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Background: There is a great interest towards the medicinal herbs as a new line of treatment with less side effects. Objective: Evaluation and standardization of the protective effect of Ocimum basilicum extract which is used as traditional medicine against ethanol-induced gastric mucosal damage. Material and Methods: Fifty adult male albino rats of local strain weighing between 150 and 185 grams were used for this study. The rats were divided into four groups, control, ethanol-treated, Ocimum basilicum plus ethanol-treated, and cimetidine plus ethanol-treated. The rats received the extract in two different dose concentrations (100 and 200 mg/kg b.w. orally), and cimetidine (100 mg/kg b.w. subcutaneously) for seven successive days. One hour later after the seventh day dose, the rats of the third and fourth groups received a single dose of 70% ethanol (1 ml/rat) orally. Results: The tested two concentrations of the extract showed a dose-dependent preventive index of 54.3% and 84.3% for the small and large dose respectively. It was noticed that the larger dose of the Ocimum basilicum extract showed a gastric mucosal protection nearly similar to that produced by cimetidine. Conclusion: Ocimum basilicum leaves extract was effective in protection of gastric mucosa against ethanol-induced gastric mucosal injury.

Background: Spermatogenesis is a complex process through which spermatogonial germ cells undergo mitosis, meiosis and cell differentiation to generate mature spermatozoa. Gentamycin (GM) is an aminoglycoside antibiotic that has negative effect on spermatogenesis. Objective: Evaluation of the possible effect of medical ozone on spermatogenesis in experimentally gentamycin-induced testicular lesion in male albino rat. Materials and Methods: Forty adult male albino rats of a local strain were chosen as a model for the present study. They were divided into equal four groups: Group I (Control group), Group II (Gentamycin-treated group), GroupIII (Ozone and gentamycin-treated group), and Group IV (Gentamycin followed by ozone-treated group). At the end of the experimental period, blood samples were obtained for determination of malondilaldehyde (MDA) and catalase (CAT). Testicular samples were obtained for transmission electronmicorsocpic study. Results: Gentamycin induced oxidative stress and reduced spermatogenesis. Medical ozone produced partial improvement in redox homeostasis and spermatogenesis when used in combination or after gentamycin. Conclusion: Medical ozone can be used to attenuate harmful effects of GM on testicular functions. Further studies can be done to evaluate the effect of different doses and different durations of medical ozone on different systems of the body.

Background: Exendin-4 (glucagon like peptide-1 agonist) is an insulinotropic gut peptide and is being evaluated for the regulation of blood glucose in diabetes mellitus. Objective: Evaluating the possible effects of exendin-4 administration with or without muscular exercise on diabetic male albino rats. Materials and Methods: Forty adult male albino rats were divided into four equal groups: Group I served as a normal control group, group II was diabetic control, group III was diabetic group treated with exendin-4, and group IV was diabetic group subjected to swimming exercise and receiving exendin-4. At the end of the experimental period, blood samples were collected for measuring of blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides (TG), low density lipoproteins (LDL), high density lipoproteins (HDL) and C-peptide. Results: Alloxan-induced diabetes mellitus was associated with significant higher levels of serum blood glucose, total cholesterol, TG and LDL-C with significant lower levels of HDL-C and C-peptide as compared with the control normal group. Exendin-4 with or without muscular exercise showed significant lower levels of blood glucose, total cholesterol, TG and LDL-C levels, and significant higher levels of HDL-C and C-peptide as compared with the control diabetic rats. Conclusion: Exendin-4 therapy has a marked effect on improvement of blood glucose, C-peptide level and lipid profile. This was most probably due to increasing insulin sensitivity and decreasing hepatic fat biosynthesis. As regards the differences between the muscular exercise with exendine-4 group (group 4) and exendine-4 treated group (group 3), the obtained data showed a significant lower value of serum triglyceride in the muscular exercise with exendine-4 group compared with the exendine-4 treated group.