Journal of Medicinal Plants
Volume:20 Issue: 79, Sep 2021

Kelussia odoratissima Mozaff. from Apiaceae family is a perennial herbaceous plant endemic to the west of Iran. The aromatic aerial parts of this species are traditionally used by indigenous people to flavor some local foods, as well as for various therapeutic purposes.

The present study was designed to analyze phenolic compounds and essential oil constituents of K. odoratissima fruits.

The n-butanol fraction obtained from hydroalcoholic extract of K. odoratissima fruits was investigated by chromatography on normal phase and Sephadex LH-20 columns. Chemical structures of the isolated compounds were clarified by ¹H-NMR and ¹³C-NMR spectral analyses. Essential oil constituents of the fruits were also analyzed using GC-MS.

Phytochemical investigation of the K. odoratissima fruits resulted in the isolation of five flavonol glycosides; isorhamnetin 3-O-glucoside (1), quercetin 3-O-glucoside (isoquercetin) (2), isorhamnetin 3-O-rutinoside (narcissin) (3), isorhamnetin 3-O-glucuronide (4) and quercetin 3-O-glucuronide (mequilianin) (5). GC-MS analysis of the fruits essential oil led to the identification of the thirty six compounds, of which (Z)-ligustilide (15.93 %), δ-cadinene (12.26 %) and germacrene D (12.18 %) were the main compounds.

The results of this study introduce K. odoratissima fruits as a source of flavonoid glycosides and phthalate derivatives. The presence of these compounds with known biological properties and health beneficial effects provides more medicinal potentials for the fruits of K. odoratissima and suggest it an appropriate option for further studies.

Arum rupicola Boiss. (Araceae Family) is used by the native people of southern areas of Iran as a soup called "kardeh soup". Several flavonoids and phenol compounds have been identified from Arum species.

The aim of this study was to evaluate antioxidant effect and total phenol contents as well as cytotoxic activity of the leaves of A. rupicola.

Antioxidant activity of total methanol extract and fractions including n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and water residue were evaluated using FRAP and DPPH methods. Total phenol content was measured using Folin-Ciocalteu method. Cytotoxic activity of the extract and fractions were investigated against human breast cancer MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, and T47D cell lines by MTT assay. Further phytochemical isolation was done on the water residue using column chromatography.

According to the results, water residue showed the lowest IC50 value (186.7 µg/ml) and the total methanol extract showed the most antioxidant power (163.62 mmol FeSO4/100 g extract) and phenol content (135 µmol Gallic acid/g extract). The hexane fraction also showed the highest cytotoxic effect against MCF-7 breast cancer cell line with IC50 equal to 118.9 μg/ml. Phytochemical analysis of the water residue resulted in isolation and identification of three isoflavonoids named orobol, genistein and genistein 8-c-glucoside.

Based on the identification of isoflavonoid compounds in this plant, its ability to be used as a phytoestrogenic supplement can be considered in future studies.

Medicinal plants play a significant role in preventing and treating diseases due to their traditional uses.

The aim of the study was to isolate, purify and identify phytochemicals from the n-hexane extract of Teucrium hircanicum L. roots and evaluate the antioxidant activity of the extract and its purified compounds.

The n-hexane extract (2.27 g) was extracted from the roots of this plant. The extract was fractionated by column chromatography with normal phase by eluting with n-hexane-EtOAc and following with EtOAc-Methanol. Fractions with similar phytochemical fingerprints combined to produce 23 main fractions. Final purification was carried out by preparative reversed-phase HPLC-UV. The structures of isolated were secured by different spectroscopic methods such as 1D, 2D NMR, and mass spectroscopy methods and comparing of these data with literature reported values. The antioxidant activity of the n-hexane extract of T. hircanicum roots and its purified diterpenoids was evaluated in DPPH assay and radical scavenging activity was calculated.

Extraction and isolation methods were used to purify three rearranged abietane-type diterpenoids villosin A (1), teuvincenone B (2) and 5, 8, 11, 13, 15-abietapentaen-7-one (3), a phenethyl ester namely 4-hydroxyphenethyl pentacosanoate (4) and one sterol namely 22-dehydroclerosterol (5).

The n-hexane extract from roots of T. hircanicum and three rearranged abietane type diterpenoids were showed good antioxidant activities ranged from 3.5-4.3 μg/ml compared with the reference value (BHT = 16.5 μg/ml).

Erythrina fusca Lour. (fam. Fabaceae) is a flowering tree, found extensively in tropical and subtropical Asian countries, and is known for its use in traditional medicine for the treatment of various human ailments, for example, fever, liver complications, infections, and headaches.

To carry out phytochemical study, and antimicrobial and free-radical scavenging activity evaluation of E. fusca.

Ground stem bark of this plant was extracted by maceration with methanol, partitioned with various organic solvents, and compounds were isolated by chromatographic means. Structures of isolated compounds were confirmed by spectroscopic analyses. The antibacterial activity was assessed by the disc diffusion method, and the free-radical scavenging activity was determined by DPPH assay.

The carbon tetrachloride soluble fraction of the methanol extract of E. fusca afforded shinpterocarpin (1), lupinifolin (2), 3,9-dihydroxy-4-(3,3-dimethylallyl) [6aR,11aR]-pterocarpan (3) and β-sitosterol (4). Compounds 1-3 showed considerable antimicrobial activity against five Gram-positive and eight Gram–negative bacterial and three fungal strains tested in this study. Compound 1 exhibited the highest zone of inhibition of 19.4 mm against Bacillus subtilis. Additionally, compounds showed free-radical scavenging effects in DPPH assay with the IC50 values of 8.8, 7.7 and 7.9 µg/mL for compound 1, 2 and 3, respectively. However, they displayed some general toxicity in BSL assay.

