Abstract. There is increasing evidence indicating the roles of aldosterone and mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) in the pathogenesis of renal injury. In rats, chronic treatment with aldosterone and salt results in severe proteinuria and renal tissue injury, characterized by glomerulosclerosis and tubulointerstitial fibrosis. Aldosterone-induced renal tissue injury is associated with increases in reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) or Rho-kinase. Treatment with a selective MR antagonist, eplerenone, prevents aldosterone-induced increases in ROS levels and MAPK activity and ameliorates renal injury. In vitro studies have revealed that MR is highly expressed in glomerular mesangial cells (RMCs), podocytes, and renal interstitial fibroblasts. In these renal cells, aldosterone induces cellular injury through NADPH oxidase-dependent ROS production and activation of MAPKs or Rhokinase. Such aldosterone-induced renal cellular injury is markedly attenuated by treatment with eplerenone. These data suggest that aldosterone induces renal injury via activation of MR through mechanisms that cannot be simply explained by changes in blood pressure. In this review, we summarized recent findings on the roles of aldosterone and MR in the pathogenesis of renal injury with particular emphasis on potential underlying mechanisms.

The experiment was performed on 25 adult mice, (Swiss albino), weighing about 25 gm, maintained on standard pellet diet and drinking water ad libitum. All the mice were randomly divided into five equal groups (5x5). Each group comprised of five mice was marked as group A, B, C, D and E. In the present study an attempt has been taken to study the effect of Garlic and vitamin B-complex in lead induced toxicities in mice with the observation of some parameters as toxic signs and body weight, some haematological parameters like total erythrocyte count (TEC), total leukocyte count (TLC), haemoglobin content (Hb%) and Packed cell volume (PCV), some biochemical parameters such as serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase SGPT/ALT, Serum glutamate Oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT/AST) and postmortem changes in mice. An attempt was also made to estimate the residual deposition of lead in body tissues i.e. blood, liver, kidney, brain and bone in mice. Mice treated with lead acetate showed severe toxic signs and significantly reduced total erythrocyte count, total leukocyte count, haemoglobin content and packed cell volume and significant elevation of SGPT and SGOT. But in case of mice treated by lead acetate along with Garlic and vitamin B-complex showed almost normal levels of haematological and biochemical parameters. From this experiment it is revealed that Garlic and vitamin B-complex has protective and curative effect in lead toxicity. The mean body weight of mice of group B (only lead acetate) was significantly (p<0.01) decreased, in comparison with the other treated groups. Lead acetate group also significantly reduced (p<0.01) total erythrocyte count, packed cell volume and hemoglobin content was on 42 days of treatment. SGPT and SGOT were significantly elevated in all treated groups in comparison with control group. The liver of the mice of group B were blackish discoloration and enlarged. The significant reduction of lead in blood, liver and kidney was found in group E Garlic> Vitamin Bcomplex.

Catharanthus roseus (Nyantara), Azadirachta indica (Neem), Allium sativum (Garlic) are medicinal plants, used in Ayurveda for treating various diseases, one of which is diabetes mellitus. In the present study of 12 months period from January to December 2007, aqueous extract of this plants were prepared and blood glucose lowering effect and improvement of body weight gain in Streptozotocin (50 mg/kg bwt i.p.) induced diabetic rats were measured and compared with that of a patent drug glimepride in the Department of Pharmacology, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh. Rats were administered Catharanthus roseus, Azadirachta indica, Allium sativum extracts at the dose rate of 1g/kg, 500 mg/kg and 1g/kg bwt orally for 14 days, respectively. Blood glucose level and body weight was measured by Glucotrend kit and Electronic balance and that compared with a patent drug Glimepride at a dose rate of 100 mg/kg bwt. The data were compared statistically by using student's unpaired t-test. The herbal preparations of these plants significantly increased body weight gain and decreased blood glucose as compared with the patent drug. The present study clearly indicated the significant antidiabetic activity of Catharanthus Roseus, Azadirachta indica and Allium sativum and supports the traditional usage of the herbal preparations by Ayurvedic physicians for the therapy of diabetics. Key words: Catharanthus roseus, Azadirachta indica, Allium sativum, Glimepride, Streptozotocin, diabetic rat INTRODUCTIONDiabetes mellitus is a major health problem not only in urban but also in the rural areas of Bangladesh. Diabetic patients of rural areas usually do not register themselves in diabetic clinics or hospitals because the medical facilities are mainly concentrated in the urban areas. So, with the ever-increasing incidence of diabetes, it's management is becoming costly not only for the individual and his/her family but also for the national health care sector. Now-a-days various medicinal plants are becoming very popular for the treatment of different diseases in our country as well as all over the world. There are a number of plants to control the blood glucose level such as Nayantara (Catharanthus roseus), Neem (Azadirachta indica), Garlic (Allium sativum), Karela (Momordica indica), Methi (Trigonella foenum graecum), etc, which are indigenous plants of Bangladesh. So, this study with such above-mentioned plants might offer a natural key to unlock a dialectologist's pharmacy in future. For considering all these constraints, in this experiment we wanted to establish indigenous system of medicine (herbal therapy) as anti-diabetic drugs instead of chemical drugs and rat was used as model of animal.

