Methyl Eugenol, 1,8-Cineole and Nerolidol Rich Essential Oils with their Biological Activities from three Melaleuca Species Growing in Tarai Region of North India

Abstract The essential oils from the fresh leaves of three Melalecua spp. viz; Melaleuca leucadendron (L.) Melaleuca linariifolia Sm. and Melaleuca bracteata F. Muell. growing in Tarai region of North India were analyzed by a combination of gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The analysis revealed the presence of several constituents of industrial and pharmacological importance. M. leucadendron essential oil was found to be dominated by E-nerolidol (85.7%) rich chemotype. 1,8-cineole (61.1%) along with significant presence of α-terpineol (12.3%), α-pinene (4.0%), β-myrcene (3.8%), and E-caryophyllene (1.7%) were identified in the essential oil from M. linariifolia Similarly M. bracteata was dominated by the presence of phenylpropanoids viz; methyl eugenol (74.8%) and methyl cinnamate (8.0%). The essential oils were studied for their in-vitro antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial potential. All the oils revealed potential antioxidant activity with maximum in M. bracteata essential oil. All the oils exhibited significant antibacterial activity against Bacillus megaterium, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli,Salmonella typhimurium and anti-fungal activity against phytopathogenic fungi Fusarium oxysporum, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Exserohilum turcicum and Curvularia lunata. The observations from present study suggest further cultivation of Melaleucas and its commercialization as industrial crops.

Development and comparision of an HPTLC, HPLC and LC-MS method for determinationof tetracyline antibiotics.

Tetracycline (TC) antibiotics continue to play an important role in human and veterinary medicine and in animal nutrition. Comparison of three techniques, High Performance thin-layer chromatographic (HPTLC), HPLC and LC-MSMS for the determination of tetracycline has been carried out here. The purpose of this study was to determination of minimum responce tetracyclines and their metabolite by chromatographic techniqes. A rapid and easy‐to‐use method was developed on the liquid chromatography.

Physicochemical characterization of seed oil of jatropha curcas L.collected from Dehradun (Uttarakhand) India.

To study oil contents and fatty acid composition among the samples of Jatropha curcas L. seeds were collected from Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Soxhlet extraction method and gas chromatography (GC) were employed to determine the oil contents of Jatropha seeds and the fatty acid composition of Jatropha oil. The seed oil contents (dry basis) was 46.27% .Physicochemical properties shows acid value (36.46), iodine value (106.00 mg/g) and saponification value (194.70 mg/g.The evaluation of fatty acid composition using gas chromatography (GC) revealed that, oleic (44.93%), linoleic acid (33.40 %), Palmitic acid (15.39%) and Stearic acid (6.26%).

Carcinoma en cuirasse : A rare presentation of breast cancer.

Carcinoma en cuirasse is a form of cutaneous metastasis. Although this condition is rare, it is most commonly associated with breast carcinoma with local recurrence after mastectomy. Cutaneous metastasis presents most commonly a few months or years after the primary has been diagnosed. Less frequently a metastasis is diagnosed at the same time as the primary tumor or presents as the first manifestation of the disease. We report a case of carcinoma en cuirasse in a 50-year-old female who presented with elevated, finely nodular, indurated skin lesions on left anterior chest wall, axillary region and keloid - like patch on left upper arm. On further examination a breast mass was detected. Fine needle aspiration of all the lesions was performed. Cytodiagnosis was given as infiltrating duct carcinoma of breast with metastatic carcinoma involving left anterior chest wall, axilla and left upper arm. We should not disregard keloid-like or indurated patches on skin which should be investigated thoroughly.

Unilateral retinal dysplasia--a case report.

Retinal dysplasia is an uncommon condition and may be either unilateral or bilateral. It represents disturbed differentiation of neural ectoderm. It can be sporadic or may be associated with genetic defects. A case of unilateral retinal dysplasia in a 2 year old male child is reported.

Developmental study of thermotolerance and the heat shock response in Lucilia cuprina (Weidemann).

The ability to withstand thermal stress in a laboratory population of the blowfly Lucilia cuprina (measured as per cent adult survival following varying periods of exposure to elevated temperature up to a maximum of 48°C) was in the order pupa > larva > adult. Pre-exposure to a mild heat shock (37°C) induced tolerance to temperatures which were otherwise lethal. An analysis of heat shock-induced protein synthesis during development at similar elevated temperatures presented patterns corresponding to the above observations on thermotolerance. The induced level of synthesis of major heat shock proteins (viz., 79, 69, 28, 20 and 19 kDa) were greater in larval tissues than in most of the adult tissues except gonads. The response varied between young (2 days) and old (30 days) adults in a tissue-specific manner. In general, heat shock protein 69 kDa was most abundant in all the tissues studied. Control as well as heat shocked Malpighian tubules of adults uniquely showed two major [35S]methionine labelled bands corresponding to approximately 62 and 64 kDa. Immunoblots showed the 62 kDa protein to cross react with an antibody against Helioihis HSP60. Although the synthesis of the 62 kDa polypeptide was prominent only in Malpighian tubules of adult blowflies, nearly equal levels of this HSP60 family polypeptide were present in all tissues (control as well heat shocked) except the larval salivary glands.