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Background: Cymbopogon khasianus is a widely used industrial and pharmacologically important aromatic grass species. Objective: The present investigation was designed to study and compare the elemicin rich Cymbopogon khasianus essential oil (EREO) and its pharmacological effects, genotoxicity with pure compound elemicin Materials and Methods: Chemical composition, identification was performed using GC/MS and NMR techniques. 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate (DPPH), reducing power assay for antioxidant; albumin denaturation, protease inhibitor for anti-inflammatory; acetylcholinesterase (AChE) for anti-cholinesterase; amylase inhibitory for anti-diabetic; tyrosine inhibitory for skin whitening; disc diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentration assay for antimicrobial, and Allium cepa assay for genotoxicity were used. Results: GC/MS analysis identified 38 compounds; among them elemicin 72.34%, D-limonene 3.81%; methyl eugenol 3.34% were the major compounds. A significant amount of antioxidant activity IC50 31.38 µg/mL; anti-inflammatory activity (protein denaturation assay) IC50 16.77 µg/mL; protease inihibitor assay IC50 51.08 µg/mL; anticholinesterase IC50 12.095 µg/mL; antidiabetic activity IC50 17.36 µg/mL; and anti-tyrosinase activity IC50 17.69 µg/mL were reported. Antimicrobial activity analysis against 13 microbial strains revealed negative effect. Genotoxicity study using Allium cepa assay revealed negative toxicity of EREO with aberration percentage of 04.30% and pure elemicin 05.30% which was very low in comparison to ethyl-methanesulfonate (EMS) 13.90%. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge this is the first scientific evaluation of novel elemicin rich EREO pharmacological properties and to compare with pure compound elemicin. Together, it can be stated that EREO possesses antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cholinesterase activities way better than pure compound elemicin as well as standard drugs used.

Current study was formulated to analyze the chemical composition, pharmacological activities, and toxicology study of Chromolaena odorata aerial part essential oil (COEO) grown in North East India....

Background:The essential oil of methyl eugenol rich Cymbopogon khasianus Hack. was evaluated and its bioactivities were compared with pure methyl eugenol. So far, methyl eugenol rich essential oil of lemongrass was not studied for any biological activities; hence, the present study was conducted.Objective:This study examined the chemical composition of essential oil of methyl eugenol rich Cymbopogon khasianus Hack., and evaluated its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and herbicidal properties and genotoxicity, which were compared with pure compound, methyl eugenol.Material and Methods:Methyl eugenol rich variety of Cymbopogon khasianus Hack., with registration no. INGR18037 (c.v. Jor Lab L-9) was collected from experimental farm CSIR-NEIST, Jorhat, Assam (26.7378°N, 94.1570°E). The essential oil wasobtained by hydro-distillation using a Clevenger apparatus. The chemical composition of the essential oil was evaluated using GC/MS analysis and its antioxidant (DPPH assay, reducing power assay), anti-inflammatory (Egg albumin denaturation assay), and antimicrobial (Disc diffusion assay, MIC) properties, seed germination effect and genotoxicity (Allium cepa assay) were studied and compared with pure Methyl Eugenol compound (ME).Results:Major components detected in the Essential Oil (EO) through Gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy analysis were methyl eugenol (73.17%) and β-myrcene (8.58%). A total of 35components were detected with a total identified area percentage of 98.34%. DPPH assay revealed considerable antioxidant activity of methyl eugenol rich lemongrass essential oil (IC50= 2.263 μg/mL), which is lower than standard ascorbic acid (IC50 2.58 μg/mL), and higher than standard Methyl Eugenol (ME) (IC50 2.253 μg/mL). Methyl eugenol rich lemongrass EO showed IC50 38.00 μg/mL, ME 36.44 μg/mL, and sodium diclofenac 22.76 μg/mL, in in-vitro anti-inflammatory test. Moderate antimicrobial activity towards the 8 tested microbes was shown by methyl eugenol rich lemongrass essential oil whose effectiveness against the microbes was less as compared to pure ME standard. Seed germination assay further revealed the herbicidal properties of methyl eugenol rich essential oil. Moreover, Allium cepa assay revealed moderate genotoxicity of the essential oil.Conclusion:This paper compared the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, genotoxicity and herbicidal activities of methyl eugenol rich lemongrass with pure methyl eugenol. This methyl eugenol rich lemongrass variety can be used as an alternative of methyl eugenol pure compound. Hence, the essential oil of this variety has the potential of developing cost-effective, easily available antioxidative/ antimicrobial drugs but its use should be under the safety range of methyl eugenol and needs further clinical trials.

