Nidhi

The aim of the current study was to isolate mucilage from five different plants, which was done by maceration, followed by incorporating the extracted mucilage into a tablet formulation and to study its disintegrant property. Comparative results were obtained and varying degree of disintegrant action was observed among the five subject plant sources. It was found that Lepidum sativum seeds showed the highest yield of 12.5%w/w as compared to the remaining four plant products. Additionally, the disintegration time of tablets formulated from mucilage obtained from Lepidum sativum was found to be the least and the tablets disintegrated in 25 seconds. Mucilages are very hydrophilic and are capable of trapping water in their cage-like structures to form a gel. Consequently, when mucilage is mixed with water it swells to many times its original volume as it absorbs water1. Mucilages find applications in numerous pharmaceutical preparations and perform their role as disintegrants, sustained-release agents, binders, mucoadhesives, to name a few2.

A novel, simple, precise, rapid, reproducible and cost effective RP-HPLC method was developed and validated for the simultaneous estimation of Nadifloxacin and Clobetasol propionate in its pharmaceutical dosage form. The chromatographic separation was carried out using C18 Shim pack XR ODS II (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5µm) column with mobile phase comprising of Acetonitrile : Water (50:50)(%v/v). Flow rate was maintained 1.0 mL/min and quantitation was carried out using UV detection at 242nm. Retention time of Nadifloxacin and Clobetasol propionate were found to be 2.64 min and 6.19 min respectively. The method was validated by assessing different parameters such as specificity, linearity, precision, accuracy, robustness, LOD and LOQ for the developed method. The linearity range 20-240 µg/mL and 1-12 µg/mL were selected for Nadifloxacin and Clobetasol propionate respectively. The correlation coefficient (r2) for Nadifloxacin and Clobetasol propionate were found to be 0.9995 and 0.9999 respectively. The limit of detection for Nadifloxacin and Clobetasol propionate were found to be 0.029 µg/mL and 0.21 µg/mL. The limit of quantitation for Nadifloxacin and Clobetasol propionate were found to be 0.089 µg/mL and 0.64 µg/ml respectively. Percentage recovery was found to be 99% to 100.56% for Nadifloxacin and 99.37% to 99.79% for Clobetasol propionate. All the validation parameters were with-in the acceptance limit. The relative standard deviation (%RSD) was found to beless than 2% in all the assessed parameters. The developed HPLC method can successfully used for the quantitative estimation of both the drugs in its formulation.

Targeted drug delivery, also known as smart drug delivery, is a method of treatment that involves the increase in medicament in one or few body parts in comparison to others. Two strategies are widely used for drug targeting to the desired organ/tissue: passive targeting and active targeting. Drug delivery vehicles transport the drug either within or in the vicinity of target. An ideal drug delivery vehicle is supposed to cross even stubborn sites such as a blood brain barrier. Recently, nano medicine has emerged as the medical application of nanotechnology. Since nanoparticles are very small in size, nano drug delivery can allow for the delivery of drugs with poor solubility in water and also aid in avoiding the first pass metabolism of liver. Nanotechnology derived drug delivery can cause the drug to remain in blood circulation for a long time, thereby leading to lesser fluctuations in plasma levels and therefore, minimal side effects. These include polymer-drug conjugates and nano particulate systems such as liposomes, quantum dots, dendrimers, etc. There are several other approaches as well. These also include the strategies wherein the therapeutic agents are coupled with “targeting ligands” that possess the ability to recognize antigens associated with tumors.

In the present review on Tulsi, efforts has been done to  congregate the  botanical, and in vitro tissue culture techniques in Ocimum sanctum Linn., a medicinal herb used in the indigenous system of medicine. Tulsi has been adored in almost all ayurvedic literature for its adorable medicinal properties. It is pungent-bitter in taste. Its leaves are hot, light and dry while seeds are considered to be cold in effect. Several medicinal properties of Tulsi are present in the roots, leaves and seeds. It has a wide range of action on the human body mainly ain curing cough, inducer of sweat  and prevents the indigestion and anorexia. Medicinal properties of Tulsi are very well known for thousand years to various parts of the world. In the Indian subcontinent, Hindus considered this medicinal herb as sacred plant.  Exploration the scientific studies of traditional belief of medicinal properties of Tulsi have got acceleration after the middle of the 20th century. Most of the evidences are based upon in-vitro, experimental and a very few are of human studies. Till now, no review present on the in vitro studies of Tulsi, therefore, the present review would discuss the in vitro studies along with its botanical description. This review will definitely help the researchers who deals with Tulsi studies to know its use in proper way, herb appears to be highly valuable due to many pharmacological / medicinal properties.

