Anti-arthritis activity of roots of Hemidesmus indicus R.Br. (Anantmul) in rats

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the protective effects of hydroalcoholic and its fractions from roots of Hemidesmus indicus on arthritis in in vitro models of rodents.@*METHODS@#Preliminary phytochemical analysis and thin-layer chromoatography were performed to analyze constituents of hydroalcoholic extract and its three fraction namely ethyl acetate fraction, chloroform fraction and residual fraction of root of Hemidesmus indicus. Arthritis rats models were established by Complete Freund's Adjuvant. The parameters including paw edema, body weight, arthritic index, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, serum rheumatoid factor, serum C-reactive protein, serum nitrite level, and histopathology of synovial joints were observed. Methotrexate was taken as positive control.@*RESULTS@#Rats treated with hydroalcoholic extract (450 mg/kg, p.o.), ethyl acetate (75 mg/kg, p.o.), chloroform (60 mg/kg, p.o) and residual fractions (270 mg/kg, p.o.), showed significant decrease in physical and biochemical parameters compared with arthritic model rats. Hydroalcoholic extract and its ethyl acetate fraction of Hemidesmus indicus showed significantly higher anti-arthritic activity than chloroform and residual fraction. Histopathological analysis demonstrated that both of hydroalcoholic extract and its ethyl acetate fraction had comparable anti-arthritic activity with methotrexates.@*CONCLUSIONS@#The present study suggests that Hemidesmus indicus has protective activity against arthritis and the activity might be attributed to presence of terpenoid in hydroalcoholic extract, as well as in ethyl acetate fraction.

Effect of Hemidesmus indicus R.Br. root extract against Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium-induced apoptosis in murine macrophage cell line (P388D1).

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Previous studies on natural products had mainly dealt with their antimicrobial activity and studies on the interference of these bioactive compounds with host-bacterial interaction is limited. The present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of the sterols and fatty acids present in the chloroform fraction of crude methanol extract of Hemidesmus indicus root (CHI) on Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) mediated apoptosis in a murine macrophage cell line (P388D1). METHODS: Bacterial sensitivity test was carried out with different concentrations of CHI and the optimum dose was fixed as 100 mug/ml for CHI, which was safe on host cells as the CD(50) (50% of cell death) dose of CHI was determined to be 500 mug/ml in the P388D1 cell line. RESULTS: The CHI-treated bacteria had negligible cytotoxicity and were less potent to invade and proliferate intracellularly. Murine macrophages infected with wild bacteria, stained with Hoechst 33258, had swollen and damaged morphology with characteristic apoptotic bodies whereas macrophages infected with treated bacteria had comparative normal architecture. Immunofluorescence and transmission electron micrographs both confirmed that CHI-treated bacteria were defective and smaller than the wild bacteria. Ultrastructures of P388D1 cells infected with wild bacteria showed many ingested bacteria and characteristic Salmonella-containing vacuoles (SCV). Some cells had condensed or fragmented nuclei with swollen mitochondria, whereas most of the cells infected with treated bacteria were normal in morphology and a few had internalized bacteria, but the typical bacteria laden SCV was not observed in cells infected with CHI-treated S. Typhimurium. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: Our results showed that the choloroform fraction of H. indicus root blocked the cytotoxic activity of S. Typhimurium in a macrophage cell line. More studies need to be done to elaborate and confirm our findings.

Hepatoprotective activity of Hemidesmus indicus R. br. in rats.

Treatment of rats with paracetamol and CCl4 produced a significant increase in the levels of serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT), serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total and direct bilirubin. Rats pretreated with methanolic extract of roots of H. indicus (100-500 mg/kg body weight, po) exhibited rise in the levels of these enzymes but it was significantly less as compared to those treated with paracetamol or CCl4 alone. The results of methanolic extract of H. indicus were comparable with the standard hepatoprotective agent silymarin (100 mg/kg). Maximum hepatoprotective effect was found to be at the dose of 250 mg/kg body weight in case of CCl4 induced hepatic damage while 500 mg/kg body weight in case of paracetamol induced hepatic damage. The results suggest that methanolic extract of H. indicus roots possesses a potential antihepatotoxic activity.

Inhibition of cutaneous oxidative stress and two-stage skin carcinogenesis by Hemidesmus indicus (L.) in Swiss albino mice.

Chemopreventive potential of H. indicus on 7,12-dimethyl-benz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-initiated and 12-O-tetradecanoyl 13-phorbol acetate (TPA) promoted murine skin carcinogenesis has been assessed. Topical application of H. indicus resulted in significant protection against cutaneous tumorigenesis. Topical application of plant extract prior to that of TPA resulted in significant inhibition against TPA-caused induction of epidermal ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity and DNA synthesis. Application of H. indicus at a dose level of 1.5 and 3.0 mg/kg body weight in acetone prior to that of TPA treatment resulted in significant inhibition of oxidative stress. The level of lipid peroxidation was significantly reduced. In addition, depleted levels of glutathione and reduced activities of antioxidant enzymes were restored respectively). The results indicate that H. indicus is a potent chemopreventive agent in skin carcinogenesis.

Antidiarrhoeal effects of methanolic root extract of Hemidesmus indicus (Indian sarsaparilla)--an in vitro and in vivo study.

Methanolic extract of H. indicus root (MHI) was screened for its antimicrobial activity against S. typhimurium, E. coli and S. flexneri, in vitro and in experimentally induced diarrhoea in albino rats, in vivo. MHI had an anti enterobacteriae effect as evident from agar well diffusion method and decrease in CFU/ml in MHI treated LB broth culture. MHI inhibited the castor oil induced diarrhoea in rats as judged by a decrease in the amount of wet faeces in MHI-pretreated rats at a dose of 500-1500 mg/kg. The results indicated that MHI was more active than standard antidiarrhoeal drug, lomotil. Phytochemical tests revealed the main constituents as tannins, steroids, triterpenoids and carbohydrates. Present findings suggested that MHI might elicit an antidiarrhoeal effect by inhibition of intestinal motility and by its bacteriocidal activity.