Lantana camara Linn., a noxious weed found in most places of the world has many potential aspects and has been used as folk medicines to cure several diseases. It is reported to possess antimicrobi...

Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels (Jambolan) is a widespread summer fruit plant, well-known for various therapeutic uses such as anti-diabetic, antimicrobial, antioxidant properties. The fruit helps to c...

Patchouli (Pogostemon cablin) is shade loving plant and the shade dried leaves are used for essential oil extraction which is used in high-quality perfumery. The present study is aimed to find the ...

Background: This investigation was designed to evaluate the chemical composition, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, genotoxicity, and antimicrobial activities of Curcuma caesia Roxb rhizome essential oil. Methods: Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectroscopy (GC/MS) analysis was performed to determine the chemical composition, standard antioxidative test DPPH assay, reducing power assay, in vitro antiinflammatory activity (egg albumin denaturation, protease inhibitory assay) by using standard methods. Similarly, antimicrobial activity was tested using the disc diffusion method, minimum inhibitory concentration ability (MIC); while to test genotoxicity, Allium cepa assay was used. Results: GC/MS analysis revealed eucalyptol (28.55%), epicurzerenone (19.62%), and camphor (21.73%) as the major components of C. caesia rhizome essential oil. Potent antioxidant (IC50= 48.08±0.003 μg/mL), anti-inflammatory (IC50= 121.7±0.0013 μg/mL), and antimicrobial activities of the essential oil were recorded better than the standard drugs Fluconazole for fungus and Ciprofloxacin for bacteria. The essential oil also possessed a strong antibacterial effect against two tested bacterial strains B. subtilis and B. cereus with 7.5 μg/mL MIC value, while for fungal strains the essential oil was most effective against S. cereviaceae with an MIC value of 2.5 μg/mL. All the data were recorded in triplicates. Allium cepa assay revealed minor genotoxicity with mitotic index, MI= 27.70%; chromosome aberration, A= 1.1% of C. caesia rhizome essential oil. Conclusion: C. caesia rhizome essential oil possesses potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial properties with negligible genotoxicity. Hence, the present study is highly significant for the utilization of rhizome of C. caesia, a high-value ethnopharmacological plant for advanced R & D and commercial application.

Acorus calamus L. is an important aromatic medicinal plant, which has many biological activities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential in-vitro antioxidant, anti-microbial, anti-infl...

Zingiber officinale Roscoe commonly known as ginger is one of the most important spice crop of North East India. This plant has found a wide range of application- as condiments and spice, as flavouring agent, in medicine and as therapeutic uses in pharmaceuticals industries. Different varieties of Zingiber officinale are cultivated in this region but their identification is still lacking till now. Evaluation of genetic diversity is therefore essential for conservation, to avoid duplicity of germplasm and maintenance of this important species. Molecular markers Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and Inter Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) are tested for eighty high dry recovery genotypes. Selections of genotypes are based on more than 25% dry rhizome recovery. Among 90 primers (40 RAPD and 50 ISSR) initially tested, 26 RAPD and 28 ISSR are used in the study which showed 84.1% and 85.2% polymorphism respectively. Dendrogram generated from UPGMA (Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean) cluster analysis for both RAPD and ISSR marker was similar. Similar conclusion can be drawn from the result of cluster analysis. These primers could be used for future studies as varietal developmental programme on high dry rhizome recovery lines.

