Evaluation of anti-depressant properties of ethanol extract of ingiber officinale rhizome in mice

Depression, a common psychiatric disease, is associated with moodiness, disinterest, and anhedonia. Zingiber officinale is a traditional herb used to treat various disorders. This study evaluated the effect of ethanol extract of Zingiber officinale (EEZO) rhizome on depression in mice. Forty-eight male mice (28±2 g) were used and divided into six groups of 8 mice each. Depression was induced using the chronic mild stress model and then treated for three days afterwards. Group 1: control (normal saline), group 2: depressed, group 3: standard drug (diazepam; 1 mg/kg), groups 4, 5 and 6: treatment (50 mg/kg, 100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg) body weight of EEZO respectively. Behavioural tests (open field, tail suspension, sucrose preference, dark and light box, hole maze and object exploration) were carried out on the mice before and after treatment. Concentration of inflammatory cytokines such as prostaglandins E2, interleukin-1, tumour necrosis factor-α, interferon gamma, cyclooxygenase and nitric oxide was determined. The extract significantly (p < 0.05) improved behavioural pattern of mice and reduced the level of the inflammatory biomarkers, relative to the depressed mice. The results implied that EEZO reduced stress-induced depression in mice and could be a potential alternative for anti-depressant drug formulation

Effect of Administration of Root Ethanolic Extract of Aristolochia Ringens on the Liver Functional Indices of Male Wistar Rats

Background: The alcoholic decoction of root ethanolic extract of Aristolochia ringens is taken orally to treat various ailments in South-west Nigeria without prior knowledge of its potential toxic effect. Therefore, this study aimed at assessing the toxicity potentials of root ethanolic extract of A. ringens on functional indices and histology of the liver. Methods: Twenty male rats were randomized into four groups of five animals each. Group A (control) received 0.5 ml of distilled water, group B, C and D received 75, 150 and 300 mg/kg b. wt. of the extract respectively. The administration was done orally and lasted for fourteen days. Results: The extract significantly reduced the activities of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) as well as reduction in the level of serum albumin and direct bilirubin (P<0.05) while the level of total bilirubin increased. The activities of these enzymes i.e. ALP, ALT and AST increased in the serum at all the doses investigated. Conclusion: Ethanolic extract from A. ringens root may not be completely safe when administered repeatedly

In silico molecular modeling and simulations of black tea theaflavins revealed theaflavin-3’-gallate as putative liver X receptor-beta agonist

The low constitutive activation of Liver X receptor, an endogenous nuclear receptor with two subtypes (α and β), is a condition lying at the crossroad of cancer and cardiovascular disease. Both natural and synthetic Liver X receptor agonists have reportedly shown remarkable antiproliferative and atheroprotective effects but the repeated doses of its synthetic ones are also paradoxically associated with hyperlipidaemic effects and neurotoxicity, though attributed to the alpha subtype. This highlights the need for novel, safe, and potent LXR-beta-selective agonists. Hypocholesterolaemic effects of black theaflavins have been widely reported, but data on the exact theaflavin compound (s) responsible for these effects is currently lacking. Neither is information on the possible modulatory effects of the compound (s) on LXR-beta nor its possible implications in the context of drug development for cardiovascular diseases and cancers is explored. On this account, we investigated the potential interaction of four main theaflavin monomers (TF1, TF2A, TF2B &amp; TF3) with human LXR-beta through robust computational modelling that entails molecular docking, free energy calculations and molecular dynamics simulations. The ligands were further profiled (in silico) for absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicological properties. Our result revealed theaflavin TF2B as a putative LXR-beta agonist, possibly responsible for the widely observed hypocholesterolaemic effect in black tea. This finding, while encouraging, needs to be experimentally verified in wet studies. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.</p