Conium maculatum Linn. (Umbelliferae) has been traditionally used in the treatment of spasmodic disorders, and to relieve nervous excitation, rheumatic pains in the old and feeble, pain in stomach, pain of gastric ulcer, nervousness and restlessness. Alkaloids have long been considered as bioactive group of constituents present in C. maculatum. Despite a long tradition of use, C. maculatum has ...

Andrachne aspera, a small perennial undershrub, is commonly found in the arid, stony and sandy regions of Pakistan. Medicinally, this plant is used to improve eyesight and to treat eye sores2−3. A crude alkaloidal mixture has been reported to show various biological activities. The biological significance of A. aspera motivated us to reinvestigate for further alkaloidal constituents fourteen ye...

Tabernaemontana divaricata a common garden plant in tropical countries has been used as a traditional medicine. However, no recent review articles of T. divaricata, particularly discussing its pharmacological properties, are available. This review presents the ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology of T. divaricata as well as its potential therapeutic benefits especially of the alkaloidal and non-al...

The in vitro and in vivo antimicrobial evaluation of the formulated ointment of alkaloidal extract of Enantia chlorantha Oliv. (Annonaceae) was the concern of this study. The alkaloidal fraction of the stem bark extract was formulated into simple ointment using British Pharmacopoeia formula for preparation of simple ointment. Agar diffusion and agar dilution methods were used for the in vitro a...

Pyrenacantha staudtii is a medicinal plant used widely in the West African sub-region particularly in Nigeria for the treatment of threatened abortion and dysmenorrhea. This study reports for the first time the chemical isolation and characterization of 3-carbomethoxypyridine from one of the active fractions of the methanolic extract of Pyrenacantha staudtii leaves. The crude methanolic extract...

Processed aconite root (PA) is a crude drug used in traditional Chinese or Japanese medicine to generate heat in interior body and dispel cold. We evaluated the effects of PA on hypothermia and reduction in the activity of natural killer (NK) cells in mice exposed to chronic cold stress. Male mice were reared at 4 degrees C, and powdered PA was administered for 10 d as a food additive. Core bod...

Alcoholic extracts of N. jatamansi and R. succedanea, the two common Ayurvedic antiasthmatic drugs, were found to inhibit histamine and serotonin induced reduction in tidal air recorded as overflow of air insufflated through the lungs in spinal dogs. Inhibitory effects of the drugs against the bronchoconstrictors was also indicated fi om the reduction in perfusion pressure through isolated guin...

From the quaternary alkaloidal fraction of the dried tubers of Stephania cepharantha, two new isoquinoline alkaloids, stecepharine and tetradehydroreticuline have been isolated along with the known compounds, magnoflorine, menisperine, steponine, cyclanoline, oblongine, cis-N-methylcapaurine and 2'-N-methylisotetrandrine. cis-N-Methylcapaurine (=9-O-methylstecepharine) was isolated as a natural...

The in vitro antimalarial activity against Plasmodium falciparum K1 of the four extracts from the stembark of Picrasma javanica Bl, that is, water, methanol, chloroform and hexane were studied using a modification of the [ 3 H]hypoxanthine incorporation method. It was found the chloroform extract showed in vitro antimalarial activity with IC50 of 20.0 g/ml. The extract was further isolated usi...