Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medical Research

The aim of this study was review the anti – diarrheal activity of Aegle marmelos.  Siddha literatures were obtained from the library of Unit of Siddha Medicine, University of Jaffna. Data was collected from books and internet and tabulated for the analysis. Beal Fruit Tree (Aegle marmelos) (Tamil name Vilvam, Kuvilam, Sinhala name Belli), belongs to the family of Rutaceae. It is the most valuable medicinal plant in Siddha system of Medicine due to its various medicinal properties. It is a small or medium sized deciduous tree. It has alternate leave arrangement, Its flowers are greenish white, Fruit globose, grey or yellowish colour, Seeds Numerous. Found all over the Sri Lanka. Fruit (both unripe & ripe), root – bark, leaves, rind of the ripe fruit & flowers are used in drug preparations. Un-ripe fruit is astringent, digestive & stomachic & a little constipative. According to Siddha, Aegle marmelos has bitter, astringent taste, hot potency, pungent bio availability and reduce Vatha, Pitha and Kapha dosha. Diarrhoeal diseases are amongst the most common infectious diseases worldwide resulting in 3.2% of all deaths killing about 1.8 million people globally each year. It is quite evident from this review that Aegle marmelos is an important medicinal herb and extensively used in Ayurveda, Siddha, unani and traditional medicine. Historically, Aegle marmelos has been used for the number of ethonobotanical purposes. The collected information suggests that Aegle marmelos has anti-diarrheal activity.

Aim: The present study was designed to investigate the antidiabetic & hypolipidemic activity of Calotropis gigantean (Family: Apocynaceae) in alloxan-induced diabetic rat model.

Study Design: In vivo study was carried out by ethanolic leaf extract was administered in 250 mg/kg body weight concentration and then subjected to different rats models to authenticate the antidiabetic and hyperlipidimic properties of the plant.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Pharmacy, Southeast University, Banani, Dhaka-1213,Bangladesh within a period of July 2018 to December, 2018.

Methodology: Diabetes was induced in rats by an intraperitoneal injection (i.p) of alloxan (100 mg/kg B.W). Ethanolic leaf extract of C. gigantean (250 mg/kg B.W) was administrated orally as a single dose per day to the diabetic rats for 7 days. The negative control group received 0.5 ml of sterile normal saline water orally & positive control group received metformin orally. Synergistic effect of plant was evaluated by combination with 100 mg/kg B.W & 50 mg/kg B.W oral administration of metformin. After 7 days study period, fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, liver weight & body weight were measured only for diabetic group to observe the effects of diabetes induction.

Results: Individual plant extract (250 mg/Kg B.W) & Metformin (100 mg/kg B.W) reduced FBG significantly by 52% (P<0.001) & 55.3% (P<0.001) correspondingly. Metformin (100 mg/kg B.W) potentiated reduction (68%) (P<0.001) when combined to plant extract (250 mg/Kg B.W). Significant dose dependent manner was followed when metformin (50 mg/kg B.W) was combined to plant extract (250 mg/Kg B.W). Our results clearly suggests that C. gigantean exhibit hypoglycemic & hypolipidemic activity with an alteration in body-liver weight. The present study also suggested to develop a combination therapy of extract along with metfromin in different doses to minimize the intake of synthetic drug. Significant reduction of TG, TC were noted by extract (250 mg/kg B.W) with 32.42% (P<0.001) & 41.32% (P<0.001) respectively where standard shown the diminution 43.43% (P<0.05) & 47.21% (P<0.001) respectively as compare to Untreated diabetic rats. 50.21% (P<0.01) & 42.38% (P<0.001) reduction of TG & TC were estimated by C.gigantea extracts (250 mg/kg B.W) when combined with Metformin (100 mg/kg B.W). 34.53% (P<0.05) & 41.54% (P<0.001) reduction of TG & TC by C.gigantea extracts (250 mg/kg B.W) were confirmed when combined to Metformin (50 mg/kg B.W). Combination therapy also has shown synergistic effect in elevation of plasma HDL-cholesterol.

Conclusion: The results of the study concluded that C. gigantean have potential antidiabetic and antioxidant properties.

