Toxicology

The Moringa plant provides a rich and rare combination of zeatin, quercetin, sitosterol, caffeoylquinic acid and kaempferol. In addition to its compelling water purifying powers and high nutritional value, M. oleifera is very important for its medicinal value. Various parts of this plant such as the leaves, roots, seed, bark, fruit, flowers and immature pods act as cardiac and circulatory stimulants, antipyretic, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antiepileptic, diuretic, antiulcer, antispasmodic antihypertensive, cholesterol lowering, antidiabetic, antioxidant, antibacterial, hepatoprotective, and antifungal activities, and are being employed for the treatment of different ailments in the indigenous system of medicine, particularly in South Asia.

Madhuca longifolia (Mahua) belongs to family Sapotaceae. Madhuca commonly known as the Butter nut tree is a medium to large sized deciduous tree distributed in Nepal, India and Sri Lanka. Madhuca longifolia is a large tree, about 17m high with a large top. Mahua is a large, shady, deciduous tree doting much of the central Indian landscape, both wild and cultivated. Mahua seeds are of economic importance as they are good source of edible fats. Medicinal herbs are moving from fringe to mainstream use with a great number of people seeking remedies and health approaches free from side effects caused by synthetic chemicals. Madhuca longifolia is reported to contain sapogenins, triterpenoids, steroids, saponins, flavonoids and glycosides. It is used as spasmogenic, oxytocic, uterotonic, anti-bacterial, anti-implantation, anti-tumour, anti-progestational, antiestrogenic activity against menorrhagia and anti-cancer. This review contains the traditional uses of various parts of plant, Phytochemical constituent and different reported pharmacological activity.

AbstrAct It is a current concern in the wood preservation field to avoid the use of toxic chemicals and develop new technologies based on low environmental impact agents and sustainable principles. Under this expectation, an intended state-of-the-art is introduced on the application of natural products such as traditional tar and wood oils as well as tannins and plant extracts. A particular revision to heartwood chemical components is offered. The combined methods of using natural and chemical components are reviewed, considering as outstanding the mixtures of natural organic constituents with cooper and boron salts that seem to be under encouraging experimentation. Fungicides and anti-termite applications are commented as well the leaching problem of inorganic salts. Chemical modification of wood structure through the formation of adducts and the treatment with nanomaterials are promising tools that will change the actual view and performance of wood preservation techniques. resumen Una de las prioridades actuales en el campo de la preservación de madera es evitar el uso de materiales tóxicos, desarrollando nuevas tecnologías fundamentadas en principios sustentables y empleando agentes de bajo impacto ambiental. Con esta expectativa se plantea una revisión del estado del arte sobre la aplicación de productos naturales, tales como taninos, alquitrán, aceites y extractos vegetales. Se presenta en particular una revisión sobre los componentes químicos contenidos en el duramen de maderas naturalmente resistentes. Se analizan los métodos combinados de ingredientes naturales y químicos, resaltando las mezclas de componentes naturales orgánicos con sales de cobre y boro que parecen representar una opción experimental confiable. Se comentan también las aplicaciones fungicidas y anti termitas, así como los problemas de lixiviación de sales inorgánicas. Opciones como la modificación química de la madera vía la formación de aductos y por tratamiento con nanomateriales son procesos promisorios que cambiaran eventualmente la manera de ver y aplicar la tecnología actual de preservación de maderas.

Tick and tick borne diseases are one of the biggest public health and veterinary problems in the world. Control of ticks using chemical acaricides have developed resistance to wide range of acaricides and also producing environmental pollution. Nowadays more emphasis is given on use of environment free biocontrol agents such as ethno veterinary herbal medicines. Use of Nicotiana tabacum (Tobacco) was a traditional control remedy for control of ectoparasites in India. In vitro acaricidal efficacy of crude aqueous leaf extract of Nicotiana tabacum on immature and adult stages of Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus was carried out at concentrations of 15, 30, 45 and 60% with 12 hour time interval. The extract was found to have a significant effect on the mortality of nymphal and adult stages of ticks. The 100% mortality of Nymphal and adult stages of ticks was observed at 36 hours post treatment with 60% concentration. 100% mortality of all the Nymphal and adult stages of ticks was observed with the concentration 15, 30, 45 and 60% at 48 hours post treatment. The mortality rates increased with the extract concentrations. It is concluded that Nicotiana tabacum is effective biocontrol agent for control of ticks.

