Nirmala A

Publications (2)0 Total impact

• Article: A Novel Terpenoid from Elephantopus Scaber - Antibacterial Activity on Staphylococcus Aureus: A Substantiate Computational Approach

  Daisy P, Mathew Salu, S. Suveena, Nirmala A
  [show abstract] [hide abstract]
  ABSTRACT: Staphylococcus aureus has gainedmuch attention in the last decade as it is a major cause of the Urinary Tract Infection in Diabetic patients. The Extended Spectrum β-Lactamases (ESβL) producers are highly resistant to several conventional antibiotics. This limits the therapeutic options.Hence efforts are now taken to screen few medicinal plants, which are both economic and less toxic. Among the several plants screened, we have chosen the acetone extract of Elephantopus scaber from which we purified a new terpenoid for our study. Its structure was generated using CHEMSKETCH software and the activity prediction was done using PASS PREDICTION software. We have confirmed the mechanism of anti-bacterial effect of terpenoid using Computer –Aided Drug Design (CADD) with computational methods to simulate drug – receptor interactions. The Protein-Ligand interaction plays a significant role in the structural based drug designing. In this present study we have taken the Autolysin, the bacteriolytic enzyme, that digest the cell wall peptidoglycon. The autolysin and terpenoid were docked using HEX docking software and the docking score with minimum energy value of -209.54 was calculated. It infers that the terpenoid can inhibit the activity of autolysin by forming a strong atomic interaction with the active site residues. Hence the terpenoid can act as a drug for bacterial infections. Further investigations can be carried out to predict the activity of terpeniod on other targets.
  International Journal of Biomedical Science. 01/2008;
• Article: Effect of Hexane Extract of Cassia fistula Barks on Blood Glucose and Lipid Profile in Streptozotocin Diabetic Rats

  Nirmala A, Eliza J, Rajalakshmi M, Priya Edel, Daisy P
  [show abstract] [hide abstract]
  ABSTRACT: Medicinal plants play a major role in the management of Diabetes mellitusespecially in developing countries. The present study investigated the possible protective effects of hexane extract of Cassia fistula bark on certain biochemical parameters in Streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetes in rats. Cassia fistula (Caesalpinaceae) has been used in traditional medicine. The barks of C. fistula have already been scientifically proved to possess anti-oxidant properties. The hypocholesterolemic and hypoglycemic effects of the hexane extract of stem bark of C. fistula , in normal and streptozotocin induced diabetic rats, were investigated in the present study. Hexane extract of C. fistula bark at doses 0.15, 0.30, 0.45 g kg<SUP>-1</SUP> body weight for 30 days suppressed the elevated blood glucose levels in diabetic rats. The extract at 0.45 g kg<SUP>-1</SUP> was found to be comparable with glibenclamide, the reference drug. The lipid profile (total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL-cholesterol, LDL and VLDL-cholesterol) after the extract treatment at 0.45 g kg<SUP>-1</SUP> body weight showed remarkable improvement compared to the diabetic control animals. Antioxidant and polyphenol content present in the extracts might contribute to the antihyperglycemic and antilipidemic properties. Thus the results suggest that Cassia fistula barks would be effective in the treatment of diabetes and in prevention and management of coronary artery disease.
  International Journal of Pharmacology. 01/2008;