Chemical profiles and biological activities of essential oils of Arisaema and Homalomena species (Araceae) – A review

In this review, the chemical compositions and bioactivities of the essential oils isolated from Arisaema and Homalomena species, two large genera belonging to the Araceae family, have been reported for the first time. Accordingly, the essential oils isolated from the plants of two genera consisted of some chemical groups, including monoterpene hydrocarbons, oxygenated monoterpenes, sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, and oxygenated sesquiterpenes, etc. In addition, the essential oils and their major compounds isolated from Arisaema and Homalomena plants possessed biological activities, including antimicrobial, insecticidal, nematicidal, antiproliferative, larvicidal and anthelmintic activities. This review mainly provides information on the Arisaema and Homalomena oils which are able to use as a guide for the collection of the species with the best chemical composition and biological activities

Anti-parasitic activity of garlic (Allium sativum) and onion (Allium cepa) juice against crustacean parasite, Lernantropus kroyeri, found on European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax)

The copepod parasite Lernantropus kroyeri impairs the productivity of European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) culture by leading to a direct infection or as a vector for other disease agents. In current conditions, the parasitic infections in mariculture are usually treated with the chemicals, mainly with the pesticides. However, therapeutic chemical use has potential risks on the overall aquatic environment. Thus, the aquaculture sector needs to find alternative substances to the treatment or prophylaxis of the diseases instead of chemicals. In the present study, in vitro exposure tests were performed to elucidate the effects of garlic (Allium sativum) and onion (Allium cepa) on adult L. kroyeri. Female individuals of L. kroyeri were exposed to different concentrations of garlic or onion juice (20, 40, 60, 80 and 100% of the plant juice) for a specified time. Garlic juice exposure at a ratio of 100% resulted in instantaneous death of all individuals in five minutes. Although the killing time varied by the concentration, garlic juice killed the L. kroyeri females within 30 min even at the lowest concentration. Onion juice had lower killing effect at low concentrations, however, higher concentrations of onion juice killed the female parasites within 60 min. Results revealed that garlic and onion juices had killing effect on L. kroyeri females in a time and concentration-dependent manner. It can be concluded that against parasitic copepods alternative solutions can be developed in aquaculture, using these plant juices with emphasising necessity of further in vivo tolerance tests in fish.Highlights Garlic and onion juices had anti-parasitic effect in vitro on the crustacean parasite, Lernantropus kroyeri found on the gills of European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax). After exposure of L. kroyeri to garlic and onion juices, the mortality was time and concentration-dependent. The killing activity of garlic juice for L. kroyeri was stronger than that of onion juice

Evaluation of precooling temperature and 1-MCP treatment on quality of ‘Golden Delicious’ apple

The presented study simulates commercial practice and focuses on the effect of time gap between harvest and the beginning of cold storage. Apple fruit ʻGolden Delicious’ was harvested in Hungary and randomly separated into 3 groups for precooling at 1, 4 and 10 °C. After 7 d cold storage, groups were randomly split half to control and the other half was subjected to gaseous 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) treatment for 24 h on their cold storage temperature (1, 4 and 10 °C). All samples were stored for 6 months at 1 °C followed by 7 d shelf-life at ambient temperature. Ethylene production, firmness, total soluble solid content, surface color and disorder incidence were determined. Significant correlation was found between color parameters hue and normalized green with firmness, SSC and ethylene production. Precooling temperature and 1-MCP treatment significantly affected apple quality (p < 0.01). Initial storage at 10 °C and application of 1-MCP on this temperature had no clear effect on maintaining fruit quality compared to control after 6 months storage. On the other hand, 1 °C and 4 °C precooling and applied 1-MCP treatment could slow the softening of samples during 6 months storage and in the following shelf-life. Apple quality was observed to change faster for group of 10 °C precooling and slower for groups of 1 °C and 4 °C. According to the results, precooling of apple fruit at 1 °C can be recommended in case the 1-MCP treatment is delayed

Comparison of 1-MCP treatment on four melon cultivars using different temperatures

The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) treatment on muskmelons (Cucumis melo L. var. reticulates Naudin) using different temperatures during the treatments. Three application temperatures (5, 10 and 20 °C) and four melon cultivars (‘Centro’, ‘Lillo’, ‘Donatello’ and ‘Celestial’) were investigated. Three groups of each cultivar were treated with 625-650 nL L-1 gaseous 1-MCP for 24 h at 5, 10 and 20 °C. During the 24 h long gaseous 1-MCP treatment, the control group was kept at 5 °C. After treatment, all samples were stored at ambient temperature (20 °C) for 10 d. The results showed that 1-MCP treated melons released less ethylene and CO2 compared to controls. Moreover, 1-MCP application could slow the softening as well as the color change of melon throughout shelf-life in comparison to controls. No significant differences were observed among 1-MCP treatment temperatures for four melon cultivars. 1-MCP did not reduce disease severity of treated melons

Potential Use of Essential Oil Isolated from Cleistocalyx operculatus

Several herbal remedies have been used as topical agents to cure burn wound, one of the most common injuries in worldwide. In this study, we investigated the potential use of Cleistocalyx operculatus essential oil to treat the burn wound. We identified a total of 13 bioactive compounds of essential oil, several of which exhibited the anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activities. Furthermore, the essential oil showed the antibacterial effect against S. aureus but not with P. aeruginosa. The supportive effect of essential oil on burn wound healing process also has been proven. Among three groups of mice, wound contraction rate of essential oil treated group (100%) was significantly higher than tamanu oil treated (79%) and control mice (71%) after 20 days (0.22±0.03 versus 0.31±0.02 cm2, resp., p<0.05). Histological studies revealed that burn wounds treated with essential oil formed a complete epidermal structure, thick and neatly arranged fibers, and scattered immune cells in burn wound. On the contrary, saline treated burn wound formed uneven epidermal layer with necrotic ulcer, infiltration of immune cells, and existence of granulation tissue. This finding demonstrated Cleistocalyx operculatus essential oil as promising topical dermatological agent to treat burn wound

