Mahalaxmi Mohan

• PhD
• Professor at Mahatma Gandhi Vidyamandir's Pharmacy College, Nashik, Maharashtra, INDIA

Animal studies regarding Safety studies of Gold compounds viz Vasanta Kusumakar, Suvarnamalini Vasant and Roupya Suvarna Sutshekhar

Bacillus coagulans is Gram positive, spore forming and high lactic acid producing bacteria; however, probiotic and safety assessment of the isolated strain need to be investigated for commercial applications. Current study aimed to screen SKB LAB-19 for potential probiotic characteristics viz. enzyme production, antimicrobial properties, pH/bile sa...

Probiotics are live microorganism which when administered in adequate amounts confer health benefits to the host. Different probiotic strains are being used in animal feeds. The main goal of current study was to screen the isolate for potential probiotic characteristics viz. different enzyme production, antimicrobial properties, pH/bile salt tolera...

Bacillus amyloliquefaciens is one of the many Bacillus species which is used as a probiotic, exerting health benefits to the host. B. amyloliquefaciens is a gram-positive, rod shaped bacteria with peritrichous flagella. The species also produces enzymes viz. cellulases, amylases, and proteases, which aid in digestion. The species is principally uti...

The aim of this study is to evaluate antidiarrheal activity of SKB_Gutbiotic against Castor oil and E.coli induced diarrhea in Swiss albino mice and Sprague Dawley rats. In present study three doses of SKB_Gutbiotic were tested against castor oil induced diarrhea in mice. Its effect on co-administration with l-arginine was studied. SKB_Gutbiotic de...

The use of metals in traditional medicine is very often seen as a matter of concern these days. Metals are processed through various steps like Shodhana, Marana, Amritikaran etc., to convert them into Bhasmas, which are then used as a medicine in Ayurveda for internal consumption. Bhasmas are unique Ayurvedic metallic preparations with herbal juice...

The present study investigated the protective effect of the ethanolic extract of Psidium guajava L. against tacrine-induced orofacial dyskinesia in rats. Behavioral assessments such as vacuous chewing movements, tongue protrusions, orofacial bursts, locomotion, and cognition were recorded. Forebrain of tacrine treated animals was assessed for its a...

The effect of ethanolic extract of Coriandrum sativum L. seeds (100, 200 mg/kg) was studied on tacrine induced orofacial dyskinesia. Tacrine (2.5 mg/kg, i.p.) treated animals were observed for vacuous chewing movements (VCM), tongue protrusions (TP) and orofacial bursts (OB) for 1 h followed by observations for locomotor changes and cognitive dysfu...

The objective of the present study was to investigate the protective effect of ethanolic extract of Psidium guajava L. leaves against doxorubicin-induced nephrotoxicity in rats. Animals treated with doxorubicin (8mg/kg, i.p) once daily for 2 days significantly (P<0.05) increased Serum Urea, BUN, creatinine, total protein, LPO and significantly (P<0...

Medicinal plants have been a rich source of medicines. Mucuna pruriens is extensively used in Ayurveda to treat kampavat (Parkinson’s disease in modern medicine), a disease characterized by excess of Vata. Clinical and preclinical studies have substantiated claims on its efficacy and safety in PD and there are indications that it is more effective...

Oxidative stress is the main factor in doxorubicin (DOX) induced cardiotoxicity. Wistar rats received either DOX (3 mg kg−1, i.p.) every other day or combination of Hypericum hircinum (100 and 200 mg kg−1, p.o.) and DOX or H. hircinum (200 mg kg−1, p.o.) extract alone for 2 weeks. Cardiotoxicity was assessed by recording changes in ECG, heart rate...

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of torvanol A (10 and 30 mg/kg) isolated from Solanum torvum as antidepressant, anxiolytic and adaptogenic. Forced swim test (FST), tail suspension test (TST), elevated plus maze (EPM) test, light dark apparatus (LDA), pentylenetetrazole-induced convulsions model and chronic stress-induced beh...

The present study was aimed to determine the effect of ethanolic extract of Solanum torvum (100 and 300mg/kg; p.o. for 6 weeks) on isolated strip of ascending colon, Fundus and Vasdeferens in fructose (10%) fed rat. Chronic administration of S. torvum extract (100, 300mg/kg/day, p.o.) in fructose fed rats significantly (p<0.05) shifted the CCRC of...

The book introduces simple tissue experiments and bioassays with the basic principles underlying them for a beginner. An attempt has also been made to focus on some CVS experiments and some antioxidant studies which will be useful for the post graduate curriculum and research. Some of the experimental graphs are based on the actual experiments perf...

