This study was aimed at investigating effects of glabridin (Glab) isolated from Glycyrrhiza glabra (G. glabra) against cytotoxicity and oxidative stress induced by Doxorubicin (Dox), a chemotherapeutic agent with neurotoxic side effects, in PC12 cells. Glab was obtained from ethyl acetate extract of licorice roots by using solid phase extraction (SPE) and preparative HPLC. To evaluate whether Glab protects PC12 cells from Dox-induced cytotoxicity, we examined the direct cytotoxic effect of Dox on PC12 cells in the presence and absence of Glab at different time interval. Dox-induced cytotoxicity in a concentration-dependent manner. The IC₅₀ value was 20.1 ..M for 24 h exposure. However, 24 h pretreatment of cells with Glab protected cells from Dox-induced cytotoxicity. For evaluation of the effect of Glab on Dox-induced oxidative stress, the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and also the glutathione (GSH) level were assayed. Adding Dox to PC12 cells caused a significant increase in ROS level (164%). Pretreatment with Glab (2.5μM) decreased significantly intracellular ROS levels to 86±4.3% in PC12 cells. Moreover, Dox decreased the GSH level by more than 40% of the control. Pretreatment with 2.5 and 5 μM of Glab increased significantly the GSH level to 77±3.3% and 86±3.8%, respectively. Taken together our observation indicated that Glab has the protective effect against cytotoxicity induced by Dox in the PC12 cells. The results highlighted that Glab may exert neuroprotective effects through its antioxidant actions.

Based on the positive background of CNS activity of isatin analogs, a new series of isatin-based anticonvulsant derivatives (3a-3m) were designed and synthesized. According to the pharmacophoric necessities of anticonvulsant three essential parts namely aromatic ring (AR), electron donor (ED) group and hydrogen bond acceptor/donor (HAD) group were considered in the structure of designed compounds (3a-3m). Isatin was treated with various derivatives of aniline in the presences of glacial acetic acid under reflux condition. Two standard convulsive protocols namely maximal electroshock (MES) and pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) were utilized to investigate the anticonvulsant efficacy of these series. Besides, rotorod test was used to assess the neurotoxicity of corresponding compounds. Fortunately, the most of tested derivatives exhibited remarkable preventive effect in both applied convulsive models with low incidence of neurotoxicity in rotorod test.

Aldehyde oxidase, a molybdenum cofactor-containing cytosolic enzyme, is extensively distributed throughout the animal kingdom. The enzyme is mainly active in liver and other tissues of mammalian species and involved in the metabolism of wide range of aldehydes and nitrogen-containing molecules. A continuous spectrophotometric method for the quantitative determination of aldehyde oxidase, AO, enzyme activity is described in this article. This method is based on the coupling reaction between 3-methyl-2-benzothiazolinone hydrazone (MBTH) and the o-quinone. Dopamine as substrate for AO, is converted/oxidized to o-quinone. The latter react with MBTH to produce intensely colored products that absorb light maximally in the visible region. Then, AO activity has been kinetically characterized; the K_m (Michaelis–Menten constant) and V_max (maximum initial velocity) values for the oxidation of dopamine by AO were evaluated. The existence of MBTH in the reaction medium and production of stable color as well as the high ϵ values at 510 nm of MBTH-Q adduct make this direct technique more sensitive than other continuous methods for AO assay. The optimized MBTH reaction may be useful for biological staining of AO activity isolated from various biological sources in electrophoresis gels.

In the traditional medicine, numerous plants have been used to treat cognitive disorders. Natural products play an essential role in prevention and therapy of various neurodegenerative diseases, and neuronal dysfunctions. Different studies suggest that natural products, such as polyphenolic and alkaloids compounds that isolated from plants potentially delayed the neurodegeneration and also improve memory and cognitive function. Ethno pharmacological studies have provided information to identify potential new drugs from plant sources. Recently many drugs which available in medicine were originally isolated from plants or their constituents including, anticholinesterase (Anti-ChE) alkaloids isolated from plants have been investigated for their potential in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities of plants and isolated components form plants were used in improvement neuro-inflammation, anxiety, convulsion and etc. Medicinal plants have beneficial properties due to presence of various complex chemical substances for treatment of toxicity in the nervous system. This review article evaluated the some of the medicinal plants and their active constituents that have been used in different methods induced neurotoxicity.

Rivastigmine can decrease the severity of depression in Alzheimer's disease patients. Apart from the monoamines hypothesis of despair, it is well known that the cholinergic system is also responsible. Thus regarding the antidepressant effect of rivastigmine, the aim was evaluating the influence of scopolamine (muscarinic cholinergic receptors antagonist) and/or mecamylamine (nicotinic cholinergic receptors antagonist) co-administration with rivastigmine on depression outcome. Depression was evaluated by the tail suspension test (TST) in male mice. Immobility time was recorded manually which represents the time that animal stops attempts for escape from the unpleasant situation. Imipramine as the reference antidepressant decreased this time by increasing the hope for escape in the animal. Rivastigmine (0.75 mg/kg,sc), scopolamine and/or mecamylamine (0.5 and 1 mg/kg, ip, respectively) were injected before the TST. Rivastigmine considerably reduced the immobility time compared with the control group which indicated its antidepressant effects. The combination treatment of rivastigmine and scopolamine also reduced the immobility time compared with control. Mecamylamine co-administration with rivastigmine increased the immobility time which indicated that it prevented the antidepressant effects of rivastigmine. Ultimately by using the drugs all together the immobility time notably decreased. Therefore our results proved that nicotine cholinergic receptorstimulation is prominent in the antidepressant effects of rivastigmine. Thus nicotine receptor direct or indirect stimulants could be considered for further researches regarding antidepressants.

