The antiinflammatory activity of an alcohol extract of Achyranthes aspera was tested on carrageenin-induced hind paw oedema and cotton pellet granuloma models in albino male rats. The paw volume was measured plethysmometrically at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 h. In the subacute model cotton pellet granuloma was produced by implantation of 50 +/- 1 mg sterile cotton in the axilla under ether anaesthesia. The animals were fed with an alcohol extract at various dose levels (125, 250, 375 and 500 mg/kg). Diclofenac sodium was used as a standard drug. The alcohol extract (375 and 500 mg/kg) showed the maximum inhibition of oedema of 65.38% and 72.37% at the end of 3 h with carrageenin-induced rat paw oedema, respectively. Using a chronic test, the extract exhibited a 40.03% and 45.32% reduction in granuloma weight.

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Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder affecting carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism. The worldwide survey reported that the DM is affecting nearly 10% of the population.1) The treatment of DM is based on oral anti-hyperglycemic agents and insulin. However, DM is also treated in Indian traditional medicine using anti-diabetic medicinal plants.2) The oral anti-hyperglycemic agents currently used in clinical practice have characteristic profiles of serious side effects.3) This leads to increasing demand for herbal products with anti-diabetic activity and less side effects.Celosia argentea (Family-Amaranthaceae) grows as a weed during the rainy season throughout India and other tropical regions of the world, such as Srilanka, South Asia, Africa and America.4) An alcoholic extract of the seeds possesses aphrodisiac, antipyretic, antispasmodic, anticancer, diuretic and antibacterial. Also they are reported to be useful in jaundice, inflammation, metrrorhagia, gonorrhoea, healing of wounds and injuries. [5][6][7] In folklore practice, the decoction of C. argentea seeds have been reported to be useful in diabetes mellitus, 8) but no systematic and scientific investigation has been conducted on this seeds for anti-diabetic activity. Hence, this study has been conducted to evaluate anti-diabetic activity and other beneficial effect of alcoholic extract of Celosia argentea seeds (ACAS) in diabetic rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS MaterialsFresh whole herbs were up-rooted from fields of "ACMEC" trust Melmaruvathur, during the month of September 1999, when the plants were in full bloom. The plants were identified and authenticated by comparison with the available literatures and with an authentic herbarium specimen.9-12) The seeds were collected from the mature plants, shade dried and powdered (80 mesh). The powdered seed (253 g) was defatted with petroleum ether and later extracted (Soxhlet) using 50% ethanol. The solvent free alcoholic extract (10.97% w/w) was suspended in 0.75% sodium carboxy methyl cellulose (CMC) and employed for anti-diabetic activity. The alcoholic extract was also subjected to qualitative chemical tests for the detection of phytoconstituents. 13)Alloxan monohydrate was obtained from LOBA Chemie, Mumbai (Batch No. 31924). All other chemicals used for this study were of analytical grade.Animals Swiss adult albino male rats (150-180 g) were employed for the study. All the animals were procured from The King Institute of Preventive Medicine, Guindy, Chennai. They were housed in standard microlon boxes, allowed free access to tap water and pellet diet (Amrut lab animals feed, Sangli-416 436) and maintained at room temperature of 30Ϯ2°C.Effect of ACAS on Alloxan-Induced Diabetic Rats The rats were made diabetic by a single i.p. injection of 150 mg/kg body weight of alloxan monohydrate (5% w/v in sterile water).14) After seven days, blood samples were drawn and glucose levels were determined to confirm development of diabetes (Ͼ350 mg/dl). The diabetic rats were divided into four groups consisting ...

A reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography method was developed for the simultaneous estimation of aspirin and clopidogrel bisulphate in formulation. The separation was achieved by octadecyl column (C 18) and acetonitrile:methanol:20 mM phosphate buffer at pH 3 (50:7:43 v/v) as eluent, at a fl ow rate of 1 ml/min. Detection was carried out at 240 nm. Quantitation was done by external standard calibration method. The retention time of aspirin and clopidogrel bisulphate was found to be 2.40 and 9.27 min, respectively. The method has been validated for linearity, accuracy and precision. Linearity for aspirin and clopidogrel bisulphate were in the range of 10-50 µg/ml for both the drugs. The mean recoveries obtained for aspirin and clopidogrel bisulphate were 100.86% and 100.20%, respectively. The developed method was found to be accurate, precise, selective and rapid for the simultaneous estimation of aspirin and clopidogrel bisulphate in capsules.

In the present work, three different spectrophotometric methods for simultaneous estimation of ramipril, aspirin and atorvastatin calcium in raw materials and in formulations are described. Overlapped data was quantitatively resolved by using chemometric methods, viz. inverse least squares (ILS), principal component regression (PCR) and partial least squares (PLS). Calibrations were constructed using the absorption data matrix corresponding to the concentration data matrix. The linearity range was found to be 1-5, 10-50 and 2-10 µg mL -1 for ramipril, aspirin and atorvastatin calcium, respectively. The absorbance matrix was obtained by measuring the zero-order absorbance in the wavelength range between 210 and 320 nm. A training set design of the concentration data corresponding to the ramipril, aspirin and atorvastatin calcium mixtures was organized statistically to maximize the information content from the spectra and to minimize the error of multivariate calibrations. By applying the respective algorithms for PLS 1, PCR and ILS to the measured spectra of the calibration set, a suitable model was obtained. This model was selected on the basis of RMSECV and RMSEP values. The same was applied to the prediction set and capsule formulation. Mean recoveries of the commercial formulation set together with the figures of merit (calibration sensitivity, selectivity, limit of detection, limit of quantification and analytical sensitivity) were estimated. Validity of the proposed approaches was successfully assessed for analyses of drugs in the various prepared physical mixtures and formulations.