Cyclic monoterpene extract from cardamom oil as a skin permeation enhancer for indomethacin: in vitro and in vivo studies

Chemical Profile, Antibacterial and Antioxidant Potential of Zingiber officinale Roscoe and Elettaria cardamomum (L.) Maton Essential Oils and Extracts

The aim of this work was to study the chemical composition of the essential oil extracted from ginger rhizomes (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) and cardamom seeds (Elettaria cardamomum (L.) Maton). Using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS), a total of 43 compounds were identified in ginger essential oil and 17 compounds in cardamom. The most abundant components, respectively, were zingiberene (22.18%) and 1.8-cinéol (43.47%). Essential oils, methanol, ethanol and chloroform extracts for both plants were tested against nine bacteria and yeast. The highest sensitivity was noticed against Staphylococcus aureus with a 25 mm inhibition zone. The antioxidant potency of both oils and extracts were measured using DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl) free radical scavenging and the ferric reducing power (FRP) method; the ethanolic extract of cardamom fruits exhibited the best results for both tests, with an IC 50 = 0.423 ± 0.015 mg/mL and 95.03 ± 0.076 FRP mg AAE/g.

Botany, traditional uses, phytochemistry and biological activities of cardamom [Elettaria cardamomum (L.) Maton] - A critical review

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Small cardamom [Elettaria cardamomum (L.) Maton. (Family: Zingiberaceae)] capsules (fruits) have been used for traditional medicine applications including for the control of asthma, teeth and gum infections, cataracts, nausea, diarrhea, as well as cardiac, digestive and kidney disorders. The versatile use of cardamom capsules has several other beneficial health effects that are relevant in light of traditional and modern pharmaceutical perspectives.

AIM OF THE STUDY

This review aims to provide a critical and comprehensive evaluation of the traditional and current medical uses of E. cardamomum, and compare these applications with modern research studies. This critical review also discusses the botanical distribution, phytochemical constituents and biological activities of cardamom capsule extracts and essential oil.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

An online survey was conducted of the traditional uses, phytochemical composition, and pharmacological applications of cardamom essential oil (CEO) and extracts. Pertinent data were obtained from several electronic scientific databases (Science Direct, Elsevier, Web of Science, PubMed, Springer, ACS publications, Taylor and Francis, Wiley On-line Library and Google Scholar), and additional information was obtained from textbooks and local prints and scripts.

RESULTS

Cardamom fruits (capsules) are used widely as a spice and flavoring ingredient in foods, and are often recognized for their beneficial health properties. They are also used in fragrances. Phytochemical analyses have described important chemical constituents of cardamom including carbohydrates, proteins, minerals, lipids, essential oils, flavonoids, terpenoids and carotenoids. CEO has several biological roles including antioxidant, antidiabetic, antibacterial, anticancer, gastro-protective and insecticidal activities.

CONCLUSION

The widespread availability and recommendation of synthetic compounds for addressing human health have several side effects besides higher costs. Hence, examining natural bioactive compounds is imperative. This review investigates and presents the pertinent information on cardamom and its traditional uses, as well as potential pharmacological properties of CEO and extracts. Additional research studies are needed to understand the mechanism of action of bioactive constituents.

Formulations for trans-tympanic antibiotic delivery

We have developed a drug delivery system for prolonged trans-tympanic antibiotic delivery from a single dose administration. Increased permeability to ciprofloxacin of the intact tympanic membrane (TM) was achieved by chemical permeation enhancers (CPEs--bupivacaine, limonene, sodium dodecyl sulfate); this was also seen by CPEs contained within a hydrogel (poloxamer 407) to maintain the formulation at the TM. The CPE-hydrogel formulation had minimal effects on auditory thresholds and tissue response in vivo. CPE-hydrogel formulations have potential for ototopical delivery of ciprofloxacin for the treatment of acute otitis media (AOM) and other middle ear diseases.

