A pharmacological basis of herbal medicines for epilepsy.

Epilepsy is the most common chronic neurological disease, affecting about 1% of the world's population during their lifetime. Most people with epilepsy can attain a seizure-free life upon treatment with antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). Unfortunately, seizures in up to 30% do not respond to treatment.

Quality assessment of medicinal herbs and their extracts: Criteria and prerequisites for consistent safety and efficacy of herbal medicines.

Ingredients of commercial herbal medicines are assessed for quality primarily to ensure their safety. However, as complex mixtures of different groups of plant secondary metabolites, retention of overall phytochemical consistency of herbal medicines is pivotal to their efficacy. Authenticity and homogeneity of the herbs and strict regimes of physical processing and extract manufacturing are critical factors to maintain phytochemical consistency in commercial products.

An in vitro study of anti-inflammatory activity of standardised Andrographis paniculata extracts and pure andrographolide.

Background: The anti-inflammatory activity of Andrographis paniculata (Acanthaceae), a traditional medicine widely used in Asia, is commonly attributed to andrographolide, its main secondary metabolite. Commercial A. paniculata extracts are standardised to andrographolide content.

Anti-inflammatory activity of cinnamon (C. zeylanicum and C. cassia) extracts - identification of E-cinnamaldehyde and o-methoxy cinnamaldehyde as the most potent bioactive compounds.

Chronic inflammation is a contributing factor in many age-related diseases. In a previous study, we have shown that Sri Lankan cinnamon (C. zeylanicum) was one of the most potent anti-inflammatory foods out of 115 foods tested.

An in vitro study of neuroprotective properties of traditional Chinese herbal medicines thought to promote healthy ageing and longevity.

Background: Age is the leading risk factor for acute and chronic neurodegenerative diseases. The Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing, the oldest known compendium of Chinese materia media, lists herbal medicines that were believed to exert neither fast acting pharmacological effects nor discernible toxicity, but to promote general health and longevity. In modern terms, these herbal medicines could be considered as complementary health care products for prevention rather than treatment of diseases.

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae transcriptome as a mirror of phytochemical variation in complex extracts of Equisetum arvense from America, China, Europe and India.

Background: Pattern-oriented chemical profiling is increasingly being used to characterize the phytochemical composition of herbal medicines for quality control purposes. Ideally, a fingerprint of the biological effects should complement the chemical fingerprint. For ethical and practical reasons it is not possible to test each herbal extract in laboratory animals or humans.

Effects of a novel herbal formulation JSK on acute spinal cord injury in rats.

Purpose: Acute spinal cord injury (SCI) triggers multiple cellular and molecular pathways; therapy aimed at only one pathway is unlikely to succeed. Anecdotal reports indicate that a novel herbal formulation (JSK-Ji-Sui-Kang) may enhance recovery in humans with SCI. We investigated whether JSK's therapeutic effects could be verified in a well-established SCI model in rats.

The application of Chinese medicine to novel drug discovery.

Introduction: The apparent productivity crisis in the pharmaceutical industry and the economic and political rise of China have contributed to renewed interest in the application of Chinese medicine for drug discovery.

Areas Covered: The author presents an overview of the historical development and basic principles of theory and practice of Chinese herbal medicine, its materia medica and prescription formulas, and discusses the motivation for and rationale of its application to drug discovery. Furthermore, the author distinguishes the five main approaches to drug discovery from Chinese herbal medicine, based on the decreasing amount and detail of historical and clinical Chinese medicine knowledge that informed the research effort.

Cytoprotective properties of traditional Chinese medicinal herbal extracts in hydrogen peroxide challenged human U373 astroglia cells.

Age is the leading risk factor for many of the most prevalent and devastating diseases including neurodegenerative diseases. A number of herbal medicines have been used for centuries to ameliorate the deleterious effects of ageing-related diseases and increase longevity. Oxidative stress is believed to play a role in normal ageing as well as in neurodegenerative processes.

From classical taxonomy to genome and metabolome: towards comprehensive quality standards for medicinal herb raw materials and extracts.

Fundamental to herbal medicine quality is the use of 'authentic' medicinal herb species. Species, however, 'represent more or less arbitrary and subjective man-made units'. Against this background, we discuss, with illustrative examples, the importance of defining species boundaries by accommodating both the fixed (shared) diagnostic and varying (within-species) traits in medicinal herb populations.

Using GenBank® for genomic authentication: a tutorial.

The GenBank(®) database is perhaps one of the most important repositories of genetic information. A researcher working in the field of genomic authentication must therefore be equipped with the skills needed to competently access the required information from this database whilst ultimately contributing their own data to it. This chapter presents a practical guide to using GenBank(®) to search for sequences, search and align unknown sequences using BLAST, and uploading and maintaining your own sequences.

Genomic DNA extraction and barcoding of endophytic fungi.

Endophytes live inter- and/or intracellularly inside healthy aboveground tissues of plants without causing disease. Endophytic fungi are found in virtually every vascular plant species examined. The origins of this symbiotic relationship between endophytes go back to the emergence of vascular plants.

DNA fingerprinting, DNA barcoding, and next generation sequencing technology in plants.

