Phytochemical analysis and in-vivo anti-diabetic activity of leaf extract of Cissampelos pariera, a common medicinal plant of Assam, India

Basumata Caroline, Acharjee Sujit, Sharma Sanilal and Saikia Manjit

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the phytochemical constituent and in-vivo anti-diabetic potential of leaf extract of Cissampelos pareira fructose-aloxan-induced experimental diabetic rats. Qualitative analysis of phytochemical constituents viz. Steroid, Alkaloid, Saponin, Flavonoid, Tanin revealed the extract richness in all these phytochemicals. The glucose levels in the hyperglycaemic control rats were in the ranges of 200-250 throughout the study period. The termination ranges at the end of 12 weeks were 128-136mg/ml, 134-140mg/dl and 126-132 mg/dl in the Pioglitazone, 100mg and 300mg extract-treated rats respectively. In the hyperglycaemic control group, the mean level of glycosylated haemoglobin was 9.30 (7.89-10.30). After 8 weeks and 12 weeks of treatment, it was 6.74 (6.60- 6.90) and 6.77 (6.56-7.00) respectively. The standard drug, Pioglitazone (Pioz, 3mg/kg body wt) was used to compare the results. Light microscopic studies using Aldehyde-fuchsin staining technique showed significant higher islet volume and β-cells granulation scores (18.5% with 25% β-cell volume in the 100mg CLE –treated and 25% with 30% β-cell volume in 300mg CLE-treated diabetic rats) compared to diabetic control rat 0.35 ±0.04% . Toxicity evaluation of the extract-treated animals did not exhibit any adverse effect in this study.

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Ultrasonication as a pre-treatment strategy for enhancement of biohydrogen production from dairy wastewater

Gadhe Abhijit, Sonawane Shriram S. and Varma Mahesh

The present work describes effectiveness of ultrasonication pre-treatment for enhancement of biohydrogen production from complex dairy wastewater at optimized culture conditions obtained previously. An ultrasonic pre-treatment comprised of five ultrasonic densities (UD) (from 0 to 0.2 W/mL) at five different ultrasonication time (UT) (from 6 to 14 min). Response surface methodology (RSM) analysis showed that UD was the highly significant parameter which predominantly influences biodegradability and hydrogen yield (HY). Optimization of pre-treatment using RSM integrated with desirability function followed by a verification test showed that maximum HY of 15.33 mmol/g COD was obtained at 0.08 W/mL and 9 min.

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Optimum Isopropanol foams for soil remediation applications

Chattopadhyay Pradipta and Karthick R. Arun

Optimum quality of foams is important from the standpoint of formulation of hand sanitizers and to remediate soils contaminated with oils. To gain further insight on foams created for such applications, aqueous foams generated by the use of isopropanol and surfactant Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) were first characterized, using a Dynamic Foam Analyzer DFA 100 (Kruss GmbH, Germany) for parameters like foam capacity and foam half life. Then, models for foam capacity and half life were developed by using the Central Composite Experimental Design (CCD) approach of Response Surface Methodology and thereafter statistically analyzed and validated. The levels of the two input variables for the study were isopropanol volume (mL): 10-30, SLS weights (gms): 0.002-0.006. The responses obtained were foam capacity (FC) and half life (HL) in secs. The optimization for the responses, using the model equations developed, was performed by using Microsoft Excel Solver techniques. The maximum values of responses FC and HL were 1.51 and 459.47 secs respectively which were found to be in reasonable agreement with the experimental results.

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A Validated Specific Stability-indicating RP-HPLC Assay Method for Nefopam hydrochloride and its related substances

Chandrasekhar Kothapalli Bonnoth, Prathyusha Naik C. N. and Narayana M.B.V.

A Validated Specific Stability indicating Reversed-phase Liquid chromatographic method was developed for the quantitative determination of Nefopam hydrochloride as well as its related substances determination in bulk samples, pharmaceutical dosage forms in presence of degradation products and its related impurities. Forced degradation studies were performed on bulk sample of Nefopam hydrochloride as per ICH prescribed stress conditions using acid, base, oxidative, thermal stress and photolytic degradation to show the stability indicating power of the LC method. Significant degradation in oxidative stress condition was observed and no degradation was observed in other stress conditions. The chromatographic method was optimized using the samples generated from forced degradation studies and the impurity spiked solution. Good resolution between the peaks corresponds to Nefopam hydrochloride related impurities and degradation products from the analyte were achieved on Xterra RP18 column using the mobile phase of a mixture of Potassium dihydrogen orthophosphate pH adjusted to 8.0 with potassium hydroxide solution in water and Acetonitrile using a simple linear gradient. The detection was carried out at 215 nm. The limit of detection and the limit of quantification for the Nefopam hydrochloride and its related impurities were established. The stressed test solutions were assayed against the qualified working standard of Nefopam hydrochloride and the mass balance in each case was in between 98.2%-100.1% indicating that the developed LC method was Stability-indicating. Validation of the developed LC method was carried out as per ICH requirements. The developed method was found to be suitable to check the quality of bulk samples of Nefopam hydrochloride at the time of batch release and also during its storage (Long term and accelerated stability).

