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In vivo measurement of the surface energy of human fingernail plates
(© 2012 International Journal of Cosmetic Science, 2012-03) Zara, Sheikh,; Murdan, Sudaxshina; Poojary, Chitranjan; Patel, Dilan R; Fernandes, João; Angarju; Department of Pharmacy
The surface energy of the human nail plate is expected to influence the adhesion of microorganisms (and subsequent colonization and infections) as well as that of medicines (and subsequent drug permeation) and of cosmetics. The aim of the study was therefore to measure the surface energy of nail plates in vivo. The surface energy of healthy human fingernails (untreated, hydrated and abraded) and of hoof membranes (often used as a model for the nail plate) was estimated from contact angle measurements of liquids (water, formamide, diiodomethane and glycerol) on the nail plate and subsequent computation using the Lifshitz–van der Waals/acid–base (LW-AB) approach. The surface energy of untreated fingernail plates was found to be 34 mJ m−2. Most of this total energy was from the apolar Lifshitz–van der Waals component. When the polar component of the surface energy was analysed, the electron donor component was considerably larger than the electron acceptor one. Hydrating the nail plate had no significant influence on the surface energy. In contrast, abrasion caused a small, but statistically significant increase in the apolar surface energy component. The surface energy of bovine hoof membrane was similar to that of the fingernail plate. We conclude that the human fingernail plate is a low-energy surface and that bovine hoof membranes may be used as a substitute for the nail plate in certain experiments.
Impact of cadmium exposure on human health with a focus on Bangladesh
(© 2014 European Journal of Toxicological Sciences, 2014-03) Kabir, Eva Rahman; Sheikh, Zara; Khan, Tanisha Tabassum Sayka; Department of Pharmacy
The environment in which we claim to “live” in has become a huge reservoir of toxic metals. Human health is under constant risk of deterioration due to increasing chronic exposure of such metals that adversely affect the quality of life of people. The deterioration of human health due to exposure to heavy metals has become a major issue of concern worldwide. Although adverse health effects caused by heavy metals have been known for a long time, exposure to heavy metals continues, and is even increasing in some parts of the world, particularly in less developed countries, even though emissions have declined in most developed countries over the last 100 years. One such heavy metal with a high toxicity found in the earth’s crust, associated with zinc, lead and copper ores is cadmium. Exposure to cadmium has long been recognized as a health hazard, both in industry and in general populations with high exposure. However, cadmium is toxic at very low exposure levels and has acute and chronic effects on health and environment which is thus the cause of great concern. The parts of body that are potentially affected from exposures to cadmium mainly involve the kidney, liver, lung, heart and bone. If one is exposed to cadmium or cadmium compounds, a number of factors will determine whether or not the person will be affected. These factors include not only dose and duration of contact, how he/she comes in contact with it but parameters such as age, sex, diet, family traits, lifestyle, and state of health also tend to contribute to determine the extent of exposure (ATSDR, 2012). The objective of this paper is to review available information on possible toxicities of cadmium on human health. Our aim in this study was to identify the possible impacts of cadmium on human health, with the ultimate goal of proposing the rationale for future quantitative research of cadmium in Bangladesh
Optimizing oral drug delivery using lipid based formulations
(© 2014 International Research Journal of Pharmacy, 2014) Sheikh, Zara; Nabila, Morshed; Department of Pharmacy
A great challenge facing the pharmaceutical scientists is transforming the new pharmacologically active lipophilic compounds that are poorly water soluble into orally administered medications with sufficient bioavailability. Lipid-based drug delivery systems has shown a great potential in the oral delivery of poorly water-soluble drugs, primarily for lipophilic drugs, with several successfully marketed products. Oral lipid-based formulations comprises of a broad range of oils, surfactants, and co-solvents. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the development, characterization, and utilization of oral lipid- based formulations, from both physicochemical and biopharmaceutical perspectives. The properties of the various lipid excipients are discussed and the criteria for selection of excipients for lipid-based formulations are identified. Finally the future prospects of this technique have been addressed to expand the utility of lipid based drug delivery systems.
Phytochemical and hypoglycemic screening of seeds and peel of nephelium longan fruits
(© 2015 International Journal of Biochemistry, 2015-12) Ripa, Farhana; Dash, Pritesh Ranjan; Nesa, Mst. Luthfun; Sheikh, Zara; Department of Pharmacy
Phytotherapy is considered to be lowest lethal or has no side effects in contrast to current allopathic medicines. The intention of the present investigation was to assess the therapeutic efficacy of Nephelium longan extract in an animal model of diabetes. So in this research we have performed phytochemical screening of methanolic extracts of peel (MNLP)
Preliminary studies on phytochemicals and cytotoxic activity of methanolic rhizome extract of Hedychium coronarium
(© 2015 Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry, 2015) Dash, Pritesh Ranjan; Sheikh, Zara; Department of Pharmacy
The methanolic extract of the rhizome of Hedychium coronarium (Family- Zingiberaceae) was screened for the presence of various phytochemicals by standard procedures and the cytotoxic activity was evaluated by brine shrimp lethality bioassay. The present study indicates that the rhizome contain carbohydrates, flavonoids, saponins, steroids and alkaloids. In brine shrimp lethality bioassay, the extract showed potent cytotoxic action. The degree of lethality was found to be directly proportional to the concentration of the extract ranging from the lowest concentration (1.25 μg/ml) to the highest concentration (320 μg/ml). The LC50 value of the methanolic rhizome extract was 0.39 μg/ml, whereas the LC50 of the reference anticancer drug vincristine sulphate was 0.52 μg/ml.
