COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITIES OF METHANOLIC AND AQUEOUS EXTRACTS OF TERMINALIA BELLERICA

Objective: The present study was undertaken to investigate the antioxidative activity of fruit pulp, seed and bark of T. bellerica. Methods: Methanol (70%) and water were used for the extraction, and the respective extracts were analyzed for total phenolic contents along with the antioxidant activities through different assays. Results: Amongst the tested extracts, methanolic extracts were found to be better than aqueous with the highest total phenolic contents (TPC). Methanolic fruit pulp showed lower IC50 for free radical (118.7 µg/ml), superoxide anion radical (77.65 µg/ml) and hydroxyl radical (73.76 µg/ml) scavenging activities. Methanolic fruit pulp also showed lower IC50 for lipid peroxidation (115.6 µg/ml) and ferric thiocyanate (184.98 µg/ml) assay than aqueous extracts in comparison to standard quercetin. Further, correlation between TPC and antioxidant studies revealed that phenolics are mainly responsible for antioxidant activity of T. bellerica. Conclusion: The current study suggests that the methanolic extract of T. bellerica could be a potential source of natural antioxidants for food and pharmaceutical companies

OXIDATIVE DNA DAMAGE PROTECTIVE AND HEPATOPROTECTIVE ACTIVITY OF TERMI-NALIA BELLERICA (BAHEDA)

Objective: To investigate the ethanolic extracts of Terminalia bellerica for its in vitro DNA damage protective activity against hydroxyl radical (OH•) and hepatoprotective activity against CCl4 induced toxicity in HepG2 liver cells.Methods: The DNA damage assay was performed using supercoiled pBR322 plasmid DNA with Fenton's reagent. Protection of human liver-derived HepG2 cells against CCl4 induced damage was determined by trypan blue exclusion assay and Tetrazolium bromide salt MTT assay. Liver cells were pre-exposed to 0.5 µmol/ml of CCl4 for 60 min at room temperature and screening assay was carried out in HepG2 cells to evaluate the cytotoxicity of tested extracts with concentration 0.001 to 100 µg/ml.Results: The low dose (0.001-0.1 µg/ml) of leaf and bark has an effect on the percentage viability (101±4.04) and 97±4.04) for leaf and bark extracts respectively) of HepG2 cells. Whereas, the percentage cell viability 99±2.89 and 103±4.04 were found for fruit pulp and seed extracts respectively. The uniform DNA damage protective activity was observed in a dose-dependent manner for leaf, fruit pulp, seed and bark extracts of T. bellerica. Conclusion: Leaf and bark of T. bellerica exhibit 10 fold less toxicity compared to fruit pulp and seed during CCl4 exposure on HepG2 cells suggesting that leaf and bark has more therapeutic potential against hepatotoxicity

IN VITRO ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY AND GC-MS ANALYSIS OF THE ETHANOLIC EXTRACTS OF TERMINALIA BELLERICA ROXB (BAHEDA)

Objective: To investigate the antioxidant activity of ethanolic extract of Terminalia bellerica fruit pulp (TBFP), seed (TBS) and bark (TBB), and identification of phytochemical constituents of said extracts.Methods: The antioxidant potential of T. bellerica (TB) parts was evaluated by free radical scavenging activity (FRSA), superoxide anion radical scavenging activity (SARSA), hydroxyl radical scavenging activity (HRSA) and compared with reference standard quercetin. Lipid peroxidation (LPO), ferric thiocyanate activity (FTC) and reducing power (RP) of the plant extracts were also examined. The phytochemical constituents of said extracts have been quantified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) method.Results: Ethanolic extract of TBFP exhibited high phenolic content (254.33) followed by TBS (227.33) and TBB (185) mg/g of GAE. TBFP showed lowest IC50 for FRSA (62 µg/ml), SARSA (39 µg/ml) and HRSA (27 µg/ml) and highest RP (3.39 ascorbic acid equivalents/ml). TBB showed lowest IC50 for LPO (48 µg/ml) whereas TBS showed lowest IC50 for FTC (109 µg/ml). Predominant phyto-compounds present in TB extracts were quinic acid, gallic acid, ethyl galate, 9, 12 octadecadienoic acid and glucopyranose in varying concentrations as analyzed by GC-MS.Conclusion: On the basis of correlation of antioxidant studies with total phenolic content (TPC) and GC-MS analysis of different part of TB, it may be concluded that high concentration of total phenolics and other bioactive phytochemicals of TB extracts make it a potential source of nutraceutical antioxidants

Role of interface in optimisation of polyamide-6/Fe3O4 nanocomposite properties suitable for induction heating.

