Abdullah

The aim of this study was to characterize the toxic effect of acrylamide (ACR) on sciatic nerve and brain of rats; and examine the protective effect of 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) and vitamin-E on sciatic nerve and cerebrum injury induced by acrylamide. This study was performed at King Fahad Medical Research Centre, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A total of 49 adult wistar rats (250 ± 20g) of 60 days age were divided into seven groups (control, acrylamide alone, acrylamide + 5-ASA, acrylamide + vitamin -E, acrylamide + 5-ASA + vitamin-E, vitamin-E alone, 5-ASA alone). After 5 days of acrylamide treatment, rats were observed for 24 hours and sacrificed. Histopathology for the brain and sciatic nerve were performed. Administration of acrylamide produced neuronal damage in rats. No significant changes were observed in lactate dehydrogenase serum level and rats’ body weight. Injection of acrylamide treated rats with vitamin-E and 5-ASA concomitantly showed strong improvement in general histology of neurons. However, good improvement in morphology of sciatic nerve was observed after injection of 5-ASA to ACR-treated rats. Compared to this improvement by 5-ASA, treatment of vitamin-E to ACR-treated rats also exhibited marked improvement in morphology of sciatic nerve (myelin  and vacuolar-like degeneration).  We concluded that ACR induced neuronal damage in nervous tissue of rats mainly by the induction of lipid peroxidation. 5-ASA and vitamin E as powerful antioxidants, played a protective role against acrylamide neurotoxicity. On histological level, Vitamin-E showed more protection in comparison to 5-ASA.

The aim of this work was to study the association between subacute acrylamide  exposure and prostate toxicity in male rats; and to compare the effect of two known antioxidants: Vitamin-E and 5- aminosalicylic acid on the induced prostate toxicity in male rats. King Fahad Medical Research Centre, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A total of 49 adult wistar rats (250 ± 20g) of 60 days age were divided into seven groups (control, acrylamide alone, acrylamide + 5-aminosalicylic acid, acrylamide + Vitamin -E, acrylamide + 5-aminosalicylic acid + Vitamin-E, Vitamin-E alone, 5-aminosalicylic acid alone). After 5 days of acrylamide oral gavage, rats were observed for 24 hours and sacrificed. Histopathology for the prostate and testosterone hormone were carried out. No significant changes were observed in testosterone, lactate dehydrogenase serum level and rats’ body weight. Rats treated with 5-aminosalicylic acid alone did not show any protection against acrylamide induced prostate toxicity. Further Vitamin-E alone did not show any protection against acrylamide induced prostate toxicity. Interestingly, injection of acrylamide treated rats with both Vitamin-E and 5-aminosalicylic acid concomitantly showed moderate improvement in the general histology of the prostate toxicity induced by acrylamide. Injection of acrylamide treated rats with 5-aminosalicylic acid or Vitamin-E alone did not show protective effect on acrylamide induced prostate toxicity on the level of prostate histology. However concomitant treatment of acrylamide treated rats with both antioxidants showed moderate improvement in general prostate histological structure.

Organic repellents and insecticides derived from plant products have been evaluated as alternatives to synthetic products used as repellents and chemical insecticides. Leaf extracts of Pongamia pinnata were evaluated for repellent and insecticide activity against Culex quinquefaciatus. 100% mortality and no survival of C. quinquefaciatus was observed in the ethanol extract (1000mg/l) treated group. Also the ethanol extract exhibited significant (P

This work was carried out to investigate the lipid profile level in ethyl acetate extract of Ganoderma lucidum and atorvastatin in normal and alloxan induced diabetic mice.  Ganoderma lucidum and atorvastatin have shown to reduce LDL level 10.4 and 14.59%, TC level 06.76 and 09.78%, TG level 07.40 and 09.82% alongside equipotently increased HDL level to 09.33 and 15.18% respectively in normal mice. However, in case of diabetic mice, these values were 11.61 and 14.46% for LDL, 10.56 and 13.00% for TC, 10.38 and 13.96% for TG, 14.94 and 20.02% for HDL as well. Therefore, these results suggested that, intra peritoneal administration of Ganoderma lucidum have significantly (p

This study aimed to document traditional use of medicinal plants for the treatment of diabetes mellitus in Basra city, south-eastern of Iraq and to compare this information with current knowledge of plant medicine in Iraq and other Mediterranean countries, to preserve valuable information about the traditional plants used for treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus and also to discover new treatment for diabetes. This study was conducted during the period from February to April, 2015. 199 diabetic patients aged between 20 and 80 years were included in this study, 117 patients were females and 82 were males. In addition, the relative importance of each medicinal plant species reported as use value (UV). This study reported the medicinal uses of 16 plants, species belonging to 16 families. The most commonly used plant species are Boswellia Carterii, Commiphora myrrha, Citrullus Colocynthis, Olea europaea and Trigonella foenum-graecum. Some plants are used for medicinal purposes both in Basra and in other parts of Mediterranean countries, either for the same or for different purposes. This paper helps to preserve valuable information about the traditional plants used for treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus and also to discover new treatment for diabetes.

Hydrophilic matrix based tablets using different concentration of hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (Methocel K4M) and treated sunflower stem residues were developed by using wet granulation technique for Diclofenac Sodium (DS) (100mg). Different formulations were prepared and evaluated for the release of DS over a period of 10 hours in phosphate buffer (pH 7.5) using USP type II dissolution apparatus. Along with usual physical properties, tests like friability, weight variation, hardness, drug content, thickness and the dynamic of water uptake and erosion were also studied. The in vitro drug release revealed that the replacement of HPMC by treated sunflower stem residues in tablet dosage form controlled the release of DS for 10 hours. The drug release was comparable with the commercially available Fenbar SR (Diclofenac Sodium 100mg). Tablet friability, weight variation, drug content, thickness and hardness tests were also in conformity with United State Pharmacopeia (USP). Water uptake and erosion study of the tablets indicated that swelling followed by erosion could be the possible mechanism of drug *release. The in vitro release data indicated that DS followed zero-order kinetics. In conclusion, the in vitro release profile and the mathematical models indicate that using HPMC and treated sunflower stem residue in combination can effectively control the release of DS