Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences
Volume:3 Issue: 1, Apr 2008

The open access (OA) to scholarly articles published in journals, magazines and other literature sources is extremely useful to pharmacy students, teachers, research scholars, scientists and pharmacists to update their knowledge with recent changes in their fields of specialization. Open access (OA) to scholarly articles is provided either directly from journal homepages by the publishers or from repositories where publishers submit these articles to promote OA. Apart from these online repositories for thesis, online resources trials, sample copies of journals, free back files, author funded OA of individual articles are other important online resources for information retrieval. International organizations have also started initiatives to provide free or low cost access to online journals in developing countries. Searching internet for information requirements in specialized disciplines is becoming easier with the advancement of search engines through specialized andcustom search engine facilities. Authors searched Internet with the help of various general purpose search engines, like google, yahoo, and live search, to find out URLs of websites of journals, magazines, science and technology publishers, pharmaceutical societies, and online repositories which provide open access to scholarly articles and other useful and authentic drug information in pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciencesdisciplines. Authors visited all these websites to confirm their free accessibility and their free contents available. Thereafter these journals, magazines and other literature sources are segregated according to their specialization and provided in this article. Open access journal full text links have been provided for 235 journals and 49 magazines in disciplines of pharmaceutics, pharmacology, toxicology, physiology, clinical pharmacy, epidemiology, chemistry, pharmacognosy, microbiology, biotechnology, bioinformatics and multidisciplinary pharmaceutical sciences. Websites for online drug information resources, and repositories which provide full text thesis have also been compiled. This article reviews most OA resources with special reference to the disciplines of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences.

Transfusion-dependent patients such as those suffering from β-thalassaemia develop a fatal secondary haemosiderosis and consequently a selective iron chelator must be used to relieve such iron overload. 3- Hydroxypyridin-4-ones are selective for iron(III) under most biological conditions, but unlike desferrioxamine, are efficiently absorbed when administered orally. In this study, the synthesis and determination of partition coefficients (Kpart) of a range of 1-substituted-2-ethyl-3-hydroxypyridin-4-ones, as orally active iron chelators, are described. All of the 1-substituted-2-ethyl-3-hydroxypyridin-4-ones were synthesized via a three step synthetic pathway. The commercially available 2-ethyl-3-hydroxypyran-4-one (ethyl maltol) was benzylated in aqueous methanol. The reaction product of the benzylated ethyl maltol with an excess of the suitable primary aryl amines was heated in a thick-walled sealed glass tube at 150-160 oC to give 1-aryl-2-ethyl-3-benzyloxypyridin-4-one derivatives which were isolated as the free-bases. Removal of the benzyl group under acidic conditions was performed by catalytic hydrogenation to yield the bidentate chelators as HCl salt in good yield. In this work, final following compounds of 1-phenyl-2-ethyl-3- hydroxypyridin-4-one, 1-(4-methylphenyl)-2-ethyl-3-hydroxypyridin-4-one, 1-(4-methoxylphenyl)-2-ethyl- 3-hydroxypyridin-4-one, and 1-(4-nitrophenyl)-2-ethyl-3-hydroxypyridin-4-one were synthesized. Identifcation and structural elucidation of ligands were achieved by 1HNMR, IR, elemental analysis, mass spectra and through physical experiments. The Kpart values of the compounds were also determined in an aqueous/octanol system using an automated continuous flow method (a filter probe method).

It has been reported that several members of Convolvulaceae family such as Convolvulus arvensis possess cytotoxic activity on some tumor cell lines. Proteoglycan mixture, the water extract of C. arvensis with high molecular weight, has potent anti-angiogenesis and stimulating effects. In this study, arial parts of C. arvensis were collected and identified, and the cytotoxic effects of chloroform, ethylacetate and hydroalcoholic extracts on human tumor cell line (Hela) were determined. Different concentrations of the extracts were added to the cultured cells and incubated for 72 h. Cell survival was evaluated using MTT assay. The chloroform extract of C. arvensis at tested concentrations showed a comparable cytotoxic effect to taxol against Hela cell (15 vs. 12 µg/ml). In conclusion, the higher cytotoxic activity seen with chloroform extract may be related to the presence of lipophilic glycosides as non-polar compounds extracted by chloroform.

Alkaline phosphatase is an enzyme with widespread use in research and industry such as protein labeling, dephosphorylation of nucleic acids, and enzyme based biosensors. In the present study, alkaline phosphatase gene was inserted into the pET15b vector. The recombinant DNA was then expressed using IPTG as an inducer. The expression of this enzyme was optimized by changing expression conditions such as IPTG concentration, time, and temperature. The obtained results demonstrate that with the expression system used, large quantities of active alkaline phosphatase can be produced in E. coli.

