ABSTRACT
Aims: Berberis lycium (Sumbal) is abundantly available in the northern areas of Pakistan and extensively used in local practice for the treatment of several human diseases. The objective of this study was to explore pharmacological basis for its use in gastrointestinal disorders. Materials and Methods: Crude aqueous (Bl.Aq) and methanolic (Bl.Meth) extracts of B. lycium were studied on isolated gut preparations of rabbit (jejunum) and guinea pig (ileum) by using in-vitro techniques. Tissues were mounted in tissue organ baths assembly containing physiological salt (Tyrode's) solution, maintained at 37ºC and aerated with carbogen, to assess the spasmogenic and spasmolytic effect and to find out the possible underlying mechanisms. Responses were measured on BioScience Powerlab data acquisition system by using isotonic transducers. Results: Phytochemical analysis indicates the presence of alkaloids, tannins and saponins in Bl.Aq and Bl.Meth. when tested on spontaneously contracting isolated rabbit jejunum, showed a dose-dependent spasmogenic effect at lower concentration (0.01-0.1 mg/mL) and (0.01-0.03 mg/mL), which was followed by spasmolytic effect at higher concentration (0.3-1.0 mg/mL) and (0.1-0.3 mg/mL) respectively. Pretreatment of the tissue with atropine (0.1 μM) partially suppressed the contractile effect. Bl.Aq and Bl.Meth caused complete inhibition of high K+ (80 mM)–induced contraction at 0.3 mg/mL and 0.1 mg/mL respectively and also produced a dose-dependent (0.01-0.03 mg/mL) rightward shift in the Ca++ concentration-response curve, similar to verapamil. When tested in bolus protocol on isolated guinea pig ileum, Bl.Aq and Bl.Meth caused a dosedependent spasmogenic effect at 0.01-0.1 mg/mL. Pretreatment of tissue with atropine (0.1 μM) partially suppress the contractile effect. Conclusions: Results indicate that spasmogenic effect was partially mediated through cholinergic activity and spasmolytic effect was mediated through calcium channel blocking activity (CCB), explain its traditional uses in diarrhea, intestinal cramps and other gastrointestinal intestinal disorders.
ABSTRACT
For the development of 19-plex Y STR system and polymorphism studies in locl ethnic populations sixteen markers of non-recombining regions (NRY) of Y chromosome, which show high power of discrimination among individuals, were selected in this study. Blood samples (600) were e.ollected from the males of three most common castes of Pakistani population (Arnin, Awan and Rajput) with different parent lineages. Three markers (DYS385a/b, DYS389Ⅰ/Ⅱ and YCAⅡa/b) among 16 Y STRs are double-targeted regions of the Y chromosome and thus provide two polymorphie peaks for each respective primer set. These 16 Y-STRs were developed into Megaplex system for simultaneous amplification of all markers within the population. The overall power of discrimination observed in focused populations was 60.5%, 66.5% and 55% in Rajput, Awan and Arain casts respectively. This discrimination power will be helpful in haman identification for forensic casework studies including sexual assaults and paternity testing.