History of Pharmacy Museums in Turkey

The first pharmacy in Đstanbul was set up in 1757, named “Pharmacy with two Gates”. European style pharmacies mostly appeared in the second half of the 19th Century, and their number reached to 300 at the end of the century. Pierre Apéry, Adolphe Matcovitch, Francesco and Giorgio Della Suda, Antoine Calleya, Noel and François Canzuch, Jean César Reboul, Hamdi Bey, Pertev Bey, Beşir Kemal Bey were among the most famous pharmacists of Đstanbul at that time. About fifteen of these pharmacies are still open, only one of them, however, conserves its authenticity. Today, the artifacts and materials remained from these pharmacies like pots, flasks, balances, mortars and their furniture are conserved in different museums and personal collections. The first history of pharmacy museum was established by Prof. Dr. Turhan Baytop in 1960 in the Faculty of Pharmacy at Istanbul University. Since 1980s other museums have been established in some faculties of pharmacy and pharmaceutical companies

Saray eczaneleri ve ilaç araştırmalarının gelişmesine katkıları

Taha Toros Arşivi, Dosya No: 105-Doktorlar, Laboratuvar, Hastahaneler, Eczaneler, Dişçilerİstanbul Kalkınma Ajansı (TR10/14/YEN/0033) İstanbul Development Agency (TR10/14/YEN/0033

Phenolic content and biological activities of Lycium barbarum L (Solanaceae) fruits (Goji berries) cultivated in Konya, Turkey

Purpose: To evaluate the phenolic content and biological activities of Lycium barbarum fruits cultivated in Turkey.Methods: Phenolic compounds in the water and methanol extracts of the fruits were determined by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and superoxide radical scavenging activities and ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays were used to evaluate the antioxidant potential of the fruits. The  acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory activity of the fruits was evaluated by Ellman assay.Results: LC-MS/MS results showed that all the extracts contained phenolic compounds including flavonoids, phenolic acids, anthocyanins and  polyphenols. Some anthocyanins, namely, cyanidin-3-Oglucoside, cyanidin chloride, pelargonin chloride, pelargonidin chloride, and pelargonidin-3-0-glucoside were identified in the fruits for the first time. Pelargonidin-3-O-glucoside and cyanidin-3-O-glucoside were the main anthocyanins in the water extract with levels of 119.60 ± 12.04 and 1112.25 ± 125.40 mg/kg, respectively. The results indicated that the extracts possessed good radical scavenging and ferric-reducing activities.Conclusion: The results show that Lycium barbarum cultivated in Konya is a good source of the phenolic compounds, and thus may be exploited for commercial production of the antioxidants.Keywords: Lycium barbarum, Goji berries, Antioxidant activity, Acetylcholinesterase, Flavonoid

HYPERICUM PERFORATUM IMPROVE MEMORY AND LEARNING IN ALZHEIMER'S MODEL: (EXPERIMENTAL STUDY IN MICE)

Objective: The aim of this study, we based on protective and antioxidant efficiency of Hypericum perforatum that shows a wide range of beneficial effect in vitro and in vivo.Methods: The in vitro antioxidant activity of the extract was assessed by using several antioxidant tests. The cytotoxic activity of Hypericum perforatum was also determined by using 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide viability assay on ordinary used cell lines. In vivo experiments in Swiss mice were determined by performing behavioral, memory tests and histological study. According to tests results, H. perforatum may be relevant to the treatment of cognitive disorders.Results: The results of chemical analysis showed a hight level of hyperforin and quercitin that had an important antioxidant activity proved in vitro with the 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, Anti-lactoperoxidase and superoxide dismutases; this antioxidant activity was confirmed in vivo after the non-toxic results by means of improvement in behavioral and memory than the reducing shrunken in pyramidal cells of mice brains.Conclusion: The present study suggests that Hypericum perforatum modulate the oxidative stress and be involved in the protective effect against oxidative damage and neurodegenerative diseases in mice

The Cytotoxicity and Insecticidal Activity of Extracts from Delphinium formosum Boiss. & Huet