Essential oils and their components are becoming increasingly popular as naturally occurring antimicrobial agents. In this work the chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of Ferula gumosa essential oils were determined. The essential oil components were identified by GC/MS analysis. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of essential oil against five selected pathogenic microorganisms was determined using micro-plate Alamar Blue™ assay (MABA). A total of 22 components have been identified in the oil، representing 97. 1% of the total oil. The main group was monoterpene hydrocarbons (88. 4%) including sabinene (40. 1%)، a-pinene (14. 3%) and b-pinene (14. 1%). This oil inhibited the growth of Escherichia coli (MIC=0. 25µl/ml)، Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MIC=50 µl/ml) Staphylococcus aureus (MIC=3. 125 µl/ml)، Salmonella enteritidis (MIC=6. 25 µl/ml) and Listeria monocytogenes (MIC=1. 56 µl/ml). The tested gram-positive bacteria were more sensitive than the gram-negative bacteria. According to these results، it can be concluded that the essential oils of Ferula gumosa have suitable antimicrobial activity and can be used as natural preservatives in food industry.

Ceruloplasmin (Cp) is a human plasma protein with multiple physiological functions including ferroxidase and oxidase activities. Deficiency or inhibition of the enzyme may lead to some abnormalities، including iron deposition in several tissues and causes various pathological conditions in the body. Direct interaction of cadmium (Cd)، a widespread، highly toxic environmental pollutant، with human Cp leads to reversible inhibition of the enzyme. Therefore، investigation of kinetic parameters of Cp in the presence of Cd will lead to a better understanding of mechanism by which Cd inhibit Cp activity. In the present study، Cd inhibited Cp in vitro progressively up to a concentration of 2 mM where about 75% of the enzyme activity was lost 10 min after addition of Cd. An inhibitory constant (ki) of about 1. 1 mM was calculated from the slope replot. Fluoroscopic study also was carried out on the native and Cd-inhibited enzyme. Maximum emission spectrum of the inhibited enzyme showed an increased level of about 62% with regard to the native enzyme. Cd-induced enzyme inhibition was prevented by sulfhydryl compounds such as glutathione (1. 2، 12 mM)، and b-mercaptoethanol (12 mM). The data suggest that a conformational change in the native enzyme due to Cd binding caused enzyme inactivation and sulfhydryl groups on the enzyme probably are involved in inhibition by Cd.

Although remarkable advances in modern medicine have brought about new strategies to cure diseases, there are still many people who tend to take herbal remedies to regain their own wellbeing. Despite this tendency among the ordinary Iranian patients, the issue is somehow controversial between medical practitioners. Today it is known that physicians'' attitude towards efficiency of herbs affects their decision to recommend and prescribe such remedies for their patients. In the present study we aim to unearth underlying factors of physicians'' attitude towards phytomedicine in Isfahan. A questionnaire was prepared and validated by a gallery of relevant experts. The questions were including physicians'' demographic characteristics and their knowledge and attitude about herbal therapy. Participants (either general practitioners or specialists) were randomly selected and were asked to fill in the questionnaires. The analyzed data revealed that the tendency towards the use of herbal remedies is greater among general physicians. It was found that physicians'' knowledge of phytotherapy is not satisfactory and this was an important factor in considering phytomedicine as an unreliable therapeutic approach. Very few physicians claimed that they knew standard herbal products available in the market. Most of the physicians believed in the importance of herbal random clinical trials and scientific evidences for the herbal drug regimens on the credence of phytotherapy among medical practitioners. Physicians'' interest in phytomedicine was much affected by their knowledge of this issue. Therefore, changing the existing pessimistic attitude requires coordination between physicians and academic centers. Also preparing herbal medicine into standard dosage forms by pharmaceutical companies is an important measure to make herbal remedies more reliable prescriptions.

Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) is a herbaceous, rhizomatous, perennial, which its rhizomes are used as an important spices and medicine all over the world. The aromatic principles include zingiberine, while the pungent principles are known as gingeroles. Callus culture of the plants can produce the same compounds exist on their parent plants. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of light and differentiation on gingerol and zingiberine production in callus cultures of Z. officinale. A sterile in vitro plant was prepared by sterilization and subculture of buds, excised aseptically and inoculated into sterile culture jars containing Murashige and Skoog’s (MS) medium and were incubated at 25 ± 2 °C under a 16/8 h light/dark cycle. Then different parts of the sterile plant were inoculated in MS medium supplemented with different concentration of 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid and kinetin. The jars were separated into two groups, one incubated in dark and the other one in light environment, permanently. Production of metabolites was evaluated by TLC. Some of the metabolites were produced only in presence of light. No gingerol and zingiberen was detected on TLC plates of the dedifferentiated callus grown in light or dark environment. It seems that the production of gingerol and zingiberen in callus culture of Z. officinale is correlated with some sort of differentiation.