Antiepileptic and Antioxidant Activity of Some Medicinal Plants: A Review

Medicinal plants are the oldest form of healthcare known to mankind. Antioxidants are considered to be important in fighting against the damages done by the free radicals produced due to oxidative stress. Antiepileptic drugs help to minimize or to irradiate the convulsive shocks and seizures as a result of abnormal and excessive nerve cell activity. Standardized, well established in vitro and in vivo methods are available for experimental evaluation of antioxidant and antiepileptic agents. A step wise procedure from in vitro and in vivo seems reasonable to reduce the large quantity of potential drugs to a few promising agents for further clinical testing. This review has focused on some herbal drugs with both antioxidant and antiepileptic property such as Brassica nigra, Bacopa monniera, Ficus religiosa, Convolvulus pluricalis, Jatamansi and Acorus calamus.

The role of antioxidants and free radicals in the healing effects of Bacopa monniera on acetic acid-induced colitis in rats

Background: The aim to study and elucidate the healing effects of ethanolic extract of dried whole plant of Bacopa monniera against experimental colitis in rats.Methods: Bacopa monniera whole plant extract was administered orally, once daily for 14 days, to rats after induction of colitis with acetic acid. We studied its effects on: faecal output, food and water intake, and body weight changes and also examined colonic mucosal damage, inflammation and status of antioxidants: superoxide dismutase, reduced glutathione; free radicals: nitric oxide, lipid peroxidation on 15th day of the experiment. Antibacterial activity of the extract was also studied using in vitro procedures. Statistical comparison was performed using either unpaired ‘t’ test or one -way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and for multiple comparisons versus control group was done by Dunnett’s test.Results: Bacopa monniera whole plant extract decreased colonic mucosal damage, inflammation, faecal output and increased body weight in acetic acid induced colitis. It also showed antibacterial activity and enhanced the antioxidant but decreased free radicals. Acute toxicity study indicated no mortality or other ANS or CNS related adverse effects even with ten time effective dose indicating its safety.Conclusions: Bacopa monniera whole plant extract is safe, effective and could be beneficial as a complementary agent in treatment of ulcerative colitis.

Brahmi herbal drink mitigates aluminium chloride induced cognitive impairments

<p>Aluminium chloride (AlCl₃) is neurotoxic and has been proposed to be one of the environmental factors responsible for neurodegenerative disease like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disorders. It also causes learning and memory deficit. <em>Bacopa monniera</em> is well known for its memory enhancing property in traditional Indian system of medicine. In the present investigation we aim to evaluate cognitive-enhancing and neuromodulatory property of brahmi herbal drink (BHD), a nutraceutical product from <em>Bacopa monniera</em> extract. BHD was evaluated for physicochemical, sensory attributes and stability studies. Overall acceptability of BHD was good according to hedonic scale/ratings. Stability of the drink is for 6 months without losing its activity. Further, cognitive enhancing and neuromodulatory propensity of BHD was evaluated against AlCl₃ treatment in rats. Administration of AlCl₃ (100 mg/kg) daily for 23 days significantly increased cognitive impairment as evaluated in elevated plus maze (EPM) and Morris water maze (MWM) tests. BHD supplementation improved cognitive ability by decreasing the transfer and escape latency of EPM and MWM tests respectively. Our results further elucidate that BHD supplementation decreased acetylcholine esterase activity and nitric oxide levels by down-regulating AChE and iNOS expression respectively. BHD supplementation showed it neuroprotective efficacy by up-regulating BDNF expression. AlCl₃ induced lipid peroxidation and reactive oxygen species generation was significantly alleviated by BHD and restored antioxidant status levels. All these results demonstrated the cognitive-enhancing and neuromodulatory potential of BHD in counteracting the damage inflicted by AlCl₃ on rat brain.</p>

Caffeic Acid Derivatives from Bacopa monniera Plants as Inhibitors of Pancreatic Lipase Activity and their Structural Requirements

The methanol extract of whole Bacopa monniera plants inhibited pancreatic lipase activity in vitro. From this extract we have reported the isolation of 11 triterpene glycosides and 5 phenylethanoid- and/or phenylpropanoid- glycosides. In this paper, we describe the effects of the methanol extract and/or its constituents on pancreatic lipase activity and the isolation of an active constituent, desrhamnosyl isoacteoside. In addition, the structural requirements for its inhibitory effects were examined. We also examined the effects on the elevation of plasma triglyceride (TG) levels in olive oil loaded mice. The major active constituents, desrhamnosyl isoacteoside and plantainoside B, reduced plasma TG levels in the mice. The inhibitory effects of B. monniera and its constituents on pancreatic lipase activity and plasma TG level are reported for the first time.

ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF MDR BACTERIA FROM IN VITRO CULTURE OF BACOPA MONNIERA AND SUPPLEMENTATION OF NATURAL EXTRACTS TO CONTROL BACTERIAL CONTAMINATION

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to isolate and characterize bacterial contamination from in vitro culture of Bacopa monniera callus culture.Methods: The two selected isolates (1 and 2) were identified by morphological, biochemical and molecular (16S rRNA gene sequencing) methods. Beside this antibiotic resistance was also determined.Results: The isolates were identified as closely related to Enterobacter cloacae (KU350623) (Isolate 1) and Myroides odoratimimus (KU382740) (Isolate 2). The isolate 1 and 2 were found to be resistant to streptomycin (25 mcg), dapsone (10 mcg), erythromycin (15 mcg), chloroamphenicol (25 mcg) and ampicillin (10 mcg). Supplementation of the natural extract was tested to control the contamination due to these multi drug resistant bacteria. Aqueous and alcoholic leaf extracts of Azadirachta indica was added to plant tissue culture media i.e. MS media in order to control contamination.Conclusion: The present studies suggest using natural extracts supplementation as a promising strategy to control the in vitro bacterial contamination in plant tissue culture.