Community pharmacists play a vital role in improving medication safety and better healthcare facility to the community. Unfortunately, the field of community pharmacy in Bangladesh is still to be developed and there is scarcity of data regarding current role of community pharmacists in Bangladesh. The present study was conducted to find out the role of community pharmacists in Bangladesh. For the study purpose, we visited 42 retail pharmacies in Banani, Khilkhet and Uttra areas of Dhaka city and interviewed the community pharmacists working there. We found that there were total 50 community pharmacists in 42 retail pharmacy and also observed that most of the pharmacists (64%) worked alone. Interestingly, we didn’t find a single A-grade pharmacist working as community pharmacist. B-grade pharmacists who completed a 3 year diploma in pharmacy were only 4 in number and 92% of them were C-grade pharmacists with 3-4 months training. The average age of the participants was 29.6 ± 1.2 years. The average length of service for the community pharmacists was 7.6 ± 1.3 years. The top issues that patients consulted with the pharmacists were on medication use (76%), which physician they should visit (54%) and therapy (26%). There was not a significant effect of work experience of community pharmacists on their attitudes toward community-based clinical services. In this study, we observed that 95% community pharmacies provide blood pressure measurement facility, 90% provide diabetes screening, 76% provide dressing services, and only 47% provide nebulization. No community pharmacist was found to be involved with adverse drug reaction reporting. In conclusion, we recommend that the government and the pharmacy regulatory authority should take sufficient initiatives to develop the community pharmacy sector in Bangladesh for the welfare of mankind.Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Journal 18(2): 137-141, 2015

Hyperglycemia exerts toxic effects on the pancreatic β-cells. This study investigated the hypothesis that the antidiabetic drugs glibenclamide and metformin, in combination with hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) offer additional protection for the pancreas against oxidative stress and produce hepatoprotective effect in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Diabetes was induced in male Long-Evans rats by a single dose of alloxan (120 mg/kg; i.p.). Different groups of diabetic animals were treated with glibenclamide (10 mg/70 kg, i.p.), metformin (850 mg/70 kg, i.p.), HCQ (300 mg/70 kg, i.p.) and combination of both glibenclamide and metformin with HCQ, separately for a period of 28 days. Diabetic rats had significantly elevated levels of serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT) and serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT), while catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity were significantly reduced. Glibenclamide and metformin produced no significant effects on antioxidant enzymes but both showed significant (p<0.05) result in reducing SGOT and SGPT level in diabetic rats. In contrast, the combination of glibenclamide or metformin with HCQ showed better effect on up-regulation of CAT and SOD activity and down-regulation of SGOT and SGPT activity in comparison with the antidiabetic drug alone. These findings suggest that, HCQ potentiates the effect of glibenclamide and metformin to protect pancreas against oxidative stress and produce hepatoprotective effect in diabetic rats.

The present study was designed to investigate the effects of bitter melon (Momordica charantia) in combination with a standard oral hypoglycemic agent metformin on alloxan induced diabetic rats (AIDRs). Both the plant extract and the drug, individually and in combination, were subjected in vivo for two weeks (short term) and four weeks (long term) treatment protocol to determine blood glucose level, lipid profile and liver glycogen level using Swiss Albino rats. In short term treatment protocol, bitter melon extract (BME) at a dose of 75, 150 and 300 mg/ kg body weight (bw) were administered in AIDRs by using oral gavages once daily and dose-dependent antihyperglycemic and antidyslipidemic effects were investigated. This short term study revealed that the most effective dose of BME was found as 300 mg/kg bw among the three doses. In long term treatment protocol, AIDRs in different groups received fixed dose monotherapy of BME (300 mg/kg bw) and metformin (15 mg/kg bw) and fixed dose BME (150 mg/kg bw) and metformin (7.5 mg/kg bw) combination therapy. The study showed that combination therapy significantly decreased the blood glucose level from 18.42 ± 0.95 to 6.80 ± 0.39 mmol/l in comparison to the control group after daily treatment for four weeks. In case of antidyslipidemic effect, combination therapy reduced total cholesterol (34.25%), triglycerides (11.92%) and LDL-cholesterol (57.73%) levels and increased HDL-cholesterol level (55.48%) in comparison with their respective control groups. Metformin, BME and their combination preserved the liver glycogen level by 35.21%, 22.54% and 49.01%, respectively in comparison to diabetic control group. These changes were significantly better than those of BME and metformin monotherapy. The results suggested that treatment with combination therapy was more effective than mono-therapy for preventing diabetes as bitter melon extract potentiates the effects of metformin on long term alloxan-induced diabetic rats.Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Journal 21(2): 109-117, 2018

Worldwide prevalence of diabetes mellitus has become an issue of great concern in current decades. This life threatening disease is associated with worsening of glycemic control and progressive metabolic dysfunctions. Objective: Current study aimed to investigate the effect of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as an adjunct to glibenclamide or metformin on glycemic control in alloxan induced diabetic rats. Methods: HCQ was combined separately with two conventional anti-diabetic drugs; glibenclamide and metformin. At first, alloxan (120 mg/kg) induced diabetic rats were treated with single dose of metformin (850 mg/70 kg BW), glibenclamide (10 mg/70 kg BW) and HCQ (300 mg/70 kg BW) intraperitoneally once daily for two weeks. Then non fixed dose combinations of glibenclamide (5 mg/70 kg BW) with HCQ (150 mg/70 kg BW) and metformin (425 mg/70 kg BW) with HCQ (150 mg/70 kg BW) were injected along with those of the three drugs alone once daily for four weeks. Results: In alloxan induced diabetic rats, glibenclamide, metformin and their combination therapies reduced blood glucose level significantly but combination therapies are the most effective. Glibenclamide or metformin in combination with HCQ also significantly (P < 0.05) reduced the elevated levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides, and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level and increased high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) level. Moreover, HCQ potentiates the liver glycogen synthesis of metformin or glibenclamide. Conclusion: Outcomes of this investigation indicate that combination of glibenclamide or metformin with HCQ improves glycemic control and provides additional metabolic benefits, not achieved

This present study was aimed to investigate the antidiabetic and antihyperlipidemic activities of methanolic leaf extract (LE) of Stephania japonica alone and in combination with metformin in alloxan induced diabetic rats. Primarily acute toxicity study and oral glucose tolerance test were performed. Diabetes was confirmed after 12 days of single intraperitoneal injection of alloxan (120 mg/kg BW) in albino male rats. Rats were divided into six groups'; normal control (Group I) and diabetic induced groups as (Group II, effect and hence could be suggested as a potential therapeutic agent for diabetic treatment.