scholarly journals In vitro anti-viral activity of aqueous extracts of Kenyan Carissa edulis Prunus africana and Melia azedarach against human cytomegalovirus.

2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
FM Tolo ◽  
GM Rukunga ◽  
FW Muli ◽  
J Ochora ◽  
Y Eizuru ◽  
...  
2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. e1006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naseerud Din ◽  
Musharaf Ahmad ◽  
Muhammad Siddique ◽  
Asad Ali ◽  
Ishrat Naz ◽  
...  

Phytobiocides are a good alternative to chemicals in managing bacterial diseases including bacterial wilt of tomato caused by Ralstonia solanacearum. In the present research study, finely ground dried powders of seven widely available medicinal plants/weeds species viz., Peganum harmala (esfand or wild rue), Calotropis procera (sodom apple), Melia azedarach (white cedar), Allium sativum (garlic), Adhatoda vasica (malabar nut), Tagetes patula (marigold) and Nerium oleander (oleander) were assessed for their anti-microbial activity, both in-vitro (10% w/v) and in-vivo (10, 20, 30, and 40 g/kg of potted soil) against R. solanacearum. Aqueous extracts (prepared as 10% w/v, soaking for 48-72 h and filtering) of C. procera, A. vasica, and T. patula inhibited the in-vitro growth of the bacterial pathogen over 60% of that produced by the standard antibiotic streptomycin. A. sativum, N. oleander and P. harmala aqueous extracts were less effective while M. azedarach showed no effect against R. solanacearum. The higher dose (40 g/kg of soil) of C. procera, A. vasica and T. patula decreased disease severity quite effectively and increased yield and plant growth characters as much as the standard antibiotic did. No phytotoxicity of medicinal plants powder was observed on tomato plants. Alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, saponins and terpenoids were detected in the aqueous extracts of T. patula and A. vasica whereas C. procera was found to have only alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins and saponins. Our data suggest that dried powders of T. patula, C. procera and A. vasica (40 g/kg of soil) could be used as an effective component in the integrated disease management programs against bacterial wilt of tomato.


2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.J.T Melo ◽  
K.J Vilela ◽  
C.S Carvalho

Melia azedarach (cinnamon) and Azadirachta indica (neem) have a variety of biologically active ingredients against virus, bacteria and protozoan parasites; however, little is known about their action on Toxoplasma gondii intracellular development. Toxoplasma gondii infects all eukaryotic cells, where it establishes and multiplies inside a modified vacuole called the parasitophorous vacuole until the cell ruptures, re-infecting other cells and establishing the infection. There are no efficient chemotherapies for the elimination of T. gondii, minimizing side effects. In this study, we performed in vitro assays with neem and cinnamon aqueous extracts against the intracellular development of T. gondii tachyzoites. After treatment with neem and cinnamon for 24 h, the percentage of infected cells and the number of intracellular parasites drastically decreased. This effect was concentration-dependent. During the incubation of the extracts, progressive morphological and ultrastructure alterations led to intense vesiculation and complete elimination of the parasite from the intracellular medium. However, during the treatment with extracts, no morphological effects were observed in the structure of the host cell. These results suggest that the aqueous extracts of neem and cinnamon were capable of interfering with and eliminating the intracellular development of Toxoplasma gondii.


Author(s):  
Stefano Dall'Acqua ◽  
Shyam Sharan Shrestha ◽  
Irene Ferrarese ◽  
Stefania Sut ◽  
Gokhan Zengin ◽  
...  

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 1066
Author(s):  
Ali Zari ◽  
Hajer Alfarteesh ◽  
Carly Buckner ◽  
Robert Lafrenie

Uncaria tomentosa is a medicinal plant native to Peru that has been traditionally used in the treatment of various inflammatory disorders. In this study, the effectiveness of U. tomentosa as an anti-cancer agent was assessed using the growth and survival of B16-BL6 mouse melanoma cells. B16-BL6 cell cultures treated with both ethanol and phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) extracts of U. tomentosa displayed up to 80% lower levels of growth and increased apoptosis compared to vehicle controls. Treatment with ethanolic extracts of Uncaria tomentosa were much more effective than treatment with aqueous extracts. U. tomentosa was also shown to inhibit B16-BL6 cell growth in C57/bl mice in vivo. Mice injected with both the ethanolic and aqueous extracts of U. tomentosa showed a 59 ± 13% decrease in B16-BL6 tumour weight and a 40 ± 9% decrease in tumour size. Histochemical analysis of the B16-BL6 tumours showed a strong reduction in the Ki-67 cell proliferation marker in U. tomentosa-treated mice and a small, but insignificant increase in terminal transferase dUTP nick labelling (TUNEL) staining. Furthermore, U. tomentosa extracts reduced angiogenic markers and reduced the infiltration of T cells into the tumours. Collectively, the results in this study concluded that U. tomentosa has potent anti-cancer activity that significantly inhibited cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.


