Pharmaceutical Sciences
Volume:21 Issue: 4, Dec 2015

Listeria monocytogenes is one of the major causes of infections in developing countries. The aim of the present study was to investigate chemical composition and the combined effect of Mentha spicata essential oil with nisin against L. monocytogenes at different temperatures (4, 9 and 14°C), pHs (5, 6 and 7) and NaCl concentrations (1, 2 and 4g/100ml) in in vitro condition. Chemical composition of the essential oil was evaluated by GC-MS analysis. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of the essential oil and nisin were determined by using broth micro-dilution test. The Differences in Population (DP) assay and Fractional Inhibitory Concentration (FIC) index were applied to investigate their synergistic effects. The main components of the essential oil were carvone (78.76%) and limonene (11.50%). MIC values of the essential oil and nisin against L. monocytogenes were 320IU/ml and 160µl/ml, respectively. Concentration of 80μl/ml essential oil in combination with 160IU/ml nisin significantly (P<0.001) inhibited the bacterium at all pHs. Also, concentration of 40μl/ml and 80 essential oil in combination with 80 and 160IU/ml nisin significantly (P<0.001) inhibited the bacterium at all temperatures. 2g/100ml and 4g/100 ml NaCl concentration enhanced the sensitivity of L. monocytogenes toward four combinations. Reduction in the pH and incubation temperature and increasing of salt content led to enhance the anti-listerial effects of the essential oil and nisin. nisin and M. spicata essential oil could be considered as potential strong antimicrobials that can be used for the growth inhibition of L. monocytogenes in food products.

The hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic and antioxidative effects of ginger in type 2 diabetic patients have been recently noticed. However given the very limited data on obesity, the present study was furthered to investigate those beneficial effects of ginger supplementation in obese women. In this clinical trial, 80 eligible obese women (aged 18-45 yr.) were randomly divided into two groups of ginger (receiving 2 g ginger powder as two 1g tablets per day) or placebo (corn starch to the same amount) for 12 weeks. Serum levels of glucose, lipid profile, malondialdehyde (MDA) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) were determined before and after the intervention. At the end of intervention, significant reductions of serum glucose, total cholesterol (TC), Triglyceride (TG), the TC/HDL.c and LDL.c/HDL.c ratios and increase of HDL.C were observed in both study groups. However, the decrease of serum TG was significantly (percent change: -20.51% vs. -4.92%; p=0.006) and the glucose reduction was non-significantly (percent change: -7.51% vs. -6.16%; p=0.669) more pronounced in the ginger group versus placebo. Moreover the concentration of MDA increased in ginger group (p=0.005) and TAC decreased in placebo group (p=0.029) as compared to the baseline without any significant difference between groups. Our findings revealed a minor beneficial effect of ginger powder supplementation on serum glucose and a moderate, significant effect on TG, as compared to the placebo. However ginger consumption did not cause any significant effect on serum MDA and TAC levels.

Clinical use of Morphine in pain management is a controversial issue and long-term exposure to opiates induces physical dependency and tolerance. The aim of this study was to evaluate the attenuation effects of Magnesium sulfate and Amitriptyline on the development of Morphine-induced dependency and tolerance. In this study different groups of mice were received saline (10 mL/kg,ip), Morphine (50 mg/kg,ip), Magnesium sulfate (20, 40 and 60 mg/kg,ip), Amitriptyline (5, 10 and 15 or 20 mg/kg,ip), or combination of Magnesium sulfate (20 mg/kg,ip) and Amitriptyline (5 mg/kg,ip) once a day for 4 and 10 continues days, respectively for investigation of the effects of Magnesium sulfate and Amitriptyline on the prevention of dependency and tolerance. Tolerance was assessed by administration of Morphine (9 mg/kg,ip) and using hot plate test on eleventh day. Withdrawal symptoms were assessed in fifth day by administration of naloxone (4 mg/kg,ip), 2 hrs after last dose of Morphine during 30 minutes for each animal. It was found that pretreatment with Magnesium sulfate or Amitriptyline decreased the development of tolerance to the antinociceptive action of Morphine and also reduced naloxone-precipitated withdrawal jumps and standing on feet. Additionally, pretreatment by co-administration of Magnesium sulfate and Amitriptyline, before morphine administration, decreased the dependency and tolerance more significantly. From these results it could be concluded that pretreatment of Magnesium sulfate via blocking the N-methyl-D-Aspartate receptor-operated calcium channel and Amitriptyline by Glutamate transporter activation property alone or in combination could prevent the development of Morphine-induced dependency and tolerance.

