Effects of hippadine on the blood pressure and heart rate in male spontaneously hypertensive Wistar rats

Expedient cobalt(ii)-catalyzed site-selective C7-arylation of indolines with arylboronic acids

Cobalt(ii)-catalyzed pyrimidyl directing group-assisted C7 arylation of indolines with arylboronic acids has been developed using Mn(OAc)₂·4H₂O as an oxidant. The use of cobalt(ii)-PCy₃ as a catalyst and broad substrate scope are the important practical features.

Mathematical relationships and their consequences between rat pulse waveform parameters and blood pressure during decreasing NO bioavailability

NEW FINDINGS

What is the central question of this study? We wanted to find out whether the relationship between rat arterial pulse waveform (APW) parameters and blood pressure could be described by known mathematical functions and find mathematical parameters for conditions of hypertension resulting from decreased NO bioavailability. What is the main finding and its importance? We found mathematical functions and their parameters that approximate the relationships of 12 APW parameters to systolic and diastolic blood pressure in conditions of decreased NO bioavailability. The results may assign APW parameters to decreased NO bioavailability, which may have predictive or diagnostic value. Information obtained from the arterial pulse waveform (APW) is useful for characterization of the cardiovascular system in particular (patho)physiological conditions. Our goal was to find out whether the relationships between rat APW parameters could be described by simple mathematical functions and to find mathematical parameters for conditions of hypertension resulting from decreased NO bioavailability. Therefore, we explored details of 14 left carotid APW parameters of anaesthetized male Wistar rats and mathematically characterized their relationship to systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) in conditions of a gradual reduction in NO bioavailability after administration of l-NAME. The right jugular vein of anaesthetized Wistar rats was cannulated for l-NAME administration. The left carotid artery was cannulated to detect the APW at high resolution. Here, we show the time-dependent parallel changes of 14 APW parameters before and after i.v. administration of l-NAME and present mathematical functions that approximate the relationships of 12 APW parameters to systolic and diastolic BP. Some APW parameters had minor (e.g. heart rate) or biphasic dependence on BP (e.g. relative level of the maximum rate of ventricular pressure decrease (dP/dt_min )), but all relationships, within a particular range of BP, could be approximated by known regression functions, as a linear function (e.g. pulse BP), exponential decay (e.g. relative level of the maximum rate of ventricular pressure increase (dP/dt_max )), exponential growth (systolic area), exponential rise to a maximum (relative augmentation index) or sigmoid function (e.g. increase of relative level of dP/dt_min ). The mathematical functions may assign APW parameters to decreased NO bioavailability. This may have predictive or diagnostic value.

A review of ethnoboatany, therapeutic value, phytochemistry and pharmacology of Crinum macowanii Baker: A highly traded bulbous plant in Southern Africa

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Crinum macowanii is a deciduous bulbous plant which grows in east, central and southern Africa. Crinum macowanii has been used as herbal medicine by the indigenous people of east and southern Africa has for several centuries. The bulb, leaves and roots of C. macowanii are reported to possess diverse medicinal properties and used to treat or manage various human and animal diseases and ailments throughout its distributional range. Crinum macowanii is used traditionally as a remedy for boils, diarrhoea, fever, inflammation, respiratory system problems, skin rashes, tuberculosis, wounds and urinary tract problems.

AIM OF THE REVIEW

The present review aims to summarize comprehensively the research that has been done on the ethnomedicinal uses, botany, phytochemistry and pharmacology of C. macowanii in different locations throughout its geographical range in east, central and southern African region so as to highlight research gaps and provide a foundation for further investigations on the plant species.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A review of the literature was undertaken and an in-depth analysis of previous research on ethnobotany, therapeutic value, phytochemistry and pharmacology of C. macowanii throughout its distributional range in east, central and southern Africa. Literature sources included papers published in international journals, reports from international, regional and national organizations, conference papers, books, theses, websites and other grey literature. Electronic search engines such as Google, Google scholar, publishing sites such as Elsevier, scienceDirect, BMC, PubMed and other scientific database sites such as ChemSpider, PubChem were used as well as searching the library collections of the National Herbarium and Botanic Gardens (SRGH), Harare, Zimbabwe and the University of Fort Hare, South Africa.

RESULTS

A total of 32 ethnomedicinal uses of C. macowanii are documented in literature, which can be grouped into seven major ethnomedicinal general purpose usages, namely "fever", "wounds, sores and skin rashes", "boils and inflammation", "respiratory system problems", "blood cleansing", "urinary tract problem" and "veterinary uses". The chemical composition of C. macowanii is dominated by various isoquinoline alkaloids, which have been isolated from the bulbs, flowering stalks, leaves and roots. Major biological activities demonstrated by C. macowanii include antifungal, antiviral and antiplasmodial activities, cardiovascular effects as well as effects on the central nervous system. The population of C. macowanii is declining in the wild as the bulbs are over-collected for sale in medicinal (muthi) markets in southern Africa.

CONCLUSION

A literature search revealed that C. macowanii has a lot of potential as a possible source of pharmaceutical products for the treatment of a wide range of human and animal diseases and ailments. Some of the alkaloids isolated from C. macowanii have demonstrated various biological activities when investigated in in vitro assays. However, some of the ethnomedicinal uses of C. macowanii still require pharmacological investigations. Therefore, further studies are required to improve our knowledge about the mechanisms of action, efficacy, toxicity and clinical relevance of the plant species as well as its bioactive compounds.

Amaryllidaceae and Sceletium alkaloids

The latest progress on the isolation, identification, biological activity and synthetic studies of the structurally diverse alkaloids from plants of family Amaryllidaceae has been summarized in this review.