ORANGE PEEL OIL DISSOLVES GALLSTONES

Oil extracted from orange peel has been identified as a possible new treatment for dissolving cholesterol gallstones that are painful and usually require surgical removal.

Researchers at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi have shown through laboratory tests that orange peel oil can dissolve, perhaps even disintegrate gallstones. Fragmentation of the stones immersed in orange peel oil begins: within an hour.

Drugs are available today to dissolve stones in the gall bladder, but these are synthesized from the bile of wild bears are expensive. Moreover, these drugs are effective only tn some 20 per cent of patients. The others have to go In for surgery.

The AIIMS doctors led by Dr. Rakesh Tandon have conducted a series of laboratory tests in which they immersed stones already removed from patients through surgery into orange peel oil. The dissolution of the stones is faster than any other solvent, says Dr. Tandon.

The AIIMS team started work on orange peel oil follow ing reports that plant products called terpenes, more specifically a chemical called D-limonene, can dissolve gall stones. Orange peel oil is 90 per cent D-limonene, and its effect on dissolution is even better than pure D-Hmonene. says Tandon.

”Wc believe the other ten per cent of the oil contains surfactants, which Increases the miscibility of the oil, making the solvent penetrate the stones faster and better." said Tandon. But, he said, It is still

too early to s-ay when human trials could utart

The group has so far conducted only preliminary laboratory tests. The next phase will involve animals and then humans. One area of study will be the metabolism of the orange peel oil to determine if the digestive system keeps the active constituents Intact until it reaches the gallstones.

KITS FOR EARLY DIAGNOSIS OF TYPHOID

Doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, have developed a simple and reliable detection technique for typhoid.

The system is based on monoclonal antibodies against Salmonella typhii, which will be used to detect antigens in the urine of typhoid patients by the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (EUSA).

Current methods of diagnosis of typhoid, using blood samples of |>atients, are cumbersome and expensive and it takes a long time before the results are available.

The new detection system was developed by a team of researchers from the departments of microbiology, paediatrics and medicine at AIIMS. The effort was supported by research grants provided by the department of biotechnology.

AIIMS and a private pharmaceutical firm, Ranbaxy Laboratory Limited, have signed an agreement under the aegis of DBT for commercialisation of the kits.

The system developed at AIIMS is unilque and is not available anywhere in the world, an AIIMS spokesman said. It is AIIIAS's first immun odlagnostic technology available for licensing to the Indus by

The kit, when available In the market, will make available for the first time an early and simple detection technique for typhoid. — m