The antidepressant drug amitriptyline hydrochloride was obtained in a dry powder form and was screened against 253 strains of bacteria which included 72 Gram positive and 181 Gram negative bacteria and against 5 fungal strains. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined by inoculating a loopful of an overnight peptone water culture of the organism on nutrient agar plates containing increasing concentrations of amitriptyline hydrochloride (0, 10 µg/mL, 25 µg/mL, 50 µg/mL, 100 µg/mL, 200 µg/mL). Amitriptyline hydrochloride exhibited significant action against both Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria at 25-200 µg/mL. In the in vivo studies it was seen that amitriptyline hydrochloride at a concentration of 25 µg/g and 30 µg/g body weight of mouse offered significant protection to Swiss strain of white mice when challenged with 50 median lethal dose (MLD) of a virulent strain of Salmonella typhimurium NCTC 74. The in vivo data were highly significant (p<0.001) according to the chi-square test.

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Two triterpenoids, taraxerone and tricadenic acid A were isolated from the methanol extract of the outer bark of Schleichera oleosa available in Darjeeling foothills. A preliminary study on their antimicrobial activities was also performed against some fungal and bacterial species. The structure of these compounds was determined by means of chemical characterisation and IR, NMR spectral data.

This paper attempts to evaluate the antiinflammatory potential and the possible mechanism of action of the leaf extracts and isolated compound(s) of Aerva sanguinolenta (Amaranthaceae), traditionally used in ailments related to inflammation. The anti-inflammatory activity of ethanol extract (ASE) was evaluated by acute, subacute and chronic models of inflammation, while a new cerebroside ('trans', ASE-1), isolated from the bioactive ASE and characterized spectroscopically, was tested by carrageenan-induced mouse paw oedema and protein exudation model. To understand the underlying mechanism, we measured the release of pro-inflammatory mediators such as nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin (PG)E2, along with the cytokines like tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-a, and interleukins(IL)-1b, IL-6 and IL-12 from lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated peritoneal macrophages. The results revealed that ASE at 400 mg/kg caused significant reduction of rat paw oedema, granuloma and exudative inflammation, while the inhibition of mouse paw oedema and exudative inflammation by ASE-1 (20 mg/kg) was comparable to that of the standard drug indomethacin (10 mg/kg). Interestingly, both ASE and ASE-1 showed significant inhibition of the expressions of iNOS2 and COX-2, and the down-regulation of the expressions of IL-1b, IL-6, IL-12 and TNF-a, in LPS-stimulated macrophages, via the inhibition of COX-2-mediated PGE2 release. Thus, our results validated the traditional use of A. sanguinolenta leaves in inflammation management.

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