Anticancer activity of Sargassum wightii Greville on Dalton's ascitic lymphoma / 中国天然药物

AIM@#Sargassum wightii Greville is a marine brown alga belonging to the Sargassaceae family which has about 200 species. The ethanolic extract of the whole dry plant powder contained numerous phytoconstituents, including flavonoids. The study was focused on the anticancer activity of Sargassum wightii in mice.@*METHOD@#The ethanolic extract of Sargassum wightii (EESW) at two dose levels was used to examine the anticancer activity in mice using DAL cell lines to induce cancer. The body weight, viable and non-viable tumor cell count, mean survival time, increase in life span, and hematological parameters were observed for anticancer activity of EESW.@*RESULTS@#The intraperitoneal inoculation of DAL cells in mice significantly increased cancer cell count. The decrease in the cancer cell number observed in the EESW-treated group cancer animals indicates that the test drug has a significant inhibitory effect on the tumor cell proliferation. Treatment with EESW also showed a significant decrease in tumor weight, and hence increased the lifespan of DAL-treated mice. In addition, EESW administration significantly restored the hematological parameters in DAL-treated mice.@*CONCLUSION@#The present study results suggest that administration of extract offers enhanced antioxidant potential. Therefore it can be concluded from this study that EESW possesses anticancer activity.

Protective effect of tannins from Ficus racemosa in hypercholesterolemia and diabetes induced vascular tissue damage in rats

OBJECTIVE@#To evaluate the protective effect of tannins from Ficus racemosa (F. racemosa) on the lipid profile and antioxidant parameters in high fat meal and streptozotocin induced hypercholesteremia associated diabetes model in rats.@*METHODS@#The crude tannin fraction was separated from the acetone (70% v/v) bark extract of F. racemosa. Oral administration of tannin fraction (TF) (100 & 200 mg/kg body weight) to rats fed with high fat meal for 30 days (4% cholesterol, 1% cholic acid, 0.5% egg albumin) and injected with streptozotocin (35 mg/kg i.p. in citrate buffer on 14th day).@*RESULTS@#The administration of TF significantly reverse the increased blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, low density lipoprotein and also significantly restored the insulin and high density lipoprotein in the serum. In addition tannins significantly restored the activity of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase, catalase and decreased the, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione, thereby restoring the antioxidant status of the organs to almost normal levels.@*CONCLUSIONS@#The results of this study show that two different doses of tannin supplementation had a favorable effect on plasma glucose and lipid profile concentrations. It also had an influence on attenuating oxidative stress in diabetic tats.

Effect of benzene extract of Ocimum sanctum leaves on cauda epididymal spermatozoa of rats

Recent studies have shown that benzene extract of Ocimum sanctum [O. sanctum] leaves induces the ultrastructural changes in the epithelial cells of the cauda epididymis, its subsequent recovery in the seminiferous epithelium and fertility of male albino rats. Our aim was to investigate the effect of benzene extract of O.sanctum leaves on the cauda epididymal sperm parameters, morphology and their organelles at the ultrastructural level in albino rats. Wistar male rats [n=20] were allocated into two groups of control [n=10] and test group [n=10]. The test group received benzene extract of O.sanctum leaves [250mg/kg/day] for 48 consequence days. Five animals from each group were used for fertility test. Twenty-four hours after the last dose, the rest of the control [n=5] and treated [n=5] animals were sacrificed by cervical dislocation and then the cauda epididymal plasma was used for sperm analysis, scanning electron microscopy [SEM] and transmission electron microscopic [TEM] studies. Sperm analysis of test group exhibited significant [p