Inflammation-Pharmacology Division

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Overview

The problem of the inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis are not unique to the developing countries but are rather global. Majority of the chronic inflammatory disorders are difficult to treat. After consuming the existing drugs such as NSAIDs and corticosteroids in particular, patients often suffer from drug related unknown side effects and toxicity that is worse than the primary disease.The main aim of inflammation pharmacology in IIIM is to evaluate and identify the natural, semi-synthetic or synthetic molecules isolated from the botanicals or synthesized for their anti-inflammatory/ anti-arthritic potential. These molecules are screened through a battery of in-vitro and in-vivo assay models to identify them to be better than the existing molecules in the market for the human use.

Mission and goals

Development of plant based anti-inflammatory/ anti-arthritic drug for human consumption which should have less toxicity, more efficacy, more acceptability, economical and devoid of side effects which are present with the existing therapeutics.

Competencies

	Anti-inflammatory activity evaluation (in-vivo)
	Anti-arthritic activity by mycobacterium and CIA induced arthritis
	In-vitro screening of anti-inflammatory by TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6
	Flowcytometery for cell surface markers
	Mechanistic studies

People:

Sr. NO	Name	Expertise
1.	Zabeer Ahmed	Evaluation of anti-inflammatory activity of natural products in cellular/isolated target-based assays and mouse models.
2.	Sreedhar Madishetti	Pharmacokinetics, drug metabolism
3.	Asha Bhagat	In Vitro & In Vivo anti-inflammatory studies
4.	Neelam Sharma	Technical Assistance

Area of research

	In-vivo inflammation
	Acute inflammation TPA induced ear inflammation (for topical application) Croton oil induced ear inflammation (for topical application) Arachidonic acid induced ear inflammation (for topical application) Rat paw inflammation by carrageenan (for systemic administration) Rat paw inflammation by dextran (for systemic administration)
	Chronice inflammation Mycobacterium induced developing arthritis Mycobacterium induced established arthritis Collagen induced arthritis in DBA-1 mice (CIA model) In- vitro inflammation
	Estimation of the pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines viz.. TNFα IL-1β IL-6 IL-10 L-13 Cell surface markers by flowcytometery.

Facilities

	Well equipped Pharmacology laboratories at IIIM, Jammu to carryout research in the area of inflammation both in vitro and in vivo assay models.
	State-of-the-art animal house facility for maintenance of different animals’ strains
	Well equipped in-vitro labs for tissue culture studies
	A complete set-up for flowcytometery study
	State-of -the-art natural product and medicinal chemistry division for the molecule supply

Current

Evaluation of the anti-inflammatory and anti-arthritic activity of the newly identified molecules from the botanicals and synthetic molecules.

Projects

Project Title

Design, Synthesis of Novel Sugar-Oxasteroid-Quinones as Non-Steroidal Dissociated Glucocorticoid Receptor (GR) Agonists for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Assessment of pharmacological activities associated with aqueous extracts of Ocimum sanctum

Discovery and preclinical studies of new bioactive molecules (natural and semi-synthetic) and traditional preparations.

Preclinical development of botanical leads and NCEs for IND phase

Anti-inflammatory molecules from Boswellia serrata for Rheumatoid Arthritis