The present study was designed to study the chemical constituents of the leaf essential oil of Curcuma caesia and its anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and genotoxic efficacies. Chemical constituents of the oil were determined using Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectroscopy, showed 32 components; the major components were eucalyptol (16.43%) and camphor (11.56%). The DPPH assay of the leaf oil confirmed significant amount of antioxidant activity (IC50 value = 1.487 μg/mL), which is even more than the control, ascorbic acid. The maximum reducing power was observed at 48 μg/mL. The total phenolic (TPC) and flavonoid content (TFC) of the leaf oil was 2.13 ± 0.027 mg/mL and 11.36 ± 0.096 mg/mL respectively, which provides the oil its strong antioxidant property. Moreover, the leaf essential oil showed in-vitro ant-inflammatory activity with IC50 value of 182.5 μg/mL. C. caesia leaf essential oil was also found to have antimicrobial potential against Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella typhimurium; and antifungal effect against Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus niger, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida albicans. It has been observed that the leaf essential oil showed negligible amount of genotoxic effect in comparison to the standard, sodium diclofenac. Therefore, it can be stated that the C. caesia leaf essential oil has potential and biologically important activity. To the best of our knowledge, this is first scientific report on the chemical constituents of the leaf essential oil of Curcuma caesia and its biological activities, and it could be a scope for further research to be used in pharmaceutical and natural products industries.

Anethole, a widely used industrial flavoring agent is majorly sourced from anise and star anise. The present study is aimed to the in-depth pharmacological analysis i.e. anti-diabetic, skin whitening, neurodegenerative disorder inhibitory activities of anethole-rich Clausena heptaphylla leaf essential oil (ARCHEO) (88.59%) as revealed by the Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis and further confirmed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance 1H-NMR as well as to compare with standard compound anethole. ARCHEO (ABTS EC50 6.97 ± 0.004 µg/mL; Protease assay 4.51 ± 0.004 µg/mL) outperformed the standard compound anethole (ABTS EC50 9.48 ± 0.048 µg/mL; Protease assay EC50 22.64 ± 0.016 µg/mL) in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory experiments. ARCHEO was also shown to be more effective than the reference compound anethole in terms of anti-diabetic activity (EC50 22.35 ± 0.121 µg/mL), tyrosinase inhibitory activity (EC50 16.45 ± 0.012 µg/mL), and anti-cholinesterase activity (EC50 22.32 ± 0.016 µg/mL). However, ARCHEO exhibited lower antimicrobial activity towards all the tested microbes compared to standard compound anethole and as for the MIC, ARCHEO was effective only towards Salmonella typhimurium (60 µg/mL), Streptococcus mutans (20 µg/mL), and Aspergillus fumigatus (75 µg/mL). ARCHEO (11.11%) and anethole (12.33%) showed no genotoxic effect based on Allium cepa assay mitotic index value. Thus, ARCHEO could be a commercially viable and widely available cheaper source of anethole, which has buoyant demand in the field of food flavoring, fragrance, and pharmaceutical industries.

Callistemon citrinus aerial part essential oil (CCEO) was analyzed for chemical compositions using GC/MS. Pharmacological activities such as neurodegenerative inhibitory, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and acetylcholinesterase activities were evaluated using the standard methodologies. Genotoxicity was investigated using Allium cepa assay. GC/MS analysis identified 27 compounds; eucalyptol (55.40%) was the major component. Radical scavenging activity showed IC50 value of 16.71 μg/mL. Protein denaturation assay showed IC50 value of 21.19 μg/mL and 19.53μg/mL in protease inhibitor activity. MIC assay revealed antimicrobial potential of CCEO against microbial strains B. cereus at 2.00 mg/mL, S. typhimurium at 4.50 mg/mL, S. mutans at 2.50 mg/mL, C. albicans at 4.00 mg/mL, and S. cerevisiae at 4.50 mg/mL concentrations. Mitotic index value (MI) of CCEO showed negligible genotoxicity with MI 17.25% close to distilled water 18.22%. Acetylcholinesterase strong inhibitory activity of CCEO was observed from IC50 = 6.335 μg/mL. CCEO could be a cheap and easy source for the extraction of the pure compound eucalyptol and possess various biological activities which increase its pharmacological value as well as its applicability in the field of flavor and fragrance industries. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Eucalyptol is the major component of many pharmaceutical and food/flavor industries. The present investigation provides a new source for the isolation of pure compound eucalyptol in cost-effective way. Additionally, the essential oil could also be used for the pharmaceutical formulation of antioxidant, inflammation inhibitory, and neurodegenerative inhibitory drug preparation under the safety range concentration.