DNA fingerprinting of plants has become an invaluable tool in forensic, scientific, and industrial laboratories all over the world. PCR has become part of virtually every variation of the plethora of approaches used for DNA fingerprinting today. DNA sequencing is increasingly used either in combination with or as a replacement for traditional DNA fingerprinting techniques.

Association of the small GTPase Rheb with the NMDA receptor subunit NR3A.

The NMDAR subunit NR3A is most highly expressed during the second postnatal week, when synaptogenesis reaches peak levels. Genetic ablation or overexpression of the NR3A subunit negatively interferes with the maturation of cortical synapses and leads to changes in the shape and number of dendritic spines, the density of which is increased in NR3A knock-out mice and decreased in NR3A-overexpressing transgenic mice. Alterations in spine density have been linked to dysregulation of mTOR signaling and synaptic protein translation.

A non-muscle myosin II motor links NR1 to retrograde trafficking and proteasomal degradation in PC12 cells.

Rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells have been shown to lack functional NMDA receptors; yet, these cells express NR1 subunits of the NMDA receptor. The reason for the lack of functional receptors has been attributed to the absence of significant levels of NR2 subunits to co-assemble with NR1. It is known that PC12 expresses very low levels of NR2C, with complete absence of other types of NR2 subunits.

Altered development of glutamatergic synapses in layer V pyramidal neurons in NR3A knockout mice.

Expression of the NMDA receptor (NMDAR) subunit NR3A reaches its highest level in layer V of the developing rodent cortex during the second postnatal week, a peak period of synaptogenesis. Incorporation of NR3A leads to the formation of non-canonical, Mg2+-insensitive NMDARs, but it is not known whether they participate in synaptic transmission and maturation. Here we show that in the second postnatal week, layer V pyramidal neurons in the somatosensory cortex of wild type (WT) mice exhibited evoked excitatory postsynaptic currents (eEPSCs) with 3- to 6-fold lower Mg2+ sensitivity than NR3A knockout (KO) mice and their reversal potential was approximately 2 mV more negative compared to KO mice consistent with decreased P(Ca) of NMDARs.

Early alterations of AMPA receptors mediate synaptic potentiation induced by neonatal seizures.

The highest incidence of seizures during lifetime is found in the neonatal period and neonatal seizures lead to a propensity for epilepsy and long-term cognitive deficits. Here, we identify potential mechanisms that elucidate a critical role for AMPA receptors (AMPARs) in epileptogenesis during this critical period in the developing brain. In a rodent model of neonatal seizures, we have shown previously that administration of antagonists of the AMPARs during the 48 h after seizures prevents long-term increases in seizure susceptibility and seizure-induced neuronal injury.

Genome-based approaches to the authentication of medicinal plants.

Medicinal plants are the source of a large number of essential drugs in Western medicine and are the basis of herbal medicine, which is not only the primary source of health care for most of the world's population living in developing countries but also enjoys growing popularity in developed countries. The increased demand for botanical products is met by an expanding industry and accompanied by calls for assurance of quality, efficacy and safety. Plants used as drugs, dietary supplements and herbal medicines are identified at the species level.

Characterization of mRNA expression in single neurons.

How neurons differ from each other is largely determined by their specific repertoire of mRNAs. The genes expressed by a given neuron reflect its developmental history, its interaction with other cells, and its synaptic activity. Since the introduction of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), it has been possible to identify specific mRNAs present in small samples of total RNA.

Polymerase chain reaction on microchips.

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) provides an in vitro method for rapid enzymatic amplification of fragments of DNA. Microchip-based PCR devices (with reaction volumes from picoliters to microliters) have been realized using various combinations of silicon, glass, and/or plastic materials. Passivation of exposed surfaces in the microreactor is critical for successful PCR.

Insights from molecular investigations of traditional Chinese herbal stroke medicines: implications for neuroprotective epilepsy therapy.

Traditional Chinese herbal medicine is the most widely practiced form of herbalism worldwide. It is based on a sophisticated system of medical theory and practice that is distinctly different from orthodox Western scientific medicine. Most traditional therapeutic formulations consist of a combination of several drugs.

Preservation of the biofunctionality of DNA and protein during microfabrication.

Microfabrication processes, especially in silicon, are not compatible with biomolecules. Silicon and metal-based materials having crystalline structures are manipulated under harsh conditions with acids, bases, and organic solvents at high temperature. In comparison, organic biomolecules such as DNA and proteins have complex, three-dimensional structures and are sensitive to denaturation, oxidation, hydrolysis, and thermal destruction.

Traditional Chinese medicines with caspase-inhibitory activity.

Clinical evidence indicates that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) drugs can reduce stroke-inflicted brain damage. To date, the molecular basis of the apparent neuroprotective effects of these TCM drugs remains largely obscure. Several lines of evidence indicate that the activation of cell death programs leads to the loss of neurons during the reperfusion phase of ischemic stroke.

A DNA microarray for the authentication of toxic traditional Chinese medicinal plants.

A silicon-based DNA microarray was designed and fabricated for the identification of toxic traditional Chinese medicinal plants. Species-specific oligonucleotide probes were derived from the 5S ribosomal RNA gene of Aconitum carmichaeli, A. kusnezoffi, Alocasia macrorrhiza, Croton tiglium, Datura inoxia, D.