DARU Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Year:2014 | Volume:22 | Issue:2|Papers Count:5

Background: Rutin is an important flavonoid that is consumed in the daily diet. The cytoprotective effects of rutin, including antioxidative, and neuroprotective have been shown in several studies. Neurotoxic effects of acrylamide (ACR) have been established in humans and animals. In this study, the protective effects of rutin in prevention and treatment of neural toxicity of ACR were studied.Results: Rutin significantly reduced cell death induced by ACR (5.46 mM) in time-and dose-dependent manners.Rutin treatment decreased the ACR-induced cytotoxicity significantly in comparison to control (P<0.01, P<0.001).Rutin (100 and 200 mg/kg) could prevent decrease of body weight in rats. In combination treatments with rutin (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg), vitamin E (200 mg/kg) and ACR, gait abnormalities significantly decreased in a dosedependent manner (P<0.01 and P<0.001). The level of malondialdehyde significantly decreased in the brain tissue of rats in both preventive and therapeutic groups that received rutin (100 and 200 mg/kg).Conclusion: It seems that rutin could be effective in reducing neurotoxicity and the neuroprotective effect of it might be mediated via antioxidant activity.

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a worldwide epidemic disease and a major cause of death and disability. The present study aimed to elucidate pharmacological effects of adipose derived stromal cells (ASCs) on pathological and biochemical factors in a guinea pig model of COPD. Guinea pigs were randomized into 5 groups including: Control, COPD, COPD+intratracheal delivery of PBS as a vehicle (COPD-PBS), COPD+ intratracheal delivery of ASCs (COPD-ITASC) and COPD+intravenous injection of ASCs (COPD-IVASC). COPD was induced by exposing animals to cigarette smoke for 3 months. Cell therapy was performed immediately after the end of animal exposure to cigarette smoke and 14 days after that, white blood cells, oxidative stress indices and pathological changes of the lung were measured.Results: Compared with control group, emphysema was clearly observed in the COPD and COPD-PBS groups (p<0.001). Lung histopathologic changes of COPD-ITASC and COPD-IVASC groups showed non-significant improvement compared to COPD-PBS group. The COPD-ITASC group showed a significant increase in total WBC compared to COPD-PBS group but there was not a significant increase in this regard in COPD-IVASC group. The differential WBC showed no significant change in number of different types of leukocytes. The serum level of malondialdehyde (MDA) significantly decreased but thiol groups of broncho-alveolar lavage fluid (BALF) increased in both cell treated groups (p<0.05 for all cases). Weight of animals decreased during smoke exposure and improved after PBS or cell therapy. However, no significant change was observed between the groups receiving PBS and the ones receiving ASCs.Conclusion: Cell therapy with ASCs can help in reducing oxidative damage during smoking which may collectively hold promise in attenuation of the severity of COPD although the lung structural changes couldn’t be ameliorated with these pharmacological therapeutic methods.

Background: Tramadol is an opioid, synthetic analog of codeine and has been used for the treatment of acute or chronic pain may be abused. In this work, a developed Dispersive liquid liquid microextraction (DLLME) as binary solvents-based dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (BS-DLLME) combined with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection (FD) was employed for determination of tramadol in the urine samples. This procedure involves the use of an appropriate mixture of binary extraction solvents (70 mL CHCl3 and 30 mL ethyl acetate) and disperser solvent (600 mL acetone) for the formation of cloudy solution in 5 ml urine sample comprising tramadol and NaCl (7.5%, w/v). After centrifuging, the small droplets of extraction solvents were precipitated. In the final step, the HPLC with fluorescence detection was used for determination of tramadol in the precipitated phase.Results: Various factors on the efficiency of the proposed procedure were investigated and optimized. The detection limit (S/N=3) and quantification limit (S/N=10) were found 0.2 and 0.9 mg/L, respectively. The relative standard deviations (RSD) for the extraction of 30 mg L of tramadol was found 4.1% (n=6). The relative recoveries of tramadol from urine samples at spiking levels of 10, 30 and 60 mg/L were in the range of 95.6-99.6%.Conclusions: Compared with other methods, this method provides good figures of merit such as good repeatability, high extraction efficiency, short analysis time, simple procedure and can be used as microextraction technique for routine analysis in clinical laboratories.

Background: Cichorium intybus is a medicinal plant commonly used in traditional medicine for its benefits in immune-madiated disorders. There are several evidences showing that C. intybus can modulate immune responses.In the present study we have investigated the effects of the ethanolic root extract of this plant on the immune system by targeting dendritic cells (DCs). For this purpose, phenotypic and functional maturity of murine DCs after treatment with the extract was analyzed by flow cytometry and mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) assay.Results: C. intybus did not change the expression of CD40, CD86 and MHC-II molecules as important co-stimulatory markers on DCs compared to the control, indicating that it could not promote DCs phenotypic maturation.Treatment of DCs with lower concentrations of the extract resulted in an increased production of IL-12 by these cells with no change in IL-10 release. The capacity of treated DCs to stimulate allogenic T cells proliferation and cytokines secretion was examined in the co-cuture of these cells with T cells in MLR. C. intybus at higher concentrations inhibited proliferation of allogenic T cells and in lower concentrations changed the level of cytokines such that IL-4 decreased and IFN-g increased.Conclusions: These results indicated that C. intybus extract at higher concentrations can inhibit T cell stimulating activity of DCs, whereas at lower concentrations can modulate cytokine secretion toward a Th1 pattern. These data may in part explain the traditional use of this plant in treatment of immune-mediated disorders.

Background: The objective of this study was to investigate the application of the university research findings or commercialization of the biopharmaceutical knowledge in Iran and determine the challenges and propose some solutions.Results: A qualitative study including 19 in-depth interviews with experts was performed in 2011 and early 2012. National Innovation System (NIS) model was employed as the study design. Thematic method was applied for the analysis. The results demonstrate that policy making, regulations and management development are considered as fundamental reasons for current commercialization practice pattern. It is suggested to establish foundation for higher level documents that would involve relating bodies and provide them operational guidelines for the implementation of commercialization incentives.Conclusions: Policy, regulations and management as the most influential issue should be considered for successful commercialization. The present study, for the first time, attempts to disclose the importance of evidence input for measures in order to facilitate the commercialization process by the authorities in Iran. Overall, the NIS model should be considered and utilized as one of the effective solutions for commercialization.