Journal of Ethno-Pharmaceutical Products
Volume:1 Issue: 2, Summer-Autumn 2014

Calotropis procera is a small, erect plant, which is used in several traditional medicines to treat many diseases. It is a native of most of the Asian and African countries. All plant parts exude thick white milky juice (latex) on cut or break. This shrub has been known to possess analgesic, antitumor, antihelmintic, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, antidiarrhoeal, anticonvulsant, antimicrobial, oestrogenic, antinociceptive, and antimalarial activity. This article summarized information concerning pharmacognostical aspects of Calotropis procera plant.

Nepeta depauperata belongs to the Lamiaceae family and is one the Persian endemic plants which has not been investigated biologically. In the present paper we had focused on the assessment of the antibacterial and antifungal activities of the total methanolic extract and different sub-fraction of the flowering aerial parts of it. The Antibacterial and antifungal activities were investigated by cup plate method and disc diffusion assay, respectively. The minimum inhibitory concentrations and minimum bactericidal concentrations of the active extract or subfraction were determined by micro plate dilution method. The crude extract and chloroform sub-fraction of N. depauperata had inhibition activity on the growth of Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa while no antibacterial activity observed against Staphylococcus epidermidis, Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi. It was concluded from the antifungal assay that just the yeast C. albicans, showed a high sensitivity to all the extract and related sub-fractions. No activity was seen against Aspergillus niger, A. fumigatus, A. flavus and Fusarium oxysporum. These findings demonstrate that the N. depauperata is effective against S. aureus, B. subtilis and P. aeruginosa and could be a natural source of effective natural antifungal compounds against C. albicans.

The genus Hyoscyamus belongs to the tribe Hyoscyameae Miers of Solanaceae family. Variation in protein bands elaborates the relationship among the collections from various geographical regions. In this study the seed storage protein diversity of 19 accessions of Hyoscyamus (H. niger, H. reticulatus and  H. pusillus) from West Azerbaijan (Iran) was investigated according to the Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) method. Seed protein was analyzed through slab type SDS-PAGE using 15% polyacrylamide gels. The similarity matrix was computed by using Jaccard΄s similarity coefficients, based on polymorphic bands, and dendrogram established through UPGMA cluster analysis. Genetic similarity ranged from 0.07 to 0.87, which indicates high genetic distance at interspecies level. The plotted dendrogram revealed two major clusters. The result of this study indicates that the accessions of Hyoscyamus could effectively be differentiated on the basis of polymorphism, detected by protein bands pattern. Therefore, seed protein profiles seem to be rapid and reliable method to detect inter and intra-specific variation in Hyoscyamus landraces in relation to geographical origin for future breeding programs.

Nowadays, many antibiotics are being used to control infectious diseases. Inappropriate use of antibiotics leads to emergence of resistant bacteria and problems such as a prolonged course of treatment. Medicinal plants and their derivatives, as a good source of treatment, are effective against drug resistance. In this study we have evaluated the antimicrobial activity of herbal essential oils of four medicinal plant Cuminum cyminum, Satureja hotensis L, Citrus limon and Mentha piperita. For preparation of herbal essential oils clevenger apparatus was used, and the active components of the herbal essential oils were determined by GC-MS. In order to observe the effects of the essential oils, they were examined on Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi using disc diffusion method in vitro. Also, the Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimal Bactericide Concentration (MBC) of each essential oil was measured and compared with commonly used antibiotics. Obtained results showed that all of the essential oils possess inhibitory and antibacterial effects, but the Mentha piperita essential oil showed a better effect in comparison to other used essential oils. It was concluded that all the herbal species demonstrate antibacterial properties, but the level of bacterial growth inhibition induced by plant materials, shown to be dependent on herbal source and bacterial strain.

In order to study the response of concentration and composition of essential oil of coriander (Coriandrum sativum) to cattle manure and nitrogen fixing bacteria, an experiment was conducted as factorial experiment in the base of randomized complete blocks design with twelve treatments and three replications at homand research station in Damavand of Iran in 2010. The factors were cattle manure in four levels (5, 10, 15 and 20 ton/ha) and nitrogen fixing bacteria in three levels (inoculation with azotobacter, inoculation with azospirillum and inoculation together). Results showed that the highest essential oil content and linalool and alpha pinene in essential oil were obtained with application of 10 ton/ha cattle manure. The maximum gamma terpinene and the minimum geranyl acetate in essential oil were obtained after applying 15 ton/ha cattle manure. Nitrogen fixing bacteria also showed significant effects on linalool, alpha pinene and geranyl acetate in essential oil (except essential oil content and gamma terpinene in essential oil) as the highest linalool in essential oil in treatment of inoculation with azotobacter, the maximum alpha pinene in essential oil in treatment of inoculation with azospirillum and the maximum geranyl acetate in inoculation together (azotobacter & azospirillum) were obtained.

