Comparative performance of liquid chromatography and spectrophotometry in determining metformin hydrochloride within pharmaceutical formulations.

The present study compared the performance of Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) and UV-Vis spectrophotometry for the quantification of metformin hydrochloride in five commercially available metformin hydrochloride products with different strengths. The metformin hydrochloride was measured in the UHPLC with a mobile phase consisting of a mixture of 0.05 M phosphate buffer solution and methanol (35:65, v/v) with a pH of 3.6. Metformin hydrochloride was determined spectrophotometrically at 234 nm using a mixture of methanol and water as a blank. The methods' linearity for metformin hydrochloride was within the concentration range of (2.5-40 µg/ml) in both techniques. The validation process encompassed assessments of specificity, selectivity, linearity, accuracy, precision, the lower limit of quantification (LLOQ), the lower limit of detection (LLOD), robustness, and system suitability. For the UHPLC validation method, the repeatability and reproducibility (expressed as relative standard deviation) were less than 1.578 and 2.718 %, respectively. The LLOQ for metformin hydrochloride was 0.625 µg/ml, and the LLOD was 0.156 µg/ml. For the UV-Vis spectrophotometric validation method, the repeatability and reproducibility (stated as relative standard deviation) were less than 3.773 and 1.988 %, respectively. The percentage recovery results for the five brands of metformin hydrochloride tablets were (98-101 %) and (92-104 %) for the UHPLC and UV-Vis spectrophotometric methods, respectively. In conclusion, the described methodologies were successfully employed for the quantitative analysis of metformin hydrochloride in different pharmaceutical tablet products.

Nootkatone confers hepatoprotective and anti-fibrotic actions in a murine model of liver fibrosis by suppressing oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis.

In this study, the hepatoprotective and anti-fibrotic actions of nootkatone (NTK) were investigated using carbon tetrachloride (CCl4 )-induced liver fibrosis in mice. CCl4 administration elevated serum aspartate and alanine transaminases levels, respectively. In addition, CCl4 produced hepatic oxidative and nitrative stress, characterized by diminished hemeoxygenase-1 expression, antioxidant defenses, and accumulation of 4-hydroxynonenal and 3-nitrotyrosine. Furthermore, CCl4 administration evoked profound expression of pro-inflammatory cytokine expressions such as tumor necrosis factor-α, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, and interleukin-1ß in hepatic tissues, which corroborated with nuclear factor κB activation. Additionally, CCl4 -treated animals exhibited higher apoptosis, characterized by increased caspase 3 activity, DNA fragmentation, and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase activation. Moreover, histological and biochemical investigations revealed marked fibrosis in the livers of CCl4 -administered animals. However, NTK treatment mitigated CCl4 -induced phenotypic changes. In conclusion, our findings suggest that NTK exerts hepatoprotective and anti-fibrotic actions by suppressing oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis.

Plant-Derived Agents for Counteracting Cisplatin-Induced Nephrotoxicity.

Cisplatin (CSP) is a chemotherapeutic agent commonly used to treat a variety of malignancies. The major setback with CSP treatment is that its clinical efficacy is compromised by its induction of organ toxicity, particular to the kidneys and ears. Despite the significant strides that have been made in understanding the mechanisms underlying CSP-induced renal toxicity, advances in developing renoprotective strategies are still lacking. In addition, the renoprotective approaches described in the literature reveal partial amelioration of CSP-induced renal toxicity, stressing the need to develop potent combinatorial/synergistic agents for the mitigation of renal toxicity. However, the ideal renoprotective adjuvant should not interfere with the anticancer efficacy of CSP. In this review, we have discussed the progress made in utilizing plant-derived agents (phytochemicals) to combat CSP-induced nephrotoxicity in preclinical studies. Furthermore, we have also presented strategies to utilize phytochemicals as prototypes for the development of novel renoprotective agents for counteracting chemotherapy-induced renal damage.

Phytochemicals as Prototypes for Pharmaceutical Leads Towards Drug Development Against Diabetic Cardiomyopathy.

Globally diabetes mellitus (DM) is swiftly reaching epidemic proportions and impose major health care and socio-economic challenges that are associated with its complications. DM is considered as the major risk factor for the development of debilitating micro & macro vascular complications. Clinical studies have revealed that development of diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) in subjects with diabetes can occur both- dependent and independent of pre-existing increased risk factors such as poor glycemic control, hyperlipidemia, and or hypertension. Therefore, DCM represents as a major challenge for the clinical community for the prompt diagnosis and devising the treatment paradigm to combat the diabetes induced cardiac dysfunction. In Chinese traditional medical practice, heart ailments have been coped with herbal extracts. Phytochemicals bioavailability and pharmacokinetic properties are to yet be established completely in human subjects. However, tremendous progress has been made to isolate, purify the phytochemicals and characterize their effects on mitigating the development of DCM in pre-clinical models. Currently there are no approved drugs available for the treatment of DCM. In this review, we have discussed the progress made in understanding the mechanisms for the phytochemicals cardio-protective actions in the diabetic milieu and their caveats and provide future perspectives for proposing these agents to serve as prototypes in the development of drugs for the management of DCM.