Aim: The main objective of the study was to compare, using laboratory data, the efficacy of herbal medicines against conventional drugs in treating and managing diabetes mellitus (DM) among type 2 diabetic (T2DM) patients.

Methodology: The study recruited 80 patients from a private Herbal Clinic and the Georgetown Public Hospital Diabetic and Medical Outpatient Clinic after giving their consent and satisfying the inclusion criteria. Laboratory tests and analysis were done using conventional scientific methods and data analyzed using SPSS version 20 with a p-value of 0.05 being used to determine statistical significance. 

Results: The results showed that age, religion, ethnicity, education, marital status and monthly income have significant associations with the use of herbs. Persons using herbal medicine alone had normal lipid profile, renal function and liver function test, in addition to hemoglobin (Hb), white blood cell count (WBC), glycosylated hemoglobin (HBA1c) and fasting blood glucose (FBS). The most common herbs used were Momordica charantia (local name- karela) and Azadirachta indica (local name- neem), which were used in combination or alone. Results showed a positive effect on coronary heart disease risk.

Conclusion: The information generated from the study indicated that a significant number of diabetic patients using herbs alone for their treatment had normal results. However, a more controlled study is required to validate these results.

Background: Oral infection caused by Candida spp. is a major healthcare problem in dental and oral care. Treatment failure has been reported in cases of oral candidiasis as a result of resistance to common antifungals.

Aim and Objective: In this study, the in vitro and in vivo activities of extract of Tithonia diversifolia against virulence factor-borne and antifungal resistant-Candida albicans were investigated. Candida albicans was isolated from the saliva of patients attending a tertiary hospital in Ekiti State.

Methodology: Standard methods were used to determine the presence of virulence factors in the isolates. In vitro and in vivo anti-candidal activities of the hydro-ethanolic extract of T. diversifolia were also tested on the test fungus.

Results: The virulence factors have varying percentage of occurrence in all the isolates with catalase having the highest. Itraconazole and nystatin were not effective against the isolates. Out of the six isolates selected (based on antifungal resistance) only three produced strong biofilm. The reduction in the population of the test organisms by the extract was time and concentration dependent. At the end of candidal challenge and treatment assays, extract of T. diversifolia has lower anti-candidal property compared to nystatin.

Conclusion: This study has shown that C. albicans associated with the mouth carries virulence factors and are resistant to common antifungals. In this work, we noticed antifungal effects of hydro-alcoholic extract of T. diversifolia on C. albicans associated with oral infections.

Dennettia tripetala fruit is a popular Nigerian fruit from the family of plant known as Annonaceae. The whole fruit (flesh and seed) is usually consumed as snacks and it is oftentimes consumed with local gin (ufofop in Ibibio or kaikai in Igbo) or added to dishes as spice due to its peculiar strong pepperish taste and sweet aroma. The present study is aimed at evaluating the antioxidant potentials of ethanol extract of ripe and unripe D. tripetala (DT) fruit in vitro. The antioxidant activity of the ethanol extract of DT was evaluated spectrophotometrically using various in vitro models like 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) and hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity; metal chelating activity and reducing power. Vitamin C was used as the standard antioxidant.Unripe and ripe DT fruits, as well as vitamin C showed a competitive inhibition of DPPH and H₂O₂ free radicals. As concentration of the extracts increased from 20 to100 µg/mL, the % scavenging activity for vitamin C increased from 87.86 ± 0.11 to 90.66 ± 0.07 and for ripe DT fruits from 15.15 ± 0.24 to 25.52 ± 0.23, while for unripe, fruits values increased from 12.09 ± 0.35 to 23.06 ± 0.12. The IC₅₀ values was highest in unripe (549.23) followed by ripe (276.63) and lowest in vitamin C (12.92) indicating that vitamin C was the best scavenger of DPPH radical. Similar trend was obtained for H₂O₂ scavenging activity as well as reducing power. Unripe DT fruit extract was more potent at chelating metal ions (IC₅₀ was 95.38), followed by the standard ascorbic acid with IC₅₀ of 97.03 and was lowest in ripe DT fruit extract with IC₅₀ value of 124.66. Unripe and ripe DT are potent antioxidants in nature and may be used to supplement our diets as rich sources of natural antioxidants for health protection.