Male infertility evaluation is important to recognize an origin and provide treatment if the etiology is correctable. The aim of the present study was to investigate the protective role of Lavandula angustifolia in impaired spermatogenesis caused by cadmium chloride in male rats. 36 male Wistar rats were allocated in 6 groups. Cadmium chloride was injected for 3 consecutive days (0.5 mg/kg) in CdCl₂ treated groups. Before CdCl₂ administration, pre-treatment with L. angustifolia was conducted for 14 consecutive days. Sex hormones level, malondialdehyde (MDA) and total antioxidant concentration as well as sperm parameters were investigated. Increase in the concentration of MDA and decrease in total antioxidant level were observed following CdCl₂ administration. Accordingly, the sperm viability as well as other sperm characteristics was decreased. In the case of sex hormones, the testosterone and LH levels were decreased and the concentration of FSH was increased (P<0.001). Pre-treatment with L. angustifolia significantly decreased the MDA level and increased total antioxidant, LH and testosterone levels. Pre-treatment with L. angustifolia also improved semen parameters which were impaired by CdCl₂ administration. Together, these results confirm that L. angustifolia pretreatment could protect spermatogenesis in male rats with CdCl₂ administration.

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In Iranian folk medicine, especially in west of the country, the aromatic water of Rheum ribes has been used for several purposes such as fever reduction. Despite the widespread use of this plant as food or as a medicinal plant, there is still lack of information on its toxicity profile. In the present study we aimed to evaluate the acute and sub chronic toxicities of aromatic water of R. ribes in Wistar rat. In the acute toxicity study, single doses of aromatic water were administered orally, and the rats were then monitored for 14 days. In the subchronic toxicity study, aromatic water was administered to rats for 60 days. Results of acute toxicity study indicated that the LD50 of R. ribes aromatic water is higher than 5000 mg/kg. Biochemical analysis showed aromatic water of R. ribes increased significantly Creatine Phospho Kinase (CPK) and Lactate De-Hydrogenase (LDH) levels. Moreover some significant abnormality of heart organ such as coagulated necrosis of cardiac muscle cells associated with hemorrhage, hypertrophy and infiltration of inflammatory cells were observed. Based on the result of this study, no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) of aromatic water from R. ribes considered to be 250 mg/kg/day for male rats and 500 mg/kg/day for female rats.

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Three rapid, simple, moderately sensitive and selective spectropho-tometric methods are described for the determination of pyrantel pamoate (PYP) in bulk drug and in its pharmaceutical formulations. The methods are based on the reduction of ferric chloride by PYP in neutral medium and subsequent complexation of iron (II) with ferricyanide (method A), 1, 10-phenanthroline (method B) and 2, 2'-bipyridyl (method C). The absorbances of resulting colored products were measured at 750, 520 and 530 nm, respectively. Under the optimum conditions, Beer's law enabled the determination of the drug in the concentration ranges 3.0-35, 1.0-30 and 2.0-35 μg mL^-1 with apparent molar absorptivities of 1.38 × 10⁴, 2.06 × 10⁴ and 1.23 × 10⁴ L mol^-1 cm^-1 for method A, method B and method C, respectively. The Sandell sensitivity values, limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) values have also been reported for all methods. The accuracy and precision of the methods were evaluated on intra-day and inter-day basis; the relative error (%RE) was ≤ 3.0 % and the relative standard deviation (RSD) was ≤ 1.98 %. The developed methods were successfully applied to the determination of drug in tablets and suspension without interference by the common excipients.

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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder in geriatric people that characterized by reduction in memory and learning ability. Attenuation of cholinergic system is the most likely hypothesis. Therefore, potentiation of the cholinergic system via inhibition of acetylcholinesterase enzyme could improve and alleviate the symptoms of AD. A new series of isatin-based derivatives (4a-4h) were designed and synthesized according to the pharmacophore of donepezil and consequently related anti-cholinesterase effect was evaluated by Ellman's test. Obtained results were compared with donepezil as a standard drug. All of target derivatives (4a-4h) synthesized with moderate yields. In Ellman's test as an enzymatic assay for acetylcholinesterase, the most of them displayed better inhibitory potency in comparison with donepezil. In summary, isatin-based derivatives could be potential anti-Alzheimer agents. But, more experimental investigations are needed to prove this statement in the future.