Characterization of phytoconstituents and potential bioactivity of Annona reticulata L. leaf extract
(© 2016 Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry, 2016) Shahriar, Mohammad; Khair, Nishat Zareen; Sheikh, Zara; Chowdhury, Sayeeda Fahmee; Kamruzzaman, Md.; Bakhtiar, Md. Shawkatul Islam; Chisty, Sharmin Jahan; Department of Pharmacy
Annona reticulata (Annonaceae) is known as atafol in Bangla and custard apple in English is an important medicinal plant. It has been used traditionally in diarrhea, dysentery, cold, as abortifacient, insecticidal drug etc. In this present study, the leaf extracts of Annona reticulata were subjected to evaluation of the thrombolytic activity was assessed by using human erythrocyte and the results were compared with standard streptokinase (SK). The chloroform extract showed 36.82% clot lysis as compared to 93.79% clot lysis produced by standard streptokinase. The leaf extracts of Annona reticulata were subjected to evaluation of the membrane stabilizing activity by using human erythrocyte and the results were compared with standard anti-inflammatory drug, acetyl salicylic acid (ASA). In vitro membrane stabilizing activity for hypotonic solution induced haemolysis, the chloroform extract inhibited 75.15% haemolysis of RBCs as compared to 72.99% produced by acetyl salicylic acid (ASA) and during heat induced condition different organic soluble materials of Annona reticulata demonstrated methanol, ethanol and chloroform extract showed 68.81%, 72.06% and 78.17% inhibition of RBC hemolysis respectively whereas standard acetylsalicylic acid showed 70.87% inhibition of RBC haemolysis.
Phytochemical analysis, cytotoxic and in vitro antioxidant activity of erythrina variegate bark
(© 2015 European Journal of Medicinal Plants, 2015-11) Shahriar, Mohammad; Khair, Nishat Zareen; Sheikh, Zara; Chowdhury, Sayeeda Fahmee; Kamruzzaman, Md.; Bakhtiar, Md. Shawkatul Islam; Chisty, Sharmin Jahan; Narjish, Syeda Najah; Akhter, Rumana; Akter, Nahia; Department of Pharmacy
Aim:The objective of the present study was to investigate the phytochemical analysis, cytotoxic and antioxidant activities of the bark extracts of Erythrina variegate.Place and Duration of Study: The plant, E. variegate was collected from Botanical Garden, Mirpur, Dhaka and also from Curzon Hall, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh in June 2014 and then the sample was identified by the National Herbarium of Bangladesh, Mirpur, Dhaka (DACB; Accession Number- 36148). Methodology: Preliminary phytochemical screening was done for determining the nature of phytoconstituents. Brine shrimp lethality bioassay technique was done to study the cytotoxic properties. Aluminum chloride colorimetric method was applied for the determination of flavonoids and the total antioxidant ability was assessed by the phospho-molybdenum method. Results: Primary phytochemical analysis confirmed the presence of alkaloid, carbohydrate, glycosides and flavonoids. The extracts showed some toxicity to A. salina with LC50 values ranging from 1.41 to 3.66 μ g/ml which was compared with standard vincristine sulphate (VS, LC50 value 0.92 μg/ml). n-Hexane extract of E. variegate was found to contain highest amount of flavonoids (3.77±1.97 mg/gm; quercetin equivalent) and ethanol extract of E. variegate was found to have highest antioxidant acitivity (2.03±0.09 mg/gm ascorbic acid equivalent). Conclusion: It can be concluded that the plant extracts of E. variegate possess several antioxidant activities which justifies its use as folk medicine.
Central nervous system depressant, analgesic and antidiarrheal effects of the seed extracts of Dimocarpus longan lour in rats
(© 2014 Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research) Ripa, Farhana Alam; Ibn Morshed, Mahmud Tareq; Afsana-Al-Sharmin; Papon, Shahed Bulbul; Islam, Md Rafiqul; Sheikh, Zara; Department of Pharmacy
Purpose: To assess the central nervous system (CNS) depressant, analgesic and antidiarrheal activities of the dried seed crude extracts of Dimocarpus longan Lour in rodents. Methods: Selected pharmacological effects of the ethanol (ENLS), petroleum ether (PELS), chloroform (CHLS) and ethyl acetate (EALS) extracts of D. longan fruit seeds were investigated. CNS depressant activity was evaluated by open field and hole cross tests; analgesic activity by acetic acid-induced writhing test and formalin-induced licking test; and anti-diarrheal activity was assessed in castor oil and magnesium-induced diarrhea rat model. The extracts were given orally in a rat model at doses of 200 and 300 mg/kg body weight. Normal saline served as control in all experiment. In CNS depressant test, diazepam (1 mg/kg) was used as reference drug while indomethacin (10 mg/kg) and loperamide(2 mg/kg) were used as standard drugs in analgesic and antidiarrheal tests, respectively. Results: In hole cross method, EALS showed the most effective depressant effect, viz, 1.17±0.17 for 200 mg/kg dose and 0.83±0.31 number of movements for 300 mg/kg dose after 120 min (p < 0.01), whereas in the open field test, all the extracts exhibited significant (p < 0.01) depressant effect in relation to positive control, diazepam. In acetic acid-induced pain test, PELS gave the lowest number of writhing (2.83±0.307) and the highest inhibition (88.45 %, 300 mg/kg dose) which was statistically significant. All the extracts also significantly (p < 0.01) suppressed licking activity in both phases of the formalin-induced licking test, in contrast to indomethacin. In the antidiarrheal tests, diarrheal suppression was highest at 300 mg/kg dose for all the extracts, compared with loperamide in both castor oil and magnesium sulphate induced diarrhea model. Conclusion: The extracts of Dimocarpus longan tested demonstrated significant CNS depressant, analgesic and antidiarrheal activities in a rodent model.

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