Following the demonstration of the ability of aqueous extracts of Fagara zanthoxyloides root to reverse sickling, toxicological studies in duck and chick embryos as well as in mice have shown these extracts to be non-toxic. Preliminary clinical trials demonstrated a significant diminution in the incidence of painful episodes in Fagara-treated individuals.
Effects of environmental factors on the molluscicidal activities of Aridan ( Tetrapleura tetraptera), Endod (Phytolacca dodecandra), Lapalapa pupa (Jatvopha gossypyfolia) and Bayluscide have been determined in the laboratory and in the field. Organic materials such as river mud and weeds reduced the molluscicidal potency of all the molluscicides. Bayluscide has a good residual effect, a property which is not shown by any of the vegetable molluscicides assayed. Although the methanolic extract of the fruit of Jatropha pssypyjblia has shown some promise, its traditional use cannot be recommended from the results of these experiments.
I A comparative study of the responses of the gastrointestinal tract of the guinea-pig and of the fruiteating bat Eidolon helvum to transmural nerve stimulation (TNS) was made. 2 The stomach and rectum of the guinea-pig, the bat and the guinea-pig ileum contracted in response to TNS. These contractions were cholinergic in nature because atropine blocked and physostigmine potentiated them. 3 Tetrodotoxin reversibly abolished these contractions suggesting that they were nerve-mediated. 4 The bat isolated ileum usually responded to TNS with mixed motor and inhibitory components. In some cases, there were only motor or inhibitory components. 5 The motor component was abolished by atropine and potentiated by physostigmine. However, the inhibitory component was non-adrenergic and non-cholinergic (NANC). 6 Tetrodotoxin abolished the motor component without influencing the inhibitory component. 7 Periarterial nerve stimulation of the bat ileum produced a relaxation that was blocked by bretylium, propranolol, phentolamine, reserpine and tetrodotoxin. 8 It is concluded that the bat gastrointestinal smooth muscle, like the guinea-pig, has cholinergic excitatory innervation; however, the bat ileum has both a cholinergic excitatory innervation and a nonadrenergic and non-cholinergic inhibitory component.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.