Medicine
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This repository contains the published and unpublished research of the Faculty of Medicine by the staff members of the faculty
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Item Antinociceptive activity of aqueous extract of Psychotriasarmentosa leaves(Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Ratnayake, W.M.K.M.; Chandrika, U.G.; Suresh, T.M.; Abeysekera, A.M.; Salim, N.BACKGROUND: Adverse side effects caused by NSAIDS and other existing allopathic analgesic agents have made these drugs unwelcoming to many. The search for alternative therapies has intensified over the years. Consequently, the investigations on the efficacy of plant based drugs used in traditional medicine has been seen as a fruitful research strategy in the search for new analgesic drugs due to possibly lesser side effects as well as the low cost. Indigenous healers in Sri Lanka prescribe an aqueous extract of leaves of Psychotriasarmentosa (named “Gonica” in Sinhala; Family: Rubiaceae) for individuals who have been physically assaulted, indicating that it may possess potent analgesic and/or anti-inflammatory activity. OBJECTIVES: Previous studies have shown that aqueous extract of P. sarmentosa has significant anti-inflammatory activity and the general objective of the present study was to determine the antinociceptive activity of this preparation. METHODS: Acetic acid induced writhing method was conducted to evaluate the analgesic activity on male Wistar rats. Data analysis was carried out using one-way analysis variance (ANOVA) and results with p <0.05 were considered as statistically significant. RESULTS: The results showed that the treatment with 100 mg/kg of freeze dried aqueous extract of P. sarmentosa leaves significantly reduced the abdominal contractions induced by the intra-peritoneal administration of acetic acid solution when compared to the control. The percentage inhibition of it was found to be 44.4 % whereas it was 50.8 % for acetyl salicylic acid. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary observations provide evidence for the antinociceptive properties of leaves of P. sarmentosa as claimed in folk medicine.Item Antiradical and antilipoperoxidative effects of some plant extracts used by Sri Lankan traditional medical practitioners for cardioprotection(Wiley, 2001) Munasinghe, T.C.J.; Seneviratne, C.K.; Thabrew, M.I.; Abeysekera, A.M.Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are implicated in many pathogenic processes including the cardiovascular system. Detoxification of ROS by antioxidants (AO) therefore affords protection against such diseases. There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that antioxidants contribute tocardioprotection. Therefore, nine plants that are components of Ayurvedic formulations used for the therapy of cardiovascular diseases were investigated to determine whether antioxidant activity is one of the mechanisms by which these plants exert cardioprotection. Initially aqueous freeze dried extracts of the plants were prepared and the antioxidant activity was measured (a) in vitro, by DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging and deoxyribose damage protection assays, and (b) in vivo, by effects on lipid peroxidation. Terminalia arjuna showed significant DPPH radical scavenging activity with EC(50) 8.3 +/- 0.3 microg/mL (similar to L-ascorbic acid). The potency of this activity was much lower in Cassia fistula (EC(50) = 59.0 +/- 2.7 microg/mL). The other seven extracts demonstrated no such activity in the concentration range tested. In the deoxyribose damage protection assay, T. arjuna> demonstrated no significant effect in the concentration range 0-20 microg/mL, but above -20 microg/mL concentration (20-125 microg/mL), a pro-oxidant activity was observed (although markedly less than demonstrated by L-ascorbic acid). A similar trend was observed with Vitex negundo. In contrast, C. fistula afforded a 30% protection against such damage at 125 microg/mL concentration. Other plantextracts did not show any activity in this assay. At a dose of 90 mg/kg (single dose) T. arjuna, cardiac lipid peroxidation in male Wistar rats was reduced by 38.8% +/- 2.6% (p<0.05) whereas the reduction was only 11.6% +/- 3.5% in the case of C. fistula even at a dose of 120 mg/kg. Of all the plants tested, T. arjuna demonstrated the highest antioxidant activity. Overall results show that only some plants used in the therapy of cardiovascular disease exert their beneficial effects via antioxidant activity