• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.190-195
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• 2004

The anticancer potency of the ethanolic extract of Terminalia arjuna on N-nitrosodiethylamine (DEN) induced hepatocellular carcinoma in Wistar albino rats was studied. Single intraperitoneal injection of DEN was administrated to induce liver cancer. After two weeks, phenobarbital (PB) was given orally for fourteen weeks to promote the cancer. The cancer bearing animals treated with ethanolic extract of T.arjuna (400 mg/kg body weight) for 28 days. Nucleic acids such as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA) were estimated in liver and kidney of control and experimental animals. Certain marker enzymes viz, alanine aminotransaminase (ALT), aspartate aminotransaminase (AST), acid phosphatase (ACP), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), 5'-nucleotidase (5'ND) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were assayed in serum, liver and kidney of control and experimental animals. The levels of DNA and RNA were significantly increased in cancer bearing animals. The activities of ALT, AST, ACP, ALP, 5'ND, and LDH were significantly (P<0.001) increased in serum of cancer bearing animals. On the other hand, the levels of ALT, AST were decreased (P<0.001) and ACP, ALP, 5'ND, and LDH were significantly increased (P<0.001) in liver and kidney. These changes were reversed to near normal in drug treated animals. These observations suggest that the ethanolic extract of T.arjuna possess anticancer activity.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.279-288
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• 1995

To apply the serum xanthine oxidase (XO) determining for the index of the toluene intoxication, the serum XO activity was compared with the other parameters, the activities of serum alanine aminotransferase(ALT), aspartate aminotransferase(AST), 5'-nucleotidase(5'-NT), alkaline phosphatase(ALP), guanase(GDA) and $\gamma$-gIutamyl transpeptidase(T-GTP). Concomitantly, the cause of increased level of serum XO was clarified in the present experimental conditions. Although the other serum enzyme activities, ALT, AST, 5'-NT, ALP, GDA and $\gamma$-GTP were respectively not found to be different between control group and toluene-treated group, the serum XO activity in toluene-treated group showed the higher levels than that in the control group. These suggested that the determination of serum XO activity could be used for monitoring the intoxication of toluene. On the other hand, the activities of XO both in the serum and liver were higher in toluene-treated or benzaldehyde-treated rats than those in each control group. In the pooled liver XO from each group, toluene-treated or benzaldehyde-treated group showed the higher $V_{max}$ value than the control group, whereas no changes were observed in liver XO activities between the control liver specimen and that preincubated with bertzaldehyde in vitro. The present results indicate that the increased level of XO in toluene-treated rats is due to the result of enzyme protein induction in liver cell by the benzaldehyde metabolized from toluene. All the more, the benzaldehyde may be acted as a substrate for XO, since the benzaldehyde induced the increased activity of both liver and serum XO, and no changes were found in purine catabolite, uric acid in serum or urine and liver purine catabolizing enzymes, adenosine deaminase, GDA, uricuse except XO in toluene-treated rats.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.173-178
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• 2017

Objectives: Medicinal plants are vital sources of bioactive compounds that are useful for the treatment of patients with snake bites or are indirectly applicable for boosting the effects of conventional serum therapy. These plants are being used traditionally by local healers and tribes for the treatment of patients with snake bites and therefore can be used as an alternative against snake envenomation. Scientifically, using the secondary metabolites of plants to neutralize venom enzymes has an extra benefit of being based on traditional knowledge; also, the use of such metabolites for the treatment of patients with snake bites is cheaper and the treatment can be started sooner. Methods: All the available information on various secondary metabolites exhibiting venom neutralizing ability were collected via electronic search (using Google books, Pubmed, SciFinder, Scirus, Google Scholar, and Web of Science) and articles of peer-reviewed journals. Results:Recent interest in different plant has focused on isolating and identifying of different phytoconstituents that exhibit Phospholipase A2 activity and other venom enzyme neutralizing ability. In this support convincing evidence in experimental animal models are available. Conclusion: Secondary metabolites are naturally present, have no side effect, are stable for a long time, can be easily stored, and can neutralize a wide range of snake enzymes, such as phospholipase A2, hyaluronidase, protease, L-amino acid oxidase, 5'nucleotidase, etc. The current review presents a compilation of important plant secondary metabolites that are effective against snake venom due to enzyme neutralization.