Powerful medicinal properties have been recorded for Zingiber officinale, commonly known as ginger. All of these medicinal activities have been compiled with 99 references to the present status of the plant in the literature. Volatile components and the presence of trace metals are included. In addition, details of individual medicinal activities are given and the molecular structures of identified organic metabolites and their synthesis are described.
Screening of extracts from ALOE VERA revealed the presence of endogenous arachidonic acid, a potential precursor for the prostanoids synthesis. The presence of endogenous cyclooxygenase, in the plant extracts, was established by radiometric assay. Relatively high proportions of PGE (2) and TXB (2) and low proportions of other prostaglandins were identified in the plant extract when incubated with [ (14)C]-arachidonic acid. Other lipids present in this plant were examined and a high percentage of phosphatidylcholine and cholesterol was established. Possible importance of prostaglandins formed endogenously by the plant is discussed.
Treatment of rats with cefazolin in vivo significantly suppressed activity of alanine and aspartate aminotransferases in serum and in the liver, brain, kidney, and heart. Simultaneous administration of pyridoxal further reduced enzyme activity except in the liver, where there was no change. Pyridoxal 5'-phosphate partly reversed the decreased enzyme activity in the serum, liver, and kidney, but did not return it to the amount observed in the control animals; enzyme activity remained suppressed in the brain and heart. The effect of cefazolin was dose related, but there was no sex-related difference. In contrast to its action on am-notransferase activity, cefazolin elicited no effect on alkaline phosphatase (pyridoxal-5'-phosphate hydrolase) in serum or on pyruvate carboxylase in the liver, heart, and kidney. Cefazolin exposed to the hepatic microsomal mixed-function oxidase system in vitro was partly converted into metabolites that inhibited serum alanine aminotransferase activity in vitro. The latter inhibition was reversed by the addition of pyridoxal 5'-phosphate.
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