Improved anti-arthritic activity of ginger extract, a traditional medicine, using novel drug delivery approach.

BACKGROUND: Ginger and castor oil, both are used in traditional medicine to treat arthritis, the latter is also commonly used as a vehicle in these systems of medicine. The study was designed to prepare a nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) of ginger extract using castor oil as a novel liquid lipid and evaluate its safety and efficacy in rheumatoid arthritis in experimental animals. METHODS: Ginger extract was standardized using High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The optimized NLC formulation was characterized and its therapeutic efficacy was evaluated in Chronic Freund's adjuvant (CFA) induced arthritis in experimental animals. RESULTS: Ginger extract contained 38.76 ± 3.01%w/w of 6-gingerol. The optimized NLC formulation showed a particle size of around 205 nm, a zeta potential of -33.7 and %entrapment efficiency of 76.59 ± 0.83%. Reduction in primary inflammation was significantly higher with NLC when compared with ginger extract and castor oil alone (p<0.001). The formulation also improved hyperalgesia in rats. CONCLUSION: Castor oil can be used as a novel lipid in the preparation of NLC. The NLC effectively enhanced the therapeutic value of poorly bioavailable ginger extract.

Bio-tactics for neuroprotection of retinal ganglion cells in the treatment of glaucoma.

Glaucoma, a neurodegenerative disorder is characterized by damage of ganglion cells of retina and also its axons. The manner of progression of disease and retinal ganglion cells death in glaucoma still remains unknown and hence many mechanisms are put forward to understand the disease. Clinical developments have suggested that in every single patient decreasing intraocular pressure (IOP) is not the solution to prevent glaucoma which suggests on the fact that there are other risk factors affecting the disease. The demand for substitute unconventional treatments gives rise to the need to understand the biologically based tactics (bio-tactics) for stopping the progression of disease. Pragmatic findings of past years have supported novelty of inventive molecules with hallmark of neuroprotection in gene therapy. On the other hand, transformation of the latest drugs to clinic has not been of much fruitful substantially for the reason that it lacked dependability while measuring in vivo retinal injury. This as a consequence thwarted the high quality healing possibility of neuroprotectants whether administered single-handedly or given complimentary with other IOP reducing agents. Advancement in research is crucial to grasp the underlying mechanisms concerned with glaucoma and apply it in clinical field to develop neuroprotective agents. In this context, the present review is to bring forth an update on up to date progress in the domain of neuroprotection of retinal ganglion cells for treating glaucoma.

Acute toxicity study and anti-nociceptive activity of Bauhinia acuminata Linn. leaf extracts in experimental animal models.

Bauhinia acuminata commonly known as dwarf white orchid tree is traditionally used to treat acute and chronic pain, skin ailments, cancer, diabetes, throat infections and asthma. As there were no scientific reports on use of Bauhinia acuminata for anti-nociceptive activity, the present study was designed to evaluate possible effects of aqueous and alcoholic extracts in experimentally induced pain in animals. Acute toxicity was carried out as per OECD guideline 423. The anti-nociceptive activity was evaluated in Swiss albino mice by hot plate, acetic acid induced writhing and tail immersion tests at three different dose levels (250, 500 and 1000mg/kg) of aqueous and alcoholic extracts. Formalin induced nociception test was performed in Sprague Dawley rats at three dose levels. Both aqueous and alcoholic extracts were found safe at dose of 5000mg/kg. In hot plate test, both extracts showed significant (p<0.001) anti-nociceptive activity. In acetic acid writhing test, both aqueous and alcoholic extracts significantly reduced number of writhes (p<0.001). In Tail immersion test, both the extracts showed significant increase in tail withdrawal response (p<0.001). Treatment with aqueous and alcoholic extracts significantly reduced nociception in formalin induced nociception model (p<0.001). From the results it can be concluded that aqueous and alcoholic extracts possesses potent anti-nociceptive activity.