6. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
6.1 SUMMARY
The current study deals mainly with phytochemical and pharmacological investigation of traditionally used medicinal plant Enicostemma littorale Blume. A perusal of the literature revealed that only fragmental information was available on this plant species regarding cytoprotective potential and immunohistochemistry. In addition the exact molecular mechanism of action of this plant species active compound swertiamarin is unknown and remote. Hence this study is designed for the first time for the assessment of immunohistochemistry and gene expression studies of candidate genes in assessing the molecular mechanism of action of swertiamarin.
Plants are becoming potential source of phytoconstituents with …show more content…
All the parameters such as body weight, organ weight, physical characteristics, biochemical and haematological parameters and histopathological examinations were performed to study the toxicity and mortality levels of the swertiamarin. It was found to be very safe up to 2000mg/kg body weight by acute toxicity model study as per the OECD guidelines 423. No toxicity or mortality was observed in any of the drug dosages ranging from 5 mg/kg to 500 mg/kg in sub chronic toxicity studies. Hence these observations resulted in fixing the effective dosage for swertiamarin to be 50mg/kg body …show more content…
Molecular mechanism was assessed by candidate gene expression studies which involved genes such as IRS-1 & 2, PI3K, Akt, PKC and GLUT4. Studies have showed that this gene expression decreased in STZ- induced Wistar rats were increased to normal expression on oral administration of swertiamarin. This was further supported by the protein expression studies by western blotting. These detailed assessments of molecular mechanism of action studies of swertiamarin could lead to place this drug as a new therapeutic candidate drug leading in maintenance of blood glucose by insulin secretion and controls the epidemic of diabetes mellitus in the growing diabetic
6.1 SUMMARY
The current study deals mainly with phytochemical and pharmacological investigation of traditionally used medicinal plant Enicostemma littorale Blume. A perusal of the literature revealed that only fragmental information was available on this plant species regarding cytoprotective potential and immunohistochemistry. In addition the exact molecular mechanism of action of this plant species active compound swertiamarin is unknown and remote. Hence this study is designed for the first time for the assessment of immunohistochemistry and gene expression studies of candidate genes in assessing the molecular mechanism of action of swertiamarin.
Plants are becoming potential source of phytoconstituents with …show more content…
All the parameters such as body weight, organ weight, physical characteristics, biochemical and haematological parameters and histopathological examinations were performed to study the toxicity and mortality levels of the swertiamarin. It was found to be very safe up to 2000mg/kg body weight by acute toxicity model study as per the OECD guidelines 423. No toxicity or mortality was observed in any of the drug dosages ranging from 5 mg/kg to 500 mg/kg in sub chronic toxicity studies. Hence these observations resulted in fixing the effective dosage for swertiamarin to be 50mg/kg body …show more content…
Molecular mechanism was assessed by candidate gene expression studies which involved genes such as IRS-1 & 2, PI3K, Akt, PKC and GLUT4. Studies have showed that this gene expression decreased in STZ- induced Wistar rats were increased to normal expression on oral administration of swertiamarin. This was further supported by the protein expression studies by western blotting. These detailed assessments of molecular mechanism of action studies of swertiamarin could lead to place this drug as a new therapeutic candidate drug leading in maintenance of blood glucose by insulin secretion and controls the epidemic of diabetes mellitus in the growing diabetic