The present study was designed to evaluate the preventive and curative cardioprotective potential of native and gemmotherapeutically treated on the basis of biochemical, histopathological and antioxidant parameters in the salbutamol (albuterol) induced myocardial necrosis in rabbits. Gemmotherapy is a newly emerging way of treatment and no work so far has been done on evaluation of curative cardioprotective potential of Withania somnifera. Rabbits were divided into eight main groups: Normal, Ischemia, WS Gemmo-baseline, WS Native-baseline, WS Gemmo-preventive, WS Native-preventive, WS Gemmo-curative and WS Native-curative groups. Gemmo and native-baseline groups were treated with gemmo and native W. somnifera (50 mg/kg) for 20 days. Native and Gemmo-preventive groups were pre-treated with native and gemmotherapeutically treated W. somnifera at a dose 50 mg/kg for 3 weeks. On 20 th and 21 st day animals of all groups except normal and baseline groups were given Salbutamol (50mg/ kg), orally at an interval of 24 h. The Native-curative and Gemmo-curative groups were then treated with native and gemmotherapeutically treated W. somnifera at a dose 50 mg/ kg for 5 days, subsequent to the treatment with Salbutamol. Rabbits were subsequently sacrificed for gross pathological studies and hearts were removed for antioxidant assay. Administeration of Salbutamol significantly increased (p<0.05) the serum level of CK-MB, LDH, SGOT and SGPT in ischemia group as compared to Normal. However, pre-and post-treatment with Native and Gemmo extracts of W. somnifera significantly restored and reduced (p<0.05) the elevated serum levels of these cardiac markers. Also Native and Gemmo extracts of W. somnifera significantly increased (p<0.05) antioxidant enzymes; superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase. No significant change was observed in the activity of cardiac enzymes in baseline groups. Protective actions of W. somnifera on heart have also been confirmed by gross pathology.

Toxic fungi in Buenos Aires city and surroundings. In the Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales,Universidad de Buenos Aires there is a service called Servicio de Identificación de Hongos Tóxicos, directed by researchers of Programa de Plantas Medicinales y Programa de Hongos que Intervienen en la Degradación Biológica (PROPLAME-PRHIDEB, CONICET) that assist hospitals and other health establishments, identifying the different samples of fungi and providing information about their toxicity, so that patients can receive the correct treatment. The objective of the present study was to analyze all the cases received from 1985 to 2012. This analysis permitted the confection of a table dentifying the most common toxic species. The information gathered revealed that 47% of the patients were under 18 years of age and had eaten basidiomes; the remaining 53% were adults who insisted that they were able to distinguish edible from toxic mushrooms. Chlorophyllum molybdites turned out to be the...

More effective antibiotics are needed to overcome the problem of multidrug resistance. The antibacterial efficacies of three Zn-based nano metal-organic frameworks (nMOFs) - IRMOF-3, MOF-5, and Zn-BTC - were explored, both alone and as mixtures with ampicillin and kanamycin. When tested against , , , and , the nMOF/drug mixtures demonstrated synergistic (IRMOF-3/kanamycin) or additive (other nMOF/drug combinations) effects compared with the nMOFs or antibiotics alone. Zn-Based nMOFs can reduce the burden of the new discovery of antimicrobial pharmaceuticals by increasing the potency of existing antibiotics.

Farmer Terms of Trade (FTT) in this study is the margin between changes (%) in prices paid by the farmers for required agricultural inputs and prices received for per units of products. Number of farmers’ suicides in Maharashtra state of the India (-0.58) and share in national figures (-0.6) is negatively associated with FTT and positively (0.76) with increasing input prices. Negative status of FTT is linked to increasing prices of agricultural inputs (-0.33) and profit is associated (0.60) with changes in prices of agricultural outputs. These, adverse economic conditions are major causes of indebtedness, deterioration of economical and social status, psychological depressions and suicides. Therefore, controlled prices of agricultural inputs and stabilized steadily growth in output prices matching to input prices are the key solutions in rescue the farmers and agriculture from its current stage.