The objective of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial activities of essential oil obtained from medicinal and aromatic plants found in Northeastern region of India namely, Cymbopogon flexuosus, Pogostemon cablin, Curcuma caesia, Cymbopogon winterianus, Clausena heptaphylla, Cinnamomum tamala, Psidium guajava, Ocimum sanctum, Cinnamomum camphora and one rhizome Kaempferia galanga. The oils were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. The plant species have good oil yielding capacity of more than 0.50%. The antimicrobial activities were performed against five pathogenic bacteria and four fungal strains. In disc diffusion method, the highest antibacterial activity for all the tested bacteria was shown by Ocimum sanctum oil while Cinnamomum camphora and Psidium guajava oil showed no inhibition except for E. coli and S. aureus respectively. Again the highest antifungal efficiency was shown by Cymbopogon flexuosus oil against the tested microorganisms while the inhibition was negligible for Psidium guajava and Cinnamomum camphora oil. MIC test was performed to confirm the results. Till date very scanty information is available on the plants under study; therefore an effort was made to find out efficacy and effectiveness of different essential oils on different pathogenic strains thereby playing an important role as disinfectant, preservatives in food industry or substitute for synthetic antimicrobial drugs in pharmaceuticals.

Litsea cubeba Pers. is a medicinal as well as aromatic plant distributed widely in North-East India. This study was designed to evaluate and compare antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, genotoxicity, antimicrobial activities and chemical composition of Essential oil of Litsea cubeba (EOLC) fruit and leaf collected from CSIR-NEIST, Jorhat (Assam) experimental farm. EOLC fruit and leaf showed effective and strong concentration-dependent antioxidant activity which increases with increase in oil concentration. In the in-vitro anti-inflammatory study, using egg albumin denaturation assay, it was demonstrated that EOLC fruit and leaf has strong activity towards protein denaturation assay in an optimum concentration, where diclofenac sodium was used as standard reference drug. EOLC fruit showed stronger activity than the leaf in in-vitro antioxidant and anti-inflammatory tests. Genotoxic effects showed EOLC fruit and leaf has the negligible effect on root growth inhibition, mitotic index and chromosome aberration in comparison to the standard ethyl methanesulphonate. Antimicrobial activity towards eight microbes was evaluated using Disc diffusion assay (DDa) and Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) test, where no considerable effect was observed. GC–MS analysis of the oil revealed methyl heptenone (30.9%) as the major component in fruit EO and sabinene (25.22%) in leaf EO. This paper gives an overview of the biology, chemistry and toxicity of EOLC fruit and leaf. Since very few evidence available on the biological activity of North-East India Litsea cubeba EO in public domain so the possibilities on the exploitation of potential are discussed and tried to explore here.

Background Tremor is an important phenotypic motor feature in dystonia, but there is limited literature regarding its prevalence and phenomenology. Methods This cross-sectional study included 90 patients with adult-onset, isolated dystonia from a tertiary care movement disorder center in India. Patients were assessed for tremor in the head and in different body parts. Surface electromyography studies of tremor were recorded of the involved limb in different positions. Results Tremor was present in 41 patients (45.55%) who had dystonia, including 21 of 41 patients (51.21%) with cervical dystonia, 15 of 34 (44.11%) with limb dystonia, and 5 of 15 (33.33%) with cranial dystonia. Significantly later age at presentation (47.19 ± 14.55 years vs. 40.39 ± 13.74 years; P = 0.012) and longer disease duration (5.11 ± 5.85 years vs. 2.60 ± 2.57 years; P = 0.004) were observed in patients with versus without tremor. Upper limb tremor was present in 33 patients, head tremor was present in 14, and leg tremor was present in 2. Tremor was present in 17 of 25 patients (68%) with segmental dystonia and in 6 of 9 (66.66%) with multifocal dystonia. Tremor was least frequent in patients with focal dystonia (18 of 56 patients; 32.14%). Conclusions Tremor was common (>45%) in patients with primary adult-onset dystonia. Patients who had tremor were older and had a longer duration of symptoms. Patients with segmental and multifocal dystonia had more tremor than those with focal dystonia. In contrast to some other studies, the current patients had more upper limb tremor than head tremor, and a combination of dystonic tremor and tremor associated with dystonia was more common than isolated dystonic tremor.