Growing numbers of antibiotic-resistant bacteria are putting this golden era of medicine at risk and stresses the need for regular monitoring of antibiotic susceptibility, and developing a new design being active against resist pathogens. In this view seven Schiff base ligands of Cephalosporin group antibiotics were synthesized by their condensation with salicylaldehyde in equimolar ratio. Complexes of these Schiff bases with Pd (II) metal were synthesized in 1:2 stoichiometric ratio. The complexes were formulated as [Pd(L)2].3H2O, where L is Schiff base of seven different cephalosporin antibiotics. Complexes were characterized by elemental analyses, molar conductance, UV-Visible, FT-IR, 1H-NMR, 13C{1H}-NMR, 2D-NMR and ESI-Mass spectrometry. Schiff bases were coordinated with metal through phenolic oxygen and azomethine-N, giving simple square planar geometry to complexes. Complexes were tested for antibacterial activity and MIC against gram-negative bacteria E. coli and gram positive bacteria S. aureus and were found more potent than Schiff bases and precursor antibiotics.

ABSTRACT: Hydroethanolic extract of Ricinus communis flowers was studied for treating diabetes induced oxidative stress in adult male swiss albino mice. The experimental animals were divided into four groups of seven mice each viz., Normal Control (NC), Diabetic Control (DC), Diabetic + R. communis Flower extract treated (FT) and Diabetic + Glibenclamide treated (GT). The groups DC, FT and GT were given a single intraperitoneal injection of Alloxan monohydrate (150 mg/kg body weight). Alloxan administration induced destruction of beta cells, hampering production of insulin and aggravating blood glucose levels. It also resulted in over-production of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and thus oxidative stress. Groups NC and DC received normal saline while FT was given Ricinus Communis Flower Extract (RCFE) at 300 mg/kg body weight and GT was treated with Glibenclamide, for a period of 45 days. Fasting Blood Glucose (FBG) levels were observed at regular intervals. After the treatment period, the liver, kidneys and pancreas of the experimental animals were estimated for their antioxidative status. The antioxidant markers such as Catalase (CAT), Glutathione peroxidase (GPx), reduced Glutathione (GSH) and Superoxide dismutase (SOD) saw a variation from their normal values. Treatment of Alloxan induced diabetic mice with RCFE for 45 days lead to a significant (P

Hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic effects of Lepidium sativum (Garden cress) seed powder (3.0g/kg) was evaluated on diabetes and oxidative stress built up in alloxan induced diabetic male Wistar rats. Experimental animals were divided into six groups comprising of six animals each. Animals were supplemented with isoenergic diets (~3600) for a period of 45 days. Hyperlipidemia was induced by feeding high fat high cholesterol diet and diabetes was induced by single injection of alloxan (150mg/kg body weight) intraperitoneally. High fat feeding and alloxan induced diabetes resulted in marked alterations in blood glucose, lipid profile and antioxidant status in blood serum and hepatic tissue of albino rats. Garden cress treated rats showed a significant decrease (p≤ 0.05) in fasting blood glucose levels (FBG); glycosylated haemoglobin (Hb A1C %); lipid profile (total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG) and lipoprotein fractions (Low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and very low density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C)) with a significant increase in high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (HDL-C). A significant increase (p≤0.05) in thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) levels with concomitant decrease in reduced glutathione (GSH) and antioxidant enzyme activity was also observed in diabetic control and HFHC diet fed experimental rats. Lepidium sativum neutralized the effect and restored the levels. Lepidium sativum seed powder thus lends credence for the prevention and management of diabetes mellitus and related complications. Key words: Lepidium Sativum, Garden Cress, Alloxan, Antihyperglycaemic, Antihyperlipidemic, Oxidative stress, Blood glucose, Lipid peroxidation