Delphinium species are well-known toxic plants with diterpenoid alkaloid contents. There has been no previous investigation on the cytotoxicity of Delphinium formosum. The extracts of the different parts of D. formosum, an endemic species in Turkey, were investigated for their cytotoxic activity against the human liver carcinoma cell line (HepG2) and primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). The cytotoxic effects of twelve extracts and subfractions were determined against HepG2 cells using the MTT assay. The only active extract was applied to the HUVEC as a model for healthy cells. Only one of the alkaloidcontaining extracts from the aerial parts was toxic (IC50=244,9 µg/mL against HepG2 and 144,4 µg/mL against HUVEC), while the root extracts were inactive. The results were improbable although it is predicted secondary metabolites, such as diterpene alkaloids (methyllycaconitine, browniine, lycoctonine, avardharidine, antranoyllycoctonine, delsemine A/B and lycoctonine). Based on previous studies in the literature, the cytotoxic plants were also expected to exhibit insecticidal activity. Therefore, the cytotoxic extract of D. formosum was examined for its adulticidal and larvicidal activity against the yellow fever, dengue fever and the Zika virus vector Aedes aegypti L

Antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-urease and cytotoxic activities of various extracts from Scutellaria sibthorpii endemic to Cyprus

Lamiaceae is one of the largest families in the plant kingdom. Including the genus Scutellaria whose species are used in traditional medicine in various countries for prevention and also the treatment of several disorders. In vitro biological activities of the various extracts of the aerial parts from Scutellaria sibthorpii were investigated in the present study. Antioxidant activity of the extracts was measured by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), ABTS assays, ferrous ion-chelating, and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays. Cytotoxic potential and anti-urease activities of the extracts were also determined. Spectrophotometric analysis was used to establish the total phenol and flavonoid content of the extracts. The antibacterial activities of extracts were assessed by minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) against seven bacteria with Candida albicans. Regarding the results, infusion showed considerable antioxidant properties as the extracts exhibited high-to-moderate antioxidant effects. According to cytotoxicity results, n-hexane extract had strong cytotoxic effects against PC-3 and NIH/3T3 cell line with IC50 values of 330.40 μg/mL and 340.85 μg/mL, respectively. Furthermore, the antibacterial activity, the ethyl acetate extract showed higher activity particularly against Enterecocus facecalis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis. According to the research carried out, it would seem that this is the first study on screening biological activities of extracts from Scutellaria sibthorpii. These findings indicate that these endemic species from Cyprus could be used in phytopharmaceutical preparation

IN VITRO ANTICANCER ACTIVITY AND CYTOTOXICITY OF SOME PAPAVER ALKALOIDS ON CANCER AND NORMAL CELL LINES

Background: The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of in vitro anticancer activity and cytotoxicity of 13 Papaver alkaloids (amurine, armepavine, berberine, isocorydine, isothebaine, macranthine, mecambrine, mecambridine, narkotine, orientalidine, oripavine, salutaridine and thebaine) against the human cervical cancer cell line (HeLa) compared to the normal African green monkey kidney epithelial cell line (Vero) using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Materials and Methods: The Vero and HeLa cell lines were treated with various concentrations (1-300 μg/mL) of alkaloids for 48 h. Values for cytotoxicity measured by MTT assay were expressed as the concentration that causes a 50% decrease in cell viability (IC50) (μg/mL). Results: Berberine and macranthine were the most active alkaloids. Salutaridine exhibited no cytotoxic activity against two types of cell lines. Dose-dependent studies presented IC50 of 12.08 μg/mL and IC50 of 71.14 μg/mL for berberine and IC50 of 24.16 μg/mL and IC50 of >300 μg/mL for macranthine on the HeLa cells and the Vero cells respectively. Conclusion: The degree of selectivity of the compounds can be expressed by its Selectivity Index (SI) value. High SI value (>2) of a compound gives a selective toxicity towards cancer cells (SI = IC50 for normal cells/IC50 for cancer cells). Two alkaloids showed significant SI values, which are 12.42 for macranthine and 5.89 for berberine. Hence, macranthine and berberine display potential to be further exploited in the discovery and development of new anticancer agents