Antioxidative effects of the spice cardamom against non-melanoma skin cancer by modulating nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor 2 and NF-κB signalling pathways

The role of dietary factors in inhibiting or delaying the development of non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) has been investigated for many years. Cardamom, which is a dietary phytoproduct, has been commonly used in cuisines for flavour and has numerous health benefits, such as improving digestion and stimulating metabolism and having antitumorigenic effects. We have investigated the efficacy of dietary cardamom against 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced skin papillomatogenesis in Swiss albino mice that closely resembles human NMSC. Mice were grouped into normal wild type (untreated), vehicle-treated (acetone), carcinogen-treated (DMBA), and DMBA and cardamom-treated (DMBA+CARD) to delineate the role of cardamom against DMBA-induced papillomatogenesis. Oral administration of cardamom to DMBA-treated mice up-regulated the phase II detoxification enzymes, such as glutathione-S-transferase and glutathione peroxidase, probably via activation of nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor 2 transcription factor in 'DMBA+CARD' mice. Furthermore, reduced glutathione, glutathione reductase, superoxide dismutase and catalase were also up-regulated by cardamom in the same 'DMBA+CARD' group of mice compared with DMBA-treated mice. Cardamom ingestion in DMBA-treated mice blocked NF-κB activation and down-regulated cyclo-oxygenase-2 expression. As a consequence, both the size and the number of skin papillomas generated on the skin due to the DMBA treatment were reduced in the 'DMBA+CARD' group. Thus, the results from the present study suggest that cardamom has a potential to become a pivotal chemopreventive agent to prevent papillomagenesis on the skin.

Pharmaceutical and therapeutic Potentials of essential oils and their individual volatile constituents: a review

Essential oils and their volatile constituents are used widely to prevent and treat human disease. The possible role and mode of action of these natural products is discussed with regard to the prevention and treatment of cancer, cardiovascular diseases including atherosclerosis and thrombosis, as well as their bioactivity as antibacterial, antiviral, antioxidants and antidiabetic agents. Their application as natural skin penetration enhancers for transdermal drug delivery and the therapeutic properties of essential oils in aroma and massage therapy will also be outlined.

Insights into synergistic interactions in binary mixtures of chemical permeation enhancers for transdermal drug delivery

Chemical permeation enhancers (CPEs) are known to increase skin permeability to therapeutic drugs. Single chemicals, however, offer limited enhancements of skin permeability. Mixtures of chemicals can overcome this limitation owing to their synergistic interactions. However, identification of potent mixtures of chemicals requires screening of a large number of formulations. Discovery of CPE mixtures can be significantly accelerated by identifying patterns that occur in the existing data on CPEs. In this study, we systematically mine through a huge database on skin permeabilizing effect of over 4000 binary formulations generated by high throughput screening and extract general principles that govern the effect of binary combinations of chemicals on skin's barrier properties. Potencies and synergies of these formulations are analyzed to identify the role played by the formulation composition and chemistry. The analysis reveals several intuitive but some largely non-intuitive trends. For example, formulations made from enhancer mixtures are most potent when participating moieties are present in nearly equal fractions. Methyl pyrrolidone, a small molecule, is particularly effective in forming potent and synergistic enhancer formulations, and zwitterionic surfactants are more likely to feature in potent enhancers. Simple but invaluable rules like these will provide guiding principles for designing libraries to further speed up the formulation discovery process.

Natural Oils Affect the Human Skin Integrity and the Percutaneous Penetration of Benzoic Acid Dose-Dependently

Natural oils are extensively used in cosmetics and as treatment for a growing number of more or less specific ailments. Skin irritation and cases of allergy have repeatedly been described in the literature following exposure to these oils. The present study evaluated the extent to which three natural oils (eucalyptus oil, tea tree oil, peppermint oil) would affect the skin integrity and the percutaneous penetration of benzoic acid when applied topically in relevant concentrations. An experimental in vitro model using static diffusion cells mounted with human breast or abdominal skin was applied. The three natural oils decreased the skin integrity dose-dependently. Concomitant dermal exposure to low concentrations of peppermint oil reduced the percutaneous penetration of benzoic acid. The present study lends support to the notion that low concentrations of peppermint oil may act protective against percutaneous penetration of some chemicals, whereas higher concentrations may decrease the integrity of the dermal barrier.

Gastroprotective effect of cardamom, Elettaria cardamomum Maton. fruits in rats

Cardamom, the fruits of Elettaria cardamomum Maton. (Zingiberaceae) commonly known as "Heel khurd" is used in Unani system of medicine to treat gastrointestinal disorders. A crude methanolic extract (TM), essential oil (EO), petroleum ether soluble (PS) and insoluble (PI) fractions of methanolic extract, were studied in rats at doses of 100-500, 12.5-50, 12.5-150 and 450 mg/kg, respectively for their ability to inhibit the gastric lesions induced by aspirin, ethanol and pylorous ligature. In addition their effects on wall mucus and gastric acid output were recorded. All fractions (TM, EO, PS, PI) significantly inhibited gastric lesions induced by ethanol and aspirin but not those induced by pylorus ligation. TM proved to be active reducing lesions by about 70% in the EtOH-induced ulcer model at 500 mg/kg. The PS fraction reduced the lesions by 50% at 50 and 100mg/kg (no dose response was observed) with similar effect than the PI fraction at 450 mg/kg. In the aspirin-induced gastric ulcer, the best gastroprotective effect was found in the PS fraction, which inhibited lesions by nearly 100% at 12.5mg/kg. In our experimental conditions, the PS extract at doses >or=12.5mg/kg proved to be more active than ranitidine at 50mg/kg.