Induction heating of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) and localised melting of the surrounding high temperature engineering polymer matrix by generating microscopic or macroscopic eddy currents during magnetisation of a polymer nanocomposite (PMC) is crucial for realising induction heating-aided structural bonding. However, the polymer heating should be homogeneous and efficient to avoid local pyrolysis of the polymer matrix, which results in degraded mechanical properties, or requiring a large coil for generating a high frequency magnetic field. Increasing the interfacial area by homogeneously dispersing the MNPs in the polymer matrix provides many microscopic eddy currents to dissipate the power through magnetisation and polarisation, leading to micro eddy current induced uniform heating of the PMC. However, the application of a hydrophobic coating on MNPs to aid dispersion can perturb the generation of eddy currents and affect the crystallinity and size of the crystallites responsible for the mechanical properties. In this work, the dielectric and magnetic properties, as well as the degree/size of crystallinity of a PMC containing oleic acid (OA) (22 and 55 w/w%) and silica coated (Stöber and reverse emulsion method) Fe3O4 MNPs were measured to evaluate the effect of the interfacial coating and its chemistry. The correlation between the measured properties and dispersion state of the MNPs was established to demonstrate the comprehensive effects of interfacial coating on the PMC and this is a unique method to select a suitable PMC for induction aided structural bonding applications. The results showed that the lower amount of OA (22 w/w%) helped achieve the best dispersion to reduce the crystallinity size and increase degree of crystallinity, and to give the best candidate for achieving mechanical properties of the bonded carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP). Moreover, the low concentration of OA helped achieve high polarisation for dielectric heating as well as eddy current formation due to the relatively high magnetic saturation. The silica coating proportionally reduced the magnetic response and electric polarisation of the PMC, which could affect its eddy current generation that is responsible for induction heating

Strong in-plane magnetic anisotropy (Co0.15Fe0.85)5GeTe2/graphene van der Waals heterostructure spin-valve at room temperature

Van der Waals (vdW) magnets are promising owing to their tunable magnetic properties with doping or alloy composition, where the strength of magnetic interactions, their symmetry, and magnetic anisotropy can be tuned according to the desired application. However, most of the vdW magnet based spintronic devices are so far limited to cryogenic temperatures with magnetic anisotropies favouring out-of-plane or canted orientation of the magnetization. Here, we report room-temperature lateral spin-valve devices with strong in-plane magnetic anisotropy of the vdW ferromagnet (Co0.15Fe0.85)5GeTe2 (CFGT) in heterostructures with graphene. Magnetization measurements reveal above room-temperature ferromagnetism in CFGT with a strong in-plane magnetic anisotropy. Density functional theory calculations show that the magnitude of the anisotropy depends on the Co concentration and is caused by the substitution of Co in the outermost Fe layer. Heterostructures consisting of CFGT nanolayers and graphene were used to experimentally realize basic building blocks for spin valve devices such as efficient spin injection and detection. The spin transport and Hanle spin precession measurements prove a strong in-plane and negative spin polarization at the interface with graphene, which is supported by the calculated spin-polarized density of states of CFGT. The in-plane magnetization of CFGT at room temperature proves its usefulness in graphene lateral spin-valve devices, thus opening further opportunities for spintronic technologies

Effects of shinbuto and ninjinto on prostaglandin E2 production in lipopolysaccharide-treated human gingival fibroblasts.

Previously, we revealed that several kampo medicines used for patients with excess and/or medium patterns (kakkonto (TJ-1), shosaikoto (TJ-9), hangeshashinto (TJ-14), and orento (TJ-120)) reduced prostaglandin (PG)E2 levels using LPS-treated human gingival fibroblasts (HGFs). Recently, we examined other kampo medicines used for patients with the deficiency pattern [bakumondoto (TJ-29), shinbuto (TJ-30), ninjinto (TJ-32), and hochuekkito (TJ-41)] and the herbs comprising shinbuto and ninjinto using the same experimental model. Shinbuto and ninjinto concentration-dependently reduced LPS-induced PGE2 production by HGFs, whereas hochuekkito weakly reduced and bakumondoto did not reduce PGE2 production. Shinbuto and ninjinto did not alter cyclooxygenase (COX) activity or the expression of molecules involved in the arachidonic acid cascade. Therefore, we next examined which herbs compromising shinbuto and ninjinto reduce LPS-induced PGE2 production. Among these herbs, shokyo (Zingiberis Rhizoma) and kankyo (Zingiberis Processum Rhizoma) strongly and concentration-dependently decreased LPS-induced PGE2 production. However, both shokyo and kankyo increased the expression of cytosolic phospholipase (cPL)A2 but did not affect annexin1 or COX-2 expression. These results suggest that shokyo and kankyo suppress cPLA2 activity. We demonstrated that kampo medicines suppress inflammatory responses in patients with the deficiency pattern, and in those with excess or medium patterns. Moreover, kampo medicines that contain shokyo or kankyo are considered to be effective for the treatment of inflammatory diseases

