Antidiabetic activity of Trichosanthes cucumerina in normal and streptozotocin–induced diabetic rats

Aerial parts of Trichosanthes cucumerina (Family: Cucurbitaceae) are used in traditional medical systems for treatment of diabetes and other diseases. The present study was designed to experimentally evaluate the antidiabetic potential of a hot water extract (HWE) of T. cucumerina (TC) aerial parts. In normoglycemic rats, HWE mediated (a) a dose dependent reduction in fasting blood glucose (FBS) levels (by 35% at 4h post-treatment with dose of 750 mg/kg) and (b) a significant (

A pilot study on palmyrah pinattu (dried fruit pulp) as an anti-diabetic food component

The fruit pulp of palmyrah (Borassus flabellifer L.) has been shown to inhibit intestinal glucose uptake in mice, the active principle being a steroidal saponin, flabelliferin-II which inhibits intestinal ATPase in mice at 5×10-5M level. Palmyrah fruit pulp (PFP) is widely used to manufacture many food products including dried PFP (pinattu), which has been consumed in North-East Sri Lanka for centuries. The present study was carried out to investigate whether PFP in the form of pinattu could reduce serum glucose levels of mild diabetic (Type-II) patients who were not on a drug regimen with a view to developing pinattu as an anti-diabetic food component. Patients (newly diagnosed, Type-II, mild diabetic patients) attending the diabetic clinic at the Family Practice Centre, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka, were subjected to a glucose challenge (75g/50kg BW) after a 10 hour overnight fast and the blood glucose levels determined. On subsequent visits of each patient (3 days after the first visit) blood glucose was determined after administration of PFP in the form of pinattu (6g/50kg BW) or fibre (4g/50kg BW) extracted from PFP prior to the glucose challenge. The methodology employed was the cross over method where each patient was its own control. In all mild diabetic patients treated with pinattu, there was a significant reduction (p< 0.01, by 15-48%) in blood glucose concentration after a glucose challenge. Therefore the results of the present study suggest that pinattu (dried PFP) could be used as an anti-hyperglycemic agent. Keywords: Borassus flabellifer, flabelliferin, palmyrah fruit pulp, blood glucose, diabetes. International Journal of Biological and Chemical Sciences Vol. 1 (3) 2007: pp. 250-25

Preliminary Phytochemical Screening of Different Extracts of Whole Plant of Enicostemma littorale Blume

Enicostemma littorale Blume (Gentianaceae family), which is commonly known as Mamajaka (Sanskrit), Vellarugu (Tamil) and Indian gentian (English). E. littorale is a perennial herb which grows in coastal areas of Northern and Eastern province of Sri Lanka. The whole plant is dried and powdered and used to treat rheumatism, swelling, back pain, diabetes mellitus, constipation, and skin diseases. The aim of this study is to evaluate the phytochemical constituents in different extracts of E. littorale according to the standard procedures. Quantitative estimation of some of the active constituents like alkaloids, flavonoids and saponins were also carried out. The preliminary phytochemical screening of hot and cold ethanol, methanol and aqueous extracts showed the presence of alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, steroids, tannins, proteins, reducing sugar coumarins and quinones and absence of anthraquinones. Cold and hot water extracts showed the presence of fat and fixed oil. The total alkaloid and flavonoid contents were found to be 2.2

Stochastic and epistemic uncertainty propagation in LCA

Purpose: When performing uncertainty propagation, most LCA practitioners choose to represent uncertainties by single probability distributions and to propagate them using stochastic methods. However the selection of single probability distributions appears often arbitrary when faced with scarce information or expert judgement (epistemic uncertainty). Possibility theory has been developed over the last decades to address this problem. The objective of this study is to present a methodology that combines probability and possibility theories to represent stochastic and epistemic uncertainties in a consistent manner and apply it to LCA. A case study is used to show the uncertainty propagation performed with the proposed method and compare it to propagation performed using probability and possibility theories alone. Methods: Basic knowledge on the probability theory is first recalled, followed by a detailed description of hal-00811827, version 1- 11 Apr 2013 epistemic uncertainty representation using fuzzy intervals. The propagation methods used are the Monte Carlo analysis for probability distribution and an optimisation on alpha-cuts for fuzzy intervals. The proposed method (noted IRS) generalizes the process of random sampling to probability distributions as well as fuzzy intervals, thus making the simultaneous use of both representations possible

Cytisus scoparius link - A natural antioxidant

BACKGROUND: Recent investigations have shown that the antioxidant properties of plants could be correlated with oxidative stress defense and different human diseases. In this respect flavonoids and other polyphenolic compounds have gained the greatest attention. The plant Cytisus scoparius contains the main constituent of flavone and flavonals. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the in vitro antioxidant activities of extract of aerial part of Cytisus scoparius. METHODS: The plant extract was tested for DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl, 2-picryl hydrazyl) radical scavenging, nitric oxide radical scavenging, superoxide anion radical scavenging, hydroxyl radical scavenging, antilipid peroxidation assay, reducing power and total phenol content. RESULTS: The extract exhibited scavenging potential with IC(50 )value of 1.5 μg/ml, 116.0 μg/ml and 4.7 μg/ml for DPPH, nitric oxide and superoxide anion radicals. The values were found to lesser than those of vitamin C, rutin, and curcumin, as standards. The extract showed 50% protection at the dose of 104.0 μg/ml in lipid peroxidation induced by Fe(2+)/ ascorbate system in rat liver microsomal preparation. There is decrease in hydroxyl radical generation with IC(50 )value of 27.0 μg/ml when compared with standard vitamin E. The reducing power of the extract depends on the amount of extract. A significant amount of polyphenols could be detected by the equivalent to 0.0589 μg of pyrocatechol from 1 mg of extract. CONCLUSION: The results obtained in the present study indicate that hydro alcoholic extract of aerial part of Cytisus scoparius is a potential source of natural antioxidants

Aspects of the binding of acyclic carotenoids to flabelliferins from palmyrah fruit pulp

The fruit pulp of palmyrah (Borassus flabellifer) contains flabelliferins which are glycosides of β-sitosterol. Naturally bound to flabelliferins is an UV active compound, phvtofluene, which affectsbiological activity. This UV active compound shows intense blue fluorescence and can be dissociatedfrom flabelliferins.The objectives of this study were to determine the main carotenoid binder to flabelliferin-II (F-II, atetraglycoside) in a sample of PFP from Kalpitiya, Sri Lanka by HPLC and some of the chemical featuresof this complex (F-II+ carotenoid binder).HPLC studies showed that the major binder to F-II in a sample of PFP from Kalpitiya was phytofluene.No correlation was found between the stoichiometry of binding of phytofluene and F-II (r2=0.406) as wellas for Fb (r2=0.007) indicating that the binding ratios of phytofluene with F-II or Fb are not constant indifferent PFP samples tested.Computational calculations(-ΔΔHf /KJ mol-1) suggest that binding is less stable between F-II andphytofluene compared to the other flabelliferins tested. This was probably due to phytofluene distortingthe conformation of the carbohydrate moiety of F-II. Computer modeling provided confirmatory evidencefor this assumption.Key Words : Palmyrah, Borassus flabelifer, Flabelliferin