Evaluation of Hepatoprotective Potential of Polyherbal Preparations in CCl4-Induced Hepatotoxicity in Mice.

Background: Polyherbal formulations (PLFs) have been widely used for liver protection, treatment for hepatic dysfunction, and regeneration. They can also enhance appetite and protect the gastrointestinal tract from injury. In spite of the prevalent use, there is a need of scientific evidence on their effectiveness and safety. The objective of the present study was to assess the hepatoprotective effect of polyherbal formulations (commercially available in Bangladesh namely Heptaliv, Holyliv, Icturn, and J-deenar) in CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity in mice. Methods: In this study, Swiss albino mice were treated for 7 days with distilled water or PLFs (2.6 and 5.2 ml/kg body weight/day, per os.) followed by single subcutaneous injection of CCl4 (1 ml/kg body weight, diluted with olive oil in 1 : 1 ratio) on day 8. Twenty-four hours after CCl4 administration, the mice were monitored for the effects of PLFs on liver morphology, biochemical parameters including serum aspartate transaminase (AST), serum alanine transaminase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and total bilirubin. Phenobarbitone-induced sleeping time and histopathology changes in liver tissues were also monitored. Results: CCl4 administration caused significant hepatotoxicity as evidenced by marked elevation in AST, ALT, ALP, and total bilirubin. Phenobarbitone-induced sleeping time and infiltration of inflammatory cells and centrizonal necrosis on histological examination of liver demonstrated hepatic injury after CCl4 administration. However, the administration of Icturn and J-deenar polyherbal formulations at the higher dose significantly decreased the levels of AST, ALT, ALP, and total bilirubin. Moreover, pentobarbitone-induced sleeping time and histopathological analysis also revealed significant improvement as result of treatment with formulations Icturn and J-deenar. Conclusion: Our results confirmed that polyherbal formulations (Icturn and J-deenar) can significantly prevent CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity in mice, demonstrating their protective effect for liver.

Effects of Alcoholic Extracts of Bangladeshi Mangrove Acanthus ilicifolius Linn. (Acanthaceae) Leaf and Stem on Atherogenic Model of Wistar Albino Rats.

Acanthus ilicifolius Linn. (Acanthaceae) is a popular mangrove ethnomedicinal plant that cures several ailments, including asthma, diabetes, cancer, and many others. Our experiment was aimed at evaluating the anti-atherogenic effect of A. ilicifolius (leaf and stem) on a high-fat diet-induced atherogenic rat model. Atherosclerosis was developed in 12 weeks. Treatment with the standard drug (3 mg/kg b.w./day, p.o. of Simvastatin), separate doses of methanolic and ethanolic extracts of A. ilicifolius leaf (250 and 500 mg/kg b.w./day, p.o.), and stem (200 and 400 mg/kg b.w./day, p.o.) was subsequently conducted for additional 15 days. The anti-atherogenic effect was evaluated by estimating the change in body weight, systolic blood pressure, and lipid profile. Histopathology of aorta, liver, and kidney of atherogenic models was done for further evaluation. The antioxidant effect of different extracts was performed via DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) assay using ascorbic acid as standard. The anticoagulant effect was determined after 15 days of treatment with the same doses of the plant extracts and the standard Warfarin (2 mg/kg b.w./day, p.o.). When compared with atherogenic control, treatment with A. ilicifolius significantly reduced (p < 0.01) body weight, systolic blood pressure, and serum lipid levels while it elevated HDL (high-density lipoprotein) level in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, bleeding and clotting time was significantly decreased (p < 0.01) under the treatment of plant extracts. The histopathological data showed considerable improvement in tissue morphology after treatment. Our study evidenced that the alcoholic extracts of A. ilicifolius leaf and stem have anti-atherogenic properties and may be recommended as a potential herbal remedy for preventing cardiovascular diseases.

Disposal Practices of Unused and Leftover Medicines in the Households of Dhaka Metropolis.