In Vivo and in Vitro Evaluation of Essential Oils from Ligusticum chuanxiong HORT on the Transdermal Delivery of Flurbiprofen in Rabbits

The present study was designed to evaluate skin permeation enhancement effect of essential oils from Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort (chuanxiong oil) in rabbits and to compare the in vivo absorption and in vitro permeation using flurbiprofen as a model drug. In vivo results demonstrated that chuanxiong oil showed a rapid and marked permeation enhancement effect. The group with 10% oil exhibited the highest value of area under the curve (AUC) of 418+/-124 microg/ml x h, which was 2.43 times the high of control. The AUC value of 3% oil group (245+/-81.6 microg/ml x h) was similar to that of 5% oleic acid group (235+/-74.5 microg/ml x h). Whereas in vitro results indicated the enhancement of chuanxiong oil was relatively weak. The group with 3% oil appeared to the highest flurbiprofen flux (84.9+/-19.3 microg/cm2/h), to some extent lower than 5% oleic acid group (107+/-5.85 microg/cm2/h). At 10% and 15% concentrations, chuanxiong oil even decreased the flux of flurbiprofen compared with the control. Both in vitro results with pretreated skin and flurbiprofen content accumulated in skin indicated the potential mechanism for the in vitro enhancement of chuanxiong oil was the weakened barrier function by improving in the partitioning of flurbiprofen to the stratum corneum. The discrepancy was noted between the in vivo and in vitro results, indicating only about the weakened barrier function was not enough to explain the sharply increment of in vivo absorption of flurbiprofen by chuanxiong oil. The GS-MS results indicated phthalides identified from chuanxiong oil might mainly contribute to enhance in vivo absorption of flurbiprofen because of its large quantities (91.15%).

Transdermal iontophoresis: combination strategies to improve transdermal iontophoretic drug delivery

For several decades, there has been interest in using the skin as a port of entry into the body for the systemic delivery of therapeutic agents. However, the upper layer of the skin, the stratum corneum, poses a barrier to the entry of many therapeutic entities. Given a compound, passive delivery rate is often dependent on two major physicochemical properties: the partition coefficient and solubility. The use of chemical enhancers and modifications of the thermodynamic activity of the applied drug are two frequently employed strategies to improve transdermal permeation. Chemical enhancers are known to enhance drug permeation by several mechanisms which include disrupting the organized intercellular lipid structure of the stratum corneum , 'fluidizing' the stratum corneum lipids , altering cellular proteins, and in some cases, extracting intercellular lipids . However, the resulting increase in drug permeation using these techniques is rather modest especially for hydrophilic drugs. A number of other physical approaches such as iontophoresis, sonophoresis, ultrasound and the use of microneedles are now being studied to improve permeation of hydrophilic as well as lipophilic drugs. This article presents an overview of the use of iontophoresis alone and in conjunction with other approaches such as chemical enhancement, electroporation, sonophoresis, and use of microneedles and ion-exchange materials.

Pretreatment with 1,8-cineole potentiates thioacetamide-induced hepatotoxicity and immunosuppression

The effect of 1,8-cineole on cytochrome P450 (CYP) expression was investigated in male Sprague Dawley rats and female BALB/c mice. When rats were treated orally with 200, 400 and 800 mg/kg of 1,8-cineole for 3 consecutive days, the liver microsomal activities of benzyloxyresorufin- and pentoxyresorufin-omicron-dealkylases and erythromycin N-demethylase were dose-dependently induced. The Western immunoblotting analyses clearly indicated the induction of CYP 2B1/2 and CYP 3A1/2 proteins by 1,8-cineole. At the doses employed, 1,8-cineole did not cause toxicity, including hepatotoxicity. Subsequently, 1,8-cineole was applied to study the role of metabolic activation in thioacetamide-induced hepatotoxicity and/or immunotoxicity in animal models. To investigate a possible role of metabolic activation by CYP enzymes in thioacetamide-induced hepatotoxicity, rats were pre-treated with 800 mg/kg of 1 ,8-cineole for 3 days, followed by a single intraperitoneal treatment with 50 and 100 mg/kg of thioacetamide in saline. 24 h later, thioacetamide-induced hepatotoxicity was significantly potentiated by the pretreatment with 1,8-cineole. When female BALB/c mice were pretreated with 800 mg/kg of 1,8-cineole for 3 days, followed by a single intraperitoneal treatment with 100 mg/kg of thioacetamide, the antibody response to sheep red blood cells was significantly potentiated. In addition, the liver microsomal activities of CYP 2B enzymes were significantly induced by 1,8-cineole as in rats. Taken together, our results indicated that 1,8-cineole might be a useful CYP modulator in investigating the possible role of metabolic activation in chemical-induced hepatotoxicity and immunotoxicity.

