A multimillion-dollar boom is achieved every year by the ethnopharmaceutical companies, creating awareness around the globe to use herbal medicines to stay and live a healthy life. Nearly, two-thirds of the plants were discovered for herbal remedies, and some plants are even endangered to get extinct from the globe for their repeated utility. Sarcostemma brevistigma is one among the undiscovered medicinal plants which belongs to the family Asclepiadaceae found distributed in Indian states of Bihar, Bengal, Konkan, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala. This study was intended to determine the antidiabetic property of plant extract of Sarcostemma brevistigma evidenced by biochemical parameters, antioxidant activity, with the histopathological analysis in diabetic induced mice. Animals that were orally treated with the S. brevistigma extract showed blood glucose lowering effect when compared to the alloxan-induced mice, i.e., from 391.5 ± 6.3 to 193.6 ± 4.3 mg/dL. There is the significant increase in insulin level (P < 0.05) (27.97 ± 1.6 mIU/L) which is comparable to the metformin administered test group (30.35 ± 0.6 mIU/L). A significant difference (P < 0.05) of both ALT and AST levels were observed when compared to the other groups. A significant increase in antioxidant activity (reduced glutathione, malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase) in plant extract administered group was observed when compared to the other treatment groups. Histopathological studies showed abnormalities in the liver, pancreas, kidney, lungs, heart, and spleen of alloxan-induced diabetic rats. The abnormalities were found to be normalized to a considerable extent after treatment with S. brevistigma extract. The results stood as evidence for S. brevistigma as an active antidiabetic herbal plant.
Mosquitoes are most important insect vectors for human disease transmission. Dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, and zika are all spread by Aedes mosquitoes in many parts of the world. The primary vector of human malaria transmission is Anopheles. Culex is responsible for the transmission of Japanese encephalitis, lymphatic filariasis and West Nile virus fever. Synthetic pesticides have been successfully utilized in mosquito-control programmes for several decades. However, there are a number of disadvantages to the chemical method. As a result, there has been a rise in concern in the usage of biological agents for mosquito control in recent years. Because of their highly effective mosquitocidal activity, Bacillus sphaericus and Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis have been utilized extensively. While insecticide-based interventions have successfully reduced mosquito populations for a number of years, the reliance on a few number of insecticides has now led to the evolution of resistance. So there is a need to search for novel mosquitocidal bacteria for control the mosquito species. Since soil is one of the world's most diversified environments in which bacteria and fungi are abundant, screening of soil samples for isolation of novel mosquitocidal bacteria is attempted.
Mosquito vector-borne disease which accounts for the transmission of many deadly diseases like dengue, zika, chikungunya, Rift Valley fever, malaria, West Nile fever, heartworm, lumpy skin disease is one of the major causes of mortality, morbidity, and economic loss to human and animal communities. Though there have been several interventions like insecticide-treated nets, spatial repellents, indoor pesticide sprays to control adult mosquitoes, it only remains effective for short time, possibly leading to faster replacement of the adults by immature only achieving lesser mosquito population reduction. Extensive use of synthetic insecticides leads to resistance, affects non-target organisms and cause ecological imbalance. While recognizing the limitations of the synthetic and adulticide-based mosquito control methods, alternatively, microbial larvicidal agents are more feasible, target-specific, environment-friendly, low application rates, and moderate costs when compared with other vector control measures. This review highlights the microbial larvicidal agents as a most promising tool in vector control management to prevent disease transmission and discusses the major mosquito-borne diseases affecting humans and other animals.
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