Effect of yeast extract and chitosan on shoot proliferation, morphology and antioxidant activity of Curcuma mangga in vitro plantlets

This paper reported the effect of yeast extract and chitosan with combination of yeast extract on the growth and morphological changes and production of phenolics in the in vitro plantlets of Curcuma mangga. Yeast extract did not show any effect on the biomass and shoot proliferation of in vitro plantlets. However, the plantlets showed morphological abnormality when exposed to higher concentration of yeast extract (3.5 mgL-1 and above) supplemented into the culture medium. Plantlets cultured in media supplemented with 3.5 and 5.0 mgL-1 of yeast extract showed higher radical scavenging activity (RSA) which also indicated that stress induced by yeast extract might elicit the production of secondary metabolites which acted as free radical scavenger in 1,1-diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The plantlets treated with different concentration of chitosan combined with 3.5 mgL-1 of yeast extract affected the biomass of C. mangga. The plantlets that were cultured in media supplemented with 150 mgL-1 of chitosan combined and 3.5 mgL-1 of yeast extract showed higher RSA towards DPPH as compared to the other treatments. Kinetic of DPPH free RSA from C. mangga extract was considered slow as compared to quercetin and the correlation between total phenolic content and RSA was poor (R2 = 0.2293) for yeast extract and (R2 = 0.0373) for chitosan combination with yeast extract. This indicated that the presence of phenolic compounds in the extracts were not the major factor contributing to the anti-oxidative activity of C. mangga.Key words: Curcuma mangga, in-vitro, elicitor, phenolics, anti-oxidative activities

Clopidogrel Bisulfate (Profiles of Drugs Substances, Excipients and Related Methodology)

Clopidogrel contains a center of dissymmetry, and hence is capable of being resolved into its two mirror image compounds. It has been found that only the (S)-enantiomer, which corresponds to the dextrorotatory form, has antithrombotic activity and that the (R)-enantiomer, which corresponds to the levorotatory form, does not exhibit antithrombotic activity. Moreover, in animal studies, the (R)-enantiomer triggered convulsions at high doses. Consequently, (R)-clopidogrel bisulfate is considered to be one of the impurities in (S)-clopidogrel bisulfate bulk drug substance. Clopidogrel is extensively metabolized in vivo by carboxylesterase hydrolysis on the ester function, resulting in the formation of clopidogrel carboxylic acid (CCA) as the inactive metabolite of clopidogrel. In addition, small amounts of clopidogrel are converted to a pharmacologically active metabolite (AM) via the intermediate metabolite inactive 2-oxoclopidogrel, which is then converted to an AM by a two-step cytochrome P450 oxidation process. Due to the instability of clopidogrel AM and the abundant availability of the more stable CCA in human plasma, CCA is used to indirectly determine the pharmacokinetics of clopidogrel. Furthermore, there is also a possibility that (S)-clopidogrel undergoes an in vivo chiral inversion into the other clopidogrel enantiomer, which becomes hydrolyzed to (R)-CCA. Metabolic pathways and potential in vivo chiral inversions of clopidogrel are described. Until recently, only chromatographic methods were used to determine clopidogrel in biological samples

Medicinal and ethnoveterinary remedies of hunters in Trinidad

BACKGROUND: Ethnomedicines are used by hunters for themselves and their hunting dogs in Trinidad. Plants are used for snakebites, scorpion stings, for injuries and mange of dogs and to facilitate hunting success. RESULTS: Plants used include Piper hispidum, Pithecelobium unguis-cati, Bauhinia excisa, Bauhinia cumanensis, Cecropia peltata, Aframomum melegueta, Aristolochia rugosa, Aristolochia trilobata, Jatropha curcas, Jatropha gossypifolia, Nicotiana tabacum, Vernonia scorpioides, Petiveria alliacea, Renealmia alpinia, Justicia secunda, Phyllanthus urinaria,Phyllanthus niruri,Momordica charantia, Xiphidium caeruleum, Ottonia ovata, Lepianthes peltata, Capsicum frutescens, Costus scaber, Dendropanax arboreus, Siparuma guianensis, Syngonium podophyllum, Monstera dubia, Solanum species, Eclipta prostrata, Spiranthes acaulis, Croton gossypifolius, Barleria lupulina, Cola nitida, Acrocomia ierensis (tentative ID). CONCLUSION: Plant use is based on odour, and plant morphological characteristics and is embedded in a complex cultural context based on indigenous Amerindian beliefs. It is suggested that the medicinal plants exerted a physiological action on the hunter or his dog. Some of the plants mentioned contain chemicals that may explain the ethnomedicinal and ethnoveterinary use. For instance some of the plants influence the immune system or are effective against internal and external parasites. Plant baths may contribute to the health and well being of the hunting dogs

Peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence detection for the highly sensitive determination of fluorescence-labeled chlorpheniramine with Suzuki coupling reaction.

A sensitive and selective high performance liquid chromatography-peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence (PO-CL) method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of chlorpheniramine (CPA) and monodesmethyl chlorpheniramine (MDCPA) in human serum. The method combines fluorescent labeling with 4-(4,5-diphenyl-1H-imidazole-2-yl)phenyl boronic acid using Suzuki coupling reaction with PO-CL detection. CPA and MDCPA were extracted from human serum by liquid-liquid extraction with n-hexane. Excess labeling reagent, which interfered with trace level determination of analytes, was removed by solid-phase extraction using a C18 cartridge. Separation of derivatives of both analytes was achieved isocratically on a silica column with a mixture of acetonitrile and 60 mM imidazole-HNO(3) buffer (pH 7.2; 85:15, v/v) containing 0.015% triethylamine. The proposed method exhibited a good linearity with a correlation coefficient of 0.999 for CPA and MDCPA within the concentration range of 0.5-100 ng/mL. The limits of detection (S/N = 3) were 0.14 and 0.16 ng/mL for CPA and MDCPA, respectively. Using the proposed method, CPA could be selectively determined in human serum after oral administration

Biotransformation of mefenamic acid by cell suspension cultures of Solanum mammosum

Five biotransformation products, mefenamic acid-7-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl ester (2), mefenamic acid-7-O-beta-D-(beta-1,6-O-D-glucopyranosyl)-glucopyranosyl ester (3), mefenamic acid-7-O-beta-D-(beta-1,2-O-D-glucopyranosyl)-glucopyranosyl ester (4), mefenamic acid-7-O-beta-D-(beta-1,6-O-D-glucopyranosyl)-2-glucopyranose ester (5), and mefenamic acid-7-O-alpha-D-(beta-1,6-O-D-glucopyranosyl)-2-glucopyranose ester (6) were isolated from cell suspension cultures of Solanum mammosum following administration of the therapeutic agent mefenamic acid (1). The structures of all new compounds were elucidated on the basis of their NMR and mass spectrometric data