2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (33) ◽  
pp. 2568-2575
Author(s):  
Germo Nzweundji Justine ◽  
Niemenak Nicolas ◽  
Oumar ◽  
Judith Tsafack Julie ◽  
Konan Koffi ◽  
...  

2012 ◽  
Vol 140 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun-Chin Chung ◽  
Su-Tze Chou ◽  
Jyun-Kai Jhan ◽  
Junn-Wang Liao ◽  
Shu-Ju Chen
Keyword(s):  

2005 ◽  
Vol 79 (23) ◽  
pp. 14660-14667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Dittmer ◽  
John C. Drach ◽  
Leroy B. Townsend ◽  
Anke Fischer ◽  
Elke Bogner

ABSTRACT Herpesvirus DNA replication leads to unit length genomes that are translocated into preformed procapsids through a unique portal vertex. The translocation is performed by the terminase that cleaves the DNA and powers the insertion by its ATPase activity. Recently, we demonstrated that the putative human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) portal protein, pUL104, also forms high-molecular-weight complexes. Analyses now have been performed to determine the intracellular localization and identification of interaction partners of pUL104. In infected cells, HCMV pUL104 was found to be predominantly localized throughout the nucleus as well as in cytoplasmic clusters at late times of infection. The latter localization was abolished by phosphonoacetic acid, an inhibitor of viral DNA replication. Immunofluorescence revealed that pUL104 colocalized with pUL56, the large subunit of the HCMV terminase. Specific association of in vitro translated pUL104 with the carboxy-terminal half of GST-UL56C was detected. By using coimmunoprecipitations a direct interaction with pUL56 was confirmed. In addition, this interaction was no longer detected when the benzimidazole-d-nucleosides BDCRB or Cl4RB were added, thus indicating that these HCMV inhibitors block the insertion of the DNA into the capsid by preventing a necessary interaction of pUL56 with the portal. Electron microscopy revealed that in the presence of Cl4RB DNA is not packaged into capsids and these capsids failed to egress from the nucleus. Furthermore, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis showed that DNA concatemers synthesized in the presence of the compound failed to be processed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 243 (4) ◽  
pp. 375-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siti Rosmani Md Zin ◽  
Zahurin Mohamed ◽  
Mohammed A Alshawsh ◽  
Won F Wong ◽  
Normadiah M Kassim

Anastatica hierochuntica L. ( A. hierochuntica), a folk medicinal plant, was evaluated for mutagenic potential via in vitro and in vivo assays. The in vitro assay was conducted according to modified Ames test, while the in vivo study was performed according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development guideline for mammalian erythrocyte micronucleus assay. Four groups ( n= 5 males and 5 females per group) Sprague Dawley rats were randomly chosen as the negative control, positive control (received a single intramuscular injection of cyclophosphamide 50 mg/kg), 1000 and, 2000 mg/kg A. hierochuntica aqueous extracts. All groups except the positive control were treated orally for three days. Findings of the in vitro assay showed mutagenic potential of AHAE at 0.04 and 0.2 mg/ml. However, no mutagenic effect was demonstrated in the in vivo study up to 2000 mg/kg. No significant reduction in the polychromatic and normochromatic erythrocytes ratio was noted in any of the groups. Meanwhile, high micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes frequency was seen in cyclophosphamide-treated group only. These findings could perhaps be due to insufficient dosage of A. hierochuntica aqueous extracts to cause genetic damage on the bone marrow target cells. Further acute and chronic in vivo toxicity studies may be required to draw pertinent conclusion on the safety aspect of A. hierochuntica aqueous extracts consumption. Impact statement In this paper, we report on the mutagenicity evaluation of Anastatica hierochuntica aqueous extract. This is a significant research in view of the popularity of this herb consumption by the people across the globe despite of limited scientific evidence on its toxicity potential. This study is intended to encourage more extensive related research in order to provide sufficient evidence and guidance for determining its safe dosage.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (7) ◽  
pp. e89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid Tschan-Plessl ◽  
Martin Stern ◽  
Laurent Schmied ◽  
Christelle Retière ◽  
Hans H. Hirsch ◽  
...  

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