This investigation was designed to evaluate the chemical composition, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, genotoxicity, and antimicrobial activities of Curcuma caesia Roxb rhizome essential oil.Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectroscopy (GC/MS) analysis was performed to determine the chemical composition, standard antioxidative test DPPH assay, reducing power assay, in vitro antiinflammatory activity (egg albumin denaturation, protease inhibitory assay) by using standard methods. Similarly, antimicrobial activity was tested using the disc diffusion method, minimum inhibitory concentration ability (MIC); while to test genotoxicity, Allium cepa assay was used.GC/MS analysis revealed eucalyptol (28.55%), epicurzerenone (19.62%), and camphor (21.73%) as the major components of C. caesia rhizome essential oil. Potent antioxidant (IC50= 48.08±0.003 μg/mL), anti-inflammatory (IC50= 121.7±0.0013 μg/mL), and antimicrobial activities of the essential oil were recorded better than the standard drugs Fluconazole for fungus and Ciprofloxacin for bacteria. The essential oil also possessed a strong antibacterial effect against two tested bacterial strains B. subtilis and B. cereus with 7.5 μg/mL MIC value, while for fungal strains the essential oil was most effective against S. cereviaceae with an MIC value of 2.5 μg/mL. All the data were recorded in triplicates. Allium cepa assay revealed minor genotoxicity with mitotic index, MI= 27.70%; chromosome aberration, A= 1.1% of C. caesia rhizome essential oil.C. caesia rhizome essential oil possesses potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial properties with negligible genotoxicity. Hence, the present study is highly significant for the utilization of rhizome of C. caesia, a high-value ethnopharmacological plant for advanced RD and commercial application.

Tremor has been recognized as an important clinical feature in dystonia. Tremor in dystonia may occur in the body part affected by dystonia known as dystonic tremor or unaffected body regions known as tremor associated with dystonia. The most common type of tremor seen in dystonia patients is postural and kinetic which may be mistaken for familial essential tremor. Similarly familial essential tremor patients may have associated dystonia leading to diagnostic uncertainties. The pathogenesis of tremor in dystonia remains speculative, but its neurophysiological features are similar to dystonia which helps in differentiating it from essential tremor patients. Treatment of tremor in dystonia depends upon the site of involvement. Dystonic hand tremor is treated with oral pharmacological therapy and dystonic head, jaw and voice tremor is treated with injection botulinum toxin. Neurosurgical interventions such as deep brain stimulation and lesion surgery should be an option in patients not responding to the pharmacological treatment.

Kaempferia galanga (aromatic ginger) is a valuable crop in the flavour and fragrance industries due to its aromatic rhizome and the essential oil therein. The aerial part of this herb is considered as an agricultural residue and of no significant commercial value till date. In the current study, the fresh leaves of K. galanga were utilized for three-way value addition through hydrodistillation technique. The process produced fragrant distillate (essential oil and hydrosol) as a unique flavouring agent. The residual hydro-extract (decoction) in the distilling flask had the reducing capability that was demonstrated through the bio-reduction of Pd(II) to Pd(0) nanoparticle. A three-way value addition to the agricultural residue of an aromatic crop through hydrodistillation and a synthetic utilization of the residual decoction thereof was reported for the first time.

