Microbial quality of some herbal solid dosage forms

Herbal remedies are widely used for the treatment and prevention of various diseases and often contain highly active pharmacological compounds. These products have the potential of contamination withdifferent microorganisms. This is due to raw materials contamination and unhygienic production conditions. In this study, microbiological quality of some herbal solid dosage forms from public markets, in the city of Sari, Iran was examined. 20 herbal products as tablet, powder and capsule wereprepared. The products were evaluated for microbial contamination by USP (United States Pharmacopoeia) microbial limit test for enumeration and identification. Total aerobic count showed that all products had more than 1100 microorganism per gram. Isolation and identification of microbialcontamination showed that all the samples were contaminated with Salmonella sp. and there was no evidence for contamination of the samples by Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans. In conclusion, all the samples of herbal drugs evaluated did not generally meet the standards for microbial limits as specified in official monographs. Such products can adversely affect health status of consumers as well as the stability of the products

In vitro antioxidant and free radical scavenging activity of Leonurus cardiaca subsp. Persicus, Grammosciadium platycarpum and Onosma demawendicum

Antioxidant activity of the aerial parts of Leonurus cardiaca subsp. Persicus, Grammosciadium platycarpum and Onosma demawendicum were investigated employing six in vitro assay systems. IC50 for 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging activity was in the order: O.demawendicum (221 ± 11.7) > L. cardiaca (144 ± 12.1) > G. platycarpum (45 ± 2.1) μgml-1, respectively. The extracts showed very good nitric oxide-scavenging and Fe2+ chelating ability activity. The L. cardiaca subsp. Persicus showed Fe2+ chelating ability activity as ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) (IC50 were 20 versus 18 μgml-1). None of the extracts exhibited good antioxidant activity in linoleic acid model. The extracts showed good reducing power that was better than vitamin C (p < 0.05). G. platycarpum and L. cardiaca subsp. Persicus had higher total phenolic and flavonoid contents than O. demawendicum. The total phenolic compounds in the extracts were determined as gallic acidequivalents, and total flavonoid contents were calculated as quercetin equivalents from a calibration curve.Keywords: Antioxidant activity, Fe2+ chelating, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH), phenol, Leonurus cardiaca, Grammosciadium platycarpum, Onosma demawendicu

In vitro antioxidant analysis of Achillea tenuifolia

Achillea tenuifolia (AT) is one of the most herbs are being used by people as a traditional medicinal remedy. Antioxidant activity of AT different extracts and total flavonoid and phenol levels in the extracts were investigated in this study. Plant extracts were prepared by maceration method using ethyl acetate, methanol and methanol-water (1:1). Folin Ciocalteu reagent in terms of gallic acid equivalent achieved the total phenol's content. AlCl3 was used as a reagent for flavonoid determination. Flavonoid content of the plant extracts obtained in terms of quercetin equivalent. DPPH radical scavenging effect of the extracts was determined by UV spectroscopy. Also in order to determine lipid peroxidation inhibition of the extracts of A. tenuifolia, ferric thiocyanate method with BHT, a synthetic reference standard, was carried out in this study. Phenol contents were 43.97 ± 0.034, 74.16 ± 0.55 and 106 ± 0.693 mg g-1 in theethyl acetate, methanol and methanol-water extracts, respectively. Flavonoid amount obtained in the ethyl acetate, methanol and methanol-water extracts were 10.6 ± 1.85, 23.1 ± 0.5 and 190 ± 1.3 mg g-1, respectively. The percentage of DPPH radical scavenged by the most active extract (methanol-water) of A. tenuifolia was 92% at a concentration of 1 mgml-1 greater than 94% of BHT at 2 mgml-1. IC50 of methanol-water extract and BHT were 0.015 and 0.053 mgml-1, respectively. Lipid peroxidation inhibition was observed by the most polar extract of AT about 91.84%. Phenol and flavonoids content confirm theexistence of more polar hydroxyl containing chemical structures in the plant. The potency of radical scavenging effect of methanol-water extract was about 3.5 times greater than synthetic antioxidant BHT. The inhibitory activity of the extracts on the lipid peroxidation of linoleic acid in ferric thiocyanate test was also significant (> 90%). In this study we concluded that there is a direct relation between phenol and flavonoid content of plant extracts and the antioxidant activity. So that the greater amountof phenolic compounds leads to more potent radical scavenging and lipid peroxidation inhibition activities as it was observed in A. tenuifolia polar extract in the present study