Posted by admin on Aug 31, 2015 in |
The alkaloid piperine from the spice family Piperaceae has been reported to possess poly-pharmacological activities including anti-depressant and cognitive enhancing effects. It has been suggested that its neurocognitive benefits may be via its activity on the cholinergic system, particularly on the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE), a pharmacological target for neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The paucity of information on the potential mechanism of inhibition of acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE), also a primary target for drug development for the treatment of AD, prompted this in vitro investigation. Dose-dependent inhibition of AChE and BuChE by piperine was determined using a modified classic colorimetric method of Ellman. Kinetics of inhibition was determined by Lineweaver-Burk methods. Piperine inhibited both AChE and BuChE in a concentration dependent manner with IC50 values of 0.12 mM and 0.067mM, respectively. Piperine exhibited a higher selectivity towards BuChE with a BuChE/AChE ratio of 0.56mM. Kinetic values for AChE classify piperine as a competitive inhibitor whereas the values for BuChE classify it as a mixed inhibitor. Compared to...
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Posted by admin on Aug 31, 2015 in |
Background: Stem cells have great potential in regenerative medicine due to their multipotentiality. Treatments involving cell sheets for tissue reconstruction require a large number of cells to repair the tissue damage, and the cells are fragile. Combined with a porous chitosan scaffold (PCS), adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs), which are ubiquitous, can be delivered to a target tissue in vivo. This approach provides mechanical support to the skin until the normal tissue is regenerated. In the present study, ASCs were characterized and tested for their viability on a PCS in vitro prior to in vivo application. Results: The ASCs expressed CD29, CD73, CD90 and CD105 but did not express CD34, as demonstrated by immunocytochemistry. Most of the ASCs were found to be viable on the PCS at 24 and 72 hours of culture. These results suggest that ASCs seeded on a PCS have high viability, allowing ASCs to be enriched for therapeutic applications. Conclusions: This qualitative study has proven ASCs were able to survive on PCS as indicated by the...
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Posted by admin on Aug 31, 2015 in |
The current study focuses on evaluating chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of seed oil of Broussonetia papyrifera; a widely used Chinese medicinal plant. The chemical constituents of the oil were evaluated by GC‑MS analysis. Antimicrobial activity and minimum inhibitory concentrations were determined by disk diffusion and agar dilution methods. The seed oil contains 46 different phytoconstituents where major compounds were hexadecanoic acid (43.6%), heptadecene‑8‑carbonic acid (17.5%) and caryophyllene (8.4%). Seed oil exhibited inhibitory effect on Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus vulgaris, Bacillus cereus, and Enterobacter aerogenes, while it showed no such inhibitory effect on fungal strains. The studies revealed that majority of the compounds in oil were saturated fatty acids and their derivatives. The oil possessed significant antibacterial activity against selected bacterial strains while tested fungal strains were completely resistant to B. papyrifera seed...
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Posted by admin on Aug 31, 2015 in |
Density, ρ and viscosity, η of drug of aqueous solution of propylene glycol (PG) (3 m and 7 m) with tert-butanol/2-propanol have been measured over the entire composition range of alkanols at 308.15 K. From this experimental data, excess molar volume, , deviation in viscosity, Δη, and excess Gibbs free energy of activation of viscous flow, ΔG*E have been determined. Positive values of Δη, ΔG*E and negative values of have been observed over the entire composition range in the mixtures studied. The observed positive and negative values of various excess/deviation properties have been attributed to the existence of strong interactions such as geometrical fitting of smaller molecules into the voids created by larger molecules in the liquid mixtures. The excess/deviation properties have been fitted to Redlich–Kister type polynomial and the corresponding standard deviations have been evaluated. The computed partial and excess partial molar volumes data also support the results. The experimental viscosity data of the liquid mixtures investigated have been correlated with viscosity models such as Grunberg and Nissan;...
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Posted by admin on Aug 31, 2015 in |
Sweitenia mahagoni is a natural medicine used to treat various human ailments including diabetes. The present study is a comprehensive approach which targets more than one locus in the diabetic model to enumerate the anti-diabetic potential of Swietenia mahagoni as claimed by folklore. Oral administration of the aqueous extract of the leaf decreased the fasting blood glucose level (155.2±6.7) from its initial value (309.8±10.5) in diabetic rats. There was improvement in the content of innate antioxidant components viz., glutathione (0.570±0.01) when compared to positive control group (0.28±0.02). The activity liver health marker enzymes in the serum were also decreased in the treated group compared to untreated diabetic group. There was also reduction in body mass loss in treated groups. Thus it can be proposed that Sweitenia mahagoni leaf has potent anti-diabetic activity and the effect may be mediated through increasing the antioxidant strength, improving glycogen content in liver, balancing the lipid components in serum, decreasing the muscle protein catabolism and improved overall...
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