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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurological disease and the most common form of dementia, affecting more than 10 million people all over the world. Clinically, AD is characterized by progressive deficits in memory, cognitive impairment, and altered behavior. Although researches have largely continued, there is still no appropriate treatment option for disease-modifying AD. However, symptomatic treatment options exist. Medicinal plants have been used in different systems of medicine from ancient times for the treatment of diseases. Numerous herbs have been shown to improve brain function and may have a role to play in AD treatment. In this review, we provide a systematic review on the role of medicinal plants and herbs useful for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, the effect of these herbs on hormones, herb-drug interactions as well as stability-related testing for the herbal pharmaceutical medicines.

Malaria incidences has been a public health concern and it has increased in recent years because of resistance of the malaria parasite to available antimalarial drugs. This research explored the anti-plasmodial effect of the Cissus populnea matrixed in artemether-lumefantrine against Plasmodium berghei infected mice. The matrixed drug was evaluated for prophylactic, curative, and suppressive effect in Plasmodium berghei mice. The swiss Albino mice were grouped into 4 and were inoculated with Plasmodium berghei intraperitoneally except the naïve group. The matrixed drug significantly inhibited parasitemia in prophylactic, curative, and suppressive infections (p<0.05) (45.75%, 37.75, and 60.99%, respectively). However, a significant decrease in PCV, Hb, RBC and increased total and differential white blood cell count was observed in the mice that were treated with the matrixed tablet formulation for prophylaxis and suppression, but no significant hematological effect was observed in the groups that received the matrixed tablet for curative effect. The histopathological analysis of the matrixed drug on different organs showed no observable damage in any of the organs This study suggests that incorporation of Cissus populnea gum in artemether-lumefantrine based tablets possessed promising antimalarial potential with minimal histological and hematological effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quinine hydrochloride (QHCl) has remained a very relevant antimalarial drug 400 years after its effectiveness was discovered. Unlike other antimalarials, the development of resistance to quinine has been slow. Hence, this drug is to date still used for the treatment of severe and cerebral malaria, for malaria treatment in all trimesters of pregnancy, and in combination with doxycycline against multidrug-resistant malaria parasites. The decline in its administration over the years is mainly associated with poor tolerability due to its gastrointestinal (GIT) side effects such as cinchonism, complex dosing regimen and bitter taste, all of which result in poor compliance. Hence, our research was aimed at redesigning quinine using nanotechnology and investigating an alternative route for its administration for the treatment of malaria. QHCl nanosuspension (QHCl-NS) for intranasal administration was prepared using lipid matrices made up of solidified reverse micellar solutions (SRMS) comprising Phospholipon® 90H and lipids (Softisan® 154 or Compritol®) in a 1:2 ratio, while Poloxamer® 188 (P188) and Tween® 80 (T80) were used as a stabilizer and a surfactant, respectively. The QHCl-NS formulated were in the nanosize range (68.60 ± 0.86 to 300.80 ± 10.11 nm), and highly stable during storage, though zeta potential was low (≤6.95 ± 0.416). QHCl-NS achieved above 80% in vitro drug release in 6 h. Ex vivo permeation studies revealed that formulating QHCl as NS resulted in a 5-fold and 56-fold increase in the flux and permeation coefficient, respectively, thereby enhancing permeation through pig nasal mucosa better than plain drug solutions. This implies that the rate of absorption as well as ease of drug permeation through porcine nasal mucosa was impressively enhanced by formulating QHCl as NS. Most importantly, reduction in parasitaemia in mice infected with Plasmodium berghei ANKA by QHCl-NS administered through the intranasal route (51.16%) was comparable to oral administration (52.12%). Therefore, redesigning QHCl as NS for intranasal administration has great potential to serve as a more tolerable option for the treatment of malaria in endemic areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]