Oxidative stress is the main factor in Doxorubicin (DXR) induced toxicity. Rats received either DXR (3 mg/kg, i.p.) on day 1, 7, 14, 21, 28 or Solanum torvum extract (100 mg/kg and 300 mg/kg, p.o.) prior to DXR or S. torvum (100 mg/kg and 300 mg/kg, p.o.) extract alone for 4 weeks. Testicular toxicity was assessed by recording changes in body weigh...

Fructose feeding induces a rise in blood pressure in normal rats that is associated with insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, hyperglycaemia, hypercholesterolaemia and hypertriglyceridaemia. We have examined the effect of chronic administration of A-HRS (100 and 300 mg kg⁻¹; p.o.) isolated from Hibiscus rosa sinensis (Malvaceae) on systolic blood...

Hepatotoxicity is one of the main side effects associated with Doxorubicin (DOX) treatment. The aim of the present study was to examine the protective effect of S. torvum in Doxorubicin (DOX) induced hepatotoxicity. Wistar rats received either DOX (67.75 mg/kg, i.v, 2 days before sacrifice) or Solanum torvum (100 mg/kg and 300 mg/kg, p.o.) prior to...

Reserpine-induced orofacial dyskinesia in rats is an animal model of tardive dyskinesia that has been linked with free radical generation and oxidative stress. In the present study, reserpine (1 mg kg(-1), s.c.) was given to rats on days 1, 3 and 5 to induce orofacial dyskinesia, which is characterised by increased vacuous chewing and tongue protru...

Neuroleptic-induced tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a motor disorder of the orofacial region resulting from chronic neuroleptic treatment. The agents improving dopaminergic transmission improve TD. Mucuna pruriens seed contains levodopa and amino acids. The effect of methanolic extract of M. pruriens seeds (MEMP) was studied on haloperidol-induced TD, a...

Chronic administration of myricetin (100 and 300 mg kg⁻¹, p.o., for 4 weeks) isolated from Vitis vinifera (Vitaceae) ameliorated hypertension and oxidative stress induced by deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt in rats. Myricetin treatment reduced systolic blood pressure, vascular reactivity changes and reversed the DOCA-induced increase in hear...

A previous study from our laboratory has shown the facilitatory effect of Ceratonia siliqua L. (Fabaceae) on the dopaminergic function. This study investigates the involvement of monoamines in the antidepressant activity of the total polyphenol content of Ceratonia siliqua extract (CS) in mice using a tail suspension test (TST) and forced swim test...

Antioxidant activity of seeds of P. granatum and S. torvum were performed by DPPH method, reducing power method, scavenging activity against hydrogen peroxide method and estimating total antioxidant activity. The highest radical scavenging activity was observed with S. torvum extract and showed a significant linear co-rrelation with phenolic and fl...

Anxiety is one of the commonest psychiatric disorders and a large number of medicinal plants have been explored to treat this disorder.Anxiolytic-like action of methanolic extract of the seeds of Solanum torvum (ST) were studied in Swiss albino mice using elevated plus maze (EPM), light and dark transition apparatus (LDA), hole board apparatus (HBA...

The methanolic extract (ME) of Solanum torvum seeds and its ethyl acetate fraction (EAF) were investigated for their antidepressant activity using behavioral (forced swim test, FST and tail suspension test, TST) and biochemical (monoamine oxidase, MAO reduced activity) tests. ME (10, 30 and 100 mg kg(-1)) and EAF (10 and 30 mg kg(-1)) dose dependen...

Acute subcutaneous administration of Angiotensin II (Ang II) causes a rise in blood pressure in diabetic Wistar rats. Diabetes was induced using streptozotocin (70 mg/kg, i.v.). Chronic administration of pomegranate juice (PJ) extract (100 mg/kg and 300 mg/kg; p.o. for 4 weeks) obtained from Punica granatum (punicaceae) fruits reduced the mean arte...

Fructose feeding induces a rise in blood pressure in normal rats and is associated with insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, and hypertriglyceridemia. We have examined the effect of myricetin (100 and 300 mg/kg, p.o. for 6 weeks) isolated from Vitis vinifera Linn. (Vitaceae) on systolic blood pressure (SBP), vascular reactivity, serum glucose, tri...

To determine the protective role of Punica granatum L. (Punicaceae) seed juice extract and its butanolic fraction on heart rate, electrocardiographic patterns, vascular reactivity to catecholamines, cardiac marker enzymes, antioxidant enzymes together with morphologic and histopathological changes in isoproterenol-induced myocardial infarction in m...

