Pharmaceutical Sciences
Volume:18 Issue: 4, 2013

Dracocephalum moldavica L. (Lamiaceae) is a widely used remedy for treatment of pain and gastrointestinal disturbances. The present study aimed to investigate antinociceptive effect of the essential oil of D. moldavica (EODM) in various experimental models. The antinociceptive effect of EODM was assessed using chemical (formalin and acetic acid) and thermal (hot-plate) nociceptive tests in mice and rats. The intraperitoneal LD50 of the EODM in mice was calculated to be 600 mg/kg. The EODM administration at 5-20 mg/kg produced a significant antinociceptive effect in the formalin test and at 20 mg/kg in the acetic acid-induced writhing test. The essential oil failed to demonstrate any significant influence on hot-plate reaction latency. The results suggest that the EODM possess analgesic properties that support the folk medicinal use of this plant.

Mucosal immunization requires potent delivery systems and/or adjuvants to result in protective immunity. Polymeric nanospheres could be used as a delivery system and adjuvant for antigens. These nanospheres could improve the interaction of antigens and antigen presenting cells (APCs) and increase their immune stimulation potentials. Here we report on the preparation of trimethylated chitosan (TMC) nanospheres loaded with tetanus toxoid (TT). At the present study TMC was synthesized and its nanospheres encapsulated with TT were prepared and characterized for nasal immunization. At the present study TMC was synthesized by a two-step method. TMC nanospheres encapsulated with TT were prepared by ionic gelation method. Nanospheres were studied by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and SEM for size and morphology.andThe zeta potential were determined by Zetasizer.. Loading of TT was studied by BCA protein assay, release profile was studied for 4 h in 37 oC. Stability of loaded TT was evaluated by SDS-PAGE method. Percent of quaternization for TMC was found to be 50.4  10.4%. Mean diameter of blank and loaded nanospheres was 243.2  35.1 nm and 295  48.5 nm, respectively. Encapsulation efficiency of TT in nanospheres was 60.3  12.7%. Percent of released TT after 0.5 h was 37.02  27.63% and after 4 h reached to 86.19  13.5%. Stability of encapsulated TT was confirmed by SDS-PAGE. The synthesized TMC polymer and its nanospheres loaded with TT showed desired characteristics as a mucosal antigen delivery

Beta-thalassemia major (β-TM) is a disorder which needs lifelong blood transfusions. Our aim was to examine the treatments side effects in thalassemic patients. 110 β-TM patients attending two centers were invited to the study. Those who consented were asked to complete a questionnaire. The questionnaire covered demographical information, used medications and their side effects. The data was analyzed using SPSS software version 14. Data was collected between August 2008 and July 2009. Patients'' age was 14.0±1.32 years. The duration of treatment was 11.3±7.5 years. Thalassemic patients received blood transfusions, deferoxamine and supportive medications. Number of medications, received by patients was 3.9±1.9. Hemosiderosis in heart (11%) and endocrine system (8%) were main blood transfusion side effects. A few had hepatitis B or C. Because of prevalence of side effects of therapies, reviewing and improving treatment protocol by designing new medicines with lower side effects and establishment of an adverse reactions team seemed necessary

Since the use of electeroacupuncture (EA) may be suitable for animals in veterinary medicine, in present study, analgesia of this technique on control of visceral pain was compared to tramadol effect. The study was carried in 5 groups of Wistar rats. One group was kept without restriction and drugs (group1) and another group was only restricted (group 2). Acetic acid was intraperitoneally injected in 3 to 5 groups of rats (10 rats each group) and the number of writhes was counted for 40 minutes after acetic acid injection. Group 3 received acetic acid and was kept as control. Tramadol was administered at dose 10 mg/kg intramuscularly in group 4 and rats of group 5 received EA and ST-36 (Zu San Li) and SP-6 (San Yin Jiao) points were stimulated at 1ms, 0.3 and 0.3 Hz, duration, intensity and frequency respectively. The amount of serum cortisol was measured by ELISA kit at end of study. The results shown the mean of writhing was significantly decreased in group 4 and 5 with comparison to group 3. In groups 3, 4 and 5 the mean writhing was 22.3, 3.4 and 3.6 per 10 minutes respectively. The mean of serum cortisol was greater in group 2 than other groups. This mean was significantly was lesser in group 4 and 5 in comparison to control group 3. In other hands, the mean cortisol was 0.7 and 1.16 ng/ml in groups 3, 4 and 5 respectively. Present study shows that tramadol and EA has similar analgesic effect on writhing test in rats