Journal of Ethno-Pharmaceutical Products
Volume:3 Issue: 1, Winter-Spring 2022

Milk thistle (Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn) belonging to the Asteraceae family and known for its valuable secondary metabolite, silymarin. In order to get the cell suspension culture of Silybum marianum, the combination of 2,4-D and BAP hormones each with five different concentrations (0, 0.1, 1, 2 and 5 mg/L) and 3 different seedling explants (cotyledon, hypocotyl and root) was used to callus formation. High-quality callus was observed in eight different of hormone-explant combinations. Successful cell suspension culture was achieved only by using callus created from cotyledon explants treated with 0.1 mg/L 2,4-D and 5 mg/L BAP. Furthermore, the study examined the effects of 2% and 4% Serendipita indica cell wall extract as an elicitor on silymarin production in cell suspension culture at three different inoculation times (24, 48, and 72 h). After 48 h of inoculation with 2% fungal extract, the highest level of silymarin (199 ppm) was observed, which was significantly different from the control (46 ppm). The silymarin content of cells increased over time through elicitation with 4% fungal elicitor, while no similar pattern was observed with 2% fungal extract. Based on the results, the cell wall of S. indica can significantly enhance the amount of SLM in the cell suspension culture of S. marianum.

Since the evaluation of the diversity indicators in consumption of medicinal species by the beneficiary’s households and its driving factors is of utmost importance in marketing, multi-purpose planning of rangelands and sustainable development, a questionary-based study was carried out to determine the diversity indices of medicinal species consumption in settled nomadic communities living under different management and livelihood situations in the rangelands of Dyvaroeieh in Bardsir township, Kerman province, Iran. To this end, the medicinal species consumed by each household (as a study unit) in addition to the diversity indicators of consumption (i.e., dominance coefficient and Shannon-Weiner index) were evaluated under two management sites comprising Rangeland Management Plan (RMP) (i.e.,Dvyaroeieh 1) and the nearest adjacent rangeland without RMP (i.e., Dyvaroeieh 2, as control treatment ) and three livelihood levels (i.e., very poor (<50 million Rials monthly income), poor (50-100 million Rials monthly income) and moderate (100-150 million Rials monthly income)) under factorial test in SPSS software environment. The study's results revealed that both of management and livelihood factors can be applied by manager to increase diversity indices in medicinal plants consumed by beneficiaries. More specifically, management through RMP was more powerful and effective tool in this way. Therefore, it could conceivably be argued that RMP can be considered as a driving factor in increasing the diversity of medicinal plant consumption and also be a suitable platform to meet the needs and demands of rangelands’ beneficiaries in this field.

Phytoremediation of lead using plants in lead-contaminated soils is a new and safe environmental technology. By adding chelators and increasing plant extraction, the efficiency of this technology can be increased. In this regard, we evaluated the effect of adding EDTA chelates to lead-contaminated soils to investigate the amount of lead accumulation in a medicinal plant, Calendula officinalis. We designed a factorial experiment in the form of a completely randomized, with three replicates in pots and two factors including EDTA at two levels (0, 50 mg kg-1) and lead at four levels (0, 30, 90, and 270 mg kg-1). In this plant, the accumulation of lead was accompanied by an increase in the amount of lead in the soil due to the addition of EDTA to the soil. The results showed that EDTA significantly increased the lead translocation of lead from roots to the aerial part of the plant.Total Chl. and shoot dry weight decrease significantly in EDTA treatment than control specific at a high level of Pb in the soil. Also, the results showed that EDTA increased lead removal from soil to soil solution and increased lead translocation from roots to the aerial part of the plant of Calendula officinalis. In general, the results of this research showed that with the careful management and EDTA use in lead extraction, it has provided a cost-effective and safe environmentally strategy.

Medicinal plants contain active ingredients in one or some of their organs. Squalene is one of the active ingredients that prevent heart attacks and cardiovascular diseases and protect the body from some cancers. The aim of the present study was to investigate the presence of squalene in a number of medicinal plants. In this experiment, the plant oils were extracted and measured using Bligh & Dyer with minor changes. TLC (thin layer chromatography) was used to identify squalene. Comparison of TLC of standard squalene with TLC of the investigated medicinal plant samples showed that Caryophillium aromaticus, Descurainia sophia, Portulaca Oleracea, Papaver somniferum and Nigella Sativa contained squalene. Although the percentage of Papaver somniferum and Nigella Sativa seed oil was higher than other medicinal plants, the squalane spot of clove plant had a higher intensity of color and this indicates a higher concentration of squalene in this plant.

More than 22% of the world's agricultural land is saline, and this trend continues to increase with climate changes. Salinity stress causes leaf color change, osmotic stress, ionic toxicity, prevents growth, photosynthesis and plant performance. Due to their size less than micron, metal nanoparticles have a great absorption and transmission power in plants. Salinity stress is a major problem in hot and dry areas under tomato cultivation. For this purpose, investigating the mutual effects of the size and type of zinc oxide and iron oxide nanoparticles on the improvement and change of growth and increasing the resistance to salt stress in tomato plants of the early urbana variety were carried out in the form of a completely randomized and factorial design with 4 replications, at a significant level of 5%. In this research, zinc oxide nanoparticles in 25 and 50 nm sizes, iron oxide in 25 nm sizes and sodium chloride in 0 and 75 mM levels were used. Nanoparticles and salinity treatments were both applied to the plants. The results showed that salt stress led to a decrease in plant growth parameters such as shoot and root length, leaf area, RWC, ion leakage. Also, NaCl led to an increase in the accumulation of prolin and other aldehydes, sodium, iron and zinc. The application of nanoparticles had a slight effect in stress-free conditions, but in stressed conditions, these two nanoparticles alone and especially in combination neutralized the effect of salinity and reduced the damage caused by salinity stress.