In vitro production of Kaempferia galanga (L.)- an endangered medicinal plant

Kaempferia galanga is an important medicinal plant that is facing threat of extinction owing to indiscriminate and unsustainable harvesting in the wild. Conventional breeding is difficult in this plant, and in vitro multiplication is important to conservation and propagation. Tissue culture techniques are useful for ex situ conservation of rare, endemic or threatened plant species. An efficient protocol has been established for rapid production of plantlets using rhizome tip and lateral bud of the pot cultured plant. The explants were cultured on MS medium with various combinations of 6-benzyladenine (BA), α-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA), indole-3-butric acid (IBA) and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) at concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 3.0 mg/l. High-frequency organogenesis and multiple shoot regeneration were induced from rhizome explants on MS medium supplemented with 2.0 mg/l of BA and 0.2 mg/l of NAA. Micro-shoots were isolated from the in vitro proliferated cluster of shoots and they produced roots on half strength MS medium supplemented with 1.0 mg/l of IBA. The regenerated plantlets were transferred to plastic pots for hardening in a mixture containing red soil, sand and vermiculate(1:1:1) ratio and established on the soil with 81% of success

Ethnoveterinary medicinal plants used in Perambalur District, Tamil Nadu

Ethnoveterinary medicine is the holistic interdisciplinary study of the localknowledge and the socio-cultural structures and environment associated with animalhealthcare and husbandry. Perambalur, partially plain and a hilly district of Tamil Nadustate is rich in ethnoveterinary medicinal plants. In the present study, 21 plants belonging to16 families used as veterinary medicines have been documented. Due to poor availability ofmodern healthcare facilities and poverty of indigenous people, they fully or partially dependon local ethnic medicinal plants for the healthcare of their domestic animals. In this way, anattempt has been made to document the traditional knowledge of Perambalur district peopleabout ethnoveterinary medicinal plants and their usages on the treatment of variousveterinary diseases, their botanical names, local names, methods of drug preparation andadministration of drugs are given

Utilization of liquid medium for rapid micropropagation of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni

Liquid shoot culture of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni in MS medium containing BAP (1.5 mg/l) and IAA (0.5 mg/l) was developed and evaluated in relation to shoot multiplication, on average 37 new shoots per explants were obtained within 3 week. Shoot lets were regenerated from nodal explants of stevia through axillary shoot proliferation. For rooting different concentrations of IAA, IBA and NAA were used and highest rooting percentage (63%) was recorded on MS medium with IAA (1.0 mg/l). The rooted plantlets were hardened and successfully established

EVALUATION OF SERUM-FREE IRON AND GLYCATED HEMOGLOBIN IN UNCONTROLLED TYPE-II DIABETIC PATIENTS

Objective: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common health problem in the world. Free iron may contribute to the pathogenesis and progress of this disease and its complication. Iron causes hyperinsulinemia by decreasing the insulin uptake and metabolism by hepatocytes. Elevated iron stores are commonly found in insulin resistance. Iron in its free form is known to induce oxidation of biomolecules by producing harmful hydroxyl radicals. In this study, we aimed to estimate and compare the serum levels of free iron in diabetes and healthy individuals.Methods: This study included 244 subjects in two groups. Group-I comprised 204 subjects with DM and Group-II comprised 40 healthy subjects. Blood sugar, free iron, and glycated hemoglobin were analyzed in blood samples using standard kits. The results of all the parameters were expressed as mean±standard deviation. Student t-test was done to assess the statistical significance between two groups. The association between the parameters was studied by Pearson correlation.Results: In this study, we found a significant increase in serum free iron in Group-I (p<0.01) when compared with Group-II. A significant correlation between the serum free iron and glycated hemoglobin (r=0.59; p<0.001) and fasting blood sugar (r=0.43; p<0.001).Conclusion: The elevated serum free iron in uncontrolled diabetes may contribute to oxidative stress which may be associated with complications of diabetes.Keywords: Free iron, Glycated hemoglobin, Hyperinsulinemia, Diabetes mellitus

Studies on ethnomedicinal plants used by the Malayali tribe of Kalrayan Hill, Tamil Nadu state