Background: This fact-finding study aimed to attain an overall idea and knowledge about medicine disposal practices in Dhaka Metropolitan households. Methods: This mixed study (both quantitative and qualitative) was orchestrated to inspect the household leftover medicine disposal pattern's governing status. A cross-sectional survey was conducted following a structured questionnaire and key informant interview with a household person and in-depth interviews with the top pharmaceutical and government officials. Results: Findings disclose that, for most of the key informants, the terms "drug disposal" and "drug pollution" were unknown; more precisely, 67% and 74% of key informants even did not hear these two terms. Almost all (87%) households faced undesired incidents due to the insecure storage of medicines. People disposed of excess and expired medication in regular dustbins (47%), threw out of the window (19%), flushed within commode (4%), burnt in fire (2%), and reused (4%). A good percentage of people (21%) returned unexpired drugs to the pharmacy and bought other medicines on a need basis. A total of 72% wanted a medicine take-back program, and 100% agreed on mass education on this issue. Officials of pharmaceuticals conferred mixed opinion: top-ranked pharmaceuticals will adopt leftover medicine disposal practices; middle and low-ranked pharmaceutical companies are reluctant, merely denied mentioning the less important issue. Conclusions: The absence of mass awareness and standard laws and policies may explain these existing aberrant practices.

Deciphering the Role of Nanoparticle-based Treatment for Parkinson's Disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that exerts a huge burden on our society. The occurrence of this neurodegenerative disease has been increasing day-by-day. PD can be a serious concern if the patients are left untreated. However, conventional treatment has many side-effects and less bioavailability in the brain. Therefore, the necessary measurement is required to solve the limitations of PD treatment. Nanotechnology has made a major contribution to comprehend PD pathogenesis. Nanotechnology can provide efficient therapies that have reduced side-effects and increased bioavailability in the brain. This review emphasizes the emerging promise of nanoparticle-based treatment, drug delivery, and other therapeutic approaches for PD. Besides, the advantages of different approaches on nanotechnology platforms are far better over conventional therapy in the treatment of PD.

Quantifying Media Effects, Its Content, and Role in Promoting Community Awareness of Chikungunya Epidemic in Bangladesh.

BACKGROUND: Chikungunya is a vector-borne disease, mostly present in tropical and subtropical regions. The virus is spread by Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus mosquitos and symptoms include high fever to severe joint pain. Dhaka, Bangladesh, suffered an outbreak of chikungunya in 2017 lasting from April to September. With the goal of reducing cases, social media was at the forefront during this outbreak and educated the public about symptoms, prevention, and control of the virus. Popular web-based sources such as the top dailies in Bangladesh, local news outlets, and Facebook spread awareness of the outbreak. OBJECTIVE: This study sought to investigate the role of social and mainstream media during the chikungunya epidemic. The study objective was to determine if social media can improve awareness of and practice associated with reducing cases of chikungunya. METHODS: We collected chikungunya-related information circulated from the top nine television channels in Dhaka, Bangladesh, airing from 1st April-20th August 2017. All the news published in the top six dailies in Bangladesh were also compiled. The 50 most viewed chikungunya-related Bengali videos were manually coded and analyzed. Other social media outlets, such as Facebook, were also analyzed to determine the number of chikungunya-related posts and responses to these posts. RESULTS: Our study showed that media outlets were associated with reducing cases of chikungunya, indicating that media has the potential to impact future outbreaks of these alpha viruses. Each media outlet (e.g., web, television) had an impact on the human response to an individual's healthcare during this outbreak. CONCLUSIONS: To prevent future outbreaks of chikungunya, media outlets and social media can be used to educate the public regarding prevention strategies such as encouraging safe travel, removing stagnant water sources, and assisting with tracking cases globally to determine where future outbreaks may occur.

