Chakraborty_2014_J.Tradit.Complement.Med_4_126

Nicotine is a parasympathomimetic alkaloid found in the nightshade family of plants (Solanaceae) and is a cholinergic drug. It acts directly by stimulating the nicotinic or muscarinic receptors or indirectly by inhibiting cholinesterase, promoting acetylcholine release, or by other mechanisms. 3% of tobacco or one cigarette yields 1 mg of nicotine. As nicotine enters the body, it disturbs the healthy functioning of the body. In this study, we isolated UMNSAH/DF-1 cell line from Gallus gallus. For this, 9 +/- 2 day old chicken embryo was taken. This was followed by the extraction of nicotine (1 mg/ml) from cigarette. The cells were then given nicotine stress and were observed for blackening after 24 h of incubation under 40x resolution of microscope. It was found that this blackening of the cells was permanent even after a wash with 1x phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) followed by replenishing the medium. The phytochemicals extracted were from the dried powder, which included Curcuma longa ( Jiang Huang; Turmeric) 40 mg/ml, Azadirachta indica (neem) 50 mg/ml, Cinnamomum tamala (bay leaf) 30 mg/ml, Camellia sinensis ( Lu Cha; Green Tea) 100 mg/ml, and Ocimum sanctum (tulsi) 30 mg/ml. When applied to nicotine-stressed cells, it was observed that ursolic acid in neem recovered 70%, followed by 65% recovery by tulsi (having triterpenoid), 50% recovery by the catechins in Ca. sinensis, and very little recovery shown by Ci. tamala. Due to the yellow coloration of the cells by Cu. longa, much could not be inferred, although it was inferable that it had resulted in little effects. Mixtures of these phytochemicals were used, and it was found that neem: tulsi diluted in 3:1 ratio was highly effective and cell recovery was almost 80%. 68% was recovered by tulsi: green tea in a ratio 1:3 and 42% by turmeric:green tea in a ratio of 1:5.