Phamacology

Our earlier work has shown that the methanol leaf extract of Anacardium occidentale (cashew) displayed antibacterial activity. In this study, the leaf extract was assessed for quorum sensing (QS) inhibition using the disc-diffusion assay with Chromobacterium violaceum (wild-type ATCC 12472) as the test organism. The extract exhibited strong anti-QS activity based on the diameter of inhibition zone (DIZ) and minimum inhibition dose (MID) of violacein production and C. violaceum growth. From the extract, methyl gallate (methyl ester of gallic acid) was isolated by column chromatography, identified by NMR and MS analyses, and quantified using reversed-phase HPLC. Using the disc-diffusion assay and broth dilution method, methyl gallate (MG) at 500 μg/disc, inhibited violacein production with DIZ of 14.5 ± 0.1 mm, MID of 6 μg/disc, and minimum inhibition concentration of 100 μg/ml. The closely related gallic acid did not display any anti-QS activity suggesting that the methyl moiety in MG may be responsible for QS inhibition. The content of MG was quantified as 1830 ± 180 μg/g of leaves. This is the first report on the anti-QS activity of cashew leaf extract, and on the systematic isolation and quantification of MG, a potent QS inhibitor.

In Ayurveda, Eranda (Ricinus communis Linn; Euphorbiaceae) root is highlighted for its anti-inflammatory and analgesic action and used as one of the ingredient in many compound formulations. Ricinus communis L. is available both in wild as well as cultivated state. Due to its high demand and less supply of wild variety root, its cultivated variety is fulfilling the market demand. Hence, the present study is carried to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity of both the varieties of Eranda root. Decoction of both wild and cultivated varieties of Eranda root (10.8 ml/kg) were taken as test drugs, Phenyl butazone (100 mg/kg) as reference standard and experiment was carried out on Wistar strain albino rats following carrageenan induced paw edema model. Student’s unpaired t test was applied for analyzing the obtained data, after one, three and five hours. Wild variety root decoction, at studied dose (10.8 ml/kg) level, showed marked decrease in paw edema, in comparison to normal control rats, after one hour (25.25%) and five hours (27.79%) of carrageenan injection. The wild variety root provides additional anti-inflammatory effect, in comparison to reference standard (in percentage form), after one hour (13.63%) and five hours (22.18%) whereas the cultivated variety decreased the inflammation after one hour (15.15%) and increase the inflammation after five hours (02.50%).Decoction of wild variety, of Ricinus communis L. root provided considerable suppression of carrageenan induced paw edema compared to its cultivated variety.

We aimed to evaluate, in this study, the effect of Rosmarinus officinalis L. and Salvia officina-lis L. in the amelioration of liver hypothermic conservation in male wistar rats. Livers from each rat were collected and preserved for 24 h at 4 C in a Krebs solution with or without increasing doses of sage or rosemary infusions (25, 50, and 100 mg/mL). Liver hypothermic conservation induced a decrease in the activity of superoxide dismutase, catalase, and gluta-thione peroxidase and a significant increase in lipid peroxidation. S. officinalis L. infusion at 25 mg/mL normalized this oxidative disturbance but appears toxic at 50 and 100 mg/mL due to the presence of large amount of pyrogallol which contribute to the cytoplasmic alteration of hepatocytes. The addition of different doses of R. officinalis L. infusion induced an increase in catalase and glutathione peroxidase activities and a decrease in lipid peroxi-dation with an amelioration of cellular architecture. In conclusion, increasing doses of R. offi-cinalis L. infusion protect against hepatic hypotermic-ischemia while S. officinalis L. infusion could have an hepatoprotective role when administrated at lower dose. ARTICLE HISTORY

Objective:  The  aim  of  the  study  was  to  assess  the  therapeutic
efficacy  of  Justicia  tranquebariensis  (Thavasu  murungai)  in
bronchial asthma.
Materials and Methods: 40 asthmatics were enrolled for the clinical
trial.  The  patients  were  selected  according  to  the  patient  subjective
assessment scale, objective parameters and WHO GINA guideline.
The  patients  with  severe  diseases  such  as  AIDS,  Malignancy,  TB,
Renal and CVS disorders were excluded from the study. This open
labeled study was conducted at Government Siddha Medical College
Hospital, Chennai-106. All the patients were administered 30 ml leaf
juice of Justicia tranquebariensis for the period of 3 months. Clinical
trial  usually  focuses  on  asthma  control  as  measured  by  pulmonary
function test (FEV1, FVC, PEFR, Breath holding time and FVR),
symptom  scores  and  medication  requirement.  The  study  infers
improvement  on  subjective  and  objective  parameters  of  bronchial
asthma. During the trial period, 4 patients were discontinued from the
study due to need for parenteral and inhalation therapy. 36 patients
were completed the study.
Results:  There  was  a  significant  improvement  in  all  parameters
compared at each follow up visit. Based on the result out of 36 cases
29 had marked response, 5 had moderate response and only 2 cases
had fair response. No side effects have been observed during the
study period.
Conclusion:  Thus  we  concluded  that  Justicia  tranquebariensis
(Thavasu  murungai)  is  effective  for  the  treatment  of  bronchial
asthma.

Background: Aggressive behavior of tumor metastasis comes from certain mutations, changes in cellular metabolic and signaling pathways that are majorly altered by tumor microenvironment (TME), its other components and growth factors like transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) which is chiefly known for its epithelial to mesenchymal transformation (EMT). EMT is a critical step of metastasis cascade in actual human lung cancer scenario. Objective: Our present study is focused to unveil the in-vivo metastatic behavior of TGF-β1 treated lung cancer cells that undergone EMT. Methods: The lung cancer epithelial A549 cells were treated in-vitro with TGF-β1 (3-5ng/ml for 72 h) for EMT. After confirming the transformation of cells by phenotype modifications, wound healing and cell migration assay and qRT-PCR analyses of EMT biomarkers including E. Cadherin, Vimentin, Snail, Slug, MMP2 and MMP9; those TGF-β1 modified cells were probed with fluorescent trackers and were injected into tail vein of BALB/c nude mice for metastatic dissemination studies. Results: Our findings indicate that distribution of TGF-β1 treated A549 cells as compared to W.T A549 towards lungs is less in terms of total relative fluorescent cluster count, however the difference is insignificant (52±4, 60±5 respectively). Additionally we show that TGF-β1 treated cells tend to metastasize almost 2, 3, 1.5, 2 and 1.7 times more than W.T towards liver, brain, ovaries, bones and adrenal gland respectively which is very much like human lung cancer metastasis. Conclusion: Conclusively it is ever first study reporting that a pre-treatment of cells with TGF-β1 for experimental lung cancer metastasis mouse model may portray more precise approach for the development of potential therapeutic treatments. Additional pre-treatment studies with the application of other TME conditions like hypoxia and factors like NFκB, VEGF etc. may be a future prospect to develop a better understanding.

Sepsis Wound care is a very important aspect of surgical care. Knowledge of the bacterial pathogens associated with infected wounds is critical in determining their suppression and control. In this book we find how medicinal plants (garlic Allium sativum, tulsi; Ocimum sanctum bitter guard; Momordica charantia and cinnamon; Cinnamomum verum), locally found in markets and as herbs contain antibacterial and antagonistic activity against wound and pus bacteria.