Quantification of Berberine in different Berberis Species and their Commercial Samples from Herbal Drug Markets of India through HPTLC

A simple, precise, and convenient HPTLC method has been established for the analysis of Berberine, the major marker compound extracted from the root and stem of different Berberis species and their commercial samples in the name of Daruharidra. Chromatography was performed on silica gel 60F254 plates with n-propanol:water:formic acid (90:8.0:0.4) as mobile phase. Detection and quantification were performed densitometrically at λmax = 360 nm with berberine as external standard. The method is characterized by high sensitivity and linearity over wide range of concentrations. Berberine concentration in different species and their commercial counterpart were calculated. This will be utilized by pharmaceutical industries for the bioprospection of allied Berberis species for commercial exploitation and batch to batch consistency of raw materials

Extracts from Acacia catechu suppress HIV-1 replication by inhibiting the activities of the viral protease and Tat

Background: Acacia catechu (Mimosa family) stem bark extracts have been used traditionally as a dietary supplement as well as a folk medicine given its reported anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, hepatoprotective, antioxidant, anti-microbial and anti-tumor activities. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the anti-HIV-1 activity of the extracts from stem bark of A. catechu. Methods. The aqueous and 50% ethanolic extracts of A. catechu stem bark were prepared and 50% ethanolic extract was further fractioned by successively partitioning with petroleum ether, chloroform and n-butanol. All the extracts and fractions were evaluated for cytotoxicity and anti-HIV-1 activity using different in vitro assays. The active n-butanol fraction was evaluated for its inhibition against HIV-1 reverse transcriptase, integrase, protease, pro-viral genome integration and viral Tat protein mediated transactivation. The effect of n-butanol fraction on the induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines secretion in Vk2/E6E7 cells and transepithelial resistance in Caco-2 and HEC-1A cells was investigated. Results: The aqueous and 50% ethanolic extracts of A. catechu showed IC§ssub§50§esub§ values of 1.8 ± 0.18 μg/ml and 3.6 ± 0.31 μg/ml, respectively in cell-free virus based assay using TZM-bl cells and HIV-1§ssub§NL4.3§esub§ (X-4 tropic). In the above assay, n-butanol fraction exhibited anti-HIV-1 activity with an IC§ssub§50§esub§ of 1.7 ± 0.12 μg/ml. The n-butanol fraction showed a dose-dependent inhibition against HIV-1§ssub§NL4.3§esub§ infection of the peripheral blood lymphocytes and against HIV-1§ssub§BaL§esub§(R-5-tropic) as well as two different primary viral isolates of HIV-1 infection of TZM-bl cells. The n-butanol fraction demonstrates a potent inhibitory activity against the viral protease (IC§ssub§50§esub§ = 12.9 μg/ml), but not reverse transcriptase or integrase. Further, in Alu-PCR no effect on viral integration was observed. The n-butanol fraction interfered with the Tat-mediated Long Terminal Repeat transactivation in TZM-bl cells, mRNA quantitation (qRT-PCR) and electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA). The n-butanol fraction did not cause an enhanced secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines in Vk2/E6E7 cells. Additionally, no adverse effects were observed to the monolayer formed by the Caco-2 and HEC-1A epithelial cells. Conclusions: The results presented here show a potential anti-HIV-1 activity of A. catechu mediated by the inhibition of the functions of the viral protein and Tat. © 2013 Nutan et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Five insights from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 provides a rules-based synthesis of the available evidence on levels and trends in health outcomes, a diverse set of risk factors, and health system responses. GBD 2019 covered 204 countries and territories, as well as first administrative level disaggregations for 22 countries, from 1990 to 2019. Because GBD is highly standardised and comprehensive, spanning both fatal and non-fatal outcomes, and uses a mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive list of hierarchical disease and injury causes, the study provides a powerful basis for detailed and broad insights on global health trends and emerging challenges. GBD 2019 incorporates data from 281 586 sources and provides more than 3.5 billion estimates of health outcome and health system measures of interest for global, national, and subnational policy dialogue. All GBD estimates are publicly available and adhere to the Guidelines on Accurate and Transparent Health Estimate Reporting. From this vast amount of information, five key insights that are important for health, social, and economic development strategies have been distilled. These insights are subject to the many limitations outlined in each of the component GBD capstone papers.Peer reviewe

Botanical standardization of the <i>Jatamansi</i>, their substitute and adulterant species

599-603Jatamansi, botanically equated to Nardostachys jatamansi, is an important drug of Ayurveda and used in different traditional systems of medicine. Rhizome of some other species such as Valeriana wallichi and Selinum vaginatum, being rich in essential oil contents, are also sold in herbal drug market by the same vernacular name. Present study is aimed to authenticate identity and validity all these species on the basis of taxonomical characters

Antimicrobial Activity Of Methanolic Extract And Oil Of Saussurea Costus Roots

The methanolic extract (SCE) as well as the essential oil (SCO) prepared from the roots of Saussurea costus (Falc.) Lipschitz, were tested for theirantimicrobial activity against 14 G+ve and G-ve bacteria implicated in gastro-intestinal (GI), respiratory tract (RT) and urinary tract infections (UTI).Their effects were also compared to standard concentration of antibiotic erythromycin. The in vitro antibacterial activity was assessed qualitatively (bydisc diffusion method) and quantitatively (by microdilution method). SCO exhibited better antimicrobial activities as compared with SCE. The GIpathogens viz. Shigella flexneri and Salmonella typhimurium were the strains most susceptible to the oil (strong inhibition zones 25-28 mm). SCO showedalso had minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) ranging from 1.09-8.75 ìl/ml on 10 of the 14 pathogens tested. The overall results provide promisingbaseline information for the potential use of the oil from the roots of S. costus in the treatment of bacterial infections

Evaluation of Ayurvedic Compound Formulations 5- <i>Katphaladi Cũrna</i>

295-299The interest in Ayurvedic drugs/ formulations has led to an increase in their demand leading to a decline in their quality, primarily due to lack of adequate regulations pertaining to herbal drugs. Standardization is an essential tool to obtain the desired effect of any drug/ formulations. But the herbal formulations which are being prepared using traditional methods may not have the desired quality and batch to batch consistency due to lack of modern pharmacopoeial standards. Four samples of Katphaladi Cũrna, procured from different Ayurvedic pharmacies, were subjected to physicochemical analysis, HPTLC fingerprinting and botanical characterization, and compared using authentic ingredients as reference. The studies suggest that these parameters may, together, be used for quality evaluation and standardization of compound formulations and maintaining their quality, purity and efficacy