Comm ex Lamm (Araliaceae) leaves extract inhibits IKs not IKr potassium currents: Potential implications for anti-arrhythmic therapy.

Background And Aim: Comm ex Lamm (Araliaceae) is one of these plants sufficiently exploited in traditional African medicine for its hypotensive effect. However, the pharmacological effects of those plants on cardiac functions are not well known. The potassium currents IKs and IKr, responsible for the repolarization of cardiac cell action potential, strongly influence the human cardiac rhythm.

How do () leaves extract increase uterine smooth muscle contractions to facilitate child birth in parturient women?

Background: () leaves were used in Togolese folk to treat dystocia, expel placenta and manage post-partum hemorrhage during child birth.

Objectives: This study aimed to establish how the extract of leaves increase uterine smooth muscle contractions relevant to its traditional use to facilitate child birth.

Methods: Tests were performed on uterus muscle strips from Sprague-Dawley rats.

Improvement of calcium handling and changes in calcium-release properties after mini- or full-length dystrophin forced expression in cultured skeletal myotubes.

Dystrophin is a cytoskeletal protein normally expressed underneath the sarcolemma of muscle fibers. The lack of dystrophin in Duchenne muscular Dystrophy (DMD) muscles results in fiber necrosis, which was proposed to be mediated by chronic calcium mishandling. The extensive comparison of dystrophic cells from human or mdx mice with normal muscles have suggested that the lack of dystrophin may alter the resting calcium permeability and steady-state levels of calcium, but this latter observation remains controversial.

The effects of Securidaca longepedunculata root extract on ionic currents and contraction of cultured rat skeletal muscle cells.

The effects of the primary extract roots of Securidaca longepedunculata were tested on sodium, calcium and potassium currents in rat skeletal muscle cells developed in culture. In addition, they were tested on depolarisation-induced contraction and resting intracellular calcium levels. S.

Two sites of action for LCB29 (idrocilamide) in depressing mechanical tension of rat soleus muscle fibers?

The effects of 50 microM LCB29 (idrocilamide) were tested on depolarization-induced and caffeine contractures of rat soleus muscle fibers. When applied intracellularly by free diffusion in cut-end voltage-clamped fibers, LCB29 decreased tension amplitude by about 25%. The same amount of inhibition by LCB29 was observed on contractures induced by 6 mM caffeine.