ABSTRACT
The leaves of Blumea balsamifera are used as a folk medicine in kidney stone diseases in South-East Asia. Phytochemical investigation revealed leaves contained a number of flavonoids. In view of these, the present work was aimed to quantify and preliminary pharmacokinetic investigation of five flavonoids viz. dihydroquercetin-7,4'-dimethyl ether [I], dihydroquercetin-4'-methyl ether [II], 5,7,3',5'-tetrahydroxyflavanone [III], blumeatin [IV] and quercetin [V] in rat plasma following oral administration [0.5g/Kg] of B. balsamifera leaf extract in rats. Quantification was achieved by using a validated, reproducible high-performance liquid chromatographic method. The mean recoveries of I, II, III, IV and V were 90.6, 93.4, 93.5, 91.2 and 90.3% respectively. The limit of quantification was 25 ng/mL for I and IV, 10 ng/mL for II and III and 100 ng/mL for V respectively. The within day and day-to-day precision for all the compounds were < 10%. The validated HPLC method herein was applied for pharmacokinetic studies and the main pharmacokinetic parameters were: t1/2 [hr] 5.8, 4.3, 2.9, 5.7 and 7.3, C[max] [ng/mL] 594.9, 1542.9 1659.9, 208.9 and 3040.4; T[max] [hr] 4.7, 1.0, 1.0, 3.5 and 2.3; AUC0-infinity [ng hr/mL] 5040, 5893, 9260, 1064 and 27233 for I, II, III, IV and V respectively. The developed method was suitable for pharmacokinetic studies and this preliminary study also revealed significant absorption after oral dosing in rats
ABSTRACT
Parkia speciosa Hassk is a traditional medicinal plant with strong antioxidant and hypoglycemic properties. This study aims to investigate the total phenolic content, antioxidant, cytotoxic and antiangiogenic effect of eight extracts from P. speciosa empty pods. The extracts were found to contain high levels of total phenols and demonstrated strong antioxidant effect in DPPH scavenging test. In rat aortic rings, P. speciosa extracts significantly inhibited the microvessel outgrowth from aortic tissue explants by more than 50%. The antiangiogenic activity was further confirmed by tube formation on matrigel matrix involving human endothelial cells. Cytotoxic effect was evaluated by XTT test on endothelial cells as a model of angiogenesis versus a panel of human cancer and normal cell lines. Basically the extracts did not show acute cytotoxicity. Morphology examination of endothelial cells indicated induction of autophagy characterized by formation of plenty of cytoplasmic vacuoles. The extracts were found to work by decreasing expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in endothelial cells
ABSTRACT
Hitherto, only a few studies are reported about using the combination of TLC and RP-HPLC for the separation and determination of analyte[s] from a complex matrix. The present study is aimed to develop a simple and rapid method for the separation and determination of betulinic acid from a complex matrix, extracts of Orthosiphon stamineus, using a combination of the two techniques. The samples having higher contents of the analyte and fewer interfering species were prepared using TLC. The samples were then eluted through C[18] column using isocratic solvent system comprising acetonitrile, methanol and acetic acid acidified water of pH 2.8 in a ratio of 70: 20: 10 [v/v/v], respectively, and detection was carried out at 210 nm. The method was validated and applied successfully to quantify betulinic acid in various types of extracts of the plant. The limit of detection [LOD] and limit of quantification [LOQ] were found to be 0.0005 and 0.0050 micro g/ml, respectively. The method exhibited linearity in a concentration range of 0.005-100.00 micro g/ml [R[2]= 0.9999]. The recovery was found to be 97.10 - 97.60% [RSD < 5%], whereas, intra-day and inter-days accuracy values were 97.13 - 98.67% [RSD < 5%] and 96.45 - 98.00% [RSD < 5%], respectively. The results of the present study indicate that the developed method is simple, rapid, sensitive and accurate, and may be of a value to natural product industry and researchers for the standardization of extracts containing betulinic acid in a lesser time and consuming fewer solvents