Phytochemical and Anti-Diabetic Activity of Indigofera Species

Over the past 30 years, the status of diabetes has changed from being measured as a kind disorder of the old to one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality disturbing the childhood and middle aged people. It is essential to note that the increase in prevalence is seen in all six populated continents of the globe. Diabetes is deadly disease in both developed and developing countries. Indigofera is a varied genus that has shown unique characteristics making it an interesting candidate as a potential perennial crop. Specifically, there is diverse variation among species with a number of unique characteristics. Entire plants of I. astragalina were collected from Tiruchengode, Tamilnadu. The plant was authenticated by Dr. G.V.S. Murthy, Joint Director, Botanical Survey of India, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India. The extraction yield of the extracts from plant species is vastly depends on the solvent polarity, which find out both qualitatively and quantitatively the extracted compounds. Ethanol and water are the commonly used solvent for the extraction because of their low toxicity and high extraction yield with the advantage of modulating the polarity of the solvent by using mixtures at different ratios (Jackson et al, 1996). Ethanol soluble fractions were analyzed by TLC. These fractions constituted of mainly nonvolatile mixtures of compounds. The visualizations were aided by either observing the TLC under an UV lamp or by exposing the developed TLC plates to iodine vapor. The plant extracts at both the dose level of 200 and 400 mg/kg registered 79.87 to 85.83 mg/dl of fasting blood glucose level at the end of 10h of the study, while the standard drug, glibenclamide showed 71.63 mg/dl at the same time, with a low degree of significance while compared with the solvent treated group. Keywords: Diabetes Mellitus, I. astragalina, glibenclamide, alloxanisation

Olfactory Mechanisms for Discovery of Odorants to Reduce Insect-Host Contact

Insects have developed highly sophisticated and sensitive olfactory systems to find animal or plant hosts for feeding. Some insects vector pathogens that cause diseases in hundreds of millions of people and destroy billions of dollars of food products every year. There is great interest, therefore, in understanding how the insect olfactory system can be manipulated to reduce their contact with hosts. Here, we review recent advances in our understanding of insect olfactory detection mechanisms, which may serve as a foundation for designing insect control programs based on manipulation of their behaviors by using odorants. Because every insect species has a unique set of olfactory receptors and olfactory-mediated behaviors, we focus primarily on general principles of odor detection that potentially apply to most insects. While these mechanisms have emerged from studies on model systems for study of insect olfaction, such as Drosophila melanogaster, they provide a foundation for discovery of odorants to repel insects or reduce host-seeking behavior