Pharmacies for pain and trauma in ancient Greece.

PURPOSE: To summarize pharmacies for pain and trauma in ancient Greece, to present several pharmaceutical/therapeutical methods reported in myths and ancient texts, and to theorize on the medical explanation upon which these pharmacies were used. METHOD: A thorough literature search was undertaken in PubMed and Google Scholar as well as in physical books in libraries to summarize the pharmacies and pain practices used for trauma in ancient Greece. RESULTS: Archeological findings and historical texts have revealed that humans have always suffered from diseases and trauma that were initially managed and healed by priests and magicians. In early Greek antiquity, the term pharmacy was related to herbal inquiries, with the occupants called charmers and pharmacists. Additionally, apart from therapeutic methods, ancient Greeks acknowledged the importance of pain therapy and had invented certain remedies for both acute and chronic pain management. With observations and obtaining experience, they used plants, herbs, metals and soil as a therapeutic method, regardless of the cultural level of the population. They achieved sedation and central and peripheral analgesia with opium and cold, as well as relaxation of smooth muscle fibers and limiting secretions with atropina. CONCLUSION: History showed a lot of experience obtained from empirical testing of pain treatment in ancient people. Experience and reasoning constructed an explanatory account of diseases, therapies and health and have provided for the epistemology of medicine.

Serum Hyaluronic Acid Levels Are Altered in Acute Leukemia Patients: Potential Prognostic Implications.

BACKGROUND: Studies on the serum concentration of hyaluronic acid (HA) in newly diagnosed patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), and mantle-cell lymphoma (MCL) are scarce. In this study, we focused on investigating whether HA could serve as a possible prognostic marker in patients with AML, B-ALL, and MCL. METHODS: The serum concentration of HA was measured in a total of 51 patients with newly diagnosed AML, B-ALL, and MCL. Venous blood was collected 1 day before the initiation of chemotherapy (D0), on day 16 of the first cycle of chemotherapy (D16), and on D30. RESULTS: The serum HA concentration on D0 in patients with AML, B-ALL, and MCL was higher than in the control group. For all types of hematological malignancy, on D0, serum HA values of nonsurvivors were higher than in survivors. Moreover, patients in relapse had higher levels of serum HA than patients in remission. A strong positive correlation between serum HA and ferritin, ß2-microglobulin, and lactate dehydrogenase was found. CONCLUSION: Serum HA may serve as a possible prognostic marker for AML, B-ALL, and MCL patients, especially on D0. Prospective case-control studies on larger populations may provide further information.

Devastating epidemics in recent ages Greek populations

In the recent Greek ages the most devastating epidemics were plague, smallpox, leprosy and cholera. In 1816 plague struck the Ionian and Aegean Islands, mainland Greece, Constantinople and Smyrna. The Venetians ruling the Ionian Islands effectively combated plague in contrast to the Ottomans ruling all other regions. In 1922, plague appeared in Patras refugees who were expelled by the Turks from Smyrna and Asia Minor. Inoculation against smallpox was first performed in Thessaly by the Greek women, and the Greek doctors Emmanouel Timonis (1713, Oxford) and Jakovos Pylarinos (1715, Venice) made relevant scientific publications. The first leper colony opened in Chios Island. In Crete, Spinalonga was transformed into a leper island, which following the Independence War against Turkish occupation and the unification of Crete with Greece in 1913, was classified as an International Leper Hospital. Cholera struck Greece in 1853-1854 brought by the French troops during the Crimean War, and again during the Balkan Wars (1912-13) when the Bulgarian troops brought cholera to northern Greece. Due to successive wars, medical assistance was not always available, so desperate people turned many times to religion through processions in honor of local saints, for their salvation in epidemics.

Hypericum perforatum L. treatment restored bone mass changes in swimming stressed rats.

UNLABELLED: Stress, via corticosteroids release, influences bone mass density. Hypericum perforatum (Hp) a traditional remedy possess antidepressive activity (serotonin reuptake inhibitor) and wound healing properties. Hp preparation contains mainly hypericin, hyperforin, hyperoside and flavonoids exerting oestrogen-mimetic effect. Cold swimming represents an experimental model of stress associating mental strain and corporal exhaustion. OBJECTIVES: This study investigates the Hp effect on femur and mandible bone mass changes in rats under cold forced swimming procedure. METHODS: 30 male Wistar rats were randomized into three groups. Group A was treated with Methanolic extract of Hp (Jarsin®) via gastroesophageal catheter, and was submitted to cold swimming stress for 10 min/daily. Group B was submitted to cold stress, since group C served as control. Experiment duration was 10 days. Haematocrite and serum free fatty acids (FFA) were estimated. Furthermore volume and specific weight of each bone as well as bone mass density via dual energy X-Ray absorptiometry (DEXA) were measured. Statistic analysis by t-test. RESULTS: Hp treatment restores the stress injuries. Adrenals and bone mass density regain their normal values. CONCLUSIONS: Injuries occurring by forced swimming stress in the rats are significantly improved by Hp treatment. Estrogen-like effects of Hp flavonoids eventually may act favorable in bone remodeling.

New alkylresorcinols from a lipophilic extract of Urginea indica L. bulbs showing experimental trauma healing activity.

