9] Although many have been treated by conventional pharmaceutical approaches, there is a growing interest in the use of natural products by the general public. In addition to the pharmaceutical industry continues to examine their potential as sources of novel growth factor, immunomodulatory and antimicrobial activity. [10] The leaves of Vitex agnus-castus was sequentially extracted in hexane, ethyl acetate, methanol and aqueous medium and studied for in vitro antibacterial property. The ethyl acetate extract was found to be most active against all the bacterial species tested except K. pneumoniae. The best MIC value (0.312 mg/ml) was seen against MRSA. Active ethyl acetate extract was further studied for HPTLC fingerprint and phytochemical analysis. HPTLC analysis confirmed segregation of eight individual compounds with individual R f values and peak area percentage. The results of phytochemical screening of extract revealed the presence of terpenoids, steroids, flavonoids and carbohydrates. This analysis revealed the high antibacterial activity in active ethyl acetate from Vitex agnus-castus.

This study describes in vitro shoot induction and plant regeneration from a mature apical meristem and nodal explants of the endangered medicinal shrub Vitex agnuscastus. Multiple shoots were induced directly from the axis of nodal and apical meristem explants on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium containing 3% sucrose and different concentrations (1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 mg/l) of 6-benzyl aminopurine (BAP) in combination with Kinetin (Kin) and α-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA), both at 0.1 mg/l. BAP and Kinetin were used as supplements to MS basal medium, either individually or in combination with auxins. The optimal concentration of BAP for inducing bud break was found to be 2.0 mg/l when Kinetin was at 0.1 mg/l. Regeneration frequency was highest for both apical meristem and nodal explants (94.5% and 90.3%, respectively) when explants were cultured on MS medium supplemented with BAP (2.0 mg/l) and Kin (0.1 mg/l). A maximum of 7.7±0.4 and 6.7±0.2 shoots were obtained per explant for apical meristem and nodal explants, respectively. Regenerated shoots, transferred to MS medium supplemented with either 1.0 or 1.5 mg/l BAP combined with 0.1 mg/l GA 3 , showed maximum elongation of 6.7±0.4 and 6.0 ± 1.3 cm in apical meristem and nodal explants, respectively. In vitro regenerated shoots transferred to half-strength MS medium supplemented with 0.1 mg/l IBA induced 90.4% of the shoots to form roots after 30-35 d of culture. Up to 80% of the regenerated shoots were successfully established in soil in the greenhouse.

Keratinase degrading Bacillus cereus was isolated from the halophilic environment in Tamilnadu, India and keratinase production was optimized using wheat bran substrate. Of the screened bacterial isolates, four were found to have the ability to produce keratinolytic enzyme. The process parameters were optimized using one-variable-at-a-time approach and response surface methodology. Supplementation of 1% lactose supported more keratinase production (120 U/g). Among the selected nitrogen sources, addition of casein significantly enhanced maximum keratinase production (132.5 U/g). Among the ions, manganese chloride significantly enhanced keratinsase production (102.6 U/g), however addition of zinc sulphate and copper sulphate decreased keratinase production. The maximum keratinase production was obtained in the wheat bran medium containing 1% lactose, 0.5% manganese with 80% moisture (292 U/g). Statistics based contour plots were generated to explore the variations in the response surface and to find the relationship between the keratinase yield and the bioprocess conditions.

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The results demonstrate that H. perforatum ethyl acetate extract possesses potent antihyperglycemic activity in STZ induced diabetic rats.