The isolation of bioactive compounds 1-3 supports some traditional medicinal uses of this plant. However, general toxicities found in the BSL assay might raise concerns regarding its safety, while offering a new avenue of future investigation on cytotoxicity of these compounds against human cancer cell lines.

Peppermint (Mentha x piperita L.) is one of the most important medicinal plants which used in food, pharmaceutical, perfumery, and flavoring industry.

This study was planned to investigate the effects of foliar application of salicylic acid and yeast extract on production of valuable essential oil components in peppermint.

A completely randomized design experiment with nine treatments consisting salicylic acid (40, 80, 160 and 320 mg/l), yeast extract (0.25, 0.75, 1 and 1.5 g/l) and distilled water (control) with three replications was carried out under greenhouse conditions.

In total, forty compounds were identified in the essential oils of the plant aerial parts. Menthone, menthol, piperitone, isopulegol and

γ-terpinene were the major compounds of the oils studied. Menthone and menthol were 16.69 % and 14.39 % of the essential oils, respectively. Salicylic acid and yeast extract were increased menthone, neomenthol, piperitone, γ-terpinene and isomenthol acetate production 42, 60, 39, 59 and 34 % higher than control plants, respectively. Foliar application with 320 mg/l salicylic acid gave the best result in the enhancement of the major essential oil components of treated plants. The results of correlation between essential oil constituents showed that the neomenthol content had a significant positive correlation with menthone (r = 0.865**), γ-terpinene (r = 0.848**) and negative correlation with isopulegol (r = -0.886**).

The quality of essential oil of M. piperita were influenced by the foliar application of salicylic acid and yeast extract at the appropriate concentrations. Elicitation by 320 mg/l salicylic acid was the optimum treatment for menthone, neomenthol, γ-terpinene and piperitone production.

Froriepia subpinnata (Ledeb.) Baill. and Pimpinella anisum L. are two important medicinal plants belong to the Apiaceae family. Due to the similar Persian name in ethnobotanical studies, namely “anarijeh”, these two medicinal plants are mistakenly used instead of each other in the Iranian medicinal plants market and even in scientific reports.

In this study, the correct morphological description of studied species were introduced and the chemical composition of their essential oils and their antioxidant activities were determined.

The aerial parts of F. subpinnata and the seeds of P. anisum were crushed separately followed by hydro-distillation method for 3 h using a Clevenger apparatus to obtain essential oils (EOs) and their constituents were analyzed by GC/MS. Also, the potential of antioxidant inhibitory of essential oils were determined using DPPH and FRAP methods.

p-Cymen-8-ol (51.13 %), α-terpinolene (7.69 %) and limonene (6.83 %) were the major components of F. subpinnata EO while trans-anethole (85.65 %) and carvone (5.31 %) were the major components in P. anisum EO. The results of antioxidant activities in DPPH and FRAP assays at the concentration of 250 μg/ml were 53.03 and 62.72 % for F. subpinnata and 50.27 and 59.91 % for P. anisum, respectively. The results of antioxidant activity by DPPH and FRAP methods indicated both essential oils had almost similar potential.

Type and the amounts of the major components of the essential oils of F. subpinnata and P. anisum can be regarded as an accurate basis for differential diagnosing the plants. These differences can be used as a good phytochemical marker in correct identification and prevention of mistakes and deceptions in herbal products.

Proper wound management which improves the quality of life and reduces patient costs is required. Lamium album L. has been used in traditional medicine to heal skin wounds and recent studies show anti-inflammatory, haemostatic and antimicrobial properties of this plant.

The effect of the ointment containing methanol extract of L. album aerial parts was evaluated on the full-thickness wound healing in rat model.

Thirty-two Wistar rats (250-300 g) were used to be created a square full-thickness wound on the dorsal cervical area and randomly divided into four groups: I; control, II; ointment base, III; 1 % phenytoin cream and IV; 5 % L. album ointment. Wound size for determination of the percent of wound healing was measured on days 3, 5, 7 and 12 of the experiment. The excisional biopsies were evaluated histopathologically on the 12th day of treatment according to the Abramov score method.

The herbal ointment significantly increased fibroblast maturation, collagen deposition and neovascularization compared to the control group. The wound healing rate was significantly increased in the group treated with L. album ointment, same as phenytoin group, on days 3, 7 and 12. Based on the spectrophotometric analysis, the extract contains phenol and flavonoid compounds.

It seems that L. album could be considered as a new candidate for further studies in the field of wound healing.

Zygophyllum eichwaldii C. A. Mey. is a medicinal plant from Zygophyllaceae family. This family consists of 27 genera and 285 species.

The present study was performed to evaluate the chemical composition of the essential oil of Z. eichwaldii and evaluation of biological activities of its extracts .

Essential oils extraction of Z. eichwaldii aerial parts was performed by three different procedures and its chemical composition were evaluated by GC and GC-MS analyses. Evaluation of the biological activities was carried out by spectrophotometric methods.

GC-MS analysis showed menthol, thymol and palmitic acid as major components of the plant essential oils. In biological activity evaluation, while methanol extract showed moderate to week potency in antioxidant assessments, the ethyl acetate fraction was strong in these tests (IC50 = 178.63 µg/ml in DPPH assay and 70.52 % inhibition in β-carotene/linoleic acid tests). This fraction also showed significant phenol, flavonoid and tannin contents (99.83, 118.29 and 188.05 μg/mg, respectively). Also, plant extracts exhibited considerable antimicrobial activities against most selected bacteria.

Significant amount of phenol, flavonoid and tannin compounds in the ethyl acetate fraction and high antimicrobial activity against most bacterial strains, candidates this plant as a good case for further studies in this respect.