ANTI-INFLAMMATORY ACTIVITY OF AQUEOUS EXTRACTS OF GRACILARIA

Objective: In the present investigation an attempt was made to examine the anti-inflammatory potential of aqueous extracts of Gracilaria salicornia C. Ag., Gracilaria edulis (Gmelin) Silva, Gracilaria corticata J. Ag., Gracilaria fergusonii J. Ag.,and Gracilaria verrucosa (Hudson) Papenfus from Mandapam, Gracilaria edulis (Gmelin) Silva., Gracilaria verrucosa (Hudson) Papenfus from Pulicate Lake, Gracilaria fergusonii J. Ag., Gracilaria corticata J. Ag. and Gracilaria corticata J. Ag. var. cylindrica from Tuticorin using heat induced haemolysis of RBC. In addition, the present study is focused to reveal the locality specific anti-inflammatory activities of selected Gracillaria species.Methods: The fresh seaweeds were boiled with distilled water (1:20 W/V) for 2 h. The slurry was filtered through Whatman No. 41 filter paper and condensed. The semi-solid crude extracts were used for anti-inflammatory analysis.Results: An aqueous extracts of studied Gracilaria species were effective in inhibiting the heat induced haemolysis at different concentrations. The results showed the dose dependent protection. The percentage of anti-inflammatory activity of studied Gracillaria was varied from 43.81 to 95.55. The highest percentage (95.55%) of activity was observed in 250 µg/ml of G. edulis aqueous extracts. The anti-inflammatory activity of studied Gracillaria species at 250 µg/ml were as follows G. edulis (Mandabam)>G. corticata (Mandabam)>G. verucosa (Mandabam)>G. salicornia (Mandabam)>G. ferugosonii (Tuticorin)>G. ferugosonii (Mandabam)>G. edulis (Pulicate)>G. corticata (Tuticorin)>G. verucosa (Pulicate)>G. corticata var. cylindrica (Tuticorin).Conclusion: The results of the present study clearly explained the anti-inflammatory potential of the studied Gracillaria species. The aqueous 0extracts of Gracillaria collected from Mandapam showed the highest percentage of protection activity. This study results confirm the existence of active principle responsible for the anti-inflammatory activity. Further studies are required to isolate the active principles without any side effects

Studies on developmental variation of isoperoxidase and protein profile of Zea mays L.

The present study was aimed to produce the isoperoxidase and protein marker for the maize cultivars from India and to find the isoperoxidase and protein expression on the various developmental stages. The leaf samples of Zea mays L. were harvested on 3rd, 7th, 11th, 15th, 19th, 23rd and 27th d for electrophoretic analysis of isoperoxidase and protein. The total protein and isoperoxidase were isolated using the standard procedure described by Sadasivam and Manickam. Isozyme and protein separation was carried out using 10% non-denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The banding pattern suggested several similarities as well as presence of unique isoperoxidase and protein in each stage. These studies will be useful for the identification of the major proteins present at different developmental stages of Z. mays