NeuroAid II, a folk Chinese Medicine, is currently used in Asia for the treatment of stroke. An experimental study demonstrated that NeuroAid enables neuronal cells to be more resistant to glutamate toxicity. This research was constructed to evaluate the efficacy of NeuroAid in the prevention of epilepsy (EP). Forty healthy adult male mice were used and divided into four groups (10 mice/group): normal control group; positive control group; NeuroAid-treated group (10 mg/kg); topiramate-treated group (10 mg/kg). The treatment continued for 7 days, and on the last day, EP was induced using strychnine at a dose of 2 mg/kg via intraperitoneal (ip) administration. Seizure severity, latency to the seizure onset, the number of seizures, and the duration of each seizure episode were observed for one hour. The death and protection rates over the next twenty-four hours were recorded. Brain specimens from surviving animals were extracted and examined pathologically for quantification of glutamate receptor (GluR) gene expression in the isolated hippocampus employing real-time PCR analysis. Treatment with NeuroAid resulted in a significant reduction in seizure severity, prolonged the onset of seizures, decreased the number and duration of episodes, reduced brain insult, and decreased mortality rate. Reductions in the gene expression of GluRs in the hippocampus with minor histopathological changes were observed in the NeruoAid- and topiramate-treated groups. It is concluded that NeuroAid has a potential antiepileptic effect (EP) with the ability to prevent convulsion through its effect on the glutamate receptor.

Betahistine dihydrochloride is widely used to reduce the severity and frequency of vertigo attacks associated with Ménière’s disease. Betahistine is an analogue of histamine, and is a weak histamine H1 receptor agonist and potent histamine H3 receptor antagonist. The recommended therapeutic dose for adults ranges from 24 to 48 mg given in doses divided throughout the day. Betahistine undergoes extensive first-pass metabolism to the major inactive metabolite 2-pyridyl acetic acid (2PAA), which can be considered a surrogate index for quantitation of the parent drug due to extremely low plasma levels of betahistine. The aim of the present investigation was to assess the pharmacokinetics and dose proportionality of betahistine in Arabic healthy adult male subjects under fasting conditions. A single dose of betahistine in the form of a 8, 16, or 24 mg tablet was administered to 36 subjects in randomized, cross-over, three-period, three-sequence design separated by a one week washout period between dosing. The pharmacokinetic parameters Cmax, AUC0–t, AUC0–∞, Tmax, and Thalf were calculated for each subject from concentrations of 2-PAA in plasma, applying non-compartmental analysis. The current study demonstrated that betahistine showed linear pharmacokinetics (dose proportionality) in an Arabic population over the investigated therapeutic dose range of 8–24 mg.

Cyclosporine is mainly used as Immunosuppressant after different kinds of transplantation including bone marrow, lungs, kidneys, liver, heart, and other types of organ transplantations. Immunosuppressants diminish organ rejection and elongate the survival of the transplanted organs. Due to the narrow therapeutic ranges and significantly high interindividual and intraindividual variability in blood levels of cyclosporine, there is essential and vital need of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of this drug in order to maintain the patient within the required therapeutic concentrations, which consequently lead to optimizing the clinical outcome and decrease the hazard of toxicity or rejection following organ transplantations. The current review article was aimed to present data for using a single or possibly two blood sampling strategy to be used for TDM of cyclosporine in order to assess the optimal blood levels of cyclosporine used in organ transplant recipients. The results showed that steady state blood concentration of cyclosporine obtained after 2 hours (C2) and possibly after 3 hours (C3) of drug administration are the best sampling time points which reflect total drug exposure (area under blood concentration versus time curve=AUC) and consequently reflecting the effect and the adverse effect(s) of cyclosporine. On the other hand, blood samples obtained at other time points particularly steady state trough concentration obtained before the next dose (C0) demonstrated poor correlation with total drug exposure and consequently the clinical outcome of the drug. Moreover, this study also demonstrated that for organs transplantations TDM of cyclosporine and assessing the clinical conditions of the patients should be routinely performed in order to adjust the dose to get optimal effect and to diminish the adverse effects of the drug. This review article focused on the findings which indicated that monitoring steady-state blood levels of cyclosporine after 2 hours (C2) and likely after 3 hours (C3) of drug intake may be used as ideal surrogate index in TDM of cyclosporine and for predicting the clinical outcome of the drug in all and different types of organs transplantations.