Anti-bacterial activity and brine shrimp lethality bioassay of methanolic extracts of fourteen different edible vegetables from Bangladesh.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the antibacterial and cytotoxic activity of fourteen different edible vegetables methanolic extract from Bangladesh. METHODS: The antibacterial activity was evaluated using disc diffusion assay method against 12 bacteria (both gram positive and gram negative). The plant extracts were also screened for cytotoxic activity using the brine shrimp lethality bioassay method and the lethal concentrations (LC50) were determined at 95% confidence intervals by analyzing the data on a computer loaded with "Finney Programme". RESULTS: All the vegetable extracts showed low to elevated levels of antibacterial activity against most of the tested strains (zone of inhibition=5-28 mm). The most active extract against all bacterial strains was from Xanthium indicum which showed remarkable antibacterial activity having the diameter of growth inhibition zone ranging from 12 to 28 mm followed by Alternanthera sessilis (zone of inhibition=6-21 mm). All extracts exhibited considerable general toxicity towards brine shrimps. The LC50 value of the tested extracts was within the range of 8.447 to 60.323 µg/mL with respect to the positive control (vincristine sulphate) which was 0.91 µg/mL. Among all studied extracts, Xanthium indicum displayed the highest cytotoxic effect with LC50 value of 8.447 µg/mL. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the present investigation suggest that most of the studied plants are potentially good source of antibacterial and anticancer agents.

Studies of lipid profile, liver function and kidney function parameters of rat plasma after chronic administration of "Sulavajrini Vatika".

The successful use of Ayurvedic medicines is for many years but there is no guideline for studying the toxicity of these preparations through preclinical or clinical investigations. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of conventionally prepared Sulavajrini Vatika (SBB), an Ayurvedic formulation on various biochemical parameters of experimental animals after chronic administration. The animal used was albino rats (Rattus norvegicus: Sprague-Dawley strain) and SBB was administered orally at a single dose of 100 mg kg(-1) b.wt. day(-1), up to 62 days. During the study, forty rats, equally of both sexes, were randomly grouped into four where one male and one female group were used as control and other groups were used as test. Among the lipid components, Triglyceride (TG) was decreased very high significantly in both sexes of animal. The decrease of Total Cholesterol (TC), Very Low Density Lipoprotein (VLDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) were also highly significant. Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) decreased in all SBB treated group. In the liver function parameters, the total protein and albumin content were increased very high significantly in both sexes of rat. But the bilirubin was decreased insignificantly in male and female rats. Serum Glutamic Pyruvic Transaminase (GPT), Glutamic Oxaloacetic Transaminase (GOT) and Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) were decreased in all treated animals and it was very high significant. In case of kidney function parameters, creatinine was increased very high significantly but the urea was decreased very high significantly in both sexes of rat. The decrease in uric acid was not significant in none of the sexes of rat. The present study confirms that SBB can be contributory for the complications in diabetics with hyperlipidemia and nephropathy as it lowers most of the lipids components and improves liver function and kidney function parameters.