Acute subcutaneous administration of angiotensin-II (Ang II-150 μg/kg) causes a rise in blood pressure in normal Wistar rats. Administration of Punica granatum juice extract (PJ- 100 mg/kg and 300 mg/kg; p.o.) for 4 weeks in angiotensin-II treated rats significantly (P<0.05) reduced the mean arterial blood pressure and vascular reactivity changes t...

The study aimed to evaluate the protective role of myricetin obtained from Vitis vinifera (Vitaceae) on heart rate, electrocardiographic (ECG) patterns, vascular reactivity to catecholamines, cardiac marker enzymes, antioxidant enzymes together with morphological and histopathological changes in isoproterenol (ISO) induced myocardial infarction (MI...

Nephrotoxicity is one of the important side effects of anthracycline antibiotics. The aim of the study was to determine the protective effect of Solanum torvum on doxorubicin-induced nephrotoxicity in rats using biochemical and histopathological approaches. Oxidative stress is the main factor in doxorubicin (DOX) induced nephrotoxicity. Wistar rats...

The effect of arogh, a polyherbal formulation-PHF [each 3 g powder contained Nelumbo nucifera G. (0.24 g), Hemidesmus indicus R. (0.24 g), Zingiber officinale R. (0.24 g), Terminalia chebula R. (0.24 g), Quercus infectoria O. (0.12 g), Hibiscus rosa-sinensis L. (0.24 g), Rosa damascene M.(0.24 g), Eclipta alba H.(0.24 g), Glycyrrhiza glabra L. (0.2...

Myricetin (10, 30, and  100 mg/kg) obtained from Vitis vinifera Linn. (Vitaceae) exhibited significant anxiolytic activity in behavioral models of anxiety, namely, elevated plus maze, light/dark apparatus, open field apparatus, and hole board apparatus, in mice. Myricetin significantly (p < 0.05) reduced lithium induced head twitches and also antag...

Solanum torvum (Solanaceae) is a plant used in Cameroon ethnomedicine for the treatment of hypertension. The present study was aimed to determine the effect of ethanolic extract of Solanum torvum (100 and 300 mg/kg; p.o. for 6 weeks) on systolic blood pressure (SBP), vascular reactivity, serum glucose, triglycerides, cholesterol, insulin and uric a...

Medicinal herbs are significant source of synthetic and herbal drugs. In the commercial market, medicinal herbs are used as raw drugs, extracts or tinctures. Isolated active constituents are used for applied research. For the last few decades, phytochemistry (study of plants) has been making rapid progress and herbal products are becoming popular....

The previous study showed that chronic treatment with Withania somnifera extract (WS) inhibited haloperidol-induced catalepsy. It is suggested that caffeine and WS may be useful adjuvants in pharmacotherapy of Parkinson's disease. There are no studies on the effect of haloperidol on mice withdrawn from caffeine or W. somnifera. We therefore studied...

Doxorubicin (DOX) is an anthracycline antibiotic with broad spectrum anti-tumour activity. Its effectiveness has been limited by the occurrence of dose-related myocardial and bone marrow toxicity. As oxidative stress is the main factor in DOX-induced cardiotoxicity, we presumed that agents which enhance endogenous antioxidants can prevent DOX induc...

Derivatives of gallic acid such as methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl, octyl, and lauryl gallate are used as antioxidants in food products to scavenge reactive oxygen species. There are contradictory reports on involvement of dopamine D 2 receptors in the antioxidant activity of several agents. In the present study we synthesized gallic acid derivatives...

Oxidative stress is the main factor in Doxorubicin (DOX) induced cardiotoxicity. Wistar rats received either DOX (67.75 mg/kg, i.v, 2 days before sacrifice) or Solanum torvum extract (100 mg/kg and 300 mg/ kg, p.o.) prior to DOX or S. torvum (100 mg/kg and 300 mg/kg, p.o.) extract alone for 4 weeks. Cardiotoxicity was assessed by recording changes...

The present study was carried out to investigate the antihypertensive effect of a folklore herbal formulation (HF) (300mg/kg/day; p.o.) in deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt induced and fructose induced hypertensive rats. In DOCA model, DOCA (15 mg/kg, s.c., twice a week) was administered to unilateral nephrectomized rats for 4 weeks. In fruct...

We investigated the antihypertensive effect of a methanol extract (ME) of fenugreek seeds and its methanol fraction (MF) in deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt-induced and fructose-induced hypertensive rats. In the DOCA model, DOCA (15 mg/kg, twice a week; s.c.) was administered in uni-nephrectomized animals for 4 weeks. Methanol extract of fen...

