EFFECT OF CRUDE EXTRACT AND PHYTOSTEROL FRACTION OF FUMARIA OFFICINALIS IN INDUCED HYPERTROPHIC SCAR OF RABBITS

Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the role of crude extract and phytosterol fraction of Fumaria officinalis in experimentally induced hypertrophic scar in rabbits. Methods: Surgical wounds were performed on day 1 with an 8‑mm biopsy punch four wounds were created on the ventral surface of the rabbit ear (in vivo) down to cartilage. Triamcinolone acetonide (TAC), crude and phytosterol extracts of F. officinalis L. are administered topically to established scars on day 31. The outcome measures included study of histopathology of skin sections, transforming growth factor beta‑1 (TGF‑β1), level, and collagen three alpha1 in skin tissue. Results: In comparison with the induced hypertrophic scar, all treatment produced a significant reduction in scores of TGFβ1, collagen III, inflammation, and measurement of SEI (p ≤ 0.01). The most significant reduction in inflammation and thickness observed in TAC and extract of crude F. officinalis L. Only crude F. officinalis L. decrease fibroblast counts in comparison to induced hypertrophic scar group and other group (p ≤ 0.05). No statistically significant differences were found between the treatment groups in terms of TGF β1and collagen III. Conclusion: Topical crude extract of F. officinalis L. was more effective in the treatment of induced hypertrophic scar as compared with phytosterol of F. officinalis L. and comparable to the effectiveness of topical TAC

A Comparative Study of the Effect of Thyme and Calcium with Vitamin D3 in Treatment of postmenopausal Women with Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a condition of skeletal fragility due to progressive loss of bone mass. It occurs in the elderly of both sexes but is most pronounced in postmenopausal women . The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of Thyme in treatment of postmenopausal women with osteoporosis and compare it's effect with Calcium plus Vitamin D3 . Forty postmenopausal women with osteoporosis were randomly divided into two groups( each group include twenty women) .The duration of treatment was 6 months . First group was given Thyme capsule 500mg twice daily, second group was given Calcium plus Vitamin D3(Calcium 600mg plus Vitamin D3 500 I.U.) once daily .The following parameters were measured for two groups at baseline and at 6 months intervals bone mineral density(BMD) and t score except ESR and serum ionized calcium were measured at baseline and at 2 months interval . There were a significant increase in BMD, t score in group treated with Thyme after 6 months as compared with baseline  and with group treated with Calcium plus Vitamin D3 . Also there were a significant reduction in mean serum ionized calcium and mean ESR in group treated with Thyme and group treated with Calcium with vitamin D3 after 2,4,6 months as compared with baseline(P<0.05) . Keywords : Thyme, BMD, Calcium, Vitamin D3, Osteoporosis, t scor

A Comparative Study of the Effect of Sodium Alendronate plus Thyme and Sodium Alendronate alone in Treatment of Postmenopausal Women with Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a chronic, progressive disease of multifactorial etiology characterized by low bone mass and microarchitectural deterioration of bone tissue, with a consequent increase in bone fragility. The disease often does not become clinically apparent until a fracture occurs . It occurs in the elderly of both sexes but is most pronounced in postmenopausal women .The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of sodium alendronate plus Thyme in treatment of postmenopausal women with osteoporosis and compare it's effect with Sodium alendronate alone . Forty postmenopausal women with osteoporosis were randomly divided into two groups( each group include twenty women) .The duration of treatment was 6 months . First group was given Sodium alendronate 70mg weekly and Thyme capsule 500mg twice daily, second group was given Sodium alendronate 70mg once weekly .The following parameters were measured for two groups at baseline and at 6 months intervals bone mineral density(BMD) and t score except ESR and serum ionized calcium were measured at baseline and at 2 months interval . There were a significant increase in BMD and significant increase in t score in group treated with Sodium alendronate plus Thyme after 6 months as compared with baseline  and with group treated with Sodium alendronate . Also there were a significant reduction in mean serum ionized calcium and mean ESR in group treated with Sodium alendronate plus Thyme and group treated with Sodium alendronate alone after 2,4,6 months as compared with baseline(P<0.05) . Keywords: Thyme, BMD, Sodium alendronate, Osteoporosis, t scor

