The Pharmaceutical and Chemical Journal

9-18

Authors: Vatchavai Bhaskara Raju, Bonthu Mohan Gandhi, Kamatham Sumanth, Kolli Srinivas, Boppana Sowmya

A new, accurate, rapid and effective isocratic reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method was developed, optimized and validated for the estimation of Lamivudine (LAM) and Zidovudine (ZID) in bulk and pharmaceutical dosage forms. The drugs were estimated using Shiseido C18 (250 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 µm particle size) column. A mobile phase composed of phosphate buffer (pH 3) and ACN in the ratio of 70:30, v/v at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min was used for the separation. Detection was carried out at 228 nm. The linearity range used was 7.5-22.5µg/ml for LAM and 15-45µg/ml for ZID with retention times (Rt) of 2.512 min and 3.721 min for LAM and ZID respectively. The correlation coefficient values were found to be 0.999. Precession studies showed %RSD values less than 2% for both the drugs in all the selected concentrations. The percentage recoveries of LAM and ZID were found to be 99.06% and 99.88% respectively. The assay results of LAM and ZID were within the limits of 98-102%. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were 0.1ng/ml and 0.1µg/ml for LAM and 0.1µg/ml and 0.5µg/ml for ZID respectively. The method was validated as per the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines. The developed method was successfully used for the quantitative analysis of commercially available dosage form.

24-28

Authors: Muhammad Ishtiaq, Shamaila Nazeer, Mehwish Maqbool, Azhar Azam, Aneeqa Kanwal, Maria Zaib

The plant Capparis decidua L. belongs to family Capparidaceae and its stem and fruit were extracted successively with four organic solvents viz. petroleum ether, chloroform, ethanol, and distil water. These crude extracts were assessed for antibacterial activity against two gram positive bacteria i.e. Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilus and two gram negative bacteria i.e. Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa by using disc diffusion method. The antibacterial activity of the crude ethanolic extract of stem of selected plant was more active against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (21.33± 0.058) and showed less antibacterial activity against E. coli (4.67 ± 0.058). The chloroform extract of stem showed good antibacterial activity against P. aeruginosa (14.33 ± 0.115) but represented less activity against E. coli (2.33 ± 0.058mm) The petroleum ether extract of stem of Capparis decidua showed antibacterial activity against P. aeruginosa (8.67 ± 0.058) and show very less activity against E. coli (1.33 ± 0.058). The distill water extract of stem of Capparis decidua showed maximum antibacterial activity against P. aeruginosa (13.33 ± 0.058) and showed less activity against E. coli (8.67 ± 0.058). The Chloroform extract of fruit showed good activity against P. aeruginosa (12.69 ± 0.112mm) and minimum activity against E. coli that were (3.60 ± 0.058mm), The ethanolic extract of fruit of Capparis decidua showed good antibacterial activity against P. aeruginosa (19.33 ± 0.058) and show less antibacterial activity against E. coli (2.67 ± 0.058). The chloroform and ethanolic extracts showed the significant zones of inhibition for all microorganisms. This set of experiment was conducted to compare the antibacterial activity of stem and fruit of Capparis decidua. Anatomical studies were conducted to observe the variation in the cells size of stem of Capparis decidua taken from different localities of District Bhimber. There was variation in the size of cells of pith, xylem, phloem, and epidermis of the stem of Capparis decidua taken from the different areas of District Bhimber. The size of epidermal cells of stem (1089.54 ± 0.83) was higher that was taken from Kaschanater and size of epidermal cell wasminimum (793.72 ± 0.94) that was taken from Chata. The size of cortex cell wasmaximum (1690.33 ± 0.54) that was taken from Bhimber and wasminimum (1090.32 ± 0.73) that was taken from Chata. It proves that this, medicinal plant is medicinally very important and further research may be conducted to explore its comprehensive pharmaceutical analysis.

35-42

Authors: Paul N. Waithaka, Eliud M. Gathuru, Benson M. Githaiga, Silviah W. Gachau

Erwinia spp. causes soft rot in Ornithogalum spp., a flower grown purposely for export in Kenya. As a result the pathogen pauses a great risk to the economy of the country. This study aimed at isolating actinomycetes and Erwinia spp. from the soils of Menengai crater and infected Ornithogalum spp. respectively. In addition, the study sought to produce antiserum against the pathogen using a rabbit. Isolation of actinomycetes from the soil was carried out using standard methods. Erwinia spp. was isolated by first sterilizing the plant tissues using 70% ethanol prior to plating using nutrient agar after cleaning the plant tissues using distilled water. Further sub-culturing on nutrient agar was carried out to obtain pure cultures. The obtained Erwinia spp. was used in testing for sensitivity using the actinomycetes isolate and in production of antiserum through injection of the antigen intramuscularly into the rabbit. The antiserum was tested against the pathogen using immunodiffusion technique. Five potent actinomycetes, PAN 12, PAN 30, PAN 35, PAN 50 and PAN 60 were isolated from the soils of menengai crater. The Erwiniaspp.obtained had typical cultural and morphological characteristics of Erwinia spp. Although there was no significant difference in the zones of inhibition of the Erwinia spp. by the actinomycetes isolates, PAN 35 indicated the largest zones of inhibition. The antiserum produced had very high potency of controlling Erwinia spp. There is need to control Erwinia spp. otherwise horticultural farming in general and growing of the flower in particular will be jeopardized.

52-65

Authors: Aftab Hussain Atif, Asif Shahzad, Nayab Sahar, Sumbal Arshad, Yasir Iqbal, Sajjad Rafique, Mehrban Ashiq

Volatile organic compounds are those that are present in the air having the low boiling points and easily evaporated. These are classified into three categories: volatile, semi-volatile and very volatile compounds. They can be collected by the passive and air sampling or grab and integrated sampling. Mostly, they are collected in tedlar bags made up of Teflon or canisters or can be adsorbed on adsorption tubes. These organic compounds are characterized by the GC-MS, MS, thermal conductivity and electron impact ionization techniques. These compounds are very dangerous and cause many diseases in organisms like urine, blood, lung and skin irritation.

72-79

Authors: Muammer BAHSI, Nevin ILHAN, Demet CICE

Behçet disease (BD) is a rare multisystem, inflammatory disease of unknown origin that may lead to life-threatening events and is associated with a prothrombotic state. The aim of this study was to determine the role of homocysteine and haemostatic factors in the etiopathogenesis and the determination of the activity of BD. In line with this objective, the present study aimed to examine the levels of homocysteine, vitamin B6, vitamin B12 and folic acid which are play role of homocysteine metabolism, and haemostatic factors such as PAI-1, for the diagnosis and particularly the follow-up of BD. The study group consisted of a total of 60 persons, 40 of whom were BD patients and 20 of whom were healthy individuals. We evaluated homocysteine levels and some vitamin levels which were associated with homocysteine metabolism and plasma levels of plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1), C-reactive protein (CRP), and MDA, lipid peroxidation end product. Plasma vitamin B12, folic acid, PAI-1 and homocysteine levels in the active patient group were statistically significantly higher than those in inactive and control group (p<0.05), there was no statistically significant difference in vitamin B6 levels as such between active, inactive Behcet’s patients and the control group (p>0.05). An excess of PAI-1 and hyperhomocysteinaemia, which is a major and independent risk factor for vascular disease, and an accompanying evaluation of vitamin B6, vitamin B12, folic acid may be responsible for the endothelial damage in BD and assumed to be a risk factor and a marker for activation of BD.