Exploring the Role of CLU in the Pathogenesis of Alzheimer's Disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic and devastating neurodegenerative disorder that is affecting elderly people at an increasing rate. Clusterin (CLU), an extracellular chaperone, is an ubiquitously expressed protein that can be identified in various body fluids and tissues. Expression of CLU can lead to various processes including suppression of complement system, lipid transport, chaperone function, and also controlling neuronal cell death and cell survival mechanisms. Studies have confirmed that the level of CLU expression is increased in AD. Furthermore, CLU also decreased the toxicity and aggregation of amyloid beta (Aß). However when the Aß level was far greater than CLU, then the amyloid generation was increased. CLU was also found to incorporate in the amyloid aggregates, which were more harmful as compared with the Aß42 aggregates alone. Growing evidence indicates that CLU plays roles in AD pathogenesis via various processes, including aggregation and clearance of Aß, neuroinflammation, lipid metabolism, Wnt signaling, copper homeostasis, and regulation of neuronal cell cycle and apoptosis. In this article, we represent the critical interaction of CLU and AD based on recent advances. Furthermore, we have also focused on the Aß-dependent and Aß-independent mechanisms by which CLU plays a role in AD pathogenesis.

Correction to: Exploring the Role of CLU in the Pathogenesis of Alzheimer's Disease.

The original article has been corrected. Author Md. Ghulam Md Ashraf" should be "Ghulam Md Ashraf".

NMDA Receptor Antagonists: Repositioning of Memantine as a Multitargeting Agent for Alzheimer's Therapy.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that causes problems with memory, thinking, and behavior. Currently, there is no drug that can reduce the pathological events of this degenerative disease but symptomatic relief is possible that can abate the disease condition. N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors exert a critical role for synaptic plasticity as well as transmission. Overstimulation of glutamate receptors, predominantly NMDA type, may cause excitotoxic effects on neurons and is recommended as a mechanism for neurodegeneration. Atypical activation of the NMDA receptor has been suggested for AD by synaptic dysfunction. NMDA receptor antagonists especially memantine block the NMDA receptor and can reduce the influx of calcium (Ca2+) ions into neuron, thus, toxic intracellular events are not activated. This review represents the role of NMDA receptors antagonists as potential therapeutic agents to reduce AD. Moreover, this review highlights the repositioning of memantine as a potential novel therapeutic multitargeting agent for AD.

Cholinesterase Inhibitors for Alzheimer's Disease: Multitargeting Strategy Based on Anti-Alzheimer's Drugs Repositioning.

In the brain, acetylcholine (ACh) is regarded as one of the major neurotransmitters. During the advancement of Alzheimer's disease (AD) cholinergic deficits occur and this can lead to extensive cognitive dysfunction and decline. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) remains a highly feasible target for the symptomatic improvement of AD. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) remains a highly viable target for the symptomatic improvement in AD because cholinergic deficit is a consistent and early finding in AD. The treatment approach of inhibiting peripheral AChE for myasthenia gravis had effectively proven that AChE inhibition was a reachable therapeutic target. Subsequently tacrine, donepezil, rivastigmine, and galantamine were developed and approved for the symptomatic treatment of AD. Since then, multiple cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) have been continued to be developed. These include newer ChEIs, naturally derived ChEIs, hybrids, and synthetic analogues. In this paper, we summarize the different types of ChEIs which are under development and their respective mechanisms of actions.

Environmental suitability for Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus and the spatial distribution of major arboviral infections in Mexico.

BACKGROUND: This paper discusses a comparative geographic distribution of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes in Mexico, using environmental suitability modeling and reported cases of arboviral infections. METHODS: Using presence-only records, we modeled mosquito niches to show how much they influenced the distribution of Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus based on mosquito records collected at the municipality level. Mosquito surveillance data were used to create models regarding the predicted suitability of Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti mosquitos in Mexico. RESULTS: Ae. albopictus had relatively a better predictive performance (area under the curve, AUC = 0.87) to selected bioclimatic variables compared to Ae. aegypti (AUC = 0.81). Ae. aegypti were more suitable for areas with minimum temperature of coldest month (Bio6, permutation importance 28.7%) -6 °C to 21.5 °C, cumulative winter growing degree days (GDD) between 40 and 500, and precipitation of wettest month (Bio13) >8.4 mm. Minimum temperature range of the coldest month (Bio6) was -6.6 °C to 20.5 °C, and average precipitation of the wettest month (Bio13) 8.9 mm ~ 600 mm were more suitable for the existence of Ae. albopictus. However, arboviral infections maps prepared from the 2012-2016 surveillance data showed cases were reported far beyond predicted municipalities. CONCLUSIONS: This study identified the urgent necessity to start surveillance in 925 additional municipalities that reported arbovirus infections but did not report Aedes mosquito.

