Journal of Phytomedicine and Therapeutics

Reducing the risks of nuclear war—the role of health professionals

Kunle Olobayo — 2023-12-07

No Abstract

Liver Enzymes and Blood Lactate Profile of Patients Diagnosed with Typhoid Fever in Abuja, Nigeria

Oluchukwu Ogechukwu Anunobi — 2023-12-07

Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi antibiotics resistance is on the increase and this frustrates efforts at treatment. Persistence of drug-resistant typhoid fever leads to higher mortality rate because treatment is evasive. Lactate is a marker of the severity of stress response in illnesses and liver function enzymes are indicative of the health of the liver. This study intended to identify the effect of drug resistant typhoid fever infection on liver enzymes and blood lactate levels of patients diagnosed with typhoid fever. Fifty subjects were recruited, forty-five were positive for Widal test and further subjected to stool culture examination for the identification of Salmonella Typhi. All patient’s blood were analysed for lactate, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP). Salmonella Typhi were identified in eight out of forty-five Widal positive test patients. The eight positive Salmonella Typhi isolates showed resistance to the Amoxicillin (30 mcg), Tetracycline(30 mcg), Cotrimoxazole (25 mcg), Ceftriazone (30 mcg), Levofloxacin (5 mcg), Gentamicin (30 mcg) and Netillin (30 mcg) but showed susceptibility to ofloxacin (5 mcg). ALP (158.1±8.32 IU/L), AST(55.1±6.78 U/L), ALT (65.2 ±4.96U/L) and blood lactate (10.5±2.4 mmol/L), were elevated in all drug resistant patients when compared to reference standard ALT (7-56 U/L), AST (10-40 U/L), ALP (20-120IU/L), lactate (0.8-2.2 mmol/L). ALT, AST and ALP enzyme levels increased with increasing number of resistances to antibiotics. Untreated typhoid fever infection exerts metabolic toll on liver functions.

Zidovudine reduces ketamine-induced psychotic symptoms in mice

P.U. Ahmadu — 2023-12-07

Introduction: Infection with human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) is associated with several neurological disorders including psychotic symptoms. Treatment or therapeutic management of these symptoms with conventional anti-psychotic drugs (APDs) is associated with drug-drug interaction and side effects that may cause treatment failure. Zidovudine (AZT) an anti-retroviral (ARV) drug, is a nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) with highest CNS penetrating ability, but few or nothing is known about its CNS effects.

Objective of study: To evaluate the effect of AZT on ketamine-induced depression, hyperkinesia, and cognitive function in mice.

Method: Acute toxicity was conducted for oral and intraperitoneal administration using Lorke’s (1983) method. Acute zidovudine alone and its concurrent (AZT + Ketamine) sub-chronic (7 days) administration was investigated using forced swim test, open field locomotor test and Y-maze test. Olanzepine (5mg/kg), Haloperidol (1 mg/kg) and Eserine (0.03 mg/kg) were used as standard controls respectively with saline as normal control. Eserine was administered intraperitoneal 30 minutes before the test, while the 5 tested zidovudine doses (12.5, 25, 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg) were administered singly orally for 60 minutes prior to the acute test while ketamine 30mg/kg intraperitoneal administered concurrently for 7 days for the sub-chronic test

Result: The LD50 for oral and intraperitoneal administration were determined to be 3807.88 mg/kg and 2154 mg/kg respectively. Concurrent AZT administration with ketamine for 7 days, significantly (p<0.001) reduced immobility time at AZT doses of 25 mg/kg and 12.5 mg/kg compared to the control. The 7-days AZT concurrent treatments with ketamine reduced locomotion at all AZT test groups, compared to normal control group. The mean percent alternation was severely reduced in acute AZT treatments, but increased in concurrent AZT-ketamine administration.

Conclusion: AZT ameliorate ketamine-induced psychotic-like symptoms in mice, but was found to cause cognitive deficits in normal controls.

In silico study and bioprospection of the antibacterial and antioxidant effect of the essential oils of Cymbopogon citratus and Zingiber Officinale against bacteria associated with otitis media in children

A.O. Kolawole — 2023-12-07

This present study was conducted to investigate the efficacy of the essential oils (EO) of Cymbopogon citratus (DC.) Stapf. (Lemon grass) and Zingiber officinale Roscoe (ginger) against bacteria associated with otitis media (OM) in children. Ear swab samples were collected from 12 children diagnosed with OM between the ages of 0 – 5 years. Essential oils were extracted from the plants using the hydro-distillation method. The antibacterial activity of the essential oils was determined using the agar well diffusion method against isolated bacteria including Proteus mirabilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris, Moraxella catarrhalis, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococccus epidermidis. The antibiotic susceptibility patterns of the bacteria isolated was determined using 10 standard antibiotics as control. Greater zones of inhibition were observed in essential oil of Lemon grass as compared to Ginger. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) and Minimum Bactericidal concentrations (MBC) were carried out for each essential oil where higher values (12.5 -100%v/v) were recorded for ginger essential oil than lemon grass (0.78 – 1.56%v/v). Phytochemical analysis of the EOs of ginger and lemon grass carried out using GC-MS showed the presence of zingiberene (26.85%) and generaldehyde (21.13%) respectively as the most abundant phytocompounds. In silico study was carried out through the molecular docking method using the AutoDock version 2.1 by taking two proteins- osmoporin and mevalonate synthetase as targets and different phytocompounds from the essential oils as ligands. Molecular docking highlighted the potential of several phytocompounds in the essential oils to inhibit protein targets required by bacteria for survival.