BACKGROUND Atherothrombotic diseases such as myocardial or cerebral infarction are serious consequences of the thrombus formed in blood vessels. Thrombolytic agents are used to dissolve the already formed clots in the blood vessels; however, these drugs have certain limitations which cause serious and sometimes fatal consequences. Herbal preparations have been used since ancient times for the t...

Treatment of rats with paracetamol and CCl4 produced a significant increase in the levels of serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT), serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total and direct bilirubin. Rats pretreated with methanolic extract of roots of H. indicus (100-500 mg/kg body weight, po) exhibited rise in the levels of these enzymes but it was ...

Iron overload in liver is associated with the oxidative damage of protein, lipid and nucleic acids which in turn manifests several human diseases. The present study was aimed to evaluate the amending effect of 70% methanol extract of Hemidesmus indicus root (HIME) on iron overload induced liver injury. Iron overload was induced by intraperitoneal administration of iron-dextran into mice. Mice a...

Janakia arayalpatra (Periplocaceae) known to the local kani tribe as 'Amruthapala' is a rare and endemic wild plant species of southern forested region of Western Ghats. The medicinal value of this plant as a potential drug was reported by the authors earlier (on the basis of the information collected from the Kani tribe). Preliminary ethnopharmacological investigation of the plant showed promi...

The aqueous extract of Hemidesmus indicus roots was investigated for its in vivo antigenotoxic effect against cisplatin-induced cytogenetic damage. Swiss albino mice were administered with various doses of the extract either singly (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg body weight) or as split doses (10, 20 and 40 mg/kg bw/day) for five consecutive days by oral gavage. As endpoints, chromosome aberrations, mi...

Methanolic extracts of Acorus calamus (Rhizome), Hemidesmus indicus (Stem), Holarrhena antidysenterica (Bark) and Plumbago zeylanica (Root), were tested for their antimutagenic potential. These extracts, at tested concentrations, showed no sign of mutagenicity to Salmonella typhimurium tester strains. The extracts of the plants exhibited varying level of antimutagenicity. At a dose of 100 micro...

Effect of 2-hydroxy 4methoxy benzoic acid isolated from the roots of Hemidesmus indicus on blood glucose and tissue lipid peroxidation in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats M. Gayathri, K. Kannabiran* *School of Biotechnology, Chemical and Biomedical Engineering,VIT University, Vellore-632 014, Tamil Nadu, India. For correspondence:Dr. K.Kannabiran,Professor, School of Biotechnology, Chemical...