Posted by admin on Sep 1, 2012 in |
Natural resources in general and plant materials in particular are receiving more attention due to their safety as pharmaceutical excipients. Present work assessed the combination potential of natural hydrophobic resin, rosin, and synthetic polymer ethyl cellulose to mask the abhorrent inherent taste of ambroxol hydrochloride, by microencapsulation technique, and its possibility to formulate as a fast dissolving dosage form. Being of natural origin, rosin and its derivatives are biodegradable and biocompatible. Although It has excellent film forming property the native rosin films are brittle and break easily upon handling. The film forming properties of rosin was modified by substituting a part with ethyl cellulose.The prepared rosin-ethyl cellulose composite microspheres by emulsion solvent evaporation technique possessed good sphericity, smooth surface morphology, uniform and narrow size distribution (10-90 µm), when analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. PEG 400 was used as plasticizer because of its hydrophilicity, biocompatibility and their excellent plasticizing activity. Method of preparation has influenced the particle size and drug loading efficiency. Drug-polymer compatibility was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared...
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Posted by admin on Sep 1, 2012 in |
Eurycoma longifolia (E. longifolia) Jack has been widely used in traditional medicine for its antimalarial, aphrodisiac, anti-diabetic, antimicrobial, anti-pyretic and anticancer activities. As yet, no study has been done on biosafety of partially purified sub-fraction (TAF2) of the crude methanolic extract of E. longifolia roots. This study aims to evaluate, in vivo, the effects of TAF2 on the haematological, biochemical and histology parameters in nude mice. Male nude mice were treated orally with TAF2 (200 mg/Kg/mouse) every other day for 16 days. Untreated mice were used as controls. Blood samples were collected by intra-cardiac puncture and haematological and biochemical parameters were analyzed by using animal blood counter and automated chemistry analyzer, respectively. Hematoxylin-eosin stain (H&E) was used to evaluate the histopathology changes. Blood cells morphology was assessed by Wright stain of the thin blood films. The results showed normal blood haematology and clinical chemistry. Histological examination of TAF2 treated vital organs (kidney, liver and spleen) of mice showed no apparent change with the dose used. In conclusion, E. longifolia...
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Posted by admin on Sep 1, 2012 in |
Crinum is a genus of about 130 species belonging to family Amaryllidaceae with wide geographical distribution throughout the tropics, subtropics and warm temperate regions of the world. These plants are not only showy ornamentals but they possess significant folkloric and commercial reputation as well. Long ago, Crinums have been subjected to extensive chemical, cytological and pharmacological investigations. Phytochemical investigations have resulted in isolation of several diverse classes of phytocompounds and have been focused predominantly on alkaloids. The present part of our review work about the phytochemical, biological and toxicological studies on Crinums summarizes crinine-type alkaloids isolated up to now as well as their structural and stereochemical differences, in addition to their distribution in different Crinum...
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Posted by admin on Sep 1, 2012 in |
L-Asparaginase (E.C. 3.5.1.1.), also known as L-asparagine amidohydrolase is the enzyme with anti-tumor activity and is well accepted as a chemotherapeutic agent against the acute lymphoblastic leukemia and lymphosarcoma. This article has briefly touched nearly all the industrial and clinical aspects of L-Asparaginase and provides the recent update of the topic. The article includes a brief introduction to the topics, mechanism of action, a little information about the structure, sources of enzyme, purification, optimum conditions for the enzyme production, recombinant strains for higher productivity and formulation of the...
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Posted by admin on Sep 1, 2012 in |
Helminthiasis is infestation with one or more intestinal parasitic worms roundworms, whipworms , or hookworms in humans and animals. Presently, many synthetic drugs are available to treat Helminthiasis infection effectively, but suffer from number of side effects like abdominal pain, dizziness, headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, or temporary hair loss. Moreover, drug resistance is also another factor concerned with the use of these drugs. Thus, Herbal drugs need to be introduced as large number of medicinal plants are known for their antihelmintic activity with fewer or no side effects and are used by the ethnic groups across different parts of the world. But these medicinal plants need to be screened first for their in vitro and in vivo activity before putting them in use. Thus, many of these herbs have been scrutinized for their pharmacological and pre clinical studies. The present article describes review of promising in vitro efficacy of some medicinal plants having antihelmintic activity, which can be helpful in investigation and discovery of novel herbal...
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