Extraction of Polyphenols from Mentha aquatica Linn. var. crispa

Mentha aquatica Linn. var. crispa is commonly used as a spice in many Asian countries. Although its biological activities, such as its applications, antimicrobial properties, have been studied, its antioxidation properties have not been investigated. This study establishes the most suitable extraction conditions concerning the independent variables affecting the total polyphenol content (TPC) and antioxidant activity (AA) of M. aquatica extract (stem and leaf). Investigated factors include the type of solvent used; solvent concentration, the ratio of raw material to solvent, extraction time and extraction temperature. The efficiency of polyphenol extraction was evaluated by TPC and AA through the ability to neutralize the free radicals 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2\u27-azinobis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6- sulfonic acid) (ABTS), and the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) was used as the evaluation indicator. The results have shown that acetone at a concentration of 50%, at a ratio of 1:20 (w/v), extraction time of 2 h and a temperature of 40 °C give the highest values of TPC and AA, with values of 120.92 mg GAE g-1 dw for TPC, 169.36 μmol TE g-1 dw by DPPH assay, 264.03 μmol by ABTS assay, and 425.35 μmol Fe2+ g-1 dw by FRAP assay. This study demonstrates that extracts of M. aquatica can be used for research as food antioxidant

Extraction of Polyphenols from Mentha aquatica Linn. var. crispa

Mentha aquatica Linn. var. crispa is commonly used as a spice in many Asian countries. Although its biological activities, such as its applications, antimicrobial properties, have been studied, its antioxidation properties have not been investigated. This study establishes the most suitable extraction conditions concerning the independent variables affecting the total polyphenol content (TPC) and antioxidant activity (AA) of M. aquatica extract (stem and leaf). Investigated factors include the type of solvent used; solvent concentration, the ratio of raw material to solvent, extraction time and extraction temperature. The efficiency of polyphenol extraction was evaluated by TPC and AA through the ability to neutralize the free radicals 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2\u27-azinobis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6- sulfonic acid) (ABTS), and the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) was used as the evaluation indicator. The results have shown that acetone at a concentration of 50%, at a ratio of 1:20 (w/v), extraction time of 2 h and a temperature of 40 °C give the highest values of TPC and AA, with values of 120.92 mg GAE g-1 dw for TPC, 169.36 μmol TE g-1 dw by DPPH assay, 264.03 μmol by ABTS assay, and 425.35 μmol Fe2+ g-1 dw by FRAP assay. This study demonstrates that extracts of M. aquatica can be used for research as food antioxidant

Effect of 1-MCP, ethylene absorber and ozone on melon quality during storage

This work was aimed to investigate the effect of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), ethylene absorber (EA), ozone alone or in combination on melon quality during storage. Ethylene production, respiration rates, acoustic firmness, surface color, chilling injury, and disease severity of melon were determined. 1-MCP treated fruits and non 1-MCP treated fruits were stored with sachets of ethylene absorber containing KMnO4 or ozone at 0.1 ppm/h during 10 days at 5 °C and subsequent 4 days at 20 °C. Melons treated with 1-MCP were firmer than the rest of the samples during storage. In addition, 1-MCP reduced the yellowing of melon rind compared to other treatments. The combination of 1-MCP and EA did not offer any additional effect in comparison with 1-MCP alone. There was no significant difference between fruits stored with ethylene absorber, ozone and control samples. Ozone treatment during cold storage decreased disease severity, however, fruits exposed to ozone had more serious decay throughout storage at 20 °C, probably due to the unclean air in the chamber

Chemical diversity of essential oils of rhizomes of six species of Zingiberaceae family

In this study, the essential oils from the rhizomes of six species belonging to the Zingiberaceae family, including Zingiber zerumbet, Curcuma pierreana, Globba macrocarpa, Alpinia conchigera, Stahlianthus campanulatus and Amomum sp., collected in Binh Chau-Phuoc Buu Nature Reserve were isolated using hydrodistillation, and their constituents were identified via Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. A total of 91 constituents have been identified from essential oils. These compounds were classified into 4 clusters by Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering (AHC) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) analysis. The principal constituents of the essential oils isolated from four species, C. pierreana, S. campanulatus, A. conchigera, and Z. zerumbet contained camphene (18.82%), α-copaene (11.75%), p-xylene (21.86%), and α-santalene (17.91%), which were significantly different from those in previous reports. Furthermore, this study revealed the chemical constituents of essential oils of G. macrocarpa and Amomum sp. for the first time. Accordingly, artemisia triene (22.21%), β-pinene (13.57%), 4,6,8-trimethylazulene (11.1%), 2-tert-butylquinoline (9.86%), β-patchoulene (7.06%), α-elemene (6.93%), and β-ocimene (6.0%) were the major compounds in essential oils of G. macrocarpa rhizomes whereas the oil of Amomum sp. was found to be rich in 2-carene (21.82%), fenchyl acetate (14.26%), 3-carene (8.28%), bornyl acetate (7.7%), and D-limonene (7.13%)