Qsar studies of side chain modified DI and TRI-peptides in mimicking the Bio-potency of anti-nociceptive action of enkephalin

QSAR Studies of smaller chain peptides has been proposed for predicting enkephalin mimic anti-nociceptive activity using a lipophilic parameter partition coefficient. C Log P Program was developed basically based on the fragmentation approach, has been written in Fortran IV. The test compounds, Ile-Val, Phe-Gly, Asn-Cys, Gly-Cys-Val and Ile-Val-Glu were encoded as topological representation of molecular structures using alpha numeric language smiles notation. Log P values obtained for the smaller chain dipeptides and tri-peptides were -0.481 [Ile-Val]; -1.757 [Phe-Gly]; -4,159 [Asn-Cys]; -2.318 [Gly-Cys-Val] and -1.627 [Ile-Val-Glu]. Substitution of glycyl or L-amino acid residues by D-amino acids at appropriate sites of some bioactive peptides may cause a considerable rise in potency. The effect is most dramatic at the Gly-position of enkephalin. Drugs which are to be targeted for the CNS should have log P value of approximately 2. Hence it was concluded that Phe-Gly and Gly-Cys-Val are selected as potential targets for enkephalin like anti-nociceptive activity

Hepatoprotective effect of ethanol extract from leaves of Phyllanthus emblica in rats

In this study, phytochemical extraction was carried out on the leaves of Phyllanthus emblica using ethanol as the organic solvent. The antioxidant activity of ethanol extract from Phyllanthus emblica was evaluated by various biochemical marker parameters, including super oxide dismutase [SOD - anion radical scavenging], catalase [CAT - hydrogen peroxide scavenging], glutathione peroxidase [GPX], glutathione reductase [GRD - reducing power], glutathione transferase [GTS] and thio-barbituric acid reactive substances [TBARS] measurement. Hepato cellular damage was induced by intraperitoneal administration of CCl[4] in male albino Sprague-Dawley strain rats. The reduced levels of SOD, CAT, GPX and GRD with CCl[4] treated animals attain normal level, after administration of ethanolic extract of Phyllanthus emblica. However, the activity of GTS was significantly higher in CCl[4] treated animals, which were brought down towards normal level in herb treated rats. The increased concentration of TBARS with CCl[4] treated rats attains normal level after administration of ethanolic extract of the same plant. An antioxidant property appears to be predominantly responsible for this hepato-protective action of the drug

Communication: A comparison of in vitro antifungal activity of the methanol extract of various parts of Lagerstroemia parviflora

The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of the methanol extract of various parts of Lagerstroemia parviflora Roxb were determined against different fungi belonging to Candida; Aspergillus and Penicillium species. Further; zones of inhibition produced by the crude extracts against the fungal strains were measured and compared with those produced by a standard antifungal agent; griseofulvin. The leaf extract was proved to have the maximum activity followed by the flower and the bark extracts against the tested strains. All extracts were found to be fungistatic in their action