Ethnopharmacological relevance-Paullinia pinnata L. (Sapindaceae) is an African woody vine, traditionally used for the treatment of itch and pain-related conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. Aim-This work evaluates, in vitro and in vivo, the anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of aqueous (AEPP) and methanol (MEPP) extracts from Paullinia pinnata leaves. Methods-AEPP and MEPP (100, 200 and 300 mg/kg/day) were administered orally in monoarthritic rats induced by a unilateral injection of 50 μl of Complete Freund's Adjuvant (CFA) in the ankle joint. During the 14 days of treatment, pain and inflammation were evaluated alternatively in both ankle and paw of the CFA-injected leg. Malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH) levels were assessed in serum and spinal cord. Histology of smooth tissue of the paw was also analyzed. For in vitro studies, AEPP and MEPP (10, 30 and 100 μg/ml) were

Blood glucose plays an essential role in the body's energy metabolism; however, sources of variation in baseline and stress-induced changes in glucose concentration remain poorly understood in tropical passerines. This study assesses intra-annual variation in baseline and stress-induced glucose concentration changes in two common free-living Afrotropical passerines, the village weaver (Ploceus cucullatus) (Müller, 1776) and the black-crowned waxbill (Estrilda nonnula) (Hartlaub, 1883), captured around Dschang, western Cameroon, using intrinsic (sex, body mass, moult and breeding status) and environmental (season, temperature and rainfall) variables as predictors. In black-crowned waxbills, we found that baseline glucose was significantly elevated in the dry season, with the same trend observed in the village weaver. Stress-induced elevations in glucose concentration were observed in the black-crowned waxbills in the dry season, but only when the temperature was fitted as a covariate. Village weaver females showed higher stress-induced changes in glucose compared to males. Body mass and moulting were not predictors of baseline or stress-induced changes in glucose concentrations. This study reveals that some fluctuations in glucose levels may be mediated by seasonal changes in temperature (but not rainfall), sex, and breeding status.

Diarrhea is one of the leading causes of death among children in low and low-middle income countries and the management of this pathology is still a problem in these regions. The water/ethanol extract of the pods of Cola anomala (KEO) has been shown to possess antimicrobial and antidiarrheal effects in Shigella flexneri-induced diarrhea, but whether KEO is active on the toxemic part of this diarrhea is unknown. This study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of KEO on the intestinal secretion and inflammation induced by intraperitoneal administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). KEO obtained by maceration in water/ethanol (1:1) was administered orally (25, 50 and 100 mg/kg of body weight) against LPS-induced diarrhea in mice. The mass of feces, the intestinal nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin (PGE2) contents as well as myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity were assessed. KEO was also tested on LPS-induced enteropooling in rats. In this experiment, the intestinal fluid and its electrolytes (Na+, K+ and Cl-) contents were determined as well as NO, PGE2, TNF-α and IL-1β levels in the small intestine homogenate. Indomethacin (5 mg/kg) was used as reference drug. KEO significantly (p < 0.001) reduced stools excretion, NO content and MPO activity in intestine but did not affect PGE2 in LPS-induced diarrhea. On the enteropooling model, KEO showed no effect on the intestinal fluid and electrolyte excretion, PGE2, TNF-α and IL-1β contents, but significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the NO production. This study suggests that KEO does not have antisecretory effect, but has anti inflammatory activities. It can be concluded that the anti-toxemic effect of KEO contributes less to its antidiarrheal activity in infectious diarrhea.