The Salvia sahendica, a known folk medicine, possesses antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer properties and the improvement effect on the memory system. Because memory improving effects of the other species of this genus (salvia officinalis) is mediated by interacting with muscarinic and nicotinic cholinergic systems. It seems that S. sahendica may also follow the same mechanisms.The purpose of the present study is to investigate the anticholinesterase effect of Salvia sahendica extracts,in the pharmacologic methods. The study was done by using the Dose-response curves and Twitch tension techniques in chick biventer cervicis. The ability of extracts to modulate cholinesterase activity were assessed by obtaining concentration–response curves to acetylcholine and carbacol in the absence or presence of extracts. The isolated tissues were exposed to extracts (methanol, dichloromethane and hexane extracts) and responses were recorded, with p < 0.05 indicating significance. Based on our finding, methanol extract of S. sahendica, has not significant change in the dose-response curve for acetylcholine, enzyme but elicited reduction effect at carbacol dose-response curve. All other extracts showed the significant reduction in Dose-response curves and Twitch tension. There was a direct relationship between hexane extract´s concentration and reduction of contraction on log dose-response curves for acetylcholine and carbachol. Hexane extract (75µg/ml) blocked muscle twitching and yield in a complete blockage in the presence of tubocurarine, dichloromethane extract decreased twitch height. The effect of tubocurarine was not abolished by extract but also had cumulative effects. These results suggest that the relaxant effects of S. sahendica extracts on neuromuscular junction are elicited by post junctionally and curare–mimetic effects. It seems that, methanol extract has anticholinsterase activity but this effect will be affected by the inhibitory effect of the extract and inhibited.

The crude extracts from Bupleurum subovatum plant were used to screen the presence of secondary metabolic products, to estimate the total phenol content and free radical scavenging activity for the plant extracts. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate (DPPH) assay, while total phenol content was determined by using Folin Ciocalteu' s method. The phytochemical analysis confirmed the presence of phenol, proteins, starch, reducing sugars, tannins, volatile oils, cardiac glycosides, steroid, and huge amounts of saponins. Total phenolic content in the methanolic extract was 9.05 mg/g Gallic acid. At the same time, methanolic extract showed a mild potential oxygen free radical scavenging ability as well as the IC50 for the plant was 18.60 ± 0.36 µg/ml, which justified its uses in the folkloric medicine and could be further subjected for the isolation of their therapeutic active compounds. The results of this study revealed the antioxidant activity and confirmed the therapeutic usage of Bupleurum subovatum in the traditional medicine.

Sulfasalazine is one of the most commonly administered drugs for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease in humans. On the other hand, acute liver failure led to liver transplantation and/or patient death might occur after sulfasalazine administration. There is no precise mechanism for hepatic injury induced by sulfasalazine and no specific hepatoprotective agent has been developed against this complication. Current investigation was designed to study oxidative stress as a proposed mechanism for sulfasalazine-induced liver injury and evaluate the role of taurine administration as a safe hepatoprotective agent. Rat liver was isolated after cannulation through portal vein and perfused with Krebs-Henseleit buffer. The liver was exposed to different concentrations of sulfasalazine and taurine. Sulfasalazine (5 mM) administration caused significant hepatic injury as judged by elevation in liver perfusate level of LDH, AST, ALT, and potassium ion (K+). Significant amounts of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and lipid peroxidation were detected in sulfasalazine treated livers. Furthermore, hepatic glutathione reservoirs were depleted. Histopathological examination of liver tissues confirmed the above mentioned biochemical data. Co-administration of taurine (5, 10 and 20 mM), significantly mitigated sulfasalazine-induced hepatic injury in isolated rat liver. The data obtained from current investigation indicate potential therapeutic properties of taurine against sulfasalazine-induced liver injury.

