Some behavioural studies on methanol root bark extract of Burkea africana (fabaceae) in mice

Burkea africana is a plant that belongs to then family Fabaceae; it is widely spread in tropical Africa including Nigeria. It is of valuable in ethnomedicine especially in the treatment of antidote for venomous stings and bites, cutaneous and sub cutaneous parasitic infection, convulsion and pulmonary troubles. The research was conducted to evaluate some central nervous system properties of the root bark methanol extractof B. africana in mice. It involved the following animal models: diazepam-induced sleep, hole-board and walking beam assay. Results: The methanol extract showed a significant decrease in the onset of sleep at doses of 40 mg/kg and 80 mg/kg (p<0.05); as well as produced significant increase in the duration of sleep (40 and 80 mg/kg) at p<0.05, p<0.005 respectively. The number of head dips significantly increased at 20 and 80 mg/kg (p<0.05 and 0.005 respectively). From the beam walking test for motor deficits, the result showed a significant increase in the number of foot slips at doses of 20 mg/kg (p<0.05); 40 and 80 mg/kg (p<0.005), where as there was no significant difference in the time taken to cross the two ends of the beam (time taken to complete the task). The median lethal dose (LD50) value of B. africana extract was found to be 288.5 mg/kg (i.p) in mice. The preliminary phytochemical screening revealed the presence of carbohydrates, saponins, flavonoid, aglycones, tannins, anthraquinones, cardiac glycosides, unsaturated steroids and triterpenes. Our results suggest that the B. africana extract contains biologically active compounds with potential sedative and anxiolytic properties.Key Words: Sedation, B. Africana, Diazepam, ethnomedicin

The Role of Sex Hormones in Sexual Differentiation of the Brain: A Review

The development of the brain is an extremely complicated and subtle process which is not solely and directly under genetic control but is brought about by the action of sex hormones, in particular gonadal steroids acting during the prenatal/perinatal or neonatal stages of life. The presence of sex hormones during the foetal or neonatal life and at a critical stage of brain development will act in an inductive or organizational way on the undifferentiated brain to organize it to the male type of brain while during the adult existence they act on the central nervous system in an excitatory or inhibitory way and are thus concerned with regulation of gonadotrophin secretion and with overt patterns of sexual behaviour. In the developing animal, the actions of sex hormones permanently alter neural development in certain brain regions and lead to brain sex differences while in adult animal, sex hormones reversibly alter behavioural patterns as well as anterior pituitary secretion. In the absence of high levels of testosterone during the critical period of brain development and perhaps under the influence of ovarian oestrogens, the brain, as it develops, follows a female pattern of sexual differentiation. The mammalian brain is fundamentally female and the functional patterns recognized as masculine are imposed on the basic form by exposure to suprathreshold or threshold levels of gonadal steroids (particularly testosterone) during the critical period of brain development. Key words: Brain, sex hormone, sexual differentiation Résumé Le développement du cerveau est un processus extrèmement compliqué et subtile qui n' est pas uniquement et directment sous le contrôlé génétique mais le résultat des jeux de l' hormone sexuelle, en particulier, des stéroids gonadales activent pendant les stages prenatal/périnatal ou néonatal de la vie. La présence des hormones sexuelles pendant la période foetale ou néonatale, et pendant le stage critique du développement du cerveau fonctionnera d' une manière inductive et organisationnelle sur le cerveau indifferencié pour l' organizer au type du cerveau masculine alors qu' elles fonctionnent sur le système nerveux central d' une manière excitatrice ou inhibitrice pendant la vie adulte et elles out donc pour fonction de régler la sécrétion du gonadotrophine avec un modèle évident du comportment sexuel. Pour l' animal en processus du dévelopment, les actions des hormones sexuelles changent de façon permanente, le développement neural dans certaines régions du cerveau résultant à une différentiation sexuelle du cerveau alors que dans l' animal adulte, les hormones sexuelles changent de façon irréversible le modèle du comportment de même que que la sécrétion de la pituite antérieure. Dans l' absence d' un haut niveau du testostérone pendant la période critique du développement du cerveau et pent-être sous l' influence des oestrogènes ovariennes, le cerveau en processus de développement suit un modèles féminine de différentiation sexuelle. Le cerveau mammalien est fondamentalement femelle et les modèles fonctionnels identifiés comme masculins sont imposés sur la forme canonique par exposition au senile supra d' excitation ou aux niveaux du senil d' excitation des stéroides gonadales (testostérone) pendant la période critique du développment du cerveau. Mots cles: le cerveau, hormones sexuelles, differentiation sexuelle. West African Jnl of Pharmacology and Drug Research Vol.18 2002: 1-

