Assessment of rewarding and reinforcing properties of biperiden in conditioned place preference in rats

Biperiden is one of the most commonly abused anticholinergic drugs. This study assessed its motivational effects in the acquisition of conditioned place preference in rats. Biperiden neither produced place conditioning itself nor enhanced the rewarding effect of morphine. Furthermore, biperiden in combination with haloperidol also did not affect place preference. These findings suggest that biperiden seems devoid of abuse potential properties at least at the doses used. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Analysis of Phytochemical Composition and Biological Activities of Verbascum cheiranthifolium var. cheiranthifolium stem and flowers

Within this study phytochemical composition, antioxidant and enzyme inhibitory activities of extracts obtained from stem and flower of Verbascum cheiranthifolium var. cheiranthifolium were analysed. Both of the extracts were detected as rich sources of phenolics (verbascoside and luteolin hexoside), various volatile and fatty acid compounds. Luteolin hexoside rich stem extract had pronounced FCR, FRAP and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities. Flower extract had high levels of ORAC assay and effectively suppressed activity of pancreatic lipase enzyme, which was rich in verbascoside compound. Phenolic compounds and volatile compounds present in the extracts might be the main contributors of antioxidant capacity and enzyme inhibitory activities of the stem and flower extracts. Pronounced antioxidant and enzyme inhibitory activities and rich bioactive composition determined in this study reveal that Verbascum cheiranthifolium var. cheiranthifolum extracts might be a good source for natural health attributing sources

Antimuscarinic-induced convulsions in fasted animals after food intake: evaluation of the effects of levetiracetam, topiramate and different doses of atropine

This study evaluated the effects of different doses of atropine and new antiepileptics, levetiracetam and topiramate, on the development of convulsions triggered by food intake in antimuscarinic-treated fasted animals. Mice deprived of food for 24 h and treated i.p. with atropine at a dose of 2.4 or 24 mg/kg developed convulsions after being allowed to eat ad libitum. No convulsions were observed in fasted animals treated with 0.24 mg/kg atropine. There was no difference in the incidence of convulsions between the two atropine treatments, but latency to convulsions was longer in 24 mg/kg atropine treated animals. The lowest dose of atropine, 0.24 mg/kg, caused stage 1 and stage 2 activity, but did not provide the convulsive endpoint (stage 3, 4, 5 activity). Administration of levetiracetam (50 or 200 mg/kg) or topiramate (50 or 100 mg/kg) to another group of 24-h fasted mice was ineffective in reducing the incidence of convulsions developed in the animals after 2.4 mg/kg atropine treatment and food intake. However, the higher dose of levetiracetam prolonged the onset of convulsions. Present results demonstrated the efficacy of low and high doses of atropine on the development of convulsions in fasted animals and provided additional evidence for the ineffectiveness of antiepileptic treatment in these seizures

Spontaneous withdrawal in intermittent morphine administration in rats and mice: effect of clonidine coadministration and sex-related differences

Background/aim: Treating animals repeatedly with intermittent and increasing morphine doses has been suggested to allow some withdrawal during each dosing interval, which causes repeated stress. The present study aimed to test this hypothesis and assess sex-related differences in withdrawal signs and their suppression by clonidine

Antioxidant, Antibacterial and Antiproliferative Activities of Turkish Rhubarb (Rheum palmatum L.) Leaf Extracts

Natural resources right from the beginning of the human civilization has paved the way to human being to combat different challenges. The big challenge was to safe the human being from diseases and shortage of food. Plants helped the man in both areas very efficiently. No doubt when plants are used as food actually we are also taking lot of compounds of medicinal values in an excellent combination which naturally reduce the risk of diseases. Extraction and purification of several medicinally important compounds also gave the way to develop pharmaceutical industry in addition to its own therapeutic effects against different lethal diseases. Rheum palmatum L. has been widely used in traditional medicine for the treatment of various diseases in Asian countries. Antioxidant and biological studies showed very important results. A good coherence was found among extraction yield (9.48 to 16.09%), total phenolics (2.47 to 7.13 mg GAE/100 g), total flavonoids (0.34 to 0.85 mg CE/100 g) and antioxidant potential (≈64%). Antibacterial assays of peel and puree extracts advocated good potential to stop the growth and division of pathogenic bacteria. Further biological activity study was carried out using the human larynx HEp-2 cancer cells. The growth inhibitory effect on cancer cell line using MTT assay showed ethanol extracts of Rheum palmatum L. leaf both remained efficient to inhibit growth (≈38%) and cell division of cancer cells. Our results showed that extracts of Rheum palmatum L. leaf may be utilize to prepare functional food against pathogenic born diseases and most active compounds may also be extracted, concentrated and converted into tablets or suspension form for therapeutic purposes