Ethnopharmacological Inspections of Organic Extract of Oroxylum indicum in Rat Models: A Promising Natural Gift.

The stem bark of Oroxylum indicum (O. indicum) was aimed at testing for anti-inflammatory, antiulcerative, antihyperglycemic, and antidyslipidemic activities. Liver enzyme concentration (SGPT, SGOT) had also been assessed. After being extracted in organic solvent, 3 distinct doses, 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg b.w. (p.o.), were used. For edema formation 0.1 ml carrageenan at a dose of 1% w/v was injected into paw of left hind. It showed a fall of edemas 37.50%, 48.34%, and 55.83% while used doses were 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg b.w. (p.o.) individually. The EtOH extract of O. indicum (50%) and its fractions PET, CLF, EtOAc, and nBUT were studied against ethanol-induced gastric mucosal damage. Only PET and n-BuOH exhibited the highest percentage of protection and were 96% and 99%, respectively, persuaded by ethanol. In OGTT glibenclamide revealed reduction of glucose level to 7.55 ± 0.22 mmol/L from 10.57 ± 0.32 mmol/L after 30 minutes. Antihyperglycemic activities were assessed for 8- and 12-week duration in diabetic rats. Glibenclamide reduced glucose level from 33.50±0.31 to 7.90±0.19 mmol/L in 12 weeks. In 12 and 8 weeks, combination therapy lowered blood glucose level to a normal extent by 79% and 61% individually. In antidyslipidemic activities after 12-week treatment, it revealed simvastatin; MEOI (400 mg/kg b.w.) and combination of both reduced TC level by 44%, 28%, and 48% consequently followed by TG and LDL. In 8-week treatment, HDL levels were increased by 34%, 13%, and 36%, and in 12 weeks increased by 36%, 8%, and 38% consequently. Liver enzyme concentration after 12 weeks of treatment with glibenclamide, 400 mg/kg b.w. (p.o.) of MEOI and combination of both, exhibited the fact that concentration of SGPT showed downturn by 43.23%, 8.01%, and 54.86% and SGOT by 42.40%, 5.31%, and 44.85%. This study remarked that O. indicum has anti-inflammatory, antiulcer, antidiabetic, and antidyslipidemic potentials but has no ameliorative effect on liver enzyme.

Analyzing the Impact of Soft, Stimulating and Depressing Songs on Attention Among Undergraduate Students: A Cross-Sectional Pilot Study in Bangladesh.

Music is strongly linked to attention and giving attention can boost intelligence. The purpose of this study was to scrutinize the impact of soft, stimulating, and depressing songs on the attention of students. The study was performed on 280 undergraduate students. Students were divided into 4 groups (i.e., control, soft, stimulating, and depressing) and subjected to 3 songs, soft (That's My Name), stimulating (Rain Over Me) and depressing (Broken Angel) songs. The Uddin's Numeral Finding (NF) and Typo Revealing (TR) tests were used to analyze the attention of the students. In the NF, 75.54% attention was exerted by students subjected to stimulating song followed by soft song's group (i.e., 74.32%) with respect to control group. Amid all groups, the lowest percentage, 70.77% of attention was reported for students subjected to the depressing song. For TR test, stimulating song's group exerted highest, 45.97% attention, soft song's group exerted 45.27%, control group exerted 42.70%, and lowest (i.e., 41.54%) attention was exerted by depressing song's group. In NF test, concerning sex, amid male and female, male exerted higher (77.04%) attention than female but for TR test female exerted higher (i.e., 48.15%) attention for students subjected to stimulating song. Regarding the age of the study in case of NF test for stimulating song's group, 18-20 years age students exerted highest, 82.07% attention but for TR test highest, 48.75% attention was reported for 23-25 years age students. For NF test, regarding the age of the study 1st-year student exerted highest, 92.44% attention but for TR test highest, 57.33% attention was reported for 3rd-year students for stimulating song's group. Concerning residential status in both NF and TR tests, for students lived with family subjected to stimulating song exerted highest, 77.93% and 48.6% attention, respectively with respect to students lived without family and remaining groups. This study suggested that song influences the neuronal circuits linked to alert and cognitive functions and the stimulating song has the acme power of increasing attention while depressing song reduces the attention. Therefore, the exciting song can be an operative intervention for enhancing attention, cognitive functions, and treatment of associated neuropsychological disorders.