Water in oil (W/O) nanoemulsions can be advantageous for encapsulation of bioactive hydrophilic substance alone or as a structural unit of a double emulsion. The influence of sonication time, addition of CaCl2 or bovine serum albumin (BSA) to aqueous phase, oil phase (corn or miglyol), and polyglycerol polyricinoleate (PGPR) content on droplet size and physical stability of W/O emulsions at a 30:70 ratio was investigated. Interfacial tension measurement, rheological analysis, Z-average measurement, and visual observations were used to characterize W/O emulsion stability. The results showed a rapid decease in interfacial tension to 6 mN.m-1 and mean droplet size to 347 ± 35 nm in the water/miglyol emulsion, but it was not adequate to establish physical stability. The slight solubility of miglyol in water can be attributed to increased coalescence during storage and an increase in droplet size. The addition of CaCl2 and albumin appreciably reduced the mean droplet size to128 ± 37 nm and increased the physical stability of the corn oil-based W/O emulsion. Rheological assessment showed there is significant relation between the elastic modulus and stability of water in the corn oil emulsion. The good affinity of the formulation ingredients (PGPR-corn oil-BSA) led to formation of compact interfacial and physical stability of the emulsion.

The spread of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major concern in medical centers. These isolates are considered in serious infections and nosocomial outbreaks worldwide. Mupirocin is one of the most important antibiotics used topically for the treatment of various staphylococcal and streptococcal skin infections. We aimed to use a combination of phenotypic and genotypic methods to evaluate the prevalence of mupirocin resistance among MRSA clinical isolates which had previously been collected during the period 2008-2009 in Shiraz, Iran. This study was performed on a total of 167 clinical isolates of MRSA from Shiraz teaching hospitals. The isolates were identified as S. aureus using standard microbiologic procedures and confirmed as MRSA isolates by 30 μg cefoxitin discs and mecA gene detection. All isolates were investigated for the mupirocin resistance by mupirocin discs 5 µg and the presence of mupA gene by PCR. Antibacterial susceptibility tests against mupirocin disc 5 µg and PCR analysis for totally 167 MRSA clinical isolates showed no resistance to mupirocin. In summary, fortunately regarding to absence of resistance to mupirocin among all the studied MRSA isolates, this resistance seems is not a threatening factor in studied hospitals. However, generalized our findings to whole hospitals wards and Shiraz general population afford larger sample size and periodic surveillance in further studies for detecting mupirocin resistance.

Currently, there is a remarkable interest in the separation and quantification of enantiomeric compounds because of their importance in biochemistry, therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM), pharmaceutical, forensic, etc. In past decades the pharmacopoeia was governed by racemates, but nowadays the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) exclusively has been issued a statement that racemic new drugs could not be marketed unless they are thoroughly investigated of the pharmacologic and toxicological properties of pure enantiomers. Demands for accurate and precise analytical method for separation and determination of drugs enantiomers and their metabolites in biological fluids are highlighted. Capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) is an interesting technique that shows promise for the resolution of enantiomers. This is carried out by adding suitable chiral selector to the background electrolyte results to enantioseparation. According to WHO organization report, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) rank the leading cause of death, globally. Therefore the related risk factors addressing CVDs should be considered and diagnose to prevent the disease. This article provides a brief review on applying off-line and on-line sample preconcentration methods for enhancing the detection limit of cardiovascular drugs.