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ABOUT AUTHORS:
*Saka, O. S; Olayode, A. A; Adelodun, S. T
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology,
Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria.
olusolasaka1@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
This study was designed to evaluate the effects of garlic extracts on the morphology of myocardium of left ventricle of the heart and also determine the body weight and relative weight of the organs on high salt fed adult Wistar rats. Twenty-five healthy female Wistar rats weighing 130-180 g were randomly assigned into 5 groups of 5 rats each (Groups A, B, C, D and E). Rats in group A was fed with standard laboratory pellets, while groups B, C, D and E were fed on the high-salt diet for five weeks. Thereafter, daily administration of 50 mg kg^-1, 100 mg kg^-1 and 150 mg kg^-1 of the garlic extract were giving orally to groups C, D and E respectively for 3 weeks. The rats were sacrificed under ketamine anesthesia (5mg/kg i.m). The left ventricle of the heart was excised, processed routinely in paraffin wax and stained with routine special stained. Result showed significant decreased (p<0.05) in weight of all high salt fed groups when (F=46.90, p<0.05) compared with control. Whereas, treatment with garlic extract help in weight management in high salt fed+garlic extract treated groups and also no significant difference (p<0.05) in the relative heart weight when (F=1.773, p<0.05) compared the control with other groups. Histological results revealed morphological alterations in the left ventricle in high salt fed group. In conclusion, Garlic extract has ameliorative property at the level of 100 mg kg^-1 or 150 mg kg^-1 of the extract on high salt fed induced cardiac injury.

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ABOUT AUTHOR:
Israt Jahan Bulbul
Department of Pharmacy,
Southeast University Banani, Dhaka, Bangladesh
israt_jahanb872@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
A study was conducted to determine the antibacterial and antifungal activitieswith minimum inhibitory concentration and cytotoxic activity of Momordica charantia (Family: Cucurbitaceae) leaves. In our present study, the antimicroial activity of n-hexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate fractions of the plant were investigated against a number of pathogenic Gram-positive (Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Sarcina lutea), Gram- negative (Salmonella paratyphi, Salmonella typhi, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio mimicus, Escherichia coli, Shigella dysenteriae, Shigella boydii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) bacteria and three funguses (Candida albicans, Aspergillus niger and Saccharomyces cerevesiae). Here the zones of inhibitions for the test samples (500 µg /disc) werecompared with that of reference standard (30 µg /disc) in determining antimicrobial activity. All the extracts showed significant antibacterial and antifungal activities against all the pathogenic bacteria except A. niger. The highest sensitivity for n-hexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate fractionswas against gram positive bacteria B.cereus. Almost all the gram positive, gram negative bacteria and fungus were inhibited by ethyl acetate extract and showed better activity compared to n-hexane and chloroform extracts. All the three fractions were tested as antifungal against C. albicans and S. cerevesiae. They showed moderate activity against C. albicans whereas a very good activity against S. cerevesiae. But A. niger was not sensitive to the experimental extracts.Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) that is the lowest concentration at which the test sample shows its highest activity against microorganisms was tested by serial dilution method. The MIC for n-Hexane and chloroform extracts was against B. cereus (64 µg /ml).  The ethyl acetate extract exhibited antibacterial activity with MIC of 64 µg /ml against S. aureus, S. luteae, S. boydii, S. dysentereae and V. mimicus. The Brine shrimp lethality bioassay method was used to determine the cytotoxic activity and vincristine sulphate was used as positive control. The LC₅₀ values of standard vincristine sulphate, n-hexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate extract were 10.18 µg /ml, 24.71 µg /ml, 19.02 µg /ml and 30.38 µg/ml respectively which indicate the presence of bioactive compounds present in the plant extracts are promisingly cytotoxic.

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ABOUT AUTHORS:
Vikram S. Chauhan¹*, Bina Rani², Priyanka Bishnoi³, Raaz K. Maheshwari^3
1Department of Botany, SBRM Govt PG College, Nagaur, Rajasthan, India
²Department of Engineering chemistry & Environmental Engineering, Poornima College of Engineering, Jaipur, India
³Department of Chemistry, SBRM Government PG College, Nagaur, Rajasthan, India
*vikkysingh2000@yahoo.com; rkmgreenchem.jaipur@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
With the advent of modern times, stress and pollution have led to major effect on rise of death toll due to chronic diseases. Such diseases are major cause of concern for the medical society. Lycopene, a carotenoid pigment found in tomatoes and its products has antioxidant properties due to the presence of numerous double bonds. Increased consumption of lycopene containing diet has been proposed to offer a protection against many types of cancers and cardio-vascular diseases. Its potential role as nutraceutical has been suggested in many studies. The present review deals with fundamental biochemistry, bio-availability and benefits of lycopene rich diet and its relation with some chronic diseases like various forms of cancers and cardiovascular diseases.