Sastav eteričnih ulja u iglicama i kori turskoga crvenog bora (Pinus brutia Ten.) zaraženoga insektom Marchