Pharmaceutical Sciences
Volume:15 Issue: 3, 2009

Many evidences indicated that activation of glucocorticoids receptor has modulatory effects on anxiety and probably activation of calcum channel interaction with these effects. Therefore, aim of this study, was determine of interaction of corticosterone and verapamil on modulation anxiety in elevated plus maze in mice. In this experimental study 110 adult male mice (25-30 g) were used. In experiment 1: Saline + Corticosterone (0.5, 1, 3 and 10 mg/kg, IP) or vehicle (ethanol 2%+Saline) were injected 30 min before of evaluation anxiety. Also in experiment 2: Verapamil (5, 10 and 20 mg/kg) were injected 10 min before of Corticosterone (1 mg) or vehicle. Results indicated that corticosterone at doses of 1 and 3 mg/kg significantly reduced anxiety reaction in mice (P<0.01). Also verapamil in doses of 5 and 10mg/kg modulate of Corticosterone effecs. Finding of this study indicated that Corticosterone decrease of anxiety reation. Also verapamil modulate of effect of corticosterone, if injected before of that. Therefore one of mechanisem that probably involve in anti anxiety of Corticosterone is activation of calcium channel.

The aim of this study is comparative effects of granisetron on angiogenesis in male and female rats adopting air pouch as an experimental model. Air pouch type carrageenan-induced inflammation model on the back of the male and female wistar rats was used. To induce an air pouch, rats were anesthetized; 20 ml and 10 ml of sterile air were injected subcutaneously on the back on day 0 and day 3 respectively. On day 6, inflammation was induced by injection of 1 ml of carrageenan 1% into pouches. Treatment groups received 1 ml granisetron by doses of 50 – 200 μg / pouch. Three days after the injection of carrageenan solution, the rats were sacrificed by halothane overdose. The pouches were flushed with PBS and granulation tissues that formed were dissected and weighed. For measuring of angiogenesis in granulation tissue, drabkin reagent was added to the granulation tissues and after homogenization, centrifuging and filtering, the hemoglobin value in the supernatant was determined spectrophotometrically by measuring absorbance at 540 nm and compared against a standard curve of hemoglobin. Granisetron did not change angiogenesis in female rats. In male rat granisetron (50, 100 & 200 μg) decreased significantly (P<0.05, P<0.001 & P<0.05) hemoglobin level respectively The study confirms that the degree of angiogenesis induced in wistar rat air pouch model and the effects of granisetron on angiogenesis is gender-dependent, suggesting that gender may be a key consideration in the design of angiogenesis experiments.

Because of the side effects of chemical preservatives and attention of food producers to natural preservatives, evaluation of antimicrobial effects of them in the laboratory and food models seems to be necessary. In this study, effect of nisin as a bacterocin were studied on the growth and survival of Staphylococcus aureus in a commercial barley soup. Samples were prepared with 0.0, 0.25 and 0.5 μg/ml of nisin. The samples were inoculated with bacteria to a final concentration of 3 log CFU/ML and stored at 8 and 25 c for 21 days. Bacteria was counted at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 and 21 days. Results showed that the effect of different concentrations of nisin was statistically significant (P< 0.001). The effect of storage temperature on the growth of bacterium was also statistically significant (P< 0.001). It means that by increasing the storage temperature (from 8 to 25°c) growth rate of the microorganism increased. Nisin utilization along by proper storage temperature can control the growth of Staphylococcus aureus.

Study and evaluation of effectiveness of second line drugs against mycobacterial strains has become more important in the past few years, particularly due to the outbreak caused by multi-drug resistant (MDR) strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MT). The aim of this study was to evaluate the in-vitro susceptibility of M. tuberculosis (MT) and mycobacteria other than tubercle bacilli (MOTT) strains to the two main second line anti-mycobacterial agents (ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin). In this study, in-vitro activities of ofloxacin and ciprofloxacin against totally 100 mycobacterial strains including 90 Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains (40 strains resistant and 50 strains sensitive to the first line drugs) and 10 mycobacteria other than tubercle bacilli strains (all strains resistant to the first line drugs) were investigated by proportional method on Lowenstein-Jensen (LJ) medium. Out of 90 M. tuberculosis strains, 50 strains that were sensitive to the first line drugs were diagnosed as susceptible to ofloxacin and ciprofloxacin. Of other 40 strains which were resistant to the first line drugs, only one strain was resistant to ofloxacin and 2 strains were found to be resistant to ciprofloxacin. Of 10 mycobacteria other than tubercle bacilli strains, 4 strains were resistant to ofloxacin and 3 strains were found to be resistant to ciprofloxacin. The findings of this study showed that ofloxacin and ciprofloxacin could be effectively used against Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains and mycobacteria other than tubercle bacilli strains.

Reperfusion is essential for the survival of ischemic myocardium. However reperfusion itself leads to latter complications include decreasing cardiac contractile function and myocardial tissue injury. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of mebudipine against injuries due to Ischemia-reperfusion in isolated rat heart. 28 male Wistar rats (250-300g) divided in four groups (n=7): sham group, control group, vehicle group and drug group. The animals anesthetized by sodium pentobarbital (60mg/kg –ip). The hearts were removed quickly and mounted on Longendorff apparatus and perfused by Krebs-Henseleit solution under constant pressure at 37 ºC. Ischemic groups after 20 minutes stabilization received 30 global ischemia and 120 minutes reperfusion. In drug group the hearts before ischemia were perfused 25 minutes with mebudipine-enriched Krebs-Henseleit(0.1×10-3 μM). At the end of experiment tissue heart samples were prepared. Mebudipine prevented from increasing of left ventricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP) and enhanced significantly the left ventricular developed pressure (LVDP) and strength of heart contractility (p<0.05). Also mebudipine decreased remarkable the rate of edema, inflammatory cells infiltration and heart tissue necrosis compared to control group. Results of this study indicate that mebudipine by improving the strength of heart contractility in ischemia-reperfusion period and also by decreasing of myocardial injury can have important protective effects against ischemia-reperfusion injuries in heart.

Some kinds of epilepsy are refractory to treatment with standard antiepileptic drugs. Several plant species are used in the treatment of convulsions. In this study we attempted to extract and evaluate the protective effect Peganum harmala on convulsion induced by strychnine in mice. After collection of Peganum harmala seeds and ground to obtain powder. The methanolic extract was prepared. Albino Swiss male mice were orally pretreated dose dependently (15, 30 and 45mg/kg) with Peganum harmala (Methanolic extract), for a period of 15 days, also a group of animals received phenytion (30 mg/kg i.p). After eight hours the animals were injected intraperitoneally single dose of strychnine 1.7 μg/kg. The convulsion was observed on strychnine treated animals. The convulsion was significantly decreased among those animals pretreated with phenytoin (p< 0.05). However, the protective effect of, Peganum harmala was evident at the dose of 45 mg/kg and the starting of convulsion time along with its duration were delayed in comparison to control group, the respiratory arrest time were also delayed. Increased survival rate were observed on Peganum harmala/phenytoin treated animals. The results obtained from the present study indicate that the Peganum harmala at the doses of 15 and 30 mg/kg were not effective against strychnine induced convulsion. However, Peganum harmala was effective at the dose of 45 mg/kg and its effect was comparable with phenytoin. It seems that the Peganum harmala seeds inhibits convulsion in mice by modulating the glycine and NMDA receptors. However, the exact mechanism Peganum harmala seeds on convulsion induced by strychnine remains elusive and needs further experimentation.

The efforts on control of tuberculosis have been encountered with serious problems by emergence of drug resistant Mycobacterium Tuberculosis (MT), and rapid diagnosis of resistance can play an essential role in control and prevention of the disease. Isoniazid is a first line drug in treatment of TB and development of resistance against this drug are increasingly reported. In this study, rapid diagnosis of Isoniazid resistant MT was investigated by PCR-RFLP method. A total of 25 Isoniazid - resistant and 25 Isoniazid - susceptible MT isolated at Tuberculosis and lung disease research center were screened for Isoniazid resistance. In the first step MIC of isolates to INH was determined by proportion method. After that, genomic DNA was extracted from all isolates and a fragment of Kat G gene was amplified by PCR using specific primers. Screening for mutation on Ser 315 and Arg 463 codons in the Kat G gene was carried out by digestion of PCR product with restriction enzyme Msp I. Among 25 INH- resistant isolates, 14 isolates (56%) had mutation in Se 315 locus and 5 isolates (20%) showed mutation in Arg 463 locus, whereas 6 strains (24%) didn’t show any mutation in these codons. Mutation in both 315 and 463 codons were not found in any isolates. In the susceptible isolates, no any mutation was detected in the studied codons. The results of this study indicated that PCR-RFLP method is able to detect resistance to INH in 76% cases and so, it can be used for rapid diagnosis of Isoniazid resistant MT isolates.

Many studies have shown that oxidative stress is increased in diabetes and may accelerate the development of complications through the metabolism of excessive glucose and free fatty acids. In the present study, the effects of two well-known antioxidative nutrients, vitamin E and selenium, on the oxidative stress and antioxidative systems in streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic rats have been investigated. Thirty two adult female Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups of normal control, diabetic control and diabetic vitamin E+selenium-supplemented groups. Diabetes was induced in the second and third group by STZ (60 mg/kg, i.p) and third group received both vitamin E (300 mg/kg/day) and selenium (0.5 mg/kg/day) for a period of 30 days. Fasting serum glucose concentration, malondialdehyde (MDA) level, glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities, plasma total antioxidant status (TAS) and lipid profile were measured. In diabetic rats, a significant increase in the levels of fasting plasma glucose (p 0.001) and MDA (p<0.05) was observed, whereas plasma TAS (p<0.01) and erythrocyte SOD activity (p<0.05) significantly decreased with no change in the GPX activity (p>0.05). Oral administration of vitamin E and selenium led to a significant decrease in the fasting plasma glucose levels (p<0.05). It also improved the antioxidant status of diabetic rats possibly through decreasing lipid peroxidative products and increasing enzymatic antioxidants. According to the results obtained vitamin E and selenium supplementation has antioxidant effect in STZ-induced experimental diabetes and may have beneficial protective effects in diabetic oxidative damage.

There are several approaches to gain early information regarding the intestinal permeability and potential for intestinal absorption of drugs. Thus in the present work, different methods available in scientific sources are reviewed. several models gathered from literature, then their use, advantages and limitations were evaluated. The review indicates that the models are categorized into five classes including human perfusion studies, animal studies (using isolated tissue and/or intestinal perfusion), cell culture techniques, immobilized artificial membrane columns and in silico models. Introduced models could be used in different phases of drug discovery and development, however in silico models are the only one that can help optimizing chemical synthesis since the absorption potential is predicted based on structural characteristics only.