Onosma microcarpum (Boraginaceae) locally known as “Tashnedary” is considered as one of important medicinal plants in west of Iran. Its roots have been used by the rural healers to treat the burns and wound healing. In this study, different extracts of roots were used for the evaluation of its healing effect in diabetic wound model in rats. Diabetes was induced in Wistar rats, then wound incised on the back of rat, and subsequently they were divided into nine groups which eight of them contain eucerin with four concentrations of hexane extract (20%, 30%, 40%, 60%) and three other extract as aceton30%, ethanol30% and hydroEthanol30%, and one base eucerin without extract. Other formula was traditional formula and phenytoin. A photograph of the dorsum of the rat was taken from a standard height in days 0, 3, 6, 9, 15 and 20. Then, samples were processed in the pathologic surveys. Our study showed that the best result was demonstrated by Phenytoin cream treated group. Our results indicated that like the general belief in west of Iran population, the ointment with n-Hex30% extracts of O. microcarpum could promote healing in described animal model, diabetic foot ulcer, compared to control.

Pain control in children is still a therapeutic dilemma and preschool patients are affected from undesirable effects of postoperative pain more than adults. The aim of this work was to compare the effects of adding of Ketamine to pre-incisional Bupivacaine injection of post-operative pain relief after tonsillectomy. Sixty-three children that classified as ASA class I and II scheduled for adenotonsillectomy and divided into three groups (every group had 21 patients). Group 1: Bupivacaine (0.5%) 2mg/kg, Group 2: Ketamine 0.5 mg/kg and Group 3: Ketamine 0.5mg/kg and Bupivacaine (0.5%) 2mg/kg was injected into tonsillar bed by the surgeon. Side effects were evaluated at 1, 4 and 24 hours after adenotonsillectomy. The correlation between the data was done by Chi-square test and a P<0.05 was considered significant. One hour after surgery, in group 3, pain score was lower than other groups (P>0.05). Besides, after 4 hours in group 3, there was no severe pain in patients and higher percent of patients (61.9%) had mild pain compared to group 2 (P>0.05) and group 1 (P<0.05). After 24 hours, higher percent of patients without pain were in group 3 compared to group 2 (P>0.05) and group 1 (P=0. 05). In conclusion, adding of Ketamine to pre-incisional Bupivacaine injection resulted in post-operative acceptable pain relief with lower side effects after adenotonsillectomy.

Seidlitzia rosmarinus Ehrenb .ex Boiss. is a woody plant belongs to the Chenopodiaceae family with a vast geographical distribution in Asian countries. As a famous plant in Iran, it is called “Oshnan” in Persian and has been used as a natural soap for many centuries. Despite of vast spread and importance, S. rosmarinus has not been studied phytochemicaly, and this study was conducted to identify the main constituents of the aerial parts of the plant. Phytochemical investigation of S. rosmarinus resulted to the isolation of two cinnamic acid derivatives and a benzaldehyde derivative as the main phenolic compounds of aerial parts of the plant. Using comprehensive spectroscopic methods, including 1D and 2D NMR and MS, chemical structure of the isolated compounds were determined as N-cis-feruloyltyramine (1), N-cis-caffeoyltyramine (2) and p-hydroxyacetophenone (Piceol) (3), respectively. To the best of our knowledge, isolation and identification of these compounds from S. rosmarinus are reported for the first time in this study.

There has been an explosion of probiotic health-based products. Many reports indicated that there is poor survival of probiotic bacteria in these products. For oral delivery of probiotic, providing living cells with a physical barrier against adverse environmental conditions is considerable interest. The main goal of the study was to develop tablets made out of functional polymers in order to protect probiotic bacteria from gastric acidity, thus providing an easily manufacturing scale-up dosage form to deliver probiotics to the human intestinal. Tablets were produced by direct compression using Microcrystalline Cellulose) Avicel® (as main exipient. To optimize the formulation, using survival rate after both compressing and exposed pH: 2 acid medium were evaluated. Storage stability of lactobacilluse acidophiluse tablets was also performed by evaluation of viable cells throughout 3 months at 4 °C. The highest viability was found in formulation 7 and 8 with %90.37 and 90.27% after compression pressure. Increasing amount of Avicel® in the tablet increase bacterial viability against pressure. 72.51% Survival was showed is related to formulation 3 after exposure acid. It can be concluded that The best protective qualities against artificial gastric juice were observed when tablets were prepared from compaction mixtures of lactic acid bacteria (LAB), sodium alginate, and Xanthan. A decrease of approximately one logarithmic cycle was observed after 3 month storage for formula 3 while untreated cell decrease 3.97 log. This preparation method and tablet formulation can be employed for intestinal delivery to ensure maximum viable cell release at intestine or colon and this product remains stable until the time of consumption.