Analyzing the chance of developing dementia among geriatric people: a cross-sectional pilot study in Bangladesh.

AIM: Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, representing 60-80% of cases, and ageing is the primary risk factor for the development of Alzheimer's disease. The objective of this study was to examine the chance of developing dementia (i.e. mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer's disease) among geriatric people in Bangladesh. METHODS: This study included 390 adult citizens of Bangladesh (age range: 60-70 years). The Takeda Three Colors Combination (TTCC) test was used to detect the prevalence of MCI and mild dementia among the subjects, and then the Clinical Dementia Rating was used to determine the level of dementia. RESULTS: The subjects who were aged 60-65 years included 154 with MCI, 76 with mild dementia, 1 with moderate dementia, 4 with severe dementia, and 29 without dementia. The subjects who were aged 66-70 years included 75 with MCI, 36 with mild dementia, 0 with moderate dementia, 2 with severe dementia, and 13 without dementia. The sensitivity of the TTCC was 75% and 58% for the mild dementia and MCI groups, respectively, and the specificity was 52%. The odds ratio of incorrect responses to the TTCC was 3.42 (95% confidence interval: 1.63-7.21) for subjects with mild dementia compared those without dementia. However, the TTCC outcomes revealed no significant differences between the MCI and non-dementia groups. The results showed no significant associations between cognitive decline/developing dementia and social status/occupation. CONCLUSION: The outcomes of this study indicated that most of the subjects had MCI or mild dementia and were farmers aged 60-65 years.

Spectrum of Disease and Prescription Pattern for Outpatients with Neurological Disorders: An Empirical Pilot Study in Bangladesh.

BACKGROUND: Neurological disorders represent one of the most prominent causes of morbidity and mortality that adversely affect the lifestyle of patients and a major percentage of these diseases exists in developing countries. PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence and prescription pattern for outpatients with neurological disorders in Bangladesh. METHODS: The study was conducted on 1,684 patients in 6 hospitals (National Institute of Neurosciences and Hospital, Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College, Sir Salimullah Medical College, and Apollo Hospitals Dhaka) of the Dhaka City from March 2014 to June 2015. Data were collected through a predesigned questionnaire from the patients that contain information about gender, age, marital status, occupation, residential status, affected disease, self-medicated medicines, and prescribed medicines. RESULTS: Out of 1,684 patients, 28.38% patients were aged 51-60 years and male, 57.19% predominance. The study exposed headache and migraine for 29.75% patients, followed by stroke for 23.93% patients and seizure for 7.07% patients. Genetic reason for the neurological disorders was seen only among 12.35% patients. In this study, 16.98% patients had been affected by neurological disorders for more than 2 years and 19% of patients for less than 6 months. Most extensively prescribed medicines were multivitamins and multiminerals used by 17.89% of patients followed by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and other analgesic by 14.84%; afterwards antiulcerants were used by 12.62%, subsequently anticoagulants were used by 11.61% followed by antihyperlipidemic medicines by 10.26% and antiepileptic drugs by 8.08% of patients. The crucial reasons for the selection of prescribed medicines were the confidence that patients had with the physician's prescribed medicines, which was shown for 40.97% patients and knowledge of the medicines was reported for 35.04% patients. The period of prescribed medicine usage was 1-3 months for 39.73% patients and 3-6 months for 29.16% patients. The patient's compliance for prescribed medicines was satisfactory for 34.56% patients, good for 28.15% patients, and side effects were reported for 23.22% patients. CONCLUSION: In Bangladesh, it is not surprising to note that neurological diseases are more prevalent than other different diseases among different age groups and genders. Headache and migraine, stroke and seizure are most frequently encountered neurological disorders here. Treatment procedure of these disorders is not quite suitable due to the anomalies of health care management systems. Appropriate management of the health care system, especially the placement of hospital and community pharmacy can overcome the existing inconsistencies as well as increase the knowledge, awareness, and perception of the patients about health and neurological disorders.

