Research Journal of Pharmacognosy
Volume:2 Issue: 1, Winter 2015

Achillea is an ancient medicinal herb. The genus comprises about 100 species which are mostly distributed in northern hemisphere and some have been investigated for different biological activities. There are also several reports in Iranian Traditional Medicine (ITM) texts about its anti-tumor effect. The cytotoxic activity of the methanol extract of Achillea vermicularis Trin.  has been reported in previous studies against different tumor cell lines. Based on these reports, the species has been further investigated for apoptosis induction ability.

The apoptosis induction ability has been evaluated through activated caspase 3 investigation in intact MCF-7 cells in vitro.  

The assay demonstrated signs of caspase 3 activation in MCF-7 cells.

Achillea vermicularis is suggested for further mechanistic evaluations in apoptosis studies.

Salvia chloroleuca Rech. f. & Allen., is an endemic species growing wildly in north east and center parts of Iran but there is no information about its safety. To provide information about the safety of the species, we evaluated its acute and sub chronic toxicity in rats.

In acute toxicity study, the aqueous methanol (80%) extract at a single dose of 2000 mg/kg/day was administered orally to male and female rats and signs of toxicity two weeks after administration were observed. For the subchronic toxicity test, the extract at doses of 250, 500 and 1000 mg/kg/day were orally administered to the rats of both sexes for 45 days. Mortality, clinical signs of toxicity and body weight changes were monitored during the study. Moreover, α-amylase enzyme inhibition, total phenol content, and antioxidant (DPPH and FRAP assays) activity of different fractions of aerial part were evaluated.

The methanol and aqueous methanol (80%) extracts showed α-amylase enzyme inhibition with IC50 values 14.03 mg/mL and 18.05 mg/mL, respectively. The IC50 value for ethyl acetate, methanol and aqueous methanol (80%) extracts in radical scavenging assay were calculated as 288.83, 97.93, and 108.02 μg/mL, respectively. Among all extracts, methanol (228.4±12.05) demonstrated the highest FRAP value, followed by methanol (80%) extract (220.4±8.08) and ethyl acetate extract (156.4±10.06). In acute toxicity and subchronic study, neither mortality nor changes in behavior or any other parameter were observed.

Our findings indicate potent in vitro α-amylase and antioxidant activity of S. chloroleuca andpropose its potential as an anti-diabetic agent for treatment of noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) patients.

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorious L.) florets contain valuable red and yellow pigments and are used in food, textile dying, and pharmaceutical industries. Red carthamine pigment is formed from a yellow precursor, precarthamine, through an oxidation reaction at the end of flowers' maturation stage. The present study was conducted to find out the most effective procedure for extraction and purification of yellow and red pigments from safflower florets.

Two different experiments were designed to assess the suitability of oxidant reagents (KMnO4 and H2O2) on the reddening of florets and different alkaline and organic solutions were used as the solvents (KNO3, Na2CO3, ethanol/hexane, methanol, and NaOH) in order to extract and purify the pigments. All obtained pigments were characterized chromatographically and spectrophotometrically for calculating the yield and evaluating purity of the extracted materials.

The results showed that KMnO4 and H2O2 treatments were significantly effective for increasing carthamine yield from safflower; but KMnO4 decreased the amount of yellow pigment extraction during the washing process of treated petals before extraction. Ethanol/hexane demonstrated to be effective in the extraction of yellow pigments, but it was not a good solvent for carthamine extraction. Except for the degassed bicarbonate which showed a high pigment yield, the other three solvents especially KNO3 did not appear to be of practical use for red pigment preparation.

The present results showed that pretreatment of petals with hydrogen peroxide and then extracting by degassed solvents resulted in higher yield of red carthamine pigment, and also using reconditioned cellulose or cotton, instead of fresh cellulose, would reduce the cost.

Commiphora habessinica (O.Berg) Engl. (Burseraceae), Boswellia sacra Flueck (Burseraceae), Phoenix dactylifera L. (Arecaceae), and Doronicum glaciale (Wulfen) Nyman (Asteraceae) are of ethnomedicinal importance in Persian folk medicine and are widely used to treat infectious diseases. The aim of the present study was to investigate the antimicrobial properties of these herbal medicines to prevent misadministration.

Antifungal and antibacterial (Gram-positive and Gram-negative) activities of the petroleum ether, dichloromethane and ethanol fractions obtained from oleo-gum-resin of C. habessinica and B. sacra, spathe of P. dactylifera and roots of D. glaciale were evaluated against standard species and clinical antibiotic resistant isolates using broth microdilution method. The fractions were tested at concentrations of 0.5 to 256 µg/mL.

