Maize belongs to tropical environment and is extremely sensitive to drought and chilling stress, particularly at early developmental stages. The present study investigated the individual and combine effects of drought (15% PEG-Solution) and chilling stress (15C/12C) on the morpho-physiological growth, osmolyte accumulation, production and regulations of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the activities of antioxidants in two maize hybrids i.e. XD889 and XD319 and two inbred cultivars i.e. Yu13 and Yu37. Individual and combined drought and chilling stresses stimulated the production of O 2 , H 2 O 2 , OH and enhanced malondialdehyde (MDA) contents which led to reduced photosynthetic pigments and morphological growth.Drought, chilling and drought + chilling stress conditions induced the compatible osmolytes, ROS detoxifying proteins and antioxidants to counterbalanced the oxidative damage. It was found that the concurrent occurrence of drought + chilling stress was more lethal for maize seedling growth than the drought and chilling individual stresses. However, the performance of hybrid maize cultivars (XD889 and XD319) was better than the inbred maize cultivars (Yu13 and Yu37). For improving tolerance to individual and concurrent drought and chilling stress in maize, future research focus should be on developing genetically engineer plants that have the ability to generate specific response against sub-optimal temperature and water deficit conditions.

Objective: Present study was aimed to standardize the leaves, pods, and bark of Dalbergia sisso Roxb (Fabaceae) plant which is one of the most important species of Pakistan and used in different ailments. Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Jinnah Sind Medical University KarachiEmail: phr_huma@hotmail.com Methods: Powders of dried parts of this plant were used for macroscopic and microscopic, histological, fluorescence, micro chemical, proximate, infra-red spectroscopic examinations and extract were used for preliminary phytochemical examination. These entire tests were performed as per World Health Organization (WHO) standards.

No abstract

No abstract

In this study, the methanolic extract of Raphanus sativus (RSME) seeds was evaluated for its protective effect against CCl 4-induced nephrotoxicity. The treatment of Swiss albino rats with intraperitoneal injections of CCl 4 (1 ml/kg body weight) on alternate days for 30 days decreased the antioxidant enzymes, while lipid peroxidation and serum toxicity markers were increased. These changes were reversed in the animals receiving an oral dose of RSME (100 and 200 mg/kg body weight) along with CCl 4 , thus increasing the level of antioxidant enzymes and decreasing serum toxicity markers and thus ameliorating the toxic effect of CCl 4. These results show that seed extract of R. sativus can reciprocate the toxic effects of CCl 4 and can be used to make a chemopreventive drug.