Herbal medicines appeared promising in prevention of many diseases. This study was conducted to investigate the gastroprotective effect of Curcuma xanthorrhiza leaf in the rats induced gastric ulcer by ethanol. Normal and ulcer control received carboxymethycellulose (5 mL/kg) orally, positive control was administered with 20 mg/kg omeprazole (reference drug) and 2 groups were received 250 mg/kg and 500 mg/kg of the leaf extract, respectively. To induce of gastric ulcers formation, ethanol (5 mL/kg) was given orally to all groups except normal control. Gross ulcer areas, histology, and amount of prostaglandin E2, superoxide dismutase and malondialdehyde were assessed to determine the potentiality of extract in prevention against gastric ulcers. Oral administration of extract showed significant gastric protection effect as the ulcer areas was remarkably decreased. Histology observation showed less edema and leucocytes infiltration as compared with the ulcer control which exhibited severe gastric mucosa injury. Furthermore, the leaf extract elevated the mucus weight, level of prostaglandin E2 and superoxide dismutase. The extract also reduced malondialdehyde amount significantly. Results showed leaf extract of Curcuma xanthorrhiza can enhanced the gastric protection and sustained the integrity of gastric mucosa structure. Acute toxicity test did not showed any sign of toxicity (2 g/kg and 5 g/kg).
The present study aims to evaluate the safety of methanol extract of Cinnamomum burmannii (MECB) by acute 14-day (single dose) and sub-chronic 28-day (repeated doses) oral administration to Sprague-Dawley rats. Our results showed that no toxicity was found in either acute or sub-chronic toxicity studies. MECB (containing 0.07% and 0.20% (w/w) of coumarin and trans-cinnamaldehyde, respectively), which was given orally at doses of 500, 1000 and 2000 mg/kg caused neither visible signs of toxicity nor mortality. No significant differences were observed in general condition, growth, organ weight, hematological parameters, biochemical values, or the gross and microscopic appearance of the organs from the treatment groups as compared to the control group. In conclusion, MECB did not cause any mortality nor did it cause any abnormalities in the necropsy and histopathology findings of treated rats. The LD50 for the MECB was found to be more than 2000 mg/kg. No adverse effects were observed in the treated rats at all the doses tested. The no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) for the 28-day study was determined to be 2000 mg/kg body weight/day.
An easy, fast and validated RV-HPLC method was invented to quantify donepezil hydrochloride in drug solution and orally disintegrating tablet. The separation was carried out using reversed phase C-18 column (Agilent Eclipse Plus C-18) with UV detection at 268 nm. Method optimization was tested using various composition of organic solvent. The mobile phase comprised of phosphate buffer (0.01M), methanol and acetonitrile (50:30:20, v/v) adjusted to pH 2.7 with phosphoric acid (80%) was found as the optimum mobile phase. The method showed intraday precision and accuracy in the range of 0.24% to -1.83% and -1.83% to 1.99% respectively, while interday precision and accuracy ranged between 1.41% to 1.81% and 0.11% to 1.90% respectively. The standard calibration curve was linear from 0.125 μg/mL to 16 μg/mL, with correlation coefficient of 0.9997±0.00016. The drug solution was stable under room temperature at least for 6 hours. System suitability studies were done. The average plate count was > 2000, tailing factor <1, and capacity factor of 3.30. The retention time was 5.6 min. The HPLC method was used to assay donepezil hydrochloride in tablet and dissolution study of in-house manufactured donepezil orally disintegrating tablet and original Aricept.
To examine the oral toxicity of repeated dosing of Strobilanthes crispus (S. crispus) ethanol leaves extract on the liver and kidney functions in Sprague Dawley rats.
Tea has been suggested to promote oral health by inhibiting bacterial attachment to the oral cavity. Most studies have focused on prevention of bacterial attachment to hard surfaces such as enamel.
Litsea elliptica Blume has been traditionally used to treat headache, fever, and stomach ulcer, and has also been used as an insect repellent. The acute and subacute toxicities of L. elliptica essential oil were evaluated orally by gavage in female Sprague-Dawley rats. For the acute toxicity study, L. elliptica essential oil was administered in doses from 500 to 4000 mg/kg (single dose), and in the subacute toxicity test, the following doses were used: 125, 250, and 500 mg/kg, for 28 consecutive days. In the acute toxicity study, L. elliptica essential oil caused dose-dependent adverse behaviours and mortality. The median lethal dose value was 3488.86 mg/kg and the acute non-observed-adversed-effect level value was found to be 500 mg/kg. The subacute toxicity study of L. elliptica essential oil did not reveal alterations in body weight, and food and water consumptions. The haematological and biochemical analyses did not show significant differences between control and treated groups in most of the parameters examined, except for the hemoglobin, mean cell hemoglobin concentration, mean cell volume, mean cell hemoglobin, serum albumin, and serum sodium. However, these differences were still within the normal range. No abnormalities or histopathological changes were observed in the liver, pancreatic islet of Langerhans, and renal glomerulous and tubular cells of all treated groups. In conclusion, L. elliptica essential oil can be classified in the U group, which is defined as a group unlikely to present an acute hazard according to World Health Organization (WHO) classification.