Wound healing effect of Euphorbia hirta linn. (Euphorbiaceae) in alloxan induced diabetic rats.

BACKGROUND: Euphorbia hirta linn., is a species of Euphorbiaceae family. They are known as asthma plant, barokhervi. The plant E. hirta is famous for its medicinal importance among the tribal population. It is a common practice to use the whole to heal wounds. Several pharmacological properties including antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, antidibetic, antispasmodic, antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, anticonvulsant, nootropic, antifertility and aphrodisiac properties have already been reported for this plant. The aim of present work was to evaluate the wound healing property in diabetic animals by oral and topical administration of ethanolic extract of E. hirta whole plant. METHODS: The ethanolic extract of E. hirta was subjected to determine the total phenolic content and total flavonoid content using galic acid and quercetin, respectively as standard. A single injection of alloxan monohydrate (120 mg/kg, i.p.) prepared in normal saline was administered to produce diabetes in rats, after overnight fasting. For analyzing the rate of contraction of wound, excision wounds sized 4.90cm2 and of 2 mm depth were used. Oral (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg/day; p.o.) and topical treatment with the extract (5% and 10% ointment 50 mg/kg/day) and standard (5% povidone iodine ointment 50 mg/kg/day) was started on the day of induction of wound and continued up to 16 days. The means of wound area measurement between groups at different time intervals were compared using ANOVA and Dunnet's test. The diabetic wound healing mechanism was studied by measuring the plasma level of glucose, malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO) in both control and treated groups. For the confirmation of activity, histopathology of the wounds tissues from excision wound model was performed. RESULTS: Phytochemical investigations showed the presence of various phytoconstituents (carbohydrates, saponins, alkaloids, glycosides, steroids, flavonoids, tannins). In the ethanolic extract of E. hirta the total phenol content was 285 ± 3.22 mg/g whereas the total flavonoid content was 118.46 ± 1.85 mg/g. In the present study, E. hirta caused significant wound closer both orally (35.92%, 44.69% and 61.42% at the doses of 100, 200 and 400, respectively) and topically (32.86% and 36.32% at the doses of 5% and 10%) treated groups as compared to diabetic control. However, the orally treated groups showed more significant effect than the topically treated groups. Moreover, oral administration of E. hirta ethanolic extract significantly reduced the blood glucose levels in diabetic wound rats (p < 0.01) on day 8 and day 16 as compared to the diabetic wound control (p < 0.01). On the other hand, topical application of E. hirta did not influence the blood glucose levels in diabetic rats (p > 0.05). It also demonstrated a significant decrease in the plasma levels of lipid malondialdehyde and nitric oxide. The results of biochemical parameters were further supported by the histopathological changes of different organs (liver, pancrease, kidney, heart and skin from wound area) which were evidenced through a decrease in inflammatory cell infiltration. CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrates that E. hirta whole plant extract promotes healing of wounds more significantly as compared to diabetic control rats, where healing is otherwise delayed.

Evaluation of anti-inflammatory and gastric anti-ulcer activity of Phyllanthus niruri L. (Euphorbiaceae) leaves in experimental rats.

