Commercially available medicinal plant extracts such as Ginkgo biloba leaf extract show no consistent pattern of clinical benefit for people with dementia or cognitive impairment, and have been suggested to be toxic to cells at higher doses. However, medicinal plants may contain other more efficient bioactive molecules apart from the well-known flavonoids and terpenoids. Recombinant therapeutic...

A detailed protocol is presented for precisely inserting microscopic objects into the periplasmic region of plant callus cells using laser microsurgery. Ginkgo biloba and Agrobacterium rhizogenes were used as the model system for developing the optical tweezers and scalpel techniques using a single laser. We achieved better than 95% survival after plasmolyzing G. biloba cells, ablating a 2-4-μm...

Plant-derived smoke has been known to play an important role in distribution and growth of vegetation. Using a proficiently designed furnace, we extracted smoke from the leaves of four plant viz. Helianthus annuus,Aloe vera,Ginkgo biloba, and Cymbopogon jwarancusa. Smoke dilutions obtained from these plants were obtained in different concentrations to identify potential lettuce growth promoting...

The nitric oxide (NO) scavenging activities of traditional polyherbal drugs like abana, chyavanaprasha, geriforte, septilin, mentat and triphala were examined using sodium nitroprusside as a NO donor in vitro. All the drugs tested demonstrated direct scavenging of NO and were superior to Gingko biloba, which was used as a positive control. The extracts of various polyherbal drugs exhibited dose...

Growing interest in the field of Complementary and Alternative medicine (CAM) places new obligations on the clinician in practice. To address these new patient needs, it is important to develop cross referral relationships with graduates of accredited CAM schools, and to self educate using reputable resources. To assist in this process, a comprehensive review of Ginkgo biloba, the most well-stu...

The risk of interaction between dietary supplements, herbal drugs and synthetic drugs increases when patients are treated chronically, e.g. due to impairment of central nervous system (CNS)--depression, psychotic disorders, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. On the basis of scientific literature, there was shown that simultaneous intake of antidepressants, antipsychotic drugs and herbal drug...

The orientation and morphology of the female cone are important for wind pollination in gymnosperms. To examine the role of female reproductive structures associated with wind pollination in Ginkgo biloba, we used scanning electron microscopy and semithin section techniques to observe the development of female short shoots and ovules in G. biloba before and during the pollination period. The ov...

A growing literature supports the notion that Ginkgo biloba has cognitive enhancing and anxiolytic properties; however, its effects on neuronal populations have yet to be characterized. The present study used c-Fos immunoreactivity (Fos-IR) to characterize functional activity in selected brain regions following administration of a standardized Ginkgo biloba extract. Because Ginkgo is typically ...

In the framework of a systematic literature survey, 19 clinical trials investigating the effects of tinnitus treatment with Ginkgo biloba special extract EGb 761 were identified and evaluated. The results of eight controlled studies on tinnitus due to cerebrovascular insufficiency or labyrinthine disorders of varying origin showed for the most part a statistically significant superiority of th...

OBJECTIVE Ginkgo biloba may have a role in treating impairments in memory, cognitive speed, activities of daily living (ADL), edema, inflammation, and free-radical toxicity associated with traumatic brain injury (TBI), Alzheimer's dementia, stroke, vasoocclusive disorders, and aging. The purpose of this review is to provide a synthesis of the mechanisms of action, clinical indications, and safe...