Indian Medicinal Plants with Antidiabetic Potential

Medicinal plants should be evaluated extensively to determine the active principles present in them that are responsible for the hypoglycemic activity of these plants. Herbal drugs have gained popularity among the general population due to their ability to treat ailments with minimum side effects. The multi-target approaches of medicinal plants make them least susceptible to failure during the treatment therapy. Medicinal plants showing prominent anti-diabetic activity during the initial studies should be further explored to identify the active principles present in them that can become the promising drug candidates for the disease treatment in the coming future. Keywords: Anti-diabetic, Diabetes Mellitus, Insulin, hypoglycemic, anti-hyperglycemic, anti-hyperlipidemic &nbsp

Hepatoprotective activity of Eugenia jambolana Lam. in carbon tetrachloride treated rats

Objective: To estimate the hepatoprotective effects of the methanolic seed extract of Eugenia jambolana Lam. (Myrtaceae), in Wistar albino rats treated with carbon tetrachloride (CCl 4 ). Materials and Methods: Liver damage in rats treated with CCl 4 (1ml/kg/Bw, administered subcutaneously, on alternate days for one week) was studied by assessing parameters such as serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT), serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), acid phosphatase (ACP) and bilirubin (total and direct). The effect of co-administration of Eugenia jambolana Lam. (doses 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg p. o.) on the above parameters was investigated. These biochemical observations were supplemented by weight and histological examination of liver sections. Liv.52 ® was used as positive control. Data were analyzed by one way anova, followed by Scheff′s/Dunnett′s test. Results: Administration of Eugenia jambolana Lam. (doses 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg p. o.) significantly prevented carbon tetrachloride induced elevation of serum SGOT, SGPT, ALP, ACP and bilirubin (total and direct) level. Histological examination of the liver section revealed hepatic regeneration, after administration of various doses of Eugenia jambolana Lam. The results were comparable to that of Liv.52 ®. Conclusion: The study suggests preventive action of Eugenia jambolana Lam. in carbon tetrachloride induced liver toxicity. Hepatic cell regeneration process was dose dependent

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Not AvailableContinuous depletion of groundwater levels from deliberate and uncontrolled exploitation of groundwater resources lead to the severe problems in arid and semi-arid hard-rock regions of the world. Geostatistics and GIS have been proved as successful tools for efficient planning and management of the groundwater resources. The present study demonstrated applicability of geostatistics and GIS to understand spatial and temporal behavior of groundwater levels in a semi-arid hard-rock aquifer of Western India. Monthly groundwater levels of 50 sites in the study area for 36-month period (May 2006–June 2009; excluding three months) were analyzed to find spatial autocorrelation and variances in the groundwater levels. Experimental variogram of the observed groundwater levels was computed at 750 m lag distance interval and four most-widely used geostatistical models were fitted to the experimental variogram. The best-fit geostatistical model was selected by using two goodness-of-fit criteria, i.e., root mean square error (RMSE) and correlation coefficient (r). Then spatial maps of the groundwater levels were prepared through kriging technique by using the best-fit geostatistical model. Results of two spatial statistics (Geary's C and Moran's I) indicated a strong positive autocorrelation in the groundwater levels within 3 km lag distance. It is emphasized that the spatial statistics are promising tools for geostatistical modeling, which help choose appropriate values of model parameters. Nugget-sill ratio (<0.25) revealed that the groundwater levels have strong spatial dependence in the area. The statistical indicators (RMSE and r) suggested that any of the three geostatistical models, i.e., spherical, circular and exponential, can be selected as the best-fit model for reliable and accurate spatial interpolation. However, exponential model is used as the best-fit model in the present study. Selection of the exponential model as the best-fit was further supported by very high values of coefficient of determination (r2 ranging from 0.927 to 0.994). Spatial distribution maps of groundwater levels indicated that the groundwater levels are strongly affected by surface topography and presence of surface water bodies in the study area. Temporal pattern of the groundwater levels is mainly controlled by the rainy-season recharge and amount of groundwater extraction. Furthermore, it was found that the kriging technique is helpful in identifying critical locations over the study area where water saving and groundwater augmentation techniques need to be implemented in order to protect depleting groundwater resources.Not Availabl

Identification and expression of the first nonmammalian amyloid-beta precursor-like protein APLP2 in the amphibian Xenopus laevis.

Contains fulltext : 58232.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)The Alzheimer's disease-linked amyloid-beta precursor protein (APP) belongs to a superfamily of proteins, which also comprises the amyloid-beta precursor-like proteins, APLP1 and APLP2. Whereas APP has been identified in both lower and higher vertebrates, thus far, APLP1 and 2 have been characterized only in human and rodents. Here we identify the first nonmammalian APLP2 protein in the South African claw-toed frog Xenopus laevis. The identity between the Xenopus and mammalian APLP2 proteins is approximately 75%, with the highest degree of conservation in a number of amino-terminal regions, the transmembrane domain and the cytoplasmic tail. Furthermore, amino acid residues known to be phosphorylated and glycosylated in mammalian APLP2 are conserved in Xenopus. The availability of the Xenopus APLP2 protein sequence allowed a phylogenetic analysis of APP superfamily members that suggested the occurrence of APP and preAPLP lineages with their separation predating the mammalian-amphibian split. As in mammals, Xenopus APLP2 mRNA was ubiquitously expressed and alternatively spliced forms were detected. However, the expression ratios between the mRNA forms in the various tissues examined were different between Xenopus and mammals, most prominently for the alternatively spliced forms containing the Kunitz protease inhibitor-coding region that were less abundantly expressed than the corresponding mammalian forms. Thus, the identification of APLP2 in Xenopus has revealed evolutionarily conserved regions that may help to delineate functionally important domains, and its overall high degree of conservation suggests an important role for this APP superfamily member