverage of analgesia by PLE\nwas double that of morphine in both tests. In conclusion, PLE proved to have opioid agonistic activity with a novel feature of slow\nand prolonged effect.The present study could add a potential tool in the armaments of opioid drugs as a natural potent analgesic\nand for treatment of opioid withdrawal syndrome....
Background: Hyperlipidemia and oxidative stress are major risk factors for atherosclerosis, and all three are among\nthe most important risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Cassia occidentalis aqueous extract has been used in\nAfrican traditional medicine for the treatment of hypertension and associated cardiovascular diseases. This study\nwas undertaken to evaluate the hypolipidemic and anti-atherosclerotic properties of the aqueous extract of the\nleaves of C. occidentalis in rats with hypercholesterolemia (HC).\nSixty Normocholesterolemic (NC) male rats were divided into six groups (n = 10) and fed a high-cholesterol (HC)\ndiet for 30 days (5 groups), or normal rat chow (normal control group). The plant extract was administered to\nanimals at the increasing dose of 240, 320 and 400 mg/kg. After 4 weeks of treatment 5 rats out of 10 were\nsacrificed, blood samples, aorta, liver, and fresh faecal were collected and processed for biochemical tests. The\nexperiments were conducted under the same conditions with a group of rat treated with Atorvastatin (1 mg/kg),\nused positive control. The effects of C. occidentalis on weight gain, water and food consumptions, levels of serum\nlipids and lipoprotein lipid oxidation and stress markers in blood and liver were also examined.\nResults: A significant body weight gain was observed in general in all the group of animals without any treatment\nafter 4 weeks. During the treatment period, the C. occidentalis extract induced a significant increase (P < 0.01) in\nwater consumption and food intakes. After 4 weeks of treatment with hypercholesterolemia, the body temperature\nand organ weights including the liver, kidney, heart and the testis did not present any significant change. The\nadministration of C. occidentalis extract significantly (p < 0.05) prevented the elevation in TC, LDL-C, VLDL-C, hepatic\nand aortic TG and TC. The atherogenic, triglycerides, and lipid peroxidation (TBARS) index were also decreased in\nthe rats treated with the plant extract. C. occidentalis favoured the performance of faecal cholesterol. It also\nsignificantly inhibited the changes and the formation of aortic atherosclerotic plaques.\nConclusion: This study provides evidence of hypolipidemic and antiatherosclerotic effects of C. occidentalis extract.\nC. occidenntalis aqueous extract reduced bad cholesterols, triglycerides and increasing good cholesterols in rats\nsubjected to a feeding regime enriched with cholesterol. The results support the traditional use of the extract of\nthis plant in the treatment of hypertension and diabetes....
Present study was aimed to evaluate the phytochemical and anti-cancer activity of Nerium oleander leaves in selected cell lines in-vitro. Nerium oleander leaves were collected from local cultivating areas near to Anantapuramu, shade dried, mechanically made into powder. The powder was subjected to extraction by cold maceration method. The methanolic extract of Nerium oleander leaves was subjected to preliminary pharmacognostic and phytochemical screening using standard methods. In-vitro anticancer activity of Nerium oleander leaves was performed on K-562-Human chronic myelogenous leukaemia, Bone marrow, A549 - Human lung carcinoma and LNCap-FGC - Human Carcinoma Prostate by MTT assay method at a concentration of 50, 100 and 200 micrograms per ml using MTT assay. The percentage yield of Nerium oleander leaves found to be 18 % w/w. Preliminary phytochemical screening of Nerium oleander leaves revealed the presence of tannins, alkaloids, glycosides and flavonoids. In anti-cancer activity, the plant extract showed IC50 value of 169.06 µgm/ml for K-562-Human chronic myelogenous leukaemia, Bone marrow, 156.15 µgm/ml for A549 - Human lung carcinoma and 145.85 µgm/ml for LNCap-FGC - Human Carcinoma Prostate. The present study reveals the anti-cancer activity of Nerium oleander leaves....
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