Phytochemical analysis and investigation of analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antispasmodic activities of hydroethanolic extracts of Alternanthera dentata, Ocimum carnosum, and Plectranthus barbatus, three species with vernacular names derived from analgesic drugs.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Plant vernacular names can provide clues about the popular use of a species in different regions and are valuable sources of information about the culture or vocabulary of a population. Several medicinal plants in Brazil have received names of medicines and brand-name products.

Aim Of The Study: The present work aimed to evaluate the chemical composition and pharmacological activity in the central nervous system of three species known popularly by brand names of analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, and digestive drugs.

Behavioral Pharmacology of Five Uncommon Species Indicates Sedative and Anxiolytic-like Potential.

Background: There are over 500 species in the Passiflora genus, and while some of them are very well known in folk medicine for their anxiolytic effects, very little is known for the other genus representants, which could also present medicinal effects.

Objective: In this study, we performed an interspecific pharmacological comparison of five investigated Passiflora species, all native to Brazil, namely P. bahiensis, P.

Ayahuasca blocks ethanol preference in an animal model of dependence and shows no acute toxicity.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Ayahuasca, a psychoactive beverage prepared from Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis, is originally used by Amazon-based indigenous and mestizo groups for medicinal and ritualistic purposes. Nowadays, ayahuasca is used in religious and shamanic contexts worldwide, and preliminary evidence from preclinical and observational studies suggests therapeutic effects of ayahuasca for the treatment of substance (including alcohol) use disorders.

Aim Of The Study: To investigate the initial pharmacological profile of ayahuasca and its effects on ethanol rewarding effect using the conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm in mice.

Enkephalin related peptides are released from jejunum wall by orally ingested bromelain.

Stem bromelain [EC 3.4.22.

Phytochemical analysis of hydroethanolic extract of Turnera diffusa Willd and evaluation of its effects on astrocyte cell death.

Objective: To evaluate the phytochemical composition of hydroethanolic extracts from powdered aerial parts of Turnera diffusa Willd (Turneraceae; T. diffusa), as well as its toxicity in astrocytes.

Methods: Chemical analyses of hydroethanolic extract from powdered aerial parts ofT.

Chemical Analysis of Suspected Unrecorded Alcoholic Beverages from the States of São Paulo and Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Our study analyzed 152 samples of alcoholic beverages collected from the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais, Brazil, using gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID) and mass spectrometry (GC-MS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). The methanol content varied from 20 to 180 ppm in 28 samples, and the limit of the accepted level of 200 ppm was exceeded in only one sample. High content of cyanide derivatives and ethyl carbamate, above the accepted level of 150 ppb, was observed in 109 samples.

Phyllanthus amarus does not affect hypernociception in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system. Chronic pain is one of the main symptoms, affecting many patients. Studies show that the lignans or the apolar extracts of Phyllanthus amarus have antinociceptive effects in different animal models.

Effects of Panax ginseng, Turnera diffusa and Heteropterys tomentosa extracts on hippocampal apoptosis of aged rats.

Objective: To verify if the medicinal plants Panax ginseng C.A. Mey, Turnera diffusa Willd.

Assessment of the toxicity of the Brazilian pepper trees Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi (Aroeira-da-praia) and Myracrodruon urundeuva Allemão (Aroeira-do-sertão).

The present study aimed to assess the preclinical toxicity of two plants commonly used to treat "stomach ailments" in Brazil: Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi (S) and Myracrodruon urundeuva Allemão (M). In male rats, chronic treatment (83 days) with both pepper trees (17.6 and 13.

Random sample survey on the prevalence of smoking in the major cities of Brazil.

Objective: To provide access to the results of a randomized cross-sectional study conducted by the Brazilian Center for Information on Psychotropic Drugs in 2001.

Methods: This survey involved a random sample of individuals ranging from 12 to 65 years of age and residing in the 107 largest cities (over 200,000 inhabitants) in Brazil, which represented 27.7% of the Brazilian population, estimated to be 169,799,170 inhabitants at the time.

Recreational use of benzydamine as a hallucinogen among street youth in Brazil.

Objective: To describe the recreational use of benzydamine, an anti-inflammatory drug, among street youth in Brazil.

Design: a descriptive, cross sectional survey.

Setting: 93 welfare services for the street youth in 27 Brazilian capitals.

Psychoactive drug advertising: a comparison of technical information from three countries: Brazil, United States and United Kingdom.

Context And Objective: Studies carried out in the 1970s and 1980s showed that there were country-dependent disparities in the information given for the same drug in medical advertisements. National and international regulations have been published to do away with such disparities and to foster the rational use of drugs. The purpose of this study was to compare the information contained in psychoactive drug advertisements published in psychiatric journals in Brazil, the United States and the United Kingdom, before and subsequent to the publication of the United States Export Act, in 1986, the WHO criteria, in 1988, and the Brazilian Sanitary Surveillance Agency Resolution no.

Psychopharmacological assessment of Pfaffia glomerata roots (extract BNT-08) in rodents.

A pharmacological assessment of the standardized extract (BNT-08) of Pfaffia glomerata roots was performed in young mice submitted to acute treatment with several doses (i.p.), in young and old mice submitted to chronic oral treatment for 150 days or with water (control groups) and in old mice at a dose of 100 mg/kg of extract.

Use of anorectic amphetamine-like drugs by Brazilian women.

The history of anorectic drug use was investigated in 2370 subjects in São Paulo and Brasília cities. Socio-demographic data and the number of previous treatments to lose weight were obtained. When the last treatment was drug-based, the substance(s) used, its duration, the occurrence of adverse reactions, and whether it was adequate were studied.

Influence of the legislation on the advertisement of psychoactive medications in Brazil.

Objective: The regulations on the advertisement of medications aim to encourage and promote an improved health care and the rational use of medications. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the influence of three regulations on the advertisement of medications: the "Export act", published in the United States in 1986; the "WHO's Criteria", published in 1988, and the Resolution 102/2000 of the Collegiate Board of Directors of the ANVISA (Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária- Brazilian Sanitary Surveillance Agency), on the advertisement of psychoactive medications.

Method: We collected advertisements that were published in Brazilian psychiatric journals before and after the regulations were established.

Activity of Hypericum brasiliense and Hypericum cordatum on the central nervous system in rodents.

Hydroalcoholic extracts from species Hypericum brasiliense Choisy (HB) and Hypericum cordatum (Vell. Conc.) N.