Cisplatin is an effective drug used in the treatment of many cancers, yet its ototoxic potential places cancer patients, exposed to this drug, at risk of hearing loss, thus negatively impacting further on a patient’s quality of life. It is paramount for health care practitioners managing such patients to be aware of cisplatin’s ototoxic properties and the clinical signs to identify patients at risk of developing hearing loss. English peer-reviewed articles from January 1975 to July 2015 were assessed from PubMed, Science Direct, and Ebscohost. Seventy-nine articles and two books were identified for this review, using MeSH terms and keywords such as “ototoxicity”, “cisplatin”, “hearing loss”, and “ototoxicity monitoring”. This review provides an up-to-date overview of cisplatin-associated ototoxicity, namely, its clinical features, incidence rates, and molecular and cellular mechanisms and risk factors, to health care practitioners managing the patient with cancer, and highlights the...

In the present investigation, the effect of sub lethal concentration of the garlic aqueous extract on fish Channa punctatus were studied after 24 hrs, 48 hrs, 72 hrs and 96 hrs exposure respectively. Different concentrations of garlic (10 ppm/lit, 15 ppm/lit) used against Protein content of fish and results showed the gradual decrease in the protein content, ranging (106.14 – 91.65 mg/gm) for 10 ppm/lit for (24 hrs – 96 hrs) and (103.90-88.13 mg/gm) for 15 ppm/lit respectively

This report summarizes the results of a multinational pharmaceutical company survey and the outcome of an International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) Workshop (April 1999), which served to better understand concordance of the toxicity of pharmaceuticals observed in humans with that observed in experimental animals. The Workshop included representatives from academia, the multinational pharmaceutical industry, and international regulatory scientists. The main aim of this project was to examine the strengths and weaknesses of animal studies to predict human toxicity (HT). The database was developed from a survey which covered only those compounds where HTs were identified during clinical development of new pharmaceuticals, determining whether animal toxicity studies identified concordant target organ toxicities in humans. Data collected included codified compounds, therapeutic category, the HT organ system affected, and the species and duration of studies in which the corresponding HT was either first identified or not observed. This survey includes input from 12 pharmaceutical companies with data compiled from 150 compounds with 221 HT events reported. Multiple HTs were reported in 47 cases. The results showed the true positive HT concordance rate of 71% for rodent and nonrodent species, with nonrodents alone being predictive for 63% of HTs and rodents alone for 43%. The highest incidence of overall concordance was seen in hematological, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular HTs, and the least was seen in cutaneous HT. Where animal models, in one or more species, identified concordant HT, 94% were first observed in studies of 1 month or less in duration. These survey results support the value of in vivo toxicology studies to predict for many significant HTs associated with pharmaceuticals and have helped to identify HT categories that may benefit from improved methods.

Information on toxicokinetics is critical for animal-free human risk assessment. Human external exposure must be translated into human tissue doses and compared with in vitro actual cell exposure associated to effects (in vitro-in vivo comparison). Data on absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion in humans (ADME) could be generated using in vitro and QSAR tools. Physiologically-based toxicokinetic (PBTK) computer modelling could serve to integrate disparate in vitro and in silico findings. However, there are only few freely-available PBTK platforms currently available. And although some ADME parameters can be reasonably estimated in vitro or in silico, important gaps exist. Examples include unknown or limited applicability domains and lack of (high-throughput) tools to measure penetration of barriers, partitioning between blood and tissues and metabolic clearance. This paper is based on a joint EPAA--EURL ECVAM expert meeting. It provides a state-of-the-art overview of the...