A detailed investigation was performed with the aim to find out the indigenous medicinal plants having anthelminthic action. Ten (10) indigenous medicinal plants were primarily selected and the ethanol extracts were prepared for anthelminthic trial and determination of anthelminthic properties in vitro and in vivo against the gastro-instestinal nematodes in goat during the period from July 2006 to December 2006. Screening of ethanol extracts of selected plants showed the anthelmintic activity against gastrointestinal nematodes at lower concentration (50 mg/ml). In vivo screening (by oral administration) of four plant extracts (ethanol) showed variable degree of efficacy in experimentally infected goats, as measured by faecal egg count reduction test. A relatively higher efficacy was recorded in ethanol extract of neem treated animals in comparison to other plants extracts. Ethanol extracts of korolla also showed significant efficacy. The results obtained in this study showed that ethanol extract of Labanga, Neem, Karolla and Pineapple at the dose of 100mg/kg showed a significant and potent antinematodal effect. These findings indicate that the adult gastrointestinal nematodes are more vulnerable to selected indigenous plants. Within these ten (10) plants 4 showed more than 70% efficacy at a concentration of 100mg/mkg. Key words: Medicinal plants, anthelmintics, nematodes, fecal egg count, goat INTRODUCTIONA larger number of plants are naturally available in the indo-Pak-Bangladesh subcontinent, which possess narrow or broad spectrum anthelmintic activities. For both developed and less developed countries, recognition and development of herbal medicine offer treatment methods that are more environmentally benign, since they tend to be less toxic, produce fewer unanticipated side effects and apparently do not trigger anthelmintic chemoresistance. The phytochemical analyses of naturally available plants and control anthelmintic trials along with contemporary knowledge of parasite control strategies may offer new opportunities for effective and economical control of parasitic diseases. But, there are problems connected with the use of herbal medicine, the largest being the lack of scientific evaluation. The most effective approach to obtain such evaluation is the ethnobotanical approach, which assumes that indigenous uses of plant indicate the presence of biologically active compounds in the plants. Ethnoveterinary research, development and extension also play an important role in this context. The present study is a part of these research, development and extension that may help to evaluate effective, available and low cost anthelmintics of plant origin.Livestock is an important prospective sector which may contribute to solve problems of marginal farmers. Livestock is also capable of helping poverty alleviation. It plays an important role to promote human health by supplying animal protein of high caloric value in the form of meat and milk. It is also important in earning substantial amount of foreign exch...

The prevalence of natural gastrointestinal nematodes was observed in cattle during the period from June, 2004 to May, 2005 in Sadar upazila of Mymensingh district. The prevalence of gastrointestinal nematodes was 84.1% (rainy seasons-97%, summer-85.5% and winter seasons-69.8%). The prevalence of strongyles (Haemonchus sp., Trichostrongylus sp., Oesophagostomum sp. and Mecistocirrus sp.), Bunostomum sp., Strongyloides sp., Trichuris sp. and Capillaria sp. were 63.9%, 26.3%, 21.5%, 17.3% and 24.5%, respectively. Water extracts of 20 indigenous plants(neem, tobacco plant, barbados lilac, betel leaf, pineapple, jute, turmeric, garlic, devil's tree, papaya, lime tree, dodder, white teak, conessi tree, bitter gourd, sweet basil, white verticillia, pomegranate, sage, chaste tree) showed potential in vitro activities against adult parasites. Out of these, 20 plant extracts, 10 plants (neem, tobacco, barbados lilac, betel leaf, pineapple, jute, turmeric, garlic, dodder and bitter gourd) showed 100% efficacy against adult worms, 4 plants (devil's tree, papaya, white verticillia and chaste tree) showed 90-98% and others (lime tree, white teak, conessi tree, sweet basil, pomegranate and sage) showed below 90%. Keywords: Anthelmintic; Gastrointestinal nematodes; In vitro; Prevalence; Medicinal plants DOI: 10.3329/jbau.v7i1.4799 J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 7(1): 57-61, 2009