hydroalcoholic extract of pycnocycla spinosa is a relaxant of rat ileum and inhibits diarrhea in mice. as p. spinosa extract has spasmolytic activity on ileum, it could also affect other smooth muscles like bladder. therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of p. spinosa extract on rat bladder contraction. in an in vitro study, the effects of p. spinosa extract, nifedipine an...

BACKGROUND Recently there has been a remarkable surge of interest about natural products and their applications in the cosmetic industry. Topical delivery of antioxidants from natural sources is one of the approaches used to reverse signs of skin aging. The aim of this research was to develop a nanoemulsion cream for topical delivery of 30% ethanolic extract derived from local Phyllanthus urina...

The crude powder, ethanolic extract and aqueous, chloroform, hexane and n-butanol soluble fractions of ethanolic extract of heart wood of P. marsupium showed marked improvement on oral glucose tolerance post sucrose load in normal rats. All these fractions except aqueous fraction showed improvement on oral glucose tolerance post sucrose load on streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. The cr...

Changbai Mountain Ginseng (CMG, Panax ginseng C.A. Mey) is a traditional medicine commonly found in Northeast China and grows at elevations of 2000 m or higher in the Changbai Mountain Range. CMG, considered to be a "buried treasure medicine", is priced higher than other types of ginseng. However, few studies have demonstrated the effects of CMG supplementation on exercise performance, physical...

Previous lines of experimental evidence have suggested that Phaseolus vulgaris extracts reduce food intake, body weight, lipid accumulation, hedonic properties of food, carbohydrate absorption and metabolism, and glycaemia in rats. The present study was designed to assess the effect of multiple cycles of repeated treatments with a standardised P. vulgaris dry extract on daily food intake and bo...

The leaf extract of Tamarindus indica L. (T. indica) had been reported to possess high phenolic content and showed high antioxidant activities. In this study, the effects of the antioxidant-rich leaf extract of the T. indica on lipid peroxidation, antioxidant enzyme activities, H2O2-induced ROS production and gene expression patterns were investigated in liver HepG2 cells. Lipid peroxidation an...

OBJECTIVE Mucositis is a serious disorder of the gastrointestinal tract that results from cancer chemotherapy. We investigated the effects of increasing grape seed extract doses on the severity of chemotherapy in a rat model and its coincident impact on chemotherapeutic effectiveness in colon cancer cells. DESIGN Female Dark Agouti rats were gavaged with grape seed extract (400-1000 mg/kg) or...

In the present study, the antiasthmatic (bronchodilatory) effect of the boiled extract of Nigella sativa in the airways of asthmatic patients was examined. The bronchodilatory effects of 50 and 100 mg/kg of boiled extract in comparison with 6 mg/kg theophylline were studied on 15 asthmatic patients. Pulmonary function tests (PFTs) including forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV(1)), peak ...

BACKGROUND Astragalus membranaceus (AM) is a commonly used herb in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which has been used as an essential tonic to treat various diseases for more than 2000 years. In this study, we aimed to investigate the biological effects of extract from AM on breast cancer cell and its mechanism. METHODS To prepare the extract, dried AM were ground and extracted with wate...