The petroleum ether fraction of C. habessinica oleo-gum-resin exhibited the most anti-Candida activity with MIC50 of 0.5-16 µg/mL. The growth of C. glabrata and C. tropicalis was inhibited by the ethanol fraction of C. habessinica oleo-gum-resin with MIC50 of 1-16 μg/mL. C. glabrata was the most susceptible species. Among the tested fractions, only the petroleum ether fraction of C. habessinica oleo-gum-resin had an inhibitory effect on Aspergillus spp. with a MIC50 of 8-32 µg/mL. None of the fractions exhibited antimicrobial activity against the Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria at concentrations of 0.5 to 256 µg/mL.

The sensitivity of fungi and bacteria to natural antimicrobials varies widely within species and it is essential to consider the sensitivity of the strains to prevent resistance.

Dairy companies always try to increase the quantity and quality of milk production. According to the positive impact of different plants on milk production of cattle, this study was carried out to standardize a galactogogue herbal mixture based on its total phenol and flavonol contents and antioxidant activity.  

A mixture of Galega officinalis L. and Nigella sativa L. powders (4:1 w/w), which had shown milk stimulating activity on Holstein cows in a previous study, was extracted with hydro alcoholic solvent (80% aq. methanol) and its 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity and total phenol and total flavonol contents were measured according to standard methods.

The inhibition concentration 50% (IC50 ) value of radical scavenging activity in DPPH test and the total phenol and total flavonol contents were found to be 154.29 µg/mL, 77.720±0.104 µg of gallic acid equivalent (GAE) and 0.231±0.018 µg of quercetin equivalent (QE) per mg of dry extract, respectively.

This herbal extract can be standardized based on its antioxidant activity or total phenol and total flavonol contents and the standardized extract can be formulated as a veterinary galactogogue supplement.

Essential oils are very complex mixture of components and their composition may vary in different species or varieties or even within the same variety. Origanum vulgare L. subsp. vulgare is one of the most distributed subspecies within the genus Origanum and has been found to be a poor-oil, categorized in cymyl, bornane or sabinyl chemotypes with higher proportion of sesquiterpenes. In this experiment, the Iranian sample was studied for the chemical composition of the oil and evaluation of its antioxidant activity.

Essential oil was obtained by hydro-distillation and analyzed by GC/MS for determination of components. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by radical scavenging ability (DPPH method) and reducing power (FRAP assay).

The sample belonged to “thymol” chemotype with the main components as thymol (37.13%), gama-terpinene (9.67%), carvacrol (9.57%), carvacrol methyl ether (6.88), cis-alpha-bisabolene (6.80%), eucalyptol (3.82%), p-cymene (3.58%) and elemol (2.04%). The oil of plant showed very strong antioxidant activity (IC50=2.5 µg/mL in DPPH method), which was stronger than the standard antioxidants (Vit E and BHA, p<0.05) and it demonstrated good reducing power (467.25 μmole Eq FeSO4.7H2O/mg of the oil in FRAP assay).

The data suggests the plant as a good potential natural antioxidant preservative.

Helichrysum oligocephalum DC. (Compositae)  is an endemic plant in Iran that has been recommended by Iranian traditional and folk medicine practitioners for gastrointestinal complaints. The plant is rich in essential oil and in the present investigation, the volatile composition of the species has been determined.

The light yellow essential oil from the aerial parts of the plant was prepared according to the method which was recommended in British Pharmacopoeia by using hydrodistillation. The chemical composition of the oil was investigated by gas chromatography mass spectroscopy (GC/MS).

Thirty-seven compounds were identified; among them β-caryophyllene, α-humulene and epimanoyl oxide were dominant. Sesquiterpenoids were the most dominant compounds in the essential oil while monoterpenoides, fatty acids and diterpenoides were found to be less. These outcomes are a little bit different from what has been reported before.

The differences between the results of the present study with previous works could be due to the diversity of variety, polymorphism, stage of plant growth and environmental factors.

Burns are known as one of the most common forms of injury with devastating consequences. Despite the discovery of several antiseptics, burn wound healing has still remained a challenge to modern medicine. Herbal products seem to possess moderate efficacy with no or less toxicity and are less expensive compared to synthetic drugs. Burn is a well-known disorder in Iranian Traditional Medicine (ITM). Iranian physicians have divided burns into various types based on the cause and recommended treatment for each type. According to ITM references, herbal therapy was the major treatment prescribed by Iranian physicians for burns. In the present study, seven ancient Iranian medical texts were screened for the herbs with burn healing effects along with their applied dosage forms. The medicinal herbs were listed and scored based on the frequency of their repetition. Moreover, the best scientific name that was suitable for each plant as well as surveying modern studies about their biological effects has been carried out. In our investigation eighteen plants with seven topical application categories have been obtained as the most frequent herbs for burn healing in ITM. Modern studies have revealed that these plants have shown some biological activities such as anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antioxidant effects which might establish the relationship between the mentioned activities and burn wound healing property. This list can provide a suitable resource for future researches in the field of burn treatment.