In the present study, the toxicity of receiving waters from a highly polluted urban watercourse, the Reconquista River, Argentina, collected at a dam in the upstream part of the river was evaluated.Cnesterodon decemmaculatus,a widely distributed fish species in Pampasic rivers proposed for use in ecotoxicological evaluations, was used as a test organism. A 96-h acute toxicity bioassay with river water quality which has been characterized as moderately contaminated was performed. The treatment groups were (1) whole surface river water; (2) whole surface river water with 2 mg Cd/L added as a simulated metal contaminant pulse; (3) a negative control using reconstituted moderately hard water (MHW); (4) a metal positive control, MHW + 2 mg Cd/L; and (5) a positive genotoxicity control, MHW + 5 mg Cyclophosphamide/L (CP). The condition factor rate, micronuclei frequency, and comet assay from peripherical blood, structural changes of the gill arrangement by scanning electron microscope (SE...

Objective: Depression is an etiologically heterogeneous group of brain disorders characterized by a wide range of symptoms that reflect alterations in psychomotor cognitive and emotional processes. Arnebia benthamii is a high value medicinal plant rank second in the list of medicinal plant prioritized for Western Himalaya. The roots have antihelmenthic, antipyretic, antiseptic, antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. The present study was designed to evaluate the antidepressant activity of aqueous root extract of Arnebia benthamii in rats through behavioral assessment such as Force swim test and Tail suspension test and biochemical assessment such as superoxide dismutase, nitrite level, brain gluthathione and lipid peroxidation in the rat brain. Method: The test drug was administered orally in three doses (75, 150 & 300 mg/kg p.o) for a period of 14 days. Imipramine (standard), 10 mg/kg p.o, was used as a standard treatment. Forced swim test and tail suspension test were used to a...

The mandate of the present study was to quantify the bioactive components like total phenolic contents (TPC), total flavonoid contents (TFC) and total anthocyanin contents (TAC) of jamun (Syzygium cumini) fruit and seed. These bioactive ingredients are important dietary antioxidants and anti-inflammatory constituents. In this study, dehydrated jamun fruit and seed samples were subjected to extraction through conventional solvent extraction using two different binary solvents methanol and ethanol and one aqueous phase to compare the extraction efficiency of conventional solvents. Phytochemical screening of the conventional extracts showed that ethanolic extract at 45 min was best among all the solvents. The fruit extract showed the maximum TPC 1462.37±65.80 mg GAE/100g, flavonoids 424.79±41.31 mg/100g and anthocyanin contents 5.32±0.31 mg CYE/g. whilst, in seed the maximum values for TPC and flavonoids was 1863.25±70.83 mg GAE/100g and 953.91 mg/100g, respectively. Seeds exhibited no...

Liver fibrosis is the excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix proteins, including collagen, that occurs in most types of chronic liver diseases. Advanced liver fibrosis results in cirrhosis, liver failure, and portal hypertension and often requires liver transplantation. Knowledge of the cellular and molecular events associated with the formation of liver fibrosis has greatly advanced. Activated hepatic stellate cells, portal fibroblasts, and myofibroblasts of bone marrow origin have been identified as major collagen-producing cells in the injured liver. These cells are activated by fibrogenic cytokines such as TGF-ᵝ1, angiotensin II, and leptin. Reversibility of advanced liver fibrosis in patients has been recently documented, which has encougaged researchers to continue their research for potent and safer antifibrotic drugs. Emerging antifibrotic therapies are aimed at inhibiting the accumulation of fibrogenic cells and/or preventing the deposition of extracellular matrix proteins. Although many therapeutic interventions are effective in experimental models of liver fibrosis, their efficacy and safety in humans are largely unknown.

Recently, a novel approach to a highly sensitive and quantitative detection of rare earth element (REE) ions including La3+, Eu3+ and Tb3+, by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, has been reported. The detection of REE ions is based on the catalytic nature of REE ions targeting the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), thus monitoring of the ions can be achieved by reading the level of intact DNA by PCR. Despite of its high sensitivity (at ppb to ppt levels), the conventional PCR-based REE detection protocol requires certain length of time (1-2 hours). In the present study, we modified the PCR-based REE detection protocols by employing the high-speed PCR, and performed the automated and rapid detection of La3+ in small-sized aqueous samples within 5min.