Neuropharmacological Effects of Methanolic Extract of Leaves of Amaranthus Viridis.L In Rats & Mice

AIM: Now-a-days, there is an increase in demand for herbal drugs due to its safety, efficacy and better therapeutic results and also due to its economic pricing as compared to allopathic drugs. Literature survey has revealed that the plant Amaranthus viridis.L is prescribed in the treatment of diabetes, anti-cholesterolemic, anti-pyretic and anti-nociceptive, hepatoprotective, anti oxidant conditions etc The plant, Amaranthus viridis.L was selected for the present study its, a) Easy availability b) Good therapeutic activity c) Degree of research work which is not done Very less pharmacological studies have been carried out on the plant Amaranthus viridis.L. As per the literature review, so far no scientific study has been carried on this plant Amaranthus viridis.L (Family: Amaranthaceae) to explore the neuroprotective activity. So, the present study has been under taken to explore the neuropharmacological effect of leaves of methanolic extract of leaves of Amaranthus viridis.L which includes studies on pharmacological, Preliminary phytochemical and its pharmacological evaluation. OBJECTIVES: To determine the phytochemical constituents present in the methanolic extract of leaves of A.viridis L., To investigate methanol extracts of leaves of Amaranthus viridis .L (Amaranthaceae) for various neuropharmacological activities, such as anti convulsant, anti depressant and anxiolytic SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION: The present study was undertaken to determine the effect of neuropharmacological effects of leaves of methanolic extract of Amaranthus viridis.L The pharmacognostical studies made on the Amaranthus viridis.L determines the various parameters for pharmacognostical standards. The present investigation deals with the report on microscopically, transverse section of A.viridis leaves of (petiole, midrib, lamina, venation pattern) and different chemical parameters have been determined. These findings will be towards establishing pharmacognostic standards on identification, purity, quality, classification of the plant, which is gaining relevance in plant drug research. The powdered leaves like ash values, extractive values and loss of drying gave valuable information. This helped for correct identification of plant The preliminary phytochemical investigation showed the presence of carbohydrates, alkaloids, steroids and sterols, glycosides, saponins, tannins, flavonoids and phenolic compounds Our conclusion, investigation suggests that methanolic extract of powdered leaves of Amaranthus viridis.L. Which possess potent neuroprotective effects in rats & mice

From the Editors

We are excited to present you with the 16th annual edition of The Medicine Forum. This work is a culmination of months of effort on the part of medical students, residents, fellows and faculty to share clinical pearls from the last year of their experiences. Amongst the greatest strengths of medical professionals and patients alike is the ability to tell stories. Stories, and how they are told form the basis of medical care. The way in which a particular patient\u27s story unfolds has a lasting impact on physicians, trainees, other medical staff, and perhaps most importantly, on future patients. Stories of patient cases formed the earliest beginnings of evidence-based medicine. There is a Babylonian tablet dating earlier than 6000 B.C.E. which describes a case of dropsy , for the instruction of patients of this condition.1 Stories told amongst practitioners of medicine date back to the first published medical journal, the Acta Medicorum Berolinensium, from Berlin in 1722.

Specificity analysis of sera from breast cancer patients vaccinated with MUC1-KLH plus QS-21

The mucin MUC1 is expressed on breast cancers in an underglycosylated form compared to normal tissues and is therefore a potential target for cancer immunotherapy. MUC1 contains multiple tandem repeats of the 20 amino acid (aa) peptide (VTSAPDTRPAPGSTAPPAHG). The APDTRPA epitope is particularly immunogenic since it is recognized by a variety of murine monoclonal antibodies and by some sera and cytotoxic T-cells from unimmunized patients with epithelial cancers. We have prepared a 30 aa peptide (C)VTSAPDTRPAPGSTAPPAHGVTSAPDTRPA with cysteine at the N-terminal end, and used the cysteine for chemical conjugation to keyhole limpet haemocyanin (KLH). Six breast cancer patients immunized with this conjugate plus the immunological adjuvant QS-21 have all produced high titre (by ELISA) IgG and IgM antibodies against the 30 aa MUC1 peptide, but these sera reacted moderately, or not at all, with MUC1-positive tumour cells. To understand this specificity better, we prepared a series of smaller peptides to determine the epitopes recognized by these immune sera in inhibition assays. Only peptides containing APDTRPA at the C-terminal end were able to completely inhibit ELISA reactivity for the full 30 aa peptide. No sera were completely inhibited by APDTR, APDTRP, PDTRPA or any other peptides that did not contain the full APDTRPA epitope. Remarkably, sera from all six patients recognized this same epitope and were completely inhibited by only this epitope. The specificity of these sera (1) primarily for C-terminal APDTRPA, and the absence of this epitope at the C-terminal end of any tumour mucins, and (2) the N-terminal APDTRPA alanine, which is normally buried in the β turn MUC1 assumes in its secondary structure may explain the moderate to weak reactivity of these high titer sera against MUC1-positive tumour cells. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig

Barnase as a New Therapeutic Agent Triggering Apoptosis in Human Cancer Cells

RNases are currently studied as non-mutagenic alternatives to the harmful DNA-damaging anticancer drugs commonly used in clinical practice. Many mammalian RNases are not potent toxins due to the strong inhibition by ribonuclease inhibitor (RI) presented in the cytoplasm of mammalian cells.In search of new effective anticancer RNases we studied the effects of barnase, a ribonuclease from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, on human cancer cells. We found that barnase is resistant to RI. In MTT cell viability assay, barnase was cytotoxic to human carcinoma cell lines with half-inhibitory concentrations (IC(50)) ranging from 0.2 to 13 microM and to leukemia cell lines with IC(50) values ranging from 2.4 to 82 microM. Also, we characterized the cytotoxic effects of barnase-based immunoRNase scFv 4D5-dibarnase, which consists of two barnase molecules serially fused to the single-chain variable fragment (scFv) of humanized antibody 4D5 that recognizes the extracellular domain of cancer marker HER2. The scFv 4D5-dibarnase specifically bound to HER2-positive cells and was internalized via receptor-mediated endocytosis. The intracellular localization of internalized scFv 4D5-dibarnase was determined by electronic microscopy. The cytotoxic effect of scFv 4D5-dibarnase on HER2-positive human ovarian carcinoma SKOV-3 cells (IC(50) = 1.8 nM) was three orders of magnitude greater than that of barnase alone. Both barnase and scFv 4D5-dibarnase induced apoptosis in SKOV-3 cells accompanied by internucleosomal chromatin fragmentation, membrane blebbing, the appearance of phosphatidylserine on the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane, and the activation of caspase-3.These results demonstrate that barnase is a potent toxic agent for targeting to cancer cells

Regulation of Inflammatory Gene Expression in PBMCs by Immunostimulatory Botanicals

Many hundreds of botanicals are used in complementary and alternative medicine for therapeutic use as antimicrobials and immune stimulators. While there exists many centuries of anecdotal evidence and few clinical studies on the activity and efficacy of these botanicals, limited scientific evidence exists on the ability of these botanicals to modulate the immune and inflammatory responses. Using botanogenomics (or herbogenomics), this study provides novel insight into inflammatory genes which are induced in peripheral blood mononuclear cells following treatment with immunomodulatory botanical extracts. These results may suggest putative genes involved in the physiological responses thought to occur following administration of these botanical extracts. Using extracts from immunostimulatory herbs (Astragalus membranaceus, Sambucus cerulea, Andrographis paniculata) and an immunosuppressive herb (Urtica dioica), the data presented supports previous cytokine studies on these herbs as well as identifying additional genes which may be involved in immune cell activation and migration and various inflammatory responses, including wound healing, angiogenesis, and blood pressure modulation. Additionally, we report the presence of lipopolysaccharide in medicinally prepared extracts of these herbs which is theorized to be a natural and active component of the immunostimulatory herbal extracts. The data presented provides a more extensive picture on how these herbs may be mediating their biological effects on the immune and inflammatory responses

Exploring indoor and outdoor dust as a potential tool for detection and monitoring of COVID-19 transmission

This study investigated the potential of using SARS-CoV-2 viral concentrations in dust as an additional surveillance tool for early detection and monitoring of COVID-19 transmission. Dust samples were collected from 8 public locations in 16 districts of Bangkok, Thailand, from June to August 2021. SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations in dust were quantified, and their correlation with community case incidence was assessed. Our findings revealed a positive correlation between viral concentrations detected in dust and the relative risk of COVID-19. The highest risk was observed with no delay (0-day lag), and this risk gradually decreased as the lag time increased. We observed an overall decline in viral concentrations in public places during lockdown, closely associated with reduced human mobility. The effective reproduction number for COVID-19 transmission remained above one throughout the study period, suggesting that transmission may persist in locations beyond public areas even after the lockdown measures were in place