The inhibition of gastric mucosal injury by Punica granatum L. (pomegranate) methanolic extract

Administration of 70% methanolic extract of Punica granatum fruit rind (250 mg/kg and 500 mg/kg) shows a percentage of inhibition in 22.37, 74.21 and 21.95, 63.41 in aspirin- and ethanol-induced gastric ulceration, respectively. In treated groups of animals, the in vivo antioxidant levels such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, glutathione (GSH) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) levels were increased and found more or less equal to the normal values. The tissue lipid peroxidation level was found to be decreasing in treated groups of animals as compared to the control group. The histopathological examination of the stomach of the ulcerated animals shows severe erosion of gastric mucosa, sub-mucosal edema and neutrophil infiltration. All of these symptoms were found to be normal in treated groups. In general, the results of the present investigation revealed the gastroprotective activity of the extract through antioxidant mechanism. [1]

Antioxidant activity of methanolic extract of Hypericum triquetrifolium Turra aerial part

The antioxidant activity of the methanol extract of Hypericum triquetrifolium Turra (Hypericaceae) aerial part and of flavonoids isolated therein, I3,II8-biapigenin, quercetin-3-O-galactoside, kaempferol-3-O-glycoside, (−)-epicatechin and hypericin, was evaluated. The IC50 resulted between 0.062 and 1 mg/ml. [2]

Action of Methanolic Extract of Mung Bean Hulls as Inhibitors of Lipid Peroxidation and Non-lipid Oxidative Damage

The antioxidant effects of methanolic extract of mung bean hulls (MEMBH) on lipids and non-lipids, including liposome, carbohydrate, protein and 2′-deoxyguanosine (2′-dG), were investigated. MEMBH exhibited a remarkable antioxidant effect in a liposome model system, indicating that the extract was an inhibitor of lipid peroxidation. The inhibitory effect of MEMBH on deoxyribose damage was amount-dependent and it afforded considerable protection against damage to deoxyribose. In addition, MEMBH at low amounts was more effective in protecting protein oxidation. Furthermore, the oxidation of 2′-dG to 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OH-2′dG) was inhibited by MEMBH. These results show that the extract also was an inhibitor of non-lipid oxidation damage. The extract exhibited metal binding ability and scavenging activity for hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radical, which may explain the mechanism of their protecting lipids and non-lipids from oxidative damage. [3]

Effects of Methanolic Extract of Citrullus lanatus Seed on Experimentally Induced Prostatic Hyperplasia

Aims: To investigate the effects of methanolic extract of Citrullus lanatus seed (MECLS) on experimentally induced benign prostate hyperplasia.

Study design: Animal model of experimentally induced prostatic hyperplasia.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Ikenne Campus, Ikenne, Ogun State, Nigeria, between May 2010 and August 2010.

Methodology: Twenty adult male Wistar rats weighing about 135-180g were randomly divided into four groups of five animals each. Group I, Normal control (NC) was given corn oil as placebo 1g/Kg BW; Group II, Hormone treated control (HTC), Groups III, and IV hormone and extract treated (HTEC), received continuous dosage of 300µg and 80µg of testosterone (T) and estradiol (E2) respectively on alternate days for three weeks subcutaneously in the inguinal region while the extract treated received an additional 2g/Kg BW (low dose) and 4g/Kg BW (high dose) of extract orally for 4 weeks after the successful induction of prostate enlargement. Immediately after induction some animals were randomly selected and sacrificed for gross inspection of prostate enlargement and sperm count evaluation, these procedures were repeated again after four weeks of extract treatment. Portion of the prostate were taken and processed routinely for paraffin embedding and stained with H&E.

Results: Hormone treatment did not affect the body weight of the animals; however it caused a significant decrease in the weight of the testes and rendered all the rats azoospermia. In addition, treatment with extracts caused a significant decrease in the enlarged prostate, seminal vesicle and testes sizes in a dose related manner (P<0.05) compared to the hormone treated control. Histological examination of prostate revealed that the methanolic extract caused significant changes in its histo-architecture. There was an increase in the fibromuscular layer, decrease in prostatic acini size, shrinkage of epithelium, and no infolding of the epithelium into the lumen, rather, it appeared flat compared to the very distinct columnar epithelium of the hormone treated control and conspicuousness of the acini. The extracts further caused a dose dependent reduction in the prostates weight. PSA level was significantly lowered in both HTEC at low and high doses (P<0.05) in dose dependent manner.

Conclusion: Administration of MECLS for one month reduced the prostate size significantly (P< 0.05), both at high and low dose, but could not restore the initial size of shrunken testes and severe oligospermia caused by the hormones. The histological studies clearly establish MECLS as a potential candidate in management of androgen dependent conditions like benign prostate hyperplasia. [4]

In vitro Antibacterial Activity of n-Hexane Fraction of Methanolic Extract of Alstonia scholaris L. R.Br. Stem Bark against Some Multidrug Resistant Human Pathogenic Bacteria

Plants are a source of wide range of bioactive molecules. Alstonia scholaris, a tree species of Apocynaceae family is being reported as a well known herbal remedy of various diseases. In the present investigation, n-hexane fraction of crude methanolic extract of Alstonia scholaris Linn. R.Br. stem bark was evaluated for antibacterial activity using four human pathogenic multi-drug resistance bacterial strains Enterobacteriaceae bacterium IK1_01, Shigella dysentery, Enterobacter cloacae and Serratia marcescens. Antibiotic susceptibility tests were also performed to evaluate the multi-drug resistance patterns of these strains. All the strains showed multi-drug resistance against several commercially available antibiotics. The n-hexane fraction showed significant inhibitory activities against all the strains by agar-diffusion assay. The n-hexane fraction of crude methanolic extract of stem of A. scholaris showed MICs of 5.5 mg/ml, 5 mg/ml, <5.5 mg/ml and 8 mg/ml, and induced a maximum of 85.7%, 95.6%, 89.3% and 94.4% growth inhibition against E. bacterium IK1_01, S. dysentery, E. cloacae and S. marcescens, respectively. [5]

Reference

[1] Ajaikumar, K.B., Asheef, M., Babu, B.H. and Padikkala, J., 2005. The inhibition of gastric mucosal injury by Punica granatum L.(pomegranate) methanolic extract. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 96(1-2), pp.171-176.

[2] Conforti, F., Statti, G.A., Tundis, R., Menichini, F. and Houghton, P., 2002. Antioxidant activity of methanolic extract of Hypericum triquetrifolium Turra aerial part. Fitoterapia, 73(6), pp.479-483.

[3] Duh, P.D., Du, P.C. and Yen, G.C., 1999. Action of methanolic extract of mung bean hulls as inhibitors of lipid peroxidation and non-lipid oxidative damage. Food and Chemical Toxicology, 37(11), pp.1055-1061.

[4] Olamide, A. A., Olayemi, O. O., Demetrius, O. O., Olatoye, O. J. and Kehinde, A. A. (2011) “Effects of Methanolic Extract of Citrullus lanatus Seed on Experimentally Induced Prostatic Hyperplasia”, European Journal of Medicinal Plants, 1(4), pp. 171-179. doi: 10.9734/EJMP/2011/588.

[5] Mukherjee, S., Dey, A. and Das, T. (2011) “In vitro Antibacterial Activity of n-Hexane Fraction of Methanolic Extract of Alstonia scholaris L. R.Br. Stem Bark against Some Multidrug Resistant Human Pathogenic Bacteria”, European Journal of Medicinal Plants, 2(1), pp. 1-10. doi: 10.9734/EJMP/2012/794.