http://blogs.najah.edu/author/ghassan-abu-hijleh An-Najah Blogs :: Dr. Ghassan Ali Ameen Abu-Hijleh en-us Sat, 27 Jul 2024 16:20:10 IDT Sat, 27 Jul 2024 16:20:10 IDT [email protected] [email protected] http://blogs.najah.edu/staff/ghassan-abu-hijleh/article/Safety-of-traditional-arab-herbal-medicinePublished ArticlesHerbal remedies are widely used for the treatment and prevention of various diseases and often contain highly active pharmacological compounds Many medicinal herbs and pharmaceutical drugs are therapeutic at one dose and toxic at another Toxicity related to traditional medicines is becoming more widely recognized as these remedies become popular in the Mediterranean region as well as worldwide Most reports concerning the toxic effects of herbal medicines are associated with hepatotoxicity although reports of other toxic effects including kidney nervous system blood cardiovascular and dermatologic effects mutagenicity and carcinogenicity have also been published in the medical literature This article presents a systematic review on safety of traditional Arab medicine and the contribution of Arab scholars to toxicology Use of modern cell biological biochemical in vitro and in vivo techniques for the evaluation of medicinal plants safety is also discussedhttp://blogs.najah.edu/staff/ghassan-abu-hijleh/article/Evaluation-of-medicinal-plant-hepatotoxicity-in-co-cultures-of-hepatocytes-and-monocytesPublished ArticlesNon-parenchymal cells might play an important role in the modulation of xenobiotic metabolism in liver and its pharmacological and toxicological consequences Therefore the role of cell-to-cell interactions in herbal induced liver toxicity was investigated in monocultures of cells from the human hepatocyte cell line HepG2 and in co-cultures of cells from the HepG2 cell line and cells from the human monocyte cell line THP1 Cells were treated with various concentrations 1-500 microg ml-1 of extracts of Pistacia palaestina Juglans regia and Quercus ithaburensis for 24 h Extracts from Cleome droserifolia a known toxic plant were taken as positive control In the co-culture system toxic effects were observed after exposure to extracts of Pistacia palestina and C droserifolia These two extracts significantly reduced by cell viability as measured the MTT test and the LDH assay Whereas in hepatocyte cultures only extracts of C droserifolia were found to affect the cell viability The production levels of albumin from hepatocytes were not affected by treatment with plant extracts in both culture systems It seems that the observed reduction in cell viability after exposure to extracts of P palestina in co-cultures but not in monocultures is a result of monocyte-derived factors The use of liver cell co-cultures is therefore a useful approach to investigate the influence of intercellular communication on xenobiotic metabolism in liverhttp://blogs.najah.edu/staff/ghassan-abu-hijleh/article/Development-of-the-bones-and-synovial-joints-in-the-rat-model-of-the-VATER-associationPublished ArticlesThe adriamycin-induced rat model of the Vertebral Anorectal Tracheo-Esophageal Radial and Renal VATER association produces a variety of vertebral rib and limb abnormalities This study was designed to document accurately the nature of these abnormalities and to determine whether synovial joints are affected Fetuses from pregnant Sprague Dawley rats that had received intraperitoneal injections of 175 mgkg of adriamycin on days 6-9 or 10-13 of gestation were harvested Double-stained skeletal preparations and histological sections were examined for vertebral rib and limb anomalies The incidence of anomalies was high in the group treated on gestational days GD 6-9 while it was low in the GD 10-13 group The length and thickness of the long bones were reduced with bowing and reduction in their endochondral ossification Sirenomelia occurred in the group treated on GD 6-9 and was often associated with a short tail and anal atresia The joint cavities and intra-articular structures such as menisci and the cruciate ligaments developed normally from the mesenchymal interzone These data indicate that adriamycin inhibits skeletal growth and differentiation without any interference in the differentiation of the mesenchymal interzone thus producing normal synovial jointshttp://blogs.najah.edu/staff/ghassan-abu-hijleh/article/Retinoic-acid-induced-abnormal-development-of-hindlimb-joints-in-the-mousePublished ArticlesFollowing a single oral dose of 200 mgkg of retinoic acid RA to pregnant TO mice on day 12 of gestation fetuses were collected on day 18 RA-treatment resulted in a modest increase in embryo resorption a significant reduction in fetal body weight and a 96 incidence of limb malformations Both fore- and hindlimbs were malformed in equal frequency In this study only the anomalies of the hindlimbs have been considered Alizarin stained skeletal preparations revealed a reduction in both length and thickness as well as bowing of the long bones Agenesis of most of the metatarsals and some toes andor phalanges was also noted Paraffin sections cut serially confirmed the gross observations Additionally the joint cavities were found to be absent and the cartilaginous ends of the articulating bones were continuous with each other In some this union was partial and occasionally the joint was only represented by a fine slit The synovial membrane and other intra-articular structures were either rudimentary or absent There was a marked reduction in endochondral ossification Bony union in syndactyly was occasionally observed These data indicate that a high dose of RA both inhibits skeletal growth and interferes with the differentiation of the inter-zone mesenchyme thus resulting in abnormalities of the joints in the TO mouse fetuseshttp://blogs.najah.edu/staff/ghassan-abu-hijleh/article/Early-Structural-Abnormalities-of-Peripheral-Nerves-in-Experimental-Diabetes-Effects-of-g-Linolenic-Acid-SupplementationPublished ArticlesThis study was aimed at establishing what if any structural abnormalities occur in the peripheral nerves of experimental animals within the first few weeks after diabetic induction with streptozotocin The effects of g-linolenic acid supplementation on such abnormalities were also studied Male Wistar rats all aged 10 weeks were assessed over a period of 5 weeks following induction of diabetes with a single dose of streptozotocin The animals were divided into three groups: a untreated diabetic rats b diabetic rats maintained on a diet supplemented with g-linolenic acid and c age-matched controls No significant difference was apparent between the three groups for the total number of myelinated nerve fibres in the tibial nerve The mean myelinated fibre diameter was significantly less in the untreated diabetic animals when compared to the age-matched controls p00002 The percentage of large fibres was also significanly less in the untreated diabetic animals when compared with the controls p00001 In diabetic rats treated with g-linolenic acid the myelinated fibre number was not significantly different to that of the untreated diabetic and age-matched controls Myelinated fibre diameter in the g-linolenic acid treated diabetic rats was the same as diabetic animals but less than that of the age-matched controls p00002 This study has reiterated the observation that structural abnormalities in myelinated nerves occur as early as 5 weeks following diabetic induction and that g-linolenic acid supplementation for a 5 week period does not influence these changeshttp://blogs.najah.edu/staff/ghassan-abu-hijleh/article/Cell-death-in-the-developing-chick-knee-joint-I-Spatial-and-temporal-patternsPublished ArticlesThe occurrence distribution and nature of cell death has been studied in the interzone of the developing knee joint of the chick by optical transmission and scanning electron microscopy Cell death precedes and accompanies the process of formation of the joint cavity apart from the femoropatellar component and is also associated with the surfaces of intra-articular structures as they differentiate within the interzone Cell death in the knee joint shows many of the morphological characteristics of apoptosis It is proposed that cell death is one factor in the process of cavity formation in the jointhttp://blogs.najah.edu/staff/ghassan-abu-hijleh/article/Multivariate-analysis-of-risk-factors-in-coronary-artery-disease-in-JordanPublished ArticlesCurrent therapeutic research 1991 vol 49 no5 pp 764-777