EVALUATION OF A STANDARDIZED EXTRACT OF GINKGO BILOBA IN VITILIGO REMEDY

Introduction Vitiligo is a common acquired, idiopathic skin disorder, this study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of Ginkgo biloba in patients with vitiligo. Material and Methods Fifty persons were included, twelve patients received Ginkgo biloba capsule (75mg) twice daily compared with twelve patients received placebo capsule for 8 weeks at Al-Kadhimyia Teaching Hospital. Twenty six healthy volunteers considered as control. Patient's history was taken and measurement of neutrophils percentage, serum Glutathione (Elleman methods), Malonialdehyde (Stocks and Dormandy methods), Interlukine -6 (Elisa) and Vitiligo area scoring index (VASI) at baseline, 4 and 8 weeks interval, as a parameters to indicate the impact of Ginkgo biloba on the disease.  Results and discussion showed significant decrease in serum interlukin-6 (S. IL-6) after 4 weeks between Ginkgo biloba group and placebo group. No significant difference was found in Neutrophils percent between Ginkgo biloba group and placebo group after 4 and 8 weeks. There was a significant increase in serum glutathione (S. GSH) after 4 and 8 weeks in Ginkgo biloba. Serum malondialdehyde (S. MDA) showed no significant difference between Ginkgo biloba group and placebo group after 4 and 8 weeks and no changes in VASI were found after 8 weeks between Ginkgo biloba and placebo group. Conclusion Ginkgo biloba may has good activity in vitiligo treatment. Keywords: Ginkgo biloba, vitiligo, antioxidant

Effect of terpenes fraction of Iraqi cicer arietinum in experimentally induced hyperlipidemic mice

The aim of this study is to investigate the antihyperlipidimic effect of Terpenes fraction of Iraqi Cicer areitinum in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice. Animals were divided into four groups (n =8). The total duration of the study was 56 days split into two intervals. During the first 28-days interval, mice were administered with HFD, whereas during the second 28-days interval they were co-administered HFD plus Terpenes (500mg/kg: p.o.) or the standard drug Atorvastatin (10mg/kg:p.o.). Terpenes treatment to HFD-induced hyperlipidemic mice caused a high significant decrement in the levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL-C and VLDL-C. Moreover, Terpenes resulted in significant increase in the levels of HDL-C, whereas it caused remarkable decreases in ALT, AST and ALP enzymatic activities also in total serum bilirubin levels among hyperlipidemic mice. Besides that, Terpenes treatment showed significant improvement in levels of tissue MDA and GSH in hyperlipidemic mice. Histopathological examination of hyperlipidemic mice showed a disorganized hepatic tissue, marked and diffused cytoplasmic fatty infiltration which was all ameliorated by Terpenes administration. The results revealed that Terpenes (500mg/kg;p.o.) possess potential ameliorating benefits against hyperlipidemia induced by HFD on lipid profile, liver function enzymes, oxidative stress parameters and hepatic histo-architecture

Anti-aging herbs for skin: Experimental study on mice

Herbal remedy has been used for beauty and health purposes in the traditional and modern medicine. The range of using herbs has been escalating in the past few years . However, there are no enough scientific based evidence in this aspect, as herbs contain a wide range of phytochemicals that has to be studied in meticulous details to understand its effect on the body. In this study, three plants were chosen from the local Iraqi market and extracted, then a pharmacological study was conducted on mice. Histopathological changes were studied on all the study groups. It was concluded that the three herbal aqueous extracts of ( APIUM GRAVEOLENS, CARTHAMUS TINCTORIOUS AND PUNICA GRANATUM) gave an antiaging effect and was able to reverse aging induced by D- Galactose. PUNICA GRANATUM ( Pomegranate) gave the best result in reversing aging signs on mouse skin