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Cydonia Oblonga Mill. (Quince) is a member of Rosaceae family that widely used in Iranian traditional medicine. This plant contains large amounts of flavonoids and polyphenols and has antioxidant, antibacterial, free radical scavenging and several other effects. This study was undertaken to evaluate the genotoxic and genoprotective effects of hydroalcoholic and polyphenolic extracts of Quince on HepG2 cells. To evaluate genoprotective properties, cells were incubated by different concentrations of extracts for 2 hours followed by one-hour incubation period with genotoxic concentration (100 μM) of Methylmethane Sulfonate (MMS). In this research, comet assay as a sensitive, inexpensive and easy performance method was used. Tail length, percentage of DNA in tail and tail moment were measured. The results showed that hydroalcoholic extracts of Quince at 1, 10, 100 and 500 μg/ml and polyphenolic extracts of Quince at 10, 50, 100 and 500 μg/ml has genoprotective properties . The results revealed that all studied concentrations of both extracts had no genotoxic effect. Also genoprotective properties of these extracts increased in a dose-dependent manner.

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The chemical composition of the essential oil from aerial parts of Delphinium speciosum (Family: Ranunculaceae) occurring in the Northwest of Iran (collected from Kandovan village, East Azarbaijan province) was analyzed for the first time by GC-FID and GC-MS. A total of 32 components were identified, accounting for 98.25% of the total oil. The major fraction of the volatile oil was represented by linear hydrocarbons (84.22%) with tricosane (29.32%), pentacosane (23.81%) and heneicosane (8.17%) as the main representatives in this fraction. In addition, the oil contained moderate amount of oxygenated compounds (14.03%), with hexahydrofarensyl acetone or phytone as the most abundant representative (8.87%).

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Zinc deficiency in man is characterized by skin lesion, alopecia and has been linked to growth retardation and mental disturbance. For supplementation purposes zinc is currently presented as its sulfate salt, from which uptake by the body is poor, necesseting the administration of high doses. This leads to a range of unpleasant side effects. In order to increase the bioavailability of zinc, several zinc complexes such as malthol-Zn, ethyl maltol-Zn have been designed and synthesized. The distribution coefficients (K_part) of the complexes between 1-octanol and water (pH 7.4) were also determined. The intestinal absorption (I.A) of complexes and zinc sulfate was determined using Everted Gut Sac (E.G.S) method at different concentration of (0-1000μg/lit) zinc and different times (0-120 min).The results showed that, at the concentration of 800 μg/lit zinc and after 120 minutes, the absorption was reached to maximum for both complexes and zinc sulfate. Zinc uptake from zinc sulfate, maltol-Zn and ethyl maltol-Zn complexes were 210, 220 and 235 μg/lit respectively. The higher zinc uptake from ethyl maltol-Zn complex may be attributed to its higher lipophilicity (K_part = 0.18) than maltol-Zn complex ((K_part = 0.5). The results showed that, in spite of higher zinc uptake of ethyl maltol-Zn complex in comparison with zinc sulfate, statistically there is no significant difference between them. This investigation indicated that ethyl maltol-Zn complex could be considered as a suitable zinc complex for the treatment of zinc deficiency in replacement of zinc sulfate.

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Plant α-amylase inhibitors (αAIs) show great potential as tools to manipulate resistance of crop plants against pests. They can be also considered as drug-design target for treatment of diabetes and digestion disorder. In this study, an amylase inhibitor-rich fraction was purified by ethanol precipitation and affinity chromatography on chitosan beads column from white common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) extract, and then its in vitro interaction with porcine pancreatic α-amylase (PPA) was studied. A commercially available amylase inhibitor, Phase 2, was also used to serve as a comparative reference. The results showed that inhibitory activity of the αAI extracted from white kidney bean was much higher than that of Phase 2. The purified inhibitor displayed significant heat stability, so that remaining inhibitory activity was ~80%, even at 60 °C for 30 min incubation. Fraction 3 retained ~84% of its initial activity after long term (45 days) dry storage at room temperature. Due to potency and appropriate heat/storage stability, this αAI preparation may be reconsidered as raw material for preparation of commercial αAI to control appetite and energy intake.

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