Hossain et al., 2009 Stamford Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Antioxidant, analgesic and cytotoxic activity of

Michelia champaca (Magnoliaceae) is a large medicinal plant which is traditionally used against a number of diseases including inflammatory conditions. In the present study crude methanol extract of M. champaca leaf was investigated for possible antioxidant, analgesic and cytotoxic activity. The extract showed remarkable antioxidant activity in DPPH radical scavenging activity, nitric oxide scavenging activity and total antioxidant capacity assays. In both DPPH radical and NO scavenging assay, the extract exhibited strong antioxidant activity and the IC50 values in DPPH radical scavenging and NO scavenging assays were found to be 30.07 µg/ml and 15.42 µg/ml, respectively while the IC50 values of ascorbic acid were 12.5 µg/ml and 4.07 µg/ml, respectively. Total antioxidant activity of the extract increased in a dose dependent manner. Analgesic activity of the crude extract was evaluated using acetic acid-induced writhing model of pain in mice. The crude extract at 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg b.w doses displayed significant (p < 0.001) reduction in acetic acid induced writhing in mice with a maximum effect of 68.7 % reduction at 400 mg/kg b.w. which is comparable to the standard, diclofenac sodium (78.2 %). The extract was also investigated for cytotoxic potential using Brine Shrimp lethality bioassay. In this bioassay the extract showed significant toxicity to Brine Shrimp nauplii with the LC50 value of 11.22 µg/ml. Results of the present study suggest that M. champaca leaf extract possesses strong antioxidant, analgesic and cytotoxic activity

In vitro Evaluation of Antioxidant Potential of Leaves of

Antioxidant potential of the 80 % methanol extract of the leaves of Opuntia dillenii was evaluated using 1, 1-diphenyl, 2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) and nitric oxide radical scavenging, reducing power, total phenol and total flavonoid content determination assays. Preliminary phytochemical screening of the extract was also carried out, which revealed that the extract possesses flavonoids, steroids, alkaloids and tannins. The extract showed significant antioxidant activities in all antioxidant assays compared to the reference antioxidant in a dose dependent manner. In DPPH radical scavenging activity, the IC50 value of the crude extract was found to be 15.71μg/mL while the IC50 value for the reference ascorbic acid was 10.84 μg/mL. Again, the extract showed remarkable nitric oxide scavenging potential and good reducing power. Moreover, the methanol extract was found to contain high amount of phenols and flavonoids, expressed as gallic acid and rutin equivalents respectively. Based on the findings of the present study, we conclude that the methanol extract of the leaves of O. dillenii possesses remarkable antioxidant potential which may be attributed to the high amount of phenols and flavonoids present in the extract

Stamford Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Evaluation of analgesic and neuropharmacological properties of the aerial part of Tinospora cordifolia

Tinospora cordifolia Miers. is used in the Ayurvedic system of medicine for the treatment of jaundice, diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis, and is also used as memory enhancer. But still there is no report of analgesic and neuropharmacological activities of the plant. For this reason, the present study was designed to evaluate analgesic and neuropharmacological activities of methanol extract of the aerial parts of Tinospora cordifolia. Analgesic activity of the crude extract at the dose of 200 and 400 mg/kg b.w. was evaluated for its central and peripheral pharmacological actions using hotplate and tail flick tests and acetic acid-induced writhing test respectively in mice. The extract produced a significant (p < 0.05-0.001) increase in pain threshold in hotplate and tail flick tests in a dose dependent manner. In acetic acid-induced writhing test the extract at both doses produced significant (p < 0.001) inhibition of writhing reaction but maximum inhibition (65.01%) of writhing was found at 400 mg/kg dose compared to the reference drug Diclofenac-Na at the dose of 10 mg/kg b.w. (77.07%). Neuropharmacological activity of the extract was also evaluated using rodent behabioural models; hole cross to evaluate motor activity, open field to evaluate exploratory behaviour and thiopental sodium-induced sleeping time to evaluate sedative potential of the extract. The extract significantly (p < 0.05-0.001) decreased motor activity and exploratory behavior of mice in hole cross and open field test respectively. The extract also produced rapid onset and maximized the duration of sleeping time whe