Antitoxin activity of plants used in Mexican traditional medicine against scorpion poisoning

Scorpions, especially in urban areas of tropical and subtropical regions, present a common risk of poisoning. In Mexico, scorpion envenomation is considered a public health problem. Despite the frequency of scorpion sting cases, there are to date no uniform criteria for their treatment. In Mexican traditional medicine, different plant species have been widely used as a remedy for treating scorpion poisoning. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of Bouvardia ternifolia, Aristolochia elegans and Vitex mollis extracts on Centruroides limpidus limpidus venom lethality in mice, and to determine their antagonist activity on guinea pig ileum. The hexane and methanol extract from B. ternifolia modified the LD50 of C. limpidus limpidus venom from 0.750 +/- 0.08 to 1.64 +/- 0.19 and 1.16 +/- 0.14 mg/kg, respectively. The extracts of A. elegans produced lower antitoxic activity, while extracts of V. mollis did not show any protection. On in vitro test, addition of B. ternifolia and A. elegans extracts strongly inhibited, in a concentration-dependent manner, the ileum contractions induced by venom. In general, the results demonstrated the effectiveness of these two plant species in modifying the lethality of C. limpidus limpidus venom in mice.

Essential Oils from Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum) as Novel Enhancers to Accelerate Transdermal Drug Delivery

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the essential oils from sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum, OB) as skin permeation enhancers to promote the percutaneous absorption of drugs. The in vitro and in vivo irritancy of the essential oils was also examined. Terpenes with various carbon numbers (mono-, sesqui-, di-, and tri-) were identified in both the lower-polarity fraction (OB-1) and higher-polarity fraction (OB-2). In vitro skin permeation and deposition of indomethacin were significantly enhanced after treatment with OB essential oils. The enhancing effect of OB-1 was greater than that of OB-2 in the in vitro permeation and in vivo cutaneous microdialysis analyses as well as in the plasma concentration of indomethacin. On the other hand, the in vivo study showed that OB-2 had a greater ability to retain the drug within the skin than did OB-1. Enhancement of the skin permeation of drugs by OB essential oils might be mainly due to improvement in the partitioning of the drugs to the stratum corneum. Both in vitro cell cultures (keratinocytes and skin fibroblasts) and in vivo transepidermal water loss showed no or only negligible irritation to skin by OB essential oils.

Transdermal drug delivery enhanced and controlled by erbium:YAG laser: a comparative study of lipophilic and hydrophilic drugs

The influence of an erbium:YAG laser on the transdermal delivery of drugs across skin was studied in vitro. Indomethacin and nalbuphine, which have the same molecular weight, were selected as model lipophilic and hydrophilic drugs, respectively, to compare skin permeation by laser treatment. The results indicate a significant increase in the permeation of indomethacin and nalbuphine across skin pretreated with an erbium:YAG laser. The laser had a greater effect on the permeation of hydrophilic molecules which usually possess low permeability. The laser intensity and its spot size were found to play an important role in controlling transdermal delivery of drugs. Permeation of the hydrophilic drug increased following an increase of laser energy. On the other hand, a different result was observed for the lipophilic drug transported across laser-treated skin. The stratum corneum (SC) layer in skin could be partly ablated by the erbium:YAG laser. The barrier function of the SC may also be modulated by a lower intensity of the laser without affecting the viability and structure of the epidermis/dermis as determined by histological observations. However, ultrastructural alteration of the epidermis/dermis may be caused by laser treatment. Use of an erbium:YAG laser is a good method for enhancing transdermal absorption of both lipophilic and hydrophilic drugs, because it allows precise control of SC removal, and this ablation of SC can be reversible to the original normal status.