Areca nut (seed of Areca catechu) is consumed by people from different parts of Asia, including India. The four major alkaloids present in areca nut are arecoline, arecaidine, guvacoline and guvacine. Upon cutting, the nut reveals two kinds of regions; white and brown. In our present study, we have monitored the formation of these two regions within the nut during maturation, using the non-inva...

Regarding oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) development, chewing areca is known to be a strong risk factor in many Asian cultures. Therefore, we established an OSCC induced mouse model by 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide (4-NQO), or arecoline, or both treatments, respectively. These are the main two components of the areca nut that could increase the occurrence of OSCC. We examined the effects with t...

The methanol extracts of nine medicinal plants traditionally used in Chinese medicine were screened for antioxidant activity versus resveratrol, which has been shown to protect cells from oxidative damage [Toxicol. Lett. 102 (1998) 5]. Most of the plant extracts used in this study inhibited the H(2)O(2)-induced apoptosis of Chinese hamster lung fibroblast (V79-4) cells. The extracts of Areca ca...

Anumber of risk factors such as tobacco, human papilloma virus, areca nut, alcohol have been termed in the literature as causative agents for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).Areca nut, when mixed with tobacco products or wrapped in the leaf of the piper betel plant, named as betel nut. Areca nut chewing is associated with acute as well as chronic effects. The acute effects are wor...

Exposure of oral cavity to areca nut is associated with several pathological conditions including oral submucous fibrosis (OSF). Histopathologically OSF is characterized by epithelial atrophy, chronic inflammation, juxtaepithelial hyalinization, leading to fibrosis of submucosal tissue and affects 0.5% of the population in the Indian subcontinent. As the molecular mechanisms leading to atrophie...

This study is first to analyze the inflammatory cytokines, produced by the bronchial epithelium after exposure to areca nut extract (ANE), which contribute to airway remodeling by increasing human bronchial smooth muscle cells (BSMC) migration and proliferation. We treated human bronchial epithelial cell lines BEAS-2B and HBE135-E6E7 (HBE) with ANE, saliva-reacted ANE (sANE), and the areca alka...

Oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) is a crippling disease that impedes the normal functions of the oral cavity. It is a slowly progressive disease characterized by epithelial atrophy, abnormal accumulation of collagen fibres in the sub-epithelial tissues leading to severe restriction of mouth opening and movement of the tongue. The disease is believed to be a localized collagen disorder. Chewing ar...

This literature review addresses the attempted interventions for the management of oral submucous fibrosis. The literature supports the use of several medical interventions, including micronutrients, antioxidants, proteolytic enzymes, immune modulators (mainly steroids), and agents to promote blood flow. However, the numbers of reported randomized controlled trials are limited. Therefore, no re...

Amongst the list of pre-malignant conditions, Oral Submucous Fibrosis (OSMF) forms one of the most debilitating diseases of the oral cavity. It is predominantly seen among populations using betel quid, indicating areca nut as the most conspicuous agent in the etiological agents. A clear dosedependent relationship In relation to both the duration and frequency of chewing areca nut was revealed, ...