Peripheral neuropathy is a known manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus. However, the association of primary autoimmune inflammatory neuropathies such as chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) with SLE is uncommon. We report a 26-year-old man who simultaneously presented with severe CIDP and photosensitive rash, but was unresponsive to intravenous immunoglobulin infusion and continued to progress. He was found to have underlying SLE and improved with combined corticosteroid and immunosuppressive therapy with oral cyclophosphamide. CIDP with underlying SLE may be more resistant to conventional therapy with IVIG, requiring the addition of other immunosuppressive agents.
In oral insulin delivery, blood glucose profiles of a subject can be a function of complicated transfer of water and insulin between gastrointestinal and blood compartments.
The current study described the synthesis and the in vivo acute oral toxicity evaluations in Sprague Dawley rats. The compounds were characterized by elemental analyses, LC-MS, FTIR, (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR and UV-visible spectroscopy. In the acute toxicity study, a single administration of the compounds was performed orally to the rats at the single doses of 2000 mg/kg and they were then monitored for possible side effects, mortality or behavioral changes up to 14 days. The serum level of aspartate (AST), alanine aminotransferases (ALT), alkaline phosphate (ALP), triglyceride, high density lipoprotein (HDL), immunoglobulins (GAM) and the C-reactive proteins did not significantly change. The hematological indices white blood cells (WBC), haematocrit (HCT), red blood cells (RBC), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC), and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) were within the normal range. The renal function indices examined were also within the reference range. Generally, the compounds exhibited low toxic effects as required for further in vivo therapeutic studies.
AIMS: We examined the relationship of hypoglycemic symptoms with health-related quality of life and worry about hypoglycemia among type 2 diabetic patients using oral antihyperglycemic agents (AHA) in the Asia-Pacific region.
METHODS: A total of 2257 type 2 diabetic patients with at least 6 months of oral AHA were enrolled in China, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, and Taiwan. Quality of life was measured with the EuroQol Visual Analog Scale (EQ-VAS) and EuroQol-5 Dimensions questionnaire (EQ-5D), and worry about hypoglycemia with the worry subscale of the Hypoglycemic Fear Survey-II (HFS).
RESULTS: The mean (SD) age was 58.7 (10.2) years and HbA(1c) was 7.5% (1.5). The proportion of patients with an HbA(1c) <6.5% and <7% was 24.9% and 41.8%, respectively. Hypoglycemic symptoms in the prior 6 months were reported by 35.8% of patients. Mean scores on the EQ-VAS and the EQ-5D were significantly lower for patients who had hypoglycemic symptoms compared to those who did not (73.6 vs. 76.9, p<0.001; 0.88 vs. 0.90, p<0.0001, respectively), whereas mean score on the HFS was significantly higher (12.5 vs. 6.3, p<0.001). In multivariate models, hypoglycemic symptoms were independently associated with scores on the EQ-5D, EQ-VAS, and HFS (all p ≤ 0.01-0.001). Symptom severity was positively associated with fear of hypoglycemia (all p ≤ 0.001).
CONCLUSION: Hypoglycemic symptoms were associated with reduced quality of life and increased patient worry in patients with type 2 diabetes treated with AHA.
The purpose of this report was to describe 2 cases of periocular infantile hemangiomas (IHs) that were successfully treated with low-dose oral propranolol alone and in combination with oral prednisolone.
Plasmodium knowlesi is a cause of symptomatic and potentially fatal infections in humans. There are no studies assessing the detailed parasitological response to treatment of knowlesi malaria infections in man and whether antimalarial resistance occurs.
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Mitragyna speciosa Korth (ketum) is widely used in Malaysia as a medicinal agent for treating diarrhea, worm infestations and also acts as an analgesic and antipyretic.
AIM: The aim of the study is to determine the acute toxicity of Mitragyna speciosa Korth standardized methanol extract in vivo in 4-weeks-old Sprague-Dawley rats.
METHODOLOGY: Rats were orally administrated single dose of 100, 500 and 1000 mg/kg Mitragyna speciosa Korth standardized methanol extract and the control group received 430 mg/kg of morphine orally. There were 10 rats in each group. All animals were sacrificed after 14 days of treatment. Eight parameters were tested: cage side observation, body weight measurement, food and water consumption, blood pressure, absolute and relative organ weight, hematology, biochemical analysis and histopathology, to look for evidence of toxicity.
RESULT: No mortality was noted after 14 days of treatment. In general, behavior, food and water consumption, hematological studies and organ weights showed no significant changes. The standardized methanol extraction of Mitragyna speciosa Korth increased rat blood pressure (systolic: 147.4+/-1.01, 131.64+/-4.94 and 137.8+/-4.46) after an hour of 100, 500 and 1000 mg/kg doses, respectively. Biochemical studies showed significant elevation of ALT, AST, albumin, triglycerides, cholesterol and albumin (p>0.05), at all levels of doses. But, nephrotoxicity evidenced by elevated creatinine was seen only at a dose of 1000 mg/kg. Histological examination showed congestion of sinusoids, hemorrhage hepatocytes, fatty change, centrilobular necrosis and increased number of Kuppfer cells in the liver of all Mitragyna speciosa Korth standardized methanol extract treated groups.
