Alchornea cordifolia extract protects wistar albino rats against acetaminophen-induced liver damage

At the therapeutic doses, aetaminophen (N-acety1-p-aminophenol, paracetamol, AAP) is considered a safe drug, intake of toxic dosage could lead to liver disease. The hepatoxicity of AAP is mainly as aresult of oxidative stress mediated by the metabolites of APP. The present work seeks to evaluate phytochemical constituents, antioxidative properties and hepatoprotective activities leaf extract ofAlchornea cordifolia on acetaminophen-induced hepatoxicityin rats. Phytochemical analyses gave positive results for saponins, tannins and flavonoids. The antioxidative properties revealed total phenolic content of 0.22 mg/ml and reducing power 0.062 mg/ml as compared to vitamin E with a reducing power of 0.042 mg/ml. Oral administration of a single acetaminophen dose (2 g/kg) caused oxidative liver damage as determined by alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities, cholesterol and bilirubin levels in the liver and theserum. The administration of 200-500 mg/kg A. cordifolia leaf extract for 2 weeks produced a significant dose-dependent curative/preventive effect on acetaminophen-nduced liver toxicity as reflected by theabove biochemical markers. The protective effect compared favorably with putative antioxidant agents such as curcumin and Vitamin E. The results so far suggest that the hepatoprotective activity of thisplant against acetaminophen-nduced liver damage is connected to its antioxidative properties

Antioxidant properties of Myristica fragrans (Houtt) and its effect on selected organs of albino rats

Aqueous extract of the seed of Myristica fragrans (nutmeg) was evaluated for its phytochemical constituents, antinutrients and antioxidant properties. Toxicological investigation was also carried out using six groups of Wistar albino rats. The treatment groups were administered varying doses (100-500mg/kg body weight) of the extract for a period of 28 days. The animals were sacrificed and their livers, kidneys, hearts, spleen and testes harvested for histopathological studies. The results showed thatalkaloids, saponins, anthraquinones, cardiac glycosides, flavonoids and phlobatanins were present while tannins were absent in the aqueous extract. The phytate content was 564.11 mg/100 g while theantioxidant indices of 100 mg/100 g, 44% and 0.6 were obtained for the ascorbic acid value, free radical scavenging activity and reducing power, respectively. The results of the histopathological studiesshowed pathological features of various degrees in the organs with severity corresponding to the concentration of extract. There was lymphoid depletion of the follicles in the spleen, degeneration ofthe germinal epithelial cells in the testes, bile duct proliferation and congestion of blood vessels in the liver, degeneration, necrosis with desquamation of tubular epithelial cells and congestion of renal bloodvessels in the kidney and degeneration of myocardial fibres and myocardial necrosis in the heart in the treatment groups compared with the control. The present results suggest that nutmeg popularlyconsumed as food and for various medicinal purposes may contain some active principles with antioxidant properties. However, prolonged use at high doses (400-500 mg/kg) could be very toxic to the studied organ

Toxicological evaluation of precocene II isolated from Ageratum conyzoides L. (Asteraceae) in Sprague Dawley rats

Precocene II (6,7-dimethoxy-2,2-dimethyl-2-chromene) was the main constituent isolated from Ageratum conyzoides L. and reportedly possessed antifungal activity. The study investigated the isolation,purification and toxicological effects of precocene II from A. conyzoides in Sprague Dawley rats. Precocene II was isolated from the petroleum ether fraction of the plant and the structure was determined by  1H-,13C-,DEPT-NMR and MS spectral techniques. Three groups of eight rats per group were used for the study. While groups B and C were respectively administered with 25 and 50 mg/kg of precocene II in 0.25% CMC-Na for 11 days by gastric intubation, group A was administered with 0.25% CMC-Na and served as the control group. After the last treatment, animals were fasted overnight and on the 12th day, they were injected intravenously with 0.2 ml/kg body weight of phenobarbital. Animalswere subsequently dissected from the abdominal region; blood was collected from the pulmonary vein into EDTA anti-coagulated and non anti-coagulated tubes. The liver, kidney and spleen tissues wereextracted into separate bottles for histopathological examinations. Results from hematological study indicated that the white blood cell (WBC), red blood cell (RBC), plateletcrit (PCT) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin count (MCHC) were significantly higher across the treated group s. Biochemical result showed that serum glucose level was significantly reduced in the treated groups. No apparent damage was noticed in the liver, kidney and spleen tissues. The result therefore suggests that precocene II possesses hypoglycemic property and could alter some hematopoietic elements but was not toxic to the liver, kidney and spleen tissues

Automatically extracting functionally equivalent proteins from SwissProt

In summary, FOSTA provides an automated analysis of annotations in UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot to enable groups of proteins already annotated as functionally equivalent, to be extracted. Our results demonstrate that the vast majority of UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot functional annotations are of high quality, and that FOSTA can interpret annotations successfully. Where FOSTA is not successful, we are able to highlight inconsistencies in UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot annotation. Most of these would have presented equal difficulties for manual interpretation of annotations. We discuss limitations and possible future extensions to FOSTA, and recommend changes to the UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot format, which would facilitate text-mining of UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot

EFFECTS OF PROCESSING ON THE NUTRIENTS COMPOSITION OF A SELECTED FRESH AND BRACKISH WATER AFRICAN CATFISH (Clarias gariepinus) IN ONDO STATE NIGERIA

Treated fish samples (fried, boiled with/without salt solution and roasted) were analyzed for proximate (ash, fat, moisture and protein) and minerals composition (Ca, Zn, Fe, Mg, P and I). The highest protein concentrations (%) (Ogbese, 73.25; Igbokoda, 72.52) of fish samples were recorded by boiling with water while the ones roasted recorded the least values of 57.51 and 58.33 %, respectively. The iodine level (mg I/100g) in the flesh of fish varied with size, treatment and location; it appeared to increase with size, reduced by some treatments (boiling with either water or NaCl solution) while frying and roasting had the highest level compared to boiling. The least iodine concentration was 93.45 (Ogbese fish boiled with NaCl solution) and 160.94 (Igbokoda fish boiled with either water or NaCl solution). On the whole, Igbokoda brackish water fish (160.94-314.08) had higher iodine content than Ogbese fresh water fish (93.45-205.06) with the highest concentration in fried and roasted fish samples (205.06, 314.08) in Ogbese and Igbokoda water bodies respectively. Higher mineral compositions were equally found in the brackish water body, which equally increases with sizes and reduced by some treatments (boiling and frying). Considering the nutrient contents of the fish samples for the various treatments, iodine can be made more available by roasting and frying while protein can be made more available by boiling. KEY WORDS: Catfish, Iodine, Brackish Water, Fresh Water And Nutrient Composition. Global Jnl Pure & Applied Sciences Vol.10(1) 2004: 155-15

Hepatoprotective Activity Of Leaf- Extract Of Calotropis Procera Against Acetaminophen- And Hepatitis Virus- Induced Liver Damage In Rats

Ethanolic leaf-extract of Calotropis procera (CL) was tested for antioxidant properties and hepatoprotective activities (acetaminophen and hepatitis virus induced hepatotoxicity) in albino rats. The antioxidative properties gave total phenolic content (43.79mg/g gallic acid), reducing property (16.67%) and free radical scavenging activity (81.6%). Oral administration of acetaminophen (2g/Kg rat) or intraperitonial administration of 2ml of hepatitis infected serum to the animals caused statistically significant (