Genus Ziziphus: A comprehensive review on ethnopharmacological, phytochemical and pharmacological properties.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The genus Ziziphus (Rhamnaceae) contains 58 accepted species that are extensively used by local people and medicinal practitioners in arid and semi-arid regions for the treatment of diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera, diabetic, hypertension, inflammation, intestinal spasm, liver, malaria and other diseases. Aims of this review: This review article documents and critically assesses, for the first time; up to date categorized information about botanical traits, distribution, traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacological and toxicological effects of Ziziphus species. METHODS: Information was collected systematically from electronic scientific databases including Google Scholar, Science Direct, PubMed, Web of Science, ACS Publications, Elsevier, SciFinder, Wiley Online Library and CNKI, as well as other literature sources (e.g., books). KEY FINDINGS: The phytochemical investigations of plants of this genus have led to the identification of about 431 chemical constituents. Cyclopeptide alkaloids and flavonoids are the predominant groups. The crude extracts and isolated compounds exhibit a wide range of in vitro and in vivo pharmacologic effects, including antimicrobial, antitumour, antidiabetic, antidiarrhoeal, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, antioxidant and hepatoprotective activities. Toxicity studies indicate that Ziziphus species seems to be non-toxic at typical therapeutic doses. CONCLUSION: Phytochemical and pharmacological studies have demonstrated that Ziziphus species are important medicinal herbs with prominent bioactivities. The focus so far has only been on ten species; however, plants of this genus can potentially yield a wide range of other products with different properties. Meticulous studies on pharmaceutical standardisation, mode of action of the active constituents and toxicity of Ziziphus species are needed to meet the growing demands of the pharmaceutical industry and to exploit their preventive and therapeutic potential fully.

Application of Cerium (IV) as an Oxidimetric Agent for the Determination of Ethionamide in Pharmaceutical Formulations.

Two simple methods are described for the determination of ethionamide (ETM) in bulk drug and tablets using cerium (IV) sulphate as the oxidimetric agent. In both methods, the sample solution is treated with a measured excess of cerium (IV) solution in H2SO4 medium, and after a fixed standing time, the residual oxidant is determined either by back titration with standard iron (II) solution to a ferroin end point in titrimetry or by reacting with o-dianisidine followed by measurement of the absorbance of the orange-red coloured product at 470 nm in spectrophotometry. In titrimetry, the reaction proceeded with a stoichiometry of 1 : 2 (ETM : Ce (IV)) and the amount of cerium (IV) consumed by ETM was related to the latter's amount, and the method was applicable over 1.0-8.0 mg of drug. In spectrophotometry, Beer's law was obeyed over the concentration range of 0.5-5.0 µg/mL ETM with a molar absorptivity value of 2.66 × 104 L/(mol·cm). The limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) calculated according to ICH guidelines were 0.013 and 0.043 µg/mL, respectively. The proposed titrimetric and spectrophotometric methods were found to yield reliable results when applied to bulk drug and tablets analysis, and hence they can be applied in quality control laboratories.