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Determination of Endosulfan and Monocrotophos residues in Leafy vegetables grown on Musi river water in Hyderabad

Pankanti Shalini

Pesticide contamination is a worldwide public health concern. Pesticides enter food chain due to consumption of contaminated vegetables and fruits. Due to rapid urbanisation, farmers are using high dosage of pesticides. Excess use and improper disposal of pesticides contaminate water, soil and vegetables. Present study deals with detection and determination of Endosulfan and Monocrotophos residues in Musi river water, soil and also in leafy vegetables grown on banks of musi river.These residues are below detectable level in different locations in musi river water. Soil collected from two sites has shown presence of Endosulfan and Monocrotophos residues. 2% of leafy vegetables are found to be contaminated with Endosulfan and Monocrotophos. Concentrations of these contaminants in few samples of leafy vegetables are much higher than the permissible levels. Hazard Quotient is calculated for people consuming these vegetables. Hazard Quotient due to Endosulfan and Monocrotophos ranges from 2.63 to 3.57 and 6.47 to 6.76 respectively. Frequent monitoring of these pollutants is very essential to prevent, control and reduce health risks of consumers. Shifting of conventional farming to Organic farming might reduce the use of chemical pesticides and also the health risks.

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Effect of mild thermal treatment and pH in quality of minimally processed marsilea vestita leaves

Gopal Richa, Keshav Amit, Soni A.B. and Sinha Bharti

Color is an important sensory characteristic to determine the acceptability of a product. Kinetics of thermal degradation of chlorophyll a (Cha) and chlorophyll b (Chb) in Marselia vestita leaves was studied at pH values of 5.6 and 6.6 and temperatures of 343 to 363 K. The degradation has been found to be of first order and is higher at lower pH and higher temperature. Rate constant decreases for Cha and Chb as pH was lowered from 6.6 to 5.6 at T = 343K. For the fixed pH of 6.6, it was found that as the temperature was raised from 343 K to 363 K, the rate constant value increases from 0.0249 to 0.0322 and 0.0228 to 0.028 for Cha and Chb. The activation energies of Cha and Chb were found to be 15.88 kJ/mol and 10.68 kJ/mol at pH = 6.6 and 17.5 kJ/mol and 13.35 kJ/mol at pH 5.6. The activation energy of chlorophyll a was found to be higher than chlorophyll b, signifying that chlorophyll a is more heat sensitive than chlorophyll b. Thus the study reveals that thermal preservation should be performed at higher pH and lower temperature in order to have minimum degradation of chlorophyll.

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Error analysis for Chromium removal by column study from aqueous environment using tea factory waste as bio-adsorbent

Datta Jibesh and Mishra Umesh

The industrial wastes are generally disposed to the water bodies. These industrial wastes generally contain a large amount of various kinds of heavy metals like Cd, Pb, Cr, Cu etc. which cause water pollution. Nowadays various methods are applied to remove these toxic metals from water to reduce the extent of water pollution and its adverse effect to human health. Beside various conventional methods, the adsorption is one of the alternatives for such cases and is an effective purification and separation technique used in industry especially in water and wastewater treatments. In the process of adsorption, various materials are used as effective adsorbent, however there is always an intention to use economical materials as adsorbent. Under this circumstance the tea factory waste has gained an important consideration as an effective adsorbent. Fixed bed type study has been conducted using tea factory waste as an adsorbent and the effect of various parameters like bed height, initial feed concentration, flow rate etc. on the effectiveness of tea factory waste as an adsorbent has been evaluated by the present study using three different mathematical models i.e. BDST model, Thomas model and Yoon Nelson model. Error analysis has been done considering various experimental and theoretical breakthrough curve. The experimental and predicted unique characteristics of the models were compared by using different statistical methods like SSE, SAE, ARE and ARS. From the statistical analysis, it was found that the experimental data well fitted to the BDST model.

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Isolation, characterization and evaluation of beijerinckia sp. from acid soils

Kanimoli S. and Marimuthu P.

The process of biological nitrogen fixation is contributing phenomenally towards the nitrogen supply of crop plants. Beijerinckia sp. is an important free living nitrogen fixing organism of great economic importance. Beijerinckia cultures were isolated from different environments characterized and their performance in acid soil was evaluated. It was observed that among different soil ecosystem, the population of Beijerinckia sp. was found to be predominant in the acid soils followed by the rhizosphere of sugarcane and phyllosphere of tea. The highest native population of Beijerinckia was found in the acid soils collected from Iyerpadi, Valparai and Coimbatore district. Seven isolates from different soils ecosystem, phyllosphere of tea and rice field water identified as Beijerinckia indica. The nitrogen fixing capacity of Beijerinckia indica isolated from acid soils was found to be better than other isolates. The in vitro synthesis of IAA by the Beijerinckia isolates was more in the presence of tryptophan and the isolate AVAL recorded maximum IAA production. Polysaccharide production was found to vary among the Beijerinckia indica isolates and maximum production was recorded in AVAL isolate. All the isolates produced catechol like siderophore.

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