ANTI-PROLIFERATIVE ACTIVITY OF ZIZYPHUS SPINA CHRISTI LEAVES METHANOL EXTRACT AGAINST RHABDOMYOSARCOMA (RD) CELL LINE

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the capability of Zizyphus spina christi methanol extract to inhibit cancer cell line proliferation.Methods: The leaves of Zizyphus spina christi were extracted by cold maceration method. The anti-proliferative activity of the methanol extract against rhabdomyosarcoma (RD) cell line was tested by 3-(4, 5 Dimethylthiazol-2yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The phytochemical constituents were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. The antioxidant activity was assessed by measuring free radical scavenging activity using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. Results: The percentage extraction yield for leaves with methanol was 20.64%. The methanol extract showed dose dependent inhibition of RD cell line, the IC50 was 154.44 µg/ml. GC-MS showed the presence of flavonoid fraction and other compounds with antioxidant activity. The methanol extract demonstrated DPPH scavenging activity with IC50 of 33.91 mg/ml.Conclusion: Methanol extract showed potential anti-proliferative activity against RD cell line, which could be due to its antioxidant activity

EVALUATION OF A STANDARDIZED EXTRACT OF GINKGO BILOBA IN VITILIGO REMEDY

Introduction Vitiligo is a common acquired, idiopathic skin disorder, this study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of Ginkgo biloba in patients with vitiligo. Material and Methods Fifty persons were included, twelve patients received Ginkgo biloba capsule (75mg) twice daily compared with twelve patients received placebo capsule for 8 weeks at Al-Kadhimyia Teaching Hospital. Twenty six healthy volunteers considered as control. Patient's history was taken and measurement of neutrophils percentage, serum Glutathione (Elleman methods), Malonialdehyde (Stocks and Dormandy methods), Interlukine -6 (Elisa) and Vitiligo area scoring index (VASI) at baseline, 4 and 8 weeks interval, as a parameters to indicate the impact of Ginkgo biloba on the disease.  Results and discussion showed significant decrease in serum interlukin-6 (S. IL-6) after 4 weeks between Ginkgo biloba group and placebo group. No significant difference was found in Neutrophils percent between Ginkgo biloba group and placebo group after 4 and 8 weeks. There was a significant increase in serum glutathione (S. GSH) after 4 and 8 weeks in Ginkgo biloba. Serum malondialdehyde (S. MDA) showed no significant difference between Ginkgo biloba group and placebo group after 4 and 8 weeks and no changes in VASI were found after 8 weeks between Ginkgo biloba and placebo group. Conclusion Ginkgo biloba may has good activity in vitiligo treatment. Keywords: Ginkgo biloba, vitiligo, antioxidant

THE PROTECTIVE EFFECTS OF ECHINOPS HETEROPHYLLUS AQUEOUS EXTRACT AGAINST METHOTREXATE-INDUCED HEPATOTOXICITY IN RABBITS

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate antioxidant and hepatoprotective properties of Iraqi Echinops heterophyllus aqueous crude extract and its flavonoid fraction against methotrexate (MTX)-induced hepatotoxicity in rabbits.Methods: MTX-induced hepatotoxicity by administration of 20 mg/kg MTX intraperitoneally for 3 successive days was used as animal model, and animals were arrayed in four groups with eight animals in each group: Group 1 was the healthy control, Group 2 - the negative control receiving MTX only, Group 3 received MTX+crude extract of E. heterophyllus, and Group 4 administered MTX+flavonoid fraction of E. heterophyllus. The study duration was 10 days; at day 11, animals were sacrificed, and the blood samples were obtained for the measurement of serum aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin, total protein, and albumin as well as ELISA assay of the oxidative stress markers such as glutathione (GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA). The liver was dissected and processed for histopathological investigation and scoring. Statistical analysis was performed to investigate the significance of each result.Results: The study results revealed severe liver damage due to MTX administration in the negative control (induced-non treated) group in comparison with healthy group, also there was significant hepatoprotective effect after administration of the crude extract of E. heterophyllus, and flavonoid fraction from E. heterophyllus shown after biochemical liver function tests and anti-oxidant properties demonstrated by the measurement of oxidative stress markers MDA and GSH. The crude extract of E. heterophyllus shown superior hepatoprotective and antioxidant effect. Histopathological scoring showed a remarkable decrease in the scores of the treatment groups in comparison with the high score in the MTX only treated group.Conclusions: MTX administered in a dose of 20 mg/kg for 3 successive days causes marked liver injury, while treatment with the crude extract and flavonoid fraction of E. heterophyllus significantly ameliorates MTX-induced liver damage, although the crude extract of E. heterophyllus seems to have the most hepatoprotective properties