BACKGROUND: The medicinal plants signify a massive basin of potential phytoconstituents that could be valuable as a substitute to allopathic drugs or considered as an analogue in drug development. Phyllanthus niruri L. (Euphorbiaceae) is generally used in traditional medicine to treat ulcer and inflammation. In this project we investigated the methanolic extract of leaves of Phyllanthus niruri for anti-inflammatory and anti-ulcer activity. METHODS: The anti-inflammatory activity of methanol extract of Phyllanthus niruri leaves was evaluated at the doses of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg, p.o. while using ibuprofen (20 mg/kg, p.o) as the standard drug. The animals used were Swiss albino rats. Inflammation was induced by injecting 0.1 ml carrageenan (1% w/v) into the left hind paw. Paw tissues from the different groups were examined for inflammatory cell infiltration. On the other hand, antiulcer activity of methanolic extract of P. niruri leaves at the doses of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg, p.o. were examined against ethanol-acid induced gastric mucosal injury in the Swiss albino rats - keeping omeprazole (20 mg/kg, p.o.) as reference. The rats were dissected and the stomachs were macroscopically examined to identify hemorrhagic lesions in the glandular mucosa. RESULTS: P. niruri significantly (p < 0.01) decreased carrageenan-induced paw edema; it exhibited a reduction of 46.80%, 55.32% and 69.14% at doses of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg, respectively. These findings were further supported by the histological study. The methanolic extract also disclosed good protective effect against ethanol-acid induced gastric mucosal injury in the rats. Administration of the extract's doses (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg) demonstrated a significant (p < 0.01) reduction in the ethanol- acid induced gastric erosion in all the experimental groups when compared to the control. The methanolic extract at the higher dose (400 mg/kg) resulted in better inhibition of ethanol-acid induced gastric ulcer as compare to omeprazole (20 mg/kg). Histological studies of the gastric wall revealed that toxic control rats revealed mucosal degeneration, ulceration and migration of numerous inflammatory cells throughout the section. On the other hand, MEPN treatment groups showed significant regeneration of mucosal layer and significantly prevented the formation of hemorrhage and edema. CONCLUSIONS: The investigation suggests that methanolic extract of P. niruri leaf possess anti-inflammatory activity and promotes ulcer protection as ascertained by regeneration of mucosal layer and substantial prevention of the formation of hemorrhage and edema.

Additive effect of lipid lowering drug (simvastatin) in combination with antidiabetic drug (glibenclamide) on alloxan induced diabetic rats with long term dyslipidemia.

High blood glucose level, elevated level of liver enzyme, necrosis and shrinkage of islets of Langerhans has been implicated in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. High blood glucose cause oxidative stress, production of free radical as well as elevated SGPT and SGOT level. Both glibenclamide and simvastatin in fixed dose used as antihyperglycemic antidyslipidemic and antioxidative agents for type 2 diabetes treatment. This study therefore aimed to evaluate the antihyperglycemic, antidyslipidemic and antioxidative effect of fixed dose combination of glibenclamide (0.6 mg/70 kg body weight) and simvastatin (5 mg/70 kg body weight) on long term alloxan induced diabetic rats with cardiovascular disease using various diagnostic kits as a parameter of phamacotherapeutic and pharmacological effect. The study was carried out using 96 Swiss Albino male rats weighing about 200-220 g. Combination therapy induced a significant decrease in blood glucose level in alloxan induced diabetic rats, from 33.75 ± 1.65 to 5.80 ± 0.07 mmol/l 2 h after last dose administration, after 4 weeks treatment. In case of dyslipidemic effect, combination therapy reduced total cholesterol (45 %), triglyceride (36 %) and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (32 %) levels significantly and increased high density lipoprotein-cholesterol level (57 %) in comparison with their respective diabetic control groups. Results of this study showed that combination therapy effectively decreased SGPT (ALAT) (55 %) and SGOT (ASAT) (51 %) in comparison with diabetic control group. It was also observed that catalase and superoxide dismutase enzyme activity was increased by 58 and 91 % respectively in comparison with diabetic control group after 4 weeks treatment with combination of both drugs. In conclusion, these findings of combination therapy (glibenclamide and simvastatin) on alloxan induced diabetes in rats are significantly better than monotherapy using single drug. The results of the present study suggest that, combination of the fixed dose of glibenclamide and simvastatin might be efficacious in patients with diabetic dyslipidemia and increased oxidative stress. Furthermore, this combination therapy offer dosage convenience to the patients and by virtue of its dual mode of action might be a useful addition to the therapeutic armamentarium for patients with diabetic dyslipidemia and oxidative stress.