Drought stress is one of the most important factors limiting the survival and growth of plants in the different habitats of Iran. Detailed knowledge about the ecophysiological responses of native plants to drought stress could contribute to the success of breeding and re-vegetation programs. Six wild populations of Anthemis tinctoria, were assigned to four drought treatments, i.e. well-watered (100% field capacity), mild drought stress (75% field capacity), moderate drought stress (55% field capacity), and severe drought stress (35% field capacity). Relative water content, dry matter content, osmotic solutes (proline and soluble sugars), antioxidant enzymes (peroxidase and polypolyphenol oxidase), total protein content, and pigments content were investigated. Severe drought stress largely increased accumulations of osmotic solutes and peroxidase activity of the most populations, but significantly decreased relative water content, dry matter content, total protein content and polyphenol oxidase activity in the all populations. Drought stress significantly decreased pigments content, but increased the ratio of carotenoids to total chlorophylls in the studied populations. The positive relationships were observed among antioxidant enzymes activities, and between contents of osmotic solutes and antioxidant enzymes activities. These findings suggest that populations are characterized by a significantly different tolerance to drought, when drought stress occurs. Based on these findings it may conclude that the population 27480 is more tolerant to osmotic stress due to specific antioxidative mechanisms, while the population 18041 was the least tolerant to sever drought stress. It seems that the population 27480 has a higher adoption potential to arid and semi-arid conditions which makes it a candidate of choice in breeding programs.

Rosmarinus officinalis is one of the most important medicinal and aromatic plants around the world. Essential oil as a weapon against biotic and abiotic stresses plays an important role in essential oil bearing plants. In this study the essential oil content and constituent of plants containing bacterium-gall on the shoots and crown was compared with non-contaminated plants. Essential oil percentage was extracted by hydro-distillation using Clevenger trap. Identification of the essential oil compounds  was done by GC/MS. Results in essential oil percentage showed that, contaminated plants were relatively lower than that of non-contaminated plants per 100 grams of dry leaves. GC/MS also, verified that α- pinene and Camphor, respectively were 1.43% and 7.02%, more in contaminated plant than non-contaminated plant. In addition, Berbenone (18%), was the most common constituent which had been observed only in contaminated rosemaries. The analysis of leaf extract using HPLC, showed that the content of rosmarinic acid of healthy plants was significantly lower than that of contaminated plants. In addition, contaminated plants had total phenol and flavonoid compounds as well as antioxidant activity in the highest amount. Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that, gall bacteria had influence on the phenolic components which are known as secondary metabolites in this medicinal plant and phenolic derivatives may be modified in quantity and quality by the affection of this biotic stressor, this could be considered as an application for further usage in metabolic culture.

Juniperus sabina L. is normally low shrub with procumbent or obliquely ascending branches, or rarely a small tree to about 4 m, monoecious or dioecious. Juniperus sabina L. is a medicinal plant used in folk medicine as an abortive. Its lignanes  have antineoplastic and antiviral activity, and also essential oil of Juniperus sabina L. has shown antibacterial and antifungal activity. The aim of this research is to extract and measure the chemical compounds of essential oils  of fruits and aerial parts of the plant Juniperus sabina L. which are collected from the  North Highlands located in the Mazandaran province. In this study, the components of Juniperus sabina L. (fruits and aerial parts),  after extraction essential oils by Clevenger apparatus, their compounds were analysed and identified by GC/MS. Essential oils from fruits of the Juniperus sabina L., were shown 27 compounds that the Sabinene in 50.31% maximum, and α-Thujene with 0.32% were the lowest amounts in the oils. While the essential oils from aerial parts of Juniperus sabina L. 40 compounds were identified, that Sabinene by 36.59% was the highest amount and α-Thujene by 0.11%  has at the lowest percentage.