Bioassay guided fractionation of methanolic extract of Butea monosperma flowers was carried out using inhibition of dopamine-induced contraction of rat vas deferens as a biological end point. The antidopaminergic activity was present in the isoflavone isolated from ethyl acetate soluble fraction of methanolic extract. The methanolic extract, its et...

The treatment of Parkinson's disease and depression is still far from satisfactory. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the potential of methanolic extract of Glycyrrhiza glabra (GGE) as an adjuvant in treatment of Parkinson's disease and depression. In acute study GGE (30 and 100mg/kg i.p.) significantly inhibited haloperidol-induce...

Objective: To investigate the effect of methanolic extract of Vitis vinifera (VVE) and methanolic fraction (MF) of methanolic extract on memory and behaviour mediated by monoamines. Methods: The effect of VVE and MF on memory was studied using Passive shock avoidance paradigm, Elevated plus maze (EPM) paradigm and Object recognition test. The effec...

Both caffeine and Withania somnifera (WS) are known to inhibit haloperidol-induced catalepsy and it is suggested that caffeine and WS may be used as adjuvant in pharmacotherapy of Parkinson's disease [1]. There are no studies on effect of haloperidol on mice withdrawn from caffeine or WS. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of wit...

Objective: To investigate the Anti-inflammatory Activity of methanolic and petroleum ether extracts of heartwood of Caesalpinia pulcherrima. Method: Anti-inflammatory Activity of methanolic and petroleum ether extracts of heartwood of Caesalpinia pulcherrima (30, 100, 300 mg/kg, p.o.) was studied in rats using Carrageenan induced hind paw edema met...

The objective of this study was to study the antidepressant activity of imipramine, amitryptiline, fluoxetine, and trazodone in alloxan-induced diabetes in rats The acute and chronic effects of imipramine (10 mg/kg, i.p.), amitryptiline (10 mg/kg, i.p.), fluoxetine (10 mg/kg, i.p.), and trazodone (10 mg/kg, i.p.) were studied in different glycemic...

We investigated the effect of Arogh, a polyherbal formulation (PHF) on animal models of anxiety based on exploratory behavior. The anxiolytic activity of polyherbal formulation (30, 100, 300 and 500 mg/kg) was studied using various behavioural paradigms such as elevated plus maze (EPM), light/dark apparatus (LDA), open field apparatus (OFA), hole b...

We investigated the antihypertensive effect of Pet ether extract (PE) of ginger rhizome; its toluene fraction (TF) and Korean ginseng extract (KGE) in deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA) - salt induced and fructose induced hypertensive rats. In DOCA model, DOCA (25 mg/kg, once a week; s.c) was administered in uninephrectomised animals for 4 w. PE (5...

The roots of the plant Korean ginseng have been extensively used in the traditional Chinese herbal medicine. The effects of chronic administration of Korean ginseng extract (KGE) were investigated on two different anxiety models: the elevated T-maze (for inhibitory avoidance and escape measurements) and the open field test (OFT). Diazepam (1 mg/kg)...

Objective: To study the nootropic and anxiolytic activity of Trigonella foenum-graecum (Fenugreek) seeds. Methods: Acetone soluble fraction (AS F) of methanol extract (ME) of Trigonella foenum-graecum (Fenugreek) seeds was assessed for its nootropic and anxiolytic activities. ASF (100,200 and 400 mg/kg) administered intra-peritoneally exhibited noo...

We investigated the effects of chronic administration of different extracts of ginger rhizome [pet ether extract (PE); toluene fraction (TF) of pet ether extract] on anxiety models: the elevated T-maze (ETM) (for inhibitory avoidance and escape measurements) and the open field test. Ondansetron (1 mg/kg), FE (10, 30 &100 mg/kg) and TF (10 & 30 mg/k...

Objective: To study the nootropic activity of leaves of Moringa oleifera. Methods: Toluene–ethylacetate fraction of methanolic extract of Moringa oleifera (MOE) leaves was assessed for its nootropic activity using passive shock avoidance paradigm and elevated plus maze. MOE ( 50 and 100 mg/kg ) was compared with Piracetam (100 mg/kg ). Scopolamine...

The roots of the plant Korean ginseng have been extensively used in the traditional Chinese herbal medicine. We investigated the standardized extract of Korean ginseng on animal models of anxiety based on exploratory behavior. Korean ginseng extract (KGE) (3, 10 and 30 mg/kg) was administered intra-peritoneally. The anxiolytic activity was studied...

The present study was aimed to determine the effect of anthocyanidin fraction of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (A-HRS: 100 and 300 mg/kg; p.o. or 4 weeks) on hypertension and oxidative stress induced by deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt in rats. Blood pressure was measured by both non-invasive and invasive blood pressure techniques. Urinary electrol...