Search Results (3)

Damage caused by cloven-hoofed game and wild animals is a serious problem in Slovakia and neighboring countries. In 2022, the damage to forests in Slovakia was estimated at a level of almost EUR 2.9 million. Despite several implemented measures, the situation is so severe that successfully restoring some trees in some heavily attacked stands is impossible. This paper deals with the preventive elimination of damage caused by red deer in forest stands by the biological method of applying tannin-based mineral licks. Specifically, licks containing tannin obtained from the edible chestnut were used for testing. Several positive effects are attributed to tannins in developing livestock and animal fitness status. To date, however, the question of using tannins as biological agents for the possible protection of forest stands has not been addressed. Therefore, red deer damage was assessed at two localities with similar natural conditions in the central part of the Western Carpathians to explore such a possibility. After the initial sample measurement of the bark-stripping damage caused by the red deer in the autumn, mineral licks with tannin were placed in one selected study area over the winter. The levels of and differences in forest damage by deer between areas with the application of licks with tannin and without tannin were detected in spring of the following year. In the location treated with tannin, the number of damaged sample plots decreased, and the mean plot damage did not increase (no statistically significant differences were registered in mean plot damage between autumn and spring). Meanwhile, in the control location, the total amount of bark-stripped area doubled, mainly due to a statistically significant increase in mean plot damage between autumn and spring. Based on this, we conclude that tannin had a significant preventive effect and considerably reduced the extent of bark stripping. Such promising results indicate that tannin licks can effectively mitigate the problem of bark-stripping damage in areas heavily attacked by red deer. Full article

Sida linifolia L., a common weed found in dry forest areas in West Africa and other parts of the world, is associated with several folkloric applications in Africa, including its use in assuaging painful whitlows and in malaria management; however, limited or no scientific studies have validated its bioactivities. Herein, we investigated the anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory mechanisms of ethanolic (ELFSL) and ethyl acetate (EALFSL) fractions of Sida linifolia leaves. The in vivo anti-inflammatory activities were evaluated by edema induction with an intraperitoneal injection of freshly prepared carrageenan (0.1 mL of 0.01 g/mL) and 0.1 mL of undiluted fresh egg albumin into the mouse’s hind paw; additionally, hind paw licking, and writhing were induced in mice using formalin (i.p.) (0.02 mL of 1% v/v) and 0.6% (v/v) (10 mL/kg bw) (i.p.) acetic acid, respectively, to assay for anti-nociceptive potentials. Varying amounts of flavonoids, tannins, and other phenols, terpenoids, saponins, steroids, and alkaloids were detected in the fractions. The LD₅₀ study showed no toxicity up to 5000 mg/kg body weight (per oral) EALFSL and ELFSL. Interestingly, oral administration of various concentrations (200, 400, and 600 mg/kg bw) of the fractions significantly (p < 0.05) inhibited all phases of edemogenesis, mice’s hind licking, and writhing compared with controls, and were comparable with 100 mg/kg bw (p.o.) aspirin. However, ELFSL showed non-significantly (p > 0.05) better anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities than EAFSL. This suggests that leaf fractions of Sida linifolia possess anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive potentials, possibly mediated by peripheral and central mechanisms. Full article

Background: The present study was conducted to investigate the antinociceptive activity of methanol extract of Macaranga denticulata (Met.MD) in an animal model, followed by molecular docking analysis. Methods: Antinociceptive activity was determined by acetic acid-induced writhing and formalin-induced licking test in mice. Then, molecular docking study was performed to identify compounds having maximum activity against the COX-1 enzyme using Schrödinger Maestro (version 10.1) to determine docking fitness. Results: A preliminary phytochemical analysis of Met.MD revealed that it contained alkaloids, carbohydrates, phenols, flavonoids, tannins, and terpenoids. Met.MD exhibited a dose-dependent and statistically significant antinociceptive activity in the acetic acid and formalin test at the doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg. In addition, our docking study showed that macarangin had the best fitness score of −5.81 with COX-1 enzyme among six major compounds of M. denticulata. Conclusions: Results of the present study confirmed the potential antinociceptive activity of M. denticulata leaf extract in both in vivo and in silico models. Full article