Ibudilast ameliorates experimentally induced colitis in rats via down-regulation of proinflammatory cytokines and myeloperoxidase enzyme activity

Objectives: This study was carried out to explore the possible anti-inflammatory effect of ibudilast on acetic acid-induced colitis in rats. Methods: Fifty adult Wistar rats were separated into 5 groups, including the control group, acetic acid group, acetic acid + vehicle, acetic acid + sulfasalazine (100 mg/kg/day)group, and acetic acid + ibudilast (30 mg/kg/day) group. Colitis was induced in rats by the inter-rectal installation of 2 ml of 4% (v/v) acetic acid. Sulfasalazine and ibudilast were administered orally for ten days after 2 hours of induction. Results: The treatment with ibudilast significantly reduced disease activity index (DAI), macroscopic colonic scores (MAC), and histopathological changes induced by acetic acid. Also, ibudilast markedly decreased the expression of proinflammatory markers (TNF-α and IL-1β) in colonic tissue. Moreover, ibudilast inhibited myeloperoxidase (MPO) enzyme activity that was increased by acetic acid. Conclusion: Therefore, ibudilast may have a therapeutic effect in the management of ulcerative colitis

Effect of terpenes fraction of Iraqi cicer arietinum in experimentally induced hyperlipidemic mice

The aim of this study is to investigate the antihyperlipidimic effect of Terpenes fraction of Iraqi Cicer areitinum in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice. Animals were divided into four groups (n =8). The total duration of the study was 56 days split into two intervals. During the first 28-days interval, mice were administered with HFD, whereas during the second 28-days interval they were co-administered HFD plus Terpenes (500mg/kg: p.o.) or the standard drug Atorvastatin (10mg/kg:p.o.). Terpenes treatment to HFD-induced hyperlipidemic mice caused a high significant decrement in the levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL-C and VLDL-C. Moreover, Terpenes resulted in significant increase in the levels of HDL-C, whereas it caused remarkable decreases in ALT, AST and ALP enzymatic activities also in total serum bilirubin levels among hyperlipidemic mice. Besides that, Terpenes treatment showed significant improvement in levels of tissue MDA and GSH in hyperlipidemic mice. Histopathological examination of hyperlipidemic mice showed a disorganized hepatic tissue, marked and diffused cytoplasmic fatty infiltration which was all ameliorated by Terpenes administration. The results revealed that Terpenes (500mg/kg;p.o.) possess potential ameliorating benefits against hyperlipidemia induced by HFD on lipid profile, liver function enzymes, oxidative stress parameters and hepatic histo-architecture

Anti-aging herbs for skin: Experimental study on mice

Herbal remedy has been used for beauty and health purposes in the traditional and modern medicine. The range of using herbs has been escalating in the past few years . However, there are no enough scientific based evidence in this aspect, as herbs contain a wide range of phytochemicals that has to be studied in meticulous details to understand its effect on the body. In this study, three plants were chosen from the local Iraqi market and extracted, then a pharmacological study was conducted on mice. Histopathological changes were studied on all the study groups. It was concluded that the three herbal aqueous extracts of ( APIUM GRAVEOLENS, CARTHAMUS TINCTORIOUS AND PUNICA GRANATUM) gave an antiaging effect and was able to reverse aging induced by D- Galactose. PUNICA GRANATUM ( Pomegranate) gave the best result in reversing aging signs on mouse skin