ABSTRACT
Objective: The objective of this work is to examine the overall flavonoid content in bark samples of Acacia catechu obtained from the Guna region of Madhya Pradesh, India, using several extraction methods. Furthermore, this study has incorporated current literature, conducted bibliographic analysis, examined co-authorship studies, and gathered other pertinent material to augment comprehension and underscore the importance of the research.Methods: For the purpose of this experiment, a total of thirty samples of test plants were gathered from the research region throughout various seasons. Each individual sample was prepared with six different solvents. Following this, a standardized laboratory technique was used to undertake quantitative testing. The bibliographic analysis was conducted using Dimension AI and VOS viewer software in the timeframe of 1975-2024 (till March 8, 2024).Results: Findings indicated that the polar organic solvents methanol, ethanol, acetone, and the aqueous extracts were shown to display a substantial quantity of flavonoids, chloroform extracts exhibited negligible and benzene extracts were found to be entirely devoid of the same. The comparative bibliographic investigations have confirmed the need to study the possible medicinal properties of test plants in the Guna region.Conclusion: This preliminary study has the potential to identify new, economically viable, and readily available sources of flavonoids, which are natural antioxidants present in the indigenous flora of the Guna region.
ABSTRACT
Objective: The objective of this research was to examine and compare the capacity of several bark extracts of Acacia catechu to scavenge nitric oxide (NO) free radicals. The study also examined the evaluation of variations in concentration that are reliant on both concentration levels and seasonal changes, using samples obtained throughout various seasons over a span of two consecutive years.Methods: In this study, six extracts were made utilizing solvents, including ethanol, methanol, aqueous solution, acetone, chloroform, and benzene. In the in vitro investigation, a nitric oxide (NO) assay was conducted to evaluate the free radical scavenging efficacy of the test samples.Results: Out of seven tested sample concentrations, 15.25 µg/ml was reported to be ineffective; higher than 500 µg/ml concentrations (i.e., 705 and 1000) were observed to be less effective than their lower concentrations, while 31.5–500 µg/ml drug concentrations were observed to be protective. Among these three, 125 µg/ml concentrations were found to be most effective (p<0.01 or more). In solvent-based results, methanolic, ethanolic, aqueous, and acetone extracts exhibited at least p<0.01 significant effective NO scavenging, but acetone extract was seen to have comparatively less protection (p<0.05) than the other three extracts. Chloroform and benzene extracts, respectively, showed less protection. Samples collected in the summer season showed greater protection than winter and Manson.Conclusion: This study provided a clear observation of the impact of extraction solvent, concentration of drug, and season of sample collection on in vitro free radical scavenging potential. These data could help provide possible applications for regional plants for medicinal purposes.
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Objective: The objective of this work is to elucidate the wound healing capabilities of various extracts derived from the bark of Acacia catechu, and to explore their potential therapeutic effects. Furthermore, the examination of several seasons has been conducted to assess their influence on the examined parameters.Methods: In this study, albino mice were used to assess acute dermal toxicity, excision wound healing, and histological changes. The wounds were monitored, and the area of the wound was measured at the 0th, 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 21st days as compared to the control animals.Results: The test extracts showed considerable protection and wound healing capabilities in acute dermal toxicity, excision wound, and histopathological studies. Among the tested extracts, the ethanolic extract showed the highest wound healing (46.68%, p<0.001), followed by the methanolic (38.50%, p<0.001), acetone (33.87%, p<0.05), aqueous (32.04%, p<0.001), chloroform (29.83%, p<0.05), and benzene extracts (28.60%, p<0.05) at the 21st d of wound healing. However, the samples gathered throughout the winter, summer, and rainy seasons did not show a statistically significant difference (p>0.05) in the present research work.Conclusion: This study helps to provide preliminary data on the concentration range of different extracts collected in different seasons. It is anticipated that this evaluation represents significant protective potential of indigenous flora for medicinal applications.
ABSTRACT
Gloriosa superba is an economical source of pharmaceutical colchicine, which is a mitotic poison used to treat gout, cancer and inflammatory diseases. It is important to study the genetic variations in this plant, but the progress is impeded due to limited number of molecular markers. In this study, we developed the expressed sequence tag-derived simple sequence repeat (EST-SSR) markers from the transcriptome sequence of the leaf samples of three different ecotypes of G. superba. De novo assembly was performed on these sequencing data to generate a total of 65,579 unigenes and 38,200 coding sequences (CDSs). These CDSs were annotated using NCBI Nr protein database, gene ontology terms and KEGG pathways. Differential gene expression was studied to yield differences in these ecotypes at the molecular level. Finally, a total of 14,672 potential EST-SSRs were identified from these unigenes, among which the dinucleotide (5754, 39.22%) and trinucleotide (5421, 36.95%) repeats were most abundant types followed by mononucleotides (3213, 21.83%). The most frequent motifs were CT/GA (1392, 9.48%), AG/TC (1219, 8.31%), and GA/CT (1146, 7.82%) among the dinucleotide repeats and CCG/ CGG (1487, 10.13%), AGG/CCT (1421, 9.68%), AGC/CTG (697, 4.75%) and AAG/CTT (621, 4.23%) among the trinucleotide repeats. Polymorphism study using a random set of 20 newly developed EST-SSRs revealed polymorphic information content value ranging from 0 to 0.5926 with an average of 0.4021. The large-scale ESTs developed in the current study will be useful as a genomic resource for further investigation of the genetic variations in this species
ABSTRACT
Transmission blocking malaria vaccines are aimed to block the development and maturity of sexual stages of parasite within mosquitoes. The vaccine candidate antigens (Pfs25, Pfs48/45, Pfs230) that have shown transmission blocking immunity in model systems are in different stages of development. These antigens are immunogenic with limited genetic diversity. Pfs25 is a leading candidate and currently in phase I clinical trial. Efforts are now focused on the cost-effective production of potent antigens using safe adjuvants and optimization of vaccine delivery system that are capable of inducing strong immune responses. This review addresses the potential usefulness, development strategies, challenges, clinical trials and current status of Plasmodium falciparum sexual stage malaria vaccine candidate antigens for the development of transmission-blocking vaccines.
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Melatonin referred as the hormone of darkness is mainly secreted by pineal gland, its levels being elevated during night and low during the day. The effects of melatonin on insulin secretion are mediated through the melatonin receptors (MT1 and MT2). It decreases insulin secretion by inhibiting cAMP and cGMP pathways but activates the phospholipaseC/IP3 pathway, which mobilizes Ca2+from organelles and, consequently increases insulin secretion. Both in vivo and in vitro, insulin secretion by the pancreatic islets in a circadian manner, is due to the melatonin action on the melatonin receptors inducing a phase shift in the cells. Melatonin may be involved in the genesis of diabetes as a reduction in melatonin levels and a functional interrelationship between melatonin and insulin was observed in diabetic patients. Evidences from experimental studies proved that melatonin induces production of insulin growth factor and promotes insulin receptor tyrosine phosphorylation. The disturbance of internal circadian system induces glucose intolerance and insulin resistance, which could be restored by melatonin supplementation. Therefore, the presence of melatonin receptors on human pancreatic islets may have an impact on pharmacotherapy of type 2 diabetes.