Hepatoprotective Activities of Triphala and Its Constituents

ABSTRACT Liver is a vital organ which plays major role in metabolism and excretion of xenobiotics from the body. Liver injury or its dysfunction is a major health problem that challenges not only health care professionals but also the pharmaceutical industry and drug regulatory agencies. Liver cell injury caused by various toxic chemicals, certain chemotherapeutic agents, carbon tetrachloride, excessive alcohol, overloaded iron is well-studied. Some synthetic compounds such as antimicrobials, anticonvulsants, corticosteroids, NSAIDs and analgesic etc. are currently available as hepatoprotective agents. However, such compounds are not totally safe and exert several side effect and disadvantages. In view of severe adverse side effects of synthetic agents, there is growing need to develop more valuable and protected drugs which may be of therapeutic benefits to patients. Hence herbal drugs have become increasingly popular and their use is increasing day by day. A number of herbal preparations are available in the market. Triphala is one of the age old most commonly used polyherbal formulations with known hepatoprotective activities in Indian system of medicine mainly in Ayurveda. This is well known phytomedicine, a combination of three medicinal plants with Phyllanthus emblica (Amlaki, Phyllanthaceae), Terminalia chebula (Haritaki, Combretaceae) & Terminalia bellirica (Baheda, Combretaceae). Present review focuses on mechanism of hepaotoxicity and various scientifically tested hepatoperotective properties of formulation Triphala and its constituents

OXIDATIVE DNA DAMAGE PROTECTIVE AND HEPATOPROTECTIVE ACTIVITY OF TERMI-NALIA BELLERICA (BAHEDA)

Objective: To investigate the ethanolic extracts of Terminalia bellerica for its in vitro DNA damage protective activity against hydroxyl radical (OH•) and hepatoprotective activity against CCl4 induced toxicity in HepG2 liver cells.Methods: The DNA damage assay was performed using supercoiled pBR322 plasmid DNA with Fenton's reagent. Protection of human liver-derived HepG2 cells against CCl4 induced damage was determined by trypan blue exclusion assay and Tetrazolium bromide salt MTT assay. Liver cells were pre-exposed to 0.5 µmol/ml of CCl4 for 60 min at room temperature and screening assay was carried out in HepG2 cells to evaluate the cytotoxicity of tested extracts with concentration 0.001 to 100 µg/ml.Results: The low dose (0.001-0.1 µg/ml) of leaf and bark has an effect on the percentage viability (101±4.04) and 97±4.04) for leaf and bark extracts respectively) of HepG2 cells. Whereas, the percentage cell viability 99±2.89 and 103±4.04 were found for fruit pulp and seed extracts respectively. The uniform DNA damage protective activity was observed in a dose-dependent manner for leaf, fruit pulp, seed and bark extracts of T. bellerica. Conclusion: Leaf and bark of T. bellerica exhibit 10 fold less toxicity compared to fruit pulp and seed during CCl4 exposure on HepG2 cells suggesting that leaf and bark has more therapeutic potential against hepatotoxicity

Study of occurrence of benign breast disease according to age groups, marital status and parity

Background: With the better understanding of physiology and development of breast tissue it is by and large now agreed that BBD is the Aberration of Normal Development and Involution (ANDI).  Objective: To compare occurrence of benign breast disease according to age groups, marital status and parity.  Materials & methods: The present study comprises of 76 females and 2 males of Benign Breast Diseases, who attended the out patient department and indoor of Department of Surgery, Nehru Chikitsalaya, B.R.D. Medical College, Gorakhpur. Results: Benign Breast Diseases were most common in third decade (51.28%) followed by fourth decade (23.07%) of life. Most of the patients belonged to middle (37.17%) and higher (32.5%) socio economic status, were literate (92.3%) and were urbanites (65.4%). Early menarche, nulliparity, fewer offsprings and late first confinement were found to be associated with increased incidence of Benign Breast Disease. Number of parity decreased the incidence of BBD. Thin built and patients having low or average breast fat content had higher incidence of BBD. Family history of BBD or Breast Carcinoma was important. History of Breast carcinoma or BBD in mothers was more common