An ethnomedicinal plants survey was carried out to collect the information about themedicinal plants found in kalrayan hill and used by the native malayali tribe of SouthernEastern Ghats of India. 80 plant species, belonging to 41 families, which are used intraditional health care system are described under this study. The studies also attempted tofind out the medicines prepared out of these medicinal plants, forms of medicine and theircorresponding ailments. In this communication, the information obtained from the tribalswas compared with the already existing literatures on ethnobotany of India. The documentedethnomedicinal plants were mostly used to cure skin diseases, wounds and rheumatism. Themedicinal plants used by the tribals are arranged alphabetically, and followed by theirbotanical name, family name, common names, vernacular name(s), part(s) used, mode ofpreparation and their corresponding diseases

Improved Micropropagation Method for the Enhancement of Biomass in Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni

Incorporation of a range of higher concentrations of CuSO4_5H2O in MS medium significantly enhanced direct shoot bud induction and proliferation from cultured leaf and nodal explants taken from mature plants of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni. Shoot bud induction medium was supplemented with BAP (2.2 µM) and NAA (2.8 µM). When the concentration of CuSO4_5H2O in the induction medium was raised to 0.5 µM (five times the MS level, i.e. 0.1 µM) there was significant increase in percentage response along with increase in shoot bud number per explant. The shoots were healthy, well developed with dark green broader leaves. There was remarkable increase in total biomass at increased (0.5 µM) copper level in the medium. During proliferation stage also presence of high copper levels in the medium favoured increase in shoots bud number per explant

Isozyme studies of resistant and susceptible clones of Saccharum officinarum L. to fungal diseases

Sugarcane is one of the important commercial crops of India and it plays an important role in maintaining the economy of the nation. Many diseases of sugarcane lead to loss of net productivity of sugar and by growing resistant varieties the loss can be reduced to considerable amount. Hence, in this study an attempt has been made to identify a resistant clone through isoenzyme analysis. Three resistant (Bo-91, Co-86249, Co-93009) and three susceptible (CoC-671, CoC-86032, CoC-92061) clones of Saccharum officianarum L. were selected for the study. In native-PAGE analysis (for peroxidase) distinct bands with Rf value 0.537 and 0.694 were observed in resistant clones, and the susceptible clones lack these bands.  An increase in peroxidase activity is also observed in clones that possessed the distinct Rf values 0.537 and 0.694. From this, it can be concluded that the clones possessing distinct Rf values are resistants when compared to other clones as they are having high peroxidase action

Traditional Phytotherapy for Diabetes Used by the People of Perambalur District, Tamilnadu, South India

Diabetes is caused due to deficiency in production of insulin by the pancreas, or by the ineffectiveness of the insulin produced. It is a global problem and the numbers of people affected are increasing day by day. Plants provide a potential source of antidiabetic drugs. In India, most of the people, especially in rural areas use traditional medicine of plants to treat many diseases including diabetes. The aim of the present study was to document medicinal plants, traditionally used to treat diabetes by the people of Perambalur district. Traditional health practitioners were interviewed with standardized questionnaires in order to obtain information on medicinal plants traditionally used for the management of diabetes. Thirty species of 29 genera and 22 families were encountered during this study

Comparative study on the antimicrobial activities of three Indian medicinal plants

Aqueous, methanol and chloroform extracts from the leaves of Ficus religiosa, Thespesia populnea and Hibiscus tiliaceus were completely screened for antibacterial and antifungal activity. The chloroform extract of F. religiosa possessed a broad spectrum of antibacterial activity with a zone of inhibition of 10 to 21 mm at very low MIC values. The methanolicextracts possessed moderate antibacterial activity against a few bacterial strains. There was less antibacterial activity or none at all using aqueous extracts. The extracts of F. religiosa were found to be active against Aspergillus niger and Penicillium notatum. The extracts from theleaves exhibited considerable and variable inhibitory effects against most of the microorganisms tested

Agrobacterium mediated Transformation of rice, var. Pusa Basmati-1

The present study was aimed at the Agrobacterium mediated transformation of rice (Oryza sativa L.) variety Pusa Basmati-1 .Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain LBA 4404 harboring the binary vector (pIG121) that carries the genes for ß-glucuronidase and hygromycin phosphotransferase (hpt) was used for transformation. Co-cultured calli were undergone for GUS histochemical analysis of transformed calli and followed by molecular analysis by using PCR to confirm the presence of transgenes