Activity

Vasicine is a potential bronchodilator and can be used for the effective management of asthma and bronchitis. It has low absorption in the gastrointestinal tract due to its poor solubility thereby low bioavailability. selleck chemicals llc The objective of this research was to develop a novel drug delivery system of vasaka extract to improve its bioavailability by enhancing the solubility and absorption of vasicine.

Vasaka-loaded phytosomes were developed and optimized by thin-layer hydration technique using systematic quality by design approach. Box-Behnken design (3

factorial design) using Design-Expert software was employed to optimize phytosome wherein phosphatidylcholine concentration (X

), stirring temperature (X

), and stirring time (X

) were selected as independent variables. Yield (%), particle size (nm), and entrapment efficiency (%) were evaluated as responses. The optimized phytosome was characterized by studying the surface morphology such as FE-SEM and TEM analysis, thermal characteristics by thermal gravimeopment using quality by design strategy to achieve consistent quality of pharmaceutical products.

Pulmonary fibrosis is a chronic disease of the lungs caused by inflammation, species of reactive oxygen, and immune defects. Antioxidant properties of

has been reported in some studies. Therefore, the objective of the current study was to evaluate the effect of ethanolic extract of

(EENO) on bleomycin (BLM)-induced lung fibrosis in rats.

Forty adult male Wistar rats (180-220 g) were randomly divided into 5 experimental groups. Normal control, BLM control received a single dose of BLM (6 IU/kg) intratracheally only on the first day, EENO + BLM group received EENO (500 mg/kg) one week before intratracheal BLM instillation and two weeks afterward, BLM + EENO group and BML + vitamin E group received EENO (500 mg/kg) and vitamin E (500 mg/kg) half-hour after BLM installation, respectively. The animals were sacrificed on day 22. Change in body weight, lung index, serum level of malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO) metabolite, lung tissue hydroxyproline content and lung pathology were assessed.

Pre- or post-treatment with EENO attenuated pulmonary fibrosis as evidenced by normalized lung index, improved histological changes and inhibited collagen deposition (hydroxyproline) in the animal lung. EENO also decreased MDA and NO metabolite release in comparison to the BLM control. vitamin E (500 mg/ kg) also significantly inhibited the BLM-induced lung toxicity.

EENO can prevent BLM-induced lung fibrosis in rats

antioxidant activities. However, more studies are needed to elicit the exact mechanism of this effect.

EENO can prevent BLM-induced lung fibrosis in rats via antioxidant activities. However, more studies are needed to elicit the exact mechanism of this effect.

In recent years, the interest in chitosan nanoparticles has increased due to their application, especially in drug delivery. The main aim of this work was to find a suitable method for simulating pharmaceutical nanoparticles with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling and use it for understanding the process of nanoparticle formation in different types of microchannels.

Active and passive microchannels were compared to find the advantages and disadvantages of each system. Twenty-eight experiments were done on microchannels to quantify the effect of 4 parameters and their interactions on the size and polydispersity index (PDI) of nanoparticles. CFD was implemented by coupling reactive kinetics and the population balance method to simulate the synthesis of chitosan/tripolyphosphate nanoparticles in the microchannel.

The passive microchannel had the best performance for nanoparticle production. The most uniform microspheres and the narrowest standard deviation (124.3 nm, PDI = 0.112) were achieved using passive microchannel. Compared to the active microchannel, the size and PDI of the nanoparticles were 28.7% and 70.5% higher for active microchannels, and 55.43% and 105.3% higher for simple microchannels, respectively. Experimental results confirmed the validity of CFD modeling. The growth and nucleation rates were determined using the reaction equation of chitosan and tripolyphosphate.

CFD modeling by the proposed method can play an important role in the prediction of the size and PDI of chitosan/tripolyphosphate nanoparticles in the same condition and provide a new perspective for studying the production of nanoparticles by numerical methods.

CFD modeling by the proposed method can play an important role in the prediction of the size and PDI of chitosan/tripolyphosphate nanoparticles in the same condition and provide a new perspective for studying the production of nanoparticles by numerical methods.

Previous studies have shown the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and hypolipidemic activities of

. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the protective effects of hydroalcoholic extract of

rhizomes on streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

Twenty-four male Wistar rats were randomly assigned into four groups including a normal control group, diabetic control group, diabetic groups treated for 4 weeks with 100 and 200 mg/kg/day of the

extract (IGE).

Induction of diabetes significantly decreased the body weight gain and considerably increased the serum levels of glucose, triglyceride, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP). Diabetes also diminished the antioxidant capacity of the liver (decrease of thiol groups) and significantly degenerated pancreatic islands. The IGE at both doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg significantly reduced the levels of glucose, triglyceride, AST, ALT, and ALP. Moreover, IGE increased the total antioxidant capacity of the liver and ameliorated pancreatic island morphology. The extract had no significant effect on body weight and BUN level.

These findings suggest that

rhizomes inhibits the progression of hyperglycemia and hypertriglyceridemia and has protective effects against diabetes-induced injury of the liver and pancreas. Therefore, this plant has the potential to be used as a natural product for controlling diabetes.

These findings suggest that Iris germanica rhizomes inhibits the progression of hyperglycemia and hypertriglyceridemia and has protective effects against diabetes-induced injury of the liver and pancreas. Therefore, this plant has the potential to be used as a natural product for controlling diabetes.