Several alkylresorcinols presenting the substitution pattern of structures I (3-methyl ether of 5-alkyl-2-methylresorcinol) and II (1,3-dimethyl ether of 5-alkylresorcinol), were isolated from the dichloromethane extract of the air-dried bulbs of Urginea indica L. Compounds of structure I with 15, 17 and 20 carbon atoms in the alkyl chain as well as compounds of structure II with 20, 22, 24 carbon atoms in the alkyl chain are new. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated on the basis of their NMR and MS data. The exact number of homologues in each series I and II and the exact length of the side chain were found using GC-MS analysis. The dichloromethane extract of the bulbs was evaluated for its trauma healing properties after local application and a statistically significant tendency to trauma remodeling was observed in comparison to control groups.

Nifedipine-induced histological changes in the parotid glands of hypertensive rats.

Nifedipine is a widely used anti-anginal and anti-hypertensive agent. It is associated with significant gingival changes attributed more to collagen hyperplasia than to enhancement of protein synthesis. We investigated the influence of nifedipine on morphological changes in the parotid glands of rats in a model of hypertension. Twenty-eight male Wistar rats (8-10 weeks; 200±15 g) were divided into four groups (A-D). Hypertension was induced by surgical means in groups C and D. Animals in groups B and D were treated with nifedipine (0.85 mg/kg) via a gastroesophageal catheter the day after surgery (experimental day-1) for 2 weeks. A significant difference was observed between the control group and nifedipine group and between the control group and hypertension group with regard to the weight of the parotid gland and its surface area. Histological findings demonstrated changes in the parotid glands of hypertensive animals with mild vessel dilatation and infiltration of inflammatory cells. These histological findings seemed to be due more to changes in venous function than to alterations in gland architecture.

The influence of simvastatin in rats mandible and femur bone mass under Freund's adjuvant arthritis.

OBJECTIVES. Complete Freund's Adjuvant (CFA)-induced arthritis in rats has been used widely as a model of rodent arthropathy and polyarthritis followed by osteoporosis, decreased bone formation and increased bone formation. Osteoporosis is characterized by rapid reduce of bone mass affecting more than 100 million people worldwide. Periodontitis a chronic inflammatory, of multifactorian origin disease has been associated with general osteoporosis. Protective bone-specific anabolic and antiresorptive effects of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors have also been evaluated in normal and osteoporotic bone. AIM. The aim of the study was to investigate mandible and femur bone density in Freund's adjuvant induced arthritis rats under the influence of simvastatin. METHODS. Three groups (A, B, C) of 7 Wistar male rats each aged 3 months, (292±48.38 g) were used. A control. Group B and C subjected experimental arthritis via complete Freund's adjuvant injected in right paw. Group C was treated with simvastatin 0.5 mg/kg/daily po 14 days. Femur, mandible were isolated and sizes parameters, biochemical serum findings and BMD were estimated. RESULTS. CFA established by paw diameter, adrenals and spleen weight increase and thymus weight decrease, while biochemical serum findings were also affected. Reduced femur, mandible weight and general bone mass parameters BMD evaluated via DEXA occurred and restored under simvastatin treatment. CONCLUSIONS. CFA induced mandible and femur injuries are repaired by ssimvatatin treatment that could be therapeutically useful.

The influence of clonidine co-administration on the extent of lidocaine protein binding to rat serum and tissues.

Lidocaine is an amide local anesthetic and clonidine is an antihypertensive (α2-adrenergic agonist). The use of these two drugs in combination is recommended to enhance the analgesic effect of lidocaine. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of clonidine co-administration on the extent of lidocaine binding to rat serum, heart and maxillofacial tissues in vivo and in vitro. Thirty-two Wistar rats received either lidocaine alone, or lidocaine and clonidine, in the masseter muscle, and were then sacrificed 15 or 30 min after treatment. Serum, masseter, mandible and heart samples were then isolated and incubated in 0.9% NaCl solution for 12 h at 8°C. The extent of binding in the incubation medium and the serum was estimated by ultrafiltration, and the free lidocaine fraction was determined by the radioscopic method in a ß-counter. An in vitro procedure was also performed. Serum, heart, masseter and mandible samples were incubated at 37°C for 15 or 30 min in Ringer's solution containing either lidocaine or lidocaine and clonidine, and the samples were similarly subjected to ultrafiltration. The percentage binding of lidocaine was again estimated by the radioscopic method. Lidocaine levels were found to be increased by clonidine co-administration in vivo and the free lidocaine fraction was enhanced in vitro as well in the examined tissues, obviously through mechanisms related to protein binding alterations.

Changes of lidocaine levels in rat serum and tissue under stress and hyperlipidaemic diets.

Hyperlipidaemic diets induce increase in serum lipid profile (total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL etc). It has also been proven that stress interferes in lipid metabolism. Many drugs modify their pharmacokinetic properties in presence of lipoproteins, as a result of alterations in their plasma protein and tissue binding. Lidocaine, a synthetic amide, used as a local anesthetic and secondary as antiarrhythmic agent is also protein bound and therefore conditions, which favor lidocaine dissociation from plasma proteins, modify its pharmacokinetic profile. The purpose of this study was: To investigate and compare the effects of stress( cold water 4 degrees C swimming of 20 days duration) and various high lipid diets (olive oil, butter, sunflower oil) on the serum and tissue (liver and tongue) levels of 14C lidocaine.