Toxicological Assessment of Lamivudine-Artesunate Treatment on Renal Function, Renal Histology and Some Biomarkers in Parasitized and Immunosuppressed Rodents

The endemic nature of malaria and the prevalence of the viral infections of HIV and HBV in Africa necessitate concurrent lamivudine and artesunate therapy, and these drugs are amongst first line agents in management of these diseases. This study investigated the safety of lamivudine-artesunate co-administration in a rodent model of Plasmodium berghei infection in cyclophosphamide-induced immunosuppression. Thirty Wistar rats divided into five groups were used for the study with intraperitoneal drug administration for 21 days. Group 1 served as healthy controls while group 2 was disease control (Plasmodium berghei and cylcophosphamide inmmunosuppression). Group 3 and 4 received lamivudine 20mgkg-1, with group 4 receiving artesunate 10mg kg-1 in addition. Group 5 received only artesunate. All drugs were administered intraperitoneally and artesunate was from day 15 while groups 2-5 were also diseased. Electrolytes and urea levels did not differ significantly between treated and disease controls. Relative kidney weights were within close range of each other in all groups including the vehicle group. While lymphocytes were significantly lower in the lamivudine group, PCV levels were significantly decreased with artesunate in the disease group. Histological observations however did not show much difference and correlated the electrolytes and urea data from serum analysis. Data from this study suggests that concurrent administration of lamivudine and artesunate in the diseased state of malaria in immunosuppression may not pose severe renal consequences if administration is not intravascular in nature. Further safety studies with longer co administration of lamivudine and artesunate is recommended.Keywords: Drug safety, drug interaction, antimalarial-antiviral interaction, lamivudine, artesunat

Saponins are involved in the analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties of Ficus platyphylla stem bark

The analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties of saponins (FPS) from the methanol extract of Ficus platyphylla stem bark were studied in rodents. FPS significantly attenuated acetic acid-induced writhes in mice and inhibited responses in both phases I & II of formalin-induced nociception. FPS demonstrated significant antinociceptive activity in Analgesy-meter model of nociception and significantly attenuated albumin-induced oedema in rats. Morphine significantly (

Annals of Experimental Biology 2014, 2 (4):21-27 Anti-inflammatory, antipyretic and antinociceptive activities of Orally Administered Aqueous Extract of Carica papaya Seeds in Animal Models

ABSTRACT It is generally agreed that medicinal plants and their products are safer than their synthetic counterpart

EFFECT OF INGESTION OF ETHANOL EXTRACT OF GARCINIA KOLA SEED ON ERYTHROCYTES IN WISTAR RATS

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of ingestion of crude ethanol extract of Garcinia Kola seed on erythrocytes. Fifty male Wistar rats with average weight of 200g were divided into 5 treatment groups of 10 rats per group. Group A, served as the control and was fed with standard animal feed only while groups B, C, D and E which were the treatment groups, in addition were force-fed 2g/kg/rat/day of the Ethanol extract of Garcinia Kola seed for 1,2,3 and 4 weeks respectively by means of an endogastric tube and syringe. At the end of the experimental period for each group the animals were sacrificed and the erythrocyte number, park cell volume (PCV), and heamogloin concentration values were determined. The result on analysis showed that erythrocyte-count, PCV and haemoglobin concentration values showed significantly decreased values (p<0.05) between group B (week 1) and Group A, but groups C, D and E values showed a steady rise which were not significant (P>0.05) when compared with Group A. None of the values fell below the normal physiological range of the experimental animals. This shows that Garcinia Kola seed which has flavonoids as its active constituent has no long term significant toxicological implication with respect to the concentration given on the erythrocytes of mammals

Real-time genomic investigation underlying the public health response to a Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O26:H11 outbreak in a nursery

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is a significant cause of gastrointestinal infection and the haemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS). STEC outbreaks are commonly associated with food but animal contact is increasingly being implicated in its transmission. We report an outbreak of STEC affecting young infants at a nursery in a rural community (three HUS cases, one definite case, one probable case, three possible cases and five carriers, based on the combination of clinical, epidemiological and laboratory data) identified using culture-based and molecular techniques. The investigation identified repeated animal contact (animal farming and petting) as a likely source of STEC introduction followed by horizontal transmission. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) was used for real-time investigation of the incident and revealed a unique strain of STEC O26:H11 carrying stx2a and intimin. Following a public health intervention, no additional cases have occurred. This is the first STEC outbreak reported from Israel. WGS proved as a useful tool for rapid laboratory characterization and typing of the outbreak strain and informed the public health response at an early stage of this unusual outbreak