Cymbopogon winterianus Jowitt. is an industrially important aromatic grass which gives essential oil upon distillation; however this crop is very much influenced by the environmental factors. Therefore the present investigation was performed to evaluate the stability of 72 germplasm of C. winterianus over three macro-environments (three year) by using Eberhart and Russell (1966) method and Additive Main Effects and Multiplicative Interaction (AMMI) model. The regression analysis of genotype x environment linear (G x E) (Lin.) components were significant for all the traits except leaf length, leaf breadth and herbage yield. Additive main effects and multiplicative interaction model (AMMI) were performed to study the genotype x environment interaction for herbage yield, essential oil yield and citronellal content. Principal component analysis of AMMI Analysis of variance showed 66.1 % (herbage yield), 69.6 % (essential oil yield) and 82.5 % (citronellal content) of G x E interaction. According to regression coefficient analysis and AMMI biplot, six genotypes were found to be high yielding and stable for herbage yield. Similarly, four and seven high yielding genotypes were identified for essential oil yield and citronellal content respectively that showed consistent performance across the macro-environments. These genotypes may be utilized in future breeding programme and development of superior germplasm of Cymbopogon winterianus on the basis of high yield and stable nature. This is the first report on the stability analysis of 72 germplasm of Cymbopogon winterianus for three years evaluation.

The aim of this study is to describe a case of Lhermitte–Duclos disease (LDD), which is an extremely rare cause of cerebellar ataxia. LDD is an extremely rare type of benign cerebellar mass and usually manifest as features of raised intracranial pressure and cerebellar dysfunction. Patients may remain asymptomatic for many years, and detection of tumor may be by chance on routine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). A 29-year-old female presented to the outdoor patient department with 18 months history of a headache, which was moderate to severe in intensity, throbbing in nature, localized to the right side of the head, and associated with nausea and photophobia. On examination, she had mild cerebellar dysfunction, and MRI/MRS finding was consistent with LDD. LDD is a rare cause of headache and cerebellar dysfunction in younger age group. Treatment may be individualized, and conservative management with regular follow-up may be a better approach if symptoms are mild and nonprogressive in nature.

Movement disorders following stroke is a well known phenomena both during acute stage as well as in later phases. The type of movement depends on the site of involvement, it is however not uncommon to have more than one type of movement disorder following a stroke. We present a patient with combined dystonia and asterixis following a unilateral thalamic infarct, whose dystonia persisted on follow up while the asterixis faded away with time.

To study the frequency, types, phenomenology, and effectiveness of sensory tricks in patients with primary blepharospasm and idiopathic cervical dystonia.Sensory tricks are maneuvers seen in patients with dystonia, which are used to temporarily reduce the severity of dystonic postures. In different types of dystonia, the frequency of sensory tricks have been described to range from 17-89%.In this cross-sectional observational study, we analyzed the frequency, types, phenomenology, and effectiveness of sensory tricks in 20 patients with primary blepharospasm and 20 patients with idiopathic cervical dystonia, respectively. Patients underwent a clinical examination, and the severity of dystonia was measured using the Burke Fahn Marsden dystonia rating scale (eyes and neck components).A questionnaire regarding the sensory tricks was administered to all the patients.Eighteen patients with blepharospasm and 7 patients with cervical dystonia used sensory tricks to alleviate their dystonic movements (P0.05). The age group of the patients with cervical dystonia presenting with sensory tricks was significantly lower than that of those having blepharospasm (P0.05). Sensory tricks, when used, were effective every time in 72.2% of patients with blepharospasm and in 85.8% of patients with cervical dystonia. However, majority of the patients with blepharospasm (61.1%) and cervical dystonia (42.9%) had only partial benefit (50%) with these maneuvers.In this study, sensory tricks were more common in patients with primary blepharospasm than in patients with idiopathic cervical dystonia.Age of the patients with cervical dystonia was significantly lesser than those suffering from blepharospasm.We did not find any correlation between the presence of sensory tricks, the severity of dystonia and the duration of the disease.Majority of the patients derived benefit with sensory tricks every time; however, the benefit was only partial.