Posted by admin on Aug 1, 2011 in |
Ocimum sanctum (L.) is popularly used as herbal remedy for various ailments. But the scientific basis for its medicinal use especially in pain and inflammation remains unknown. Therefore, the present study was aimed to investigate the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of the leaves of Ocimum sanctum in laboratory animals. The ethanol extract of the leaves of O. sanctum was used to investigate the acute effect on analgesia by Hot-plate test in mice and on inflammation in rats using carrageenan-induced rat paw edema model. The extract showed a significant (p<0.05) dose dependent increase in reaction time in mice in the hot-plate test at the doses of 250 and 500 mg/kg body weight. The extract also exhibited promising anti-inflammatory effect as demonstrated by statistically significant (p<0.05) inhibition of paw volume by 43.33% at the dose of 500 mg/kg body weight at the fourth hour of study. This study suggests that the ethanol extract of Ocimum sanctum have both analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity in a dose dependent manner which supported its use...
Read More
Posted by admin on Aug 1, 2011 in |
Selected physicochemical parameters, total phenolics, flavonoids and free radical scavenging activity of honey samples from the northern savannah region and southern rainforest ecosystems of Nigeria were investigated. Moisture and ash content of most samples were within acceptable limits. Total phenolic content ranged from 23.92 to 82.34mgGAE/100g for both ecosystems. Flavonoids varied between 2.52 – 27.21mgQE/100g for honey samples from the northern savannah zone and 9.17 – 22.38mgQE/100g for honey samples from the southern rainforest ecosystem. The samples exhibited good antioxidant activity using the DPPH assay and poor metal chelating activity. A linear positive relationship existed between antioxidant activity and total phenolics (R2= 0.85)/flavonoids (R2 = 0.78). The analyzed honey samples possess valuable antioxidants for culinary and medicinal...
Read More
Posted by admin on Aug 1, 2011 in |
The present study was carried out to evaluate CNS activity of ethanolic extract of roots of Anacyclus pyrethrum that includes general behavior studies, sedative, muscle relaxant, anxiolytic, nootropic activity and antidepressant studies in rats. The results reveal potential neuropharmacological activity of Anacyclus pyrethrum as nootropic and also having antidepressant property. Further neurochemical investigation can unravel the mechanism of action of plant drug with respect to nootropic and antidepressant activity. Preliminary investigation showed that ethanolic extract of Anacyclus pyrethrum has significant neuropharmacological...
Read More
Posted by admin on Aug 1, 2011 in |
The present study was designed to investigate antibacterial, insecticidal and in vivo cytotoxic activities of the methanol: ethylacetate (1:9) extract of leaves, barks and roots of Salix tetrasperma. Antibacterial test were done against five Gram-positive and four Gram-negative bacteria. Bark extract was active against all tested microbial species and the highest activity was shown against Escherichia coli with a zone of inhibition 12 ± 0.02 mm. The leaves extract was active against all the Gram positive bacterial strain whereas inactive against all the Gram negative bacterial strain except Shegella flexneri while root extract showed insignificant activity. In insecticidal study, the root and leaves extract of Salix tetrasperma showed moderate activity with 26% and 20% mortality rate of Tribolium castaneum at a dose of 50mg/ml in 48 hours, respectively and bark extract had no activity. In respect of in vivo cytotoxicity, Root and bark extract showed moderate cell growth inhibition, whereas leaves extract had no activity at...
Read More
Posted by admin on Aug 1, 2011 in |
Ixora pavetta Vahl. is a small tree, traditionally used for the treatment of diarrhoea, dysentery, urinary disorders, leucorrhoea, veneral diseases and sedative. The flowers of the plant were extracted with ethanol by cold percolation method. The presence of the compounds in the extract was analyzed by GC-MS technique. The parameters of mass spectral analysis viz. retention time and characteristics of peak using NIST library were considered for the detection of compounds, The compounds viz. 3-Butyn-2-ol, 3-Butyn-1-ol, Amyl nitrite, 2Octyn-1-ol, 1, 9-Decadiyne and Butyl glyoxylate were identified from the study. With reference to the phytochemical and ethanobotanical databases, the Pharmacological activity of the compounds which identified were found out and compared with its traditional uses. Sedative property is one of the traditional uses of Ixora pavetta was found to be due to the presence of Amyl nitrite in the extract....
Read More
