Context: Nasturtium officinale R. Br. (watercress) has long been used in Iranian folk medicine to treat hypertension, hyperglycemia, and renal colic. Moreover, anticancer, antioxidant, and hepatoprotective properties of N. officinale have been reported. Objective: In this study, anti-inflammatory activity of the hydro-alcoholic extract from aerial parts of N. officinale was investigated. Materials and methods: Oral administration of the hydro-alcoholic extract of N. officinale (250, 500 and 750 mg kg À1) was investigated on two well-characterized animal models of inflammation, including carrageenan-or formalin-induced paw edema in rats. Then, the topical anti-inflammatory effect of N. officinale (2 and 5 mg/ear) was studied on 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-induced mouse ear edema. Finally, biopsy of the paw or ear was performed for pathological evaluation. Results: Acute toxicity tests of N. officinale in rats established an oral LD 50 of 45 g kgThe extract of watercress (250, 500 and 750 mg kg À1) significantly inhibited carrageenaninduced paw edema 1, 2, 3 and 4 h after carrageenan challenge (p50.001). The extract (500 mg kg À1) also showed considerable activity against formalin-evoked paw edema over a period of 24 h (p50.001). Furthermore, topical application of N. officinale (5 mg/ear) reduced TPA-induced ear edema (p50.05). Histopathologically, the extract decreased swelling and the tissue damage induced by carrageenan or TPA. Discussion and conclusion: Our findings indicate potent anti-inflammatory activity of N. officinale in systemic and topical application and propose its potential as an anti-inflammatory agent for treatment of inflammatory conditions.

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Background: Vancomycin (VCM) is an important antibiotic that is active against gram-positive cocci, and its nephrotoxicity remain as a major problem in clinical use. Objectives: This study was designed to investigate the effect of Nasturtium officinale hydro-alcoholic extract (NOE) and vitamin E aganist VCM-induced nephrotoxicity in adult male wistar rats. Methods: A total of 36 animals were randomly divided into 6 equal groups (n = 6) including 1, control group; 2, VCM group; 3, VCM + NOE (250 mg/kg) group; 4, VCM + NOE (500 mg/kg) group; 5, VCM + vitamin E (250 mg/kg) group; and 6, VCM + vitamin E (500 mg/kg) group. VCM (200 mg kg -1 i.p.) was given every 12 hours for 7 consecutive days. NOE and vitamin E were orally given to rats 30

Background Diabetes is a chronic disease associated with many problems and high costs. In recent decades, a lot of research has been carried out in order to improve methods of treatment of diabetic patients. One of the currently used complementary therapies for diabetes is ozone therapy or autohemotherapy. The beneficial effects of ozone has been proven in many diseases such as diabetes, but the critical issue is the determination of the safe and effective concentration of ozone reacting with blood and in particular hemoglobin. Methods A number of spectroscopic techniques including intrinsic fluorescence, circular dichroism and UV–VIS spectroscopies were used as well as SDS-PAGE, Native-PAGE and dynamic light scattering to analyze the effect of ozonation on hemoglobin of a non-diabetic individual and four diabetic patients in order to find the appropriate concentration(s) of ozone for personalized autohemotherapy. Results In this study, we determined the personalized concentration(s) for a safe and effective ozonation of a non-diabetic individual and four diabetic type II patients, based on blood hemoglobin analysis. Conclusions A number of techniques were used to determine the personalized ozone concentration(s) for a safe and effective autohemotherapy based on blood hemoglobin analysis. SDS-PAGE and dynamic light scattering were identified as the two main techniques needed for personalizing the ozone concentration(s) for each individual as otherwise hemoglobin in blood can oligomerise and cause serious damage if the inappropriate ozone concentration is used.

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