Posted by admin on Dec 1, 2014 in |
The decoction of Simarouba amara stem bark has been used to treat malaria, inflammation, diarrhea and as tonic. The aim of this study was to evaluate acute and subacute toxicities of the aqueous extract of S. amara stem bark (SAAE) in rats and mice, respectively. For the acute toxicity test, the SAAE was administered in a single oral dose of 2.0 g/kg (n = 5/group/sex) and in the subacute, the following doses were used: 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0 g/kg/day (n = 12/group/sex, p.o.), for 30 consecutive days. In the acute toxicity, SAAE did not produce mortality nor clinical signs of toxicity. The subacute treatment did not alter water intake, however, in the last week there were reductions body mass gain of males and females treated with the highest dose. The males showed increased levels of total protein and albumin (all doses), of alkaline phosphatase and total bilirubin (doses of 0.5 and 1.0 g/kg) and leukocytosis (1.0 g/kg). The females showed hyperuricemia (0.5 and 1.0 g/kg), hypertriglyceridemia (1.0 g/kg) and...
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Posted by admin on Dec 1, 2014 in |
The aim of this work was to investigate of the antimicrobial and antioxidant potentials of methanol extracts from Ficus carica. Methanol extracts were screened for antimicrobial activity against different species of Gram positive andGram negative bacteria and one yeast. The methanol extract of Ficus carica showed maximum inhibition zone of 10 mm against Listeria monocytogenes. In addition to, the plant extracts were tested against the stable DPPH (2, 2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate) free-radical. Trolox was chosen as a standard antioxidant. Finally, the methanol extract displayed a strong antioxidant activity (Trolox equivalent= 1.33 mM). Ficus carica methanol extracts have antimicrobial and antioxidant...
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Posted by admin on Nov 1, 2014 in |
Zygophyllum gaetulum is one of several traditional remedies used for diabetes treatment in Algeria. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of this plant on hyperglycemia, insulin sensitivity indexes, lipid profiles, lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) and paraoxonase (PON1) activities and liver and kidney antioxidant status, in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat. Diabetes was induced intraperitoneally by a single injection of streptozotocin (STZ) (55mg/kg bw). Diabetic rats (n=12), weighing 263±5g, were randomly divided into two groups fed a casein diet supplemented or not with Zg extract (1g/kg bw), for 4 weeks. The control group (n=6) received 0.23-0.25 ml of citrate buffer and was fed a standard diet during the experiment. Phytochemical analyses of Zg revealed the presence of tannins and flavonoids. At d28, in Zg-treated vs untreated diabetic rats, glycemia and HOMA-IR were decreased by 58 and 57%, respectively. Inversely, the QUICKI index was increased (+10%). The levels of serum total cholesterol, LDL-HDL1-cholesterol, triacylglycerols, VLDL-triacylglycerols, and phospholipids were decreased significantly (p<0.05). PON1 and LCAT activities were increased by 43%....
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Posted by admin on Nov 1, 2014 in |
The study was aimed at developing mucoadhesive buccal tablet containing Carvedilol. The effect of two independent variables, Casein (X1) and hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose (HPMC K4M) (X2) at three different levels (-1, 0, +1) on dependent variable including hardness (Y1), cumulative percentage drug release at 6 h (Y2) and 12 h (Y3) using 32 full factorial design. FTIR and DSC results showed no evidence of interaction between the drug and polymers. All physicochemical parameters were within permissible Pharmacopoeial limits. The concentrations of independent variables had profound effect on dependent variables. The hardness of the optimized formulation F3 was 5.43 kg/cm2, and the drug release was found to be 53.32% at the end of 6 hrs (Q6) and 95.16% at the end of 12 h (Q12). The optimized formulation followed zero-order release kinetics with non-fickian drug release mechanism. The study revealed that mucoadhesive buccal tablets could be successfully formulated using Casein and HPMC K4M using 32 full factorial design in the buccal delivery of Carvedilol. The result indicates that suitable innovative mucoadhesive...
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Posted by admin on Nov 1, 2014 in |
Naturally obtained chitosan biopolymers are increasingly being formulated as bioadhesives due to their hemostatic properties. Comparative studies have been conducted to measure the hemostatic capacity of biodegradable 7% N,O-carboxymetylchitosan (NO-CMC) (with 0.45 mL collagen), 8% NO-CMC, oligo-chitosan (O-C) and oligo-chitosan 53 (O-C 53). Biodegradability (loss of mass) of these chitosans in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) (0-30 days) and lysozyme (0-14 days) was measured. Blood coagulation ability was observed (0-15 minutes). Coagulation profiles were measured using Coagulation Analyzer. Blood morphologies were assessed through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and light microscopy (Nikon Eclipse E200). Rapid weight loss was observed in PBS for all the chitosans until the 5th day, after which the weight remained constant. NO-CMCs were completely degraded by lysozyme by day 12 (p<0.05). Highly deacetylated chitosans (O-C) were observed to degrade slowly. Upon macroscopic observations, NO-CMC promoted erythrocyte aggregation within 7 min. Microscopic analysis showed 7% NO-CMC promoted the most platelet aggregation on its surface, approaching 90% coverage. The current findings contribute substantially to our understanding of all the tested...
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