CONCLUSION: Oral administration of standardized methanolic extraction of Mitragyna speciosa Korth resulted in increasing rat blood pressure after an hour of drug administration. The highest dose of extract also induced acute severe hepatotoxicity and mild nephrotoxicity. However, Mitragyna speciosa Korth shows no effects on body weight, food and water consumption, absolute and relative organ weight and also hematology parameters.
The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the safety of standardised 50% ethanol extract of Orthosiphon stamineus plant by determining its potential toxicity after acute and subchronic administration in rats.
Methanol extract of the Gracilaria changii has been screened for antimicrobial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Antimicrobial activities were carried out using disc diffusion assay and broth dilution method against P. aeruginosa. The methanol extract of G. changii showed a good antimicrobial activity against P. aeruginosa with MIC (Minimum Inhibitory Concentration) value of 6.25mg/ml. Exposure of P. aeruginosa cells to 6.25mg/ml of methanol extract of G. changii resulted in complete inhibition of the bacterial cells. The main abnormalities noted via SEM and TEM studies were the alterations in morphology and cytology of the bacterial cells. The main reason for this deterioration was discussed. The effect of the methanol extract on the growth profile for the bacteria was also done and confirmed the bactericidal effect of the G. changii methanol extract on P. aeruginosa by changing the normal growth profile of P. aeruginosa. In an acute toxicity study using mice, the median lethal dose (LD(50)) of the extract was greater than 2000 mg/kg, and we found no pathological changes in macroscopic examination by necropsy of mice treated with extract. We conclude that G. changii might be safely used as an antimicrobial agent.
Among their numerous physiological effects, heat shock proteins (Hsps) are potent immunomodulators, a characteristic reflecting their potential as therapeutic agents and which led to their application in combating infection. As an example, the up-regulation of endogenous Hsp70 in the branchiopod crustacean Artemia franciscana (Kellogg) is concurrent with shielding against bacterial infection. To better understand this protective mechanism, gnotobiotic Artemia were fed with Escherichia coli treated to over-produce different prokaryotic Hsps. This was shown to increase larval resistance to experimental Vibrio campbellii exposure. Immunoprobing of Western blots showed that the enhanced resistance to V. campbellii correlated with DnaK production in E coli. A definitive role for DnaK was then demonstrated by feeding Artemia larvae with transformed bacteria over-producing only this protein, although other Hsps such as DnaJ and grpE also provided tolerance against Vibrio infection. Feeding of bacteria synthesizing selected Hsps is therefore suggested as an alternative to antibiotic use as a means of enhancing resistance of Artemia larvae to bacterial infection, which may have potential applications in aquaculture.
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of vitamin E on the levels of lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzymes in rat bones. Fifty-six normal male Sprague-Dawley rats, aged 3 months, were randomly divided into seven groups with eight rats in each group. The age-matched control group was given the vehicle olive oil, by oral gavage daily. Six of the treatment groups received either palm tocotrienol or pure alpha-tocopherol at the dose of 30, 60 or 100 mg/kg body weight, by oral gavage daily, 6 days a week for 4 months. Thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance (TBARS) that is an index to measure the level of lipid peroxidation and the antioxidant enzymes, glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase levels were measured in the femur at the end of the study. Palm tocotrienol at the dose of 100 mg/kg body weight significantly reduced the TBARS level in the femur with a significant increase in glutathione peroxidase activity compared to the age-matched control group. These were not observed in the alpha-tocopherol groups. Palm tocotrienol was more effective than pure alpha-tocopherol acetate in suppressing lipid peroxidation in bone. Palm tocotrienol showed better protective effect against free radical damage in the femur compared to alpha-tocopherol. This study suggests that palm tocotrienol plays an important role in preventing imbalance in bone metabolism due to free radicals.
A rare case of acute retinal necrosis caused by cytomegalovirus in an immunocompetent adult, diagnosed by polymerase chain reaction of vitreous aspirate, with good visual outcome after intravitreal and intravenous ganciclovir and oral prednisolone therapy, is reported. A 50-year-old healthy lady presented with redness and diminution of vision in her right eye of 10 days duration. She had anterior chamber inflammation, marked vitritis, and anterior retinal necrosis in the right eye. Blood and other investigations did not reveal any infectious diseases and HIV testing was negative. The retinal lesions and panuveitis resolved with treatment. Two months later she developed retinal detachment which was treated successfully. The best-corrected vision was 6/12 in the right eye. Seven cases of cytomegalovirus ocular infection in immunocompetent healthy adults, reported in the literature, were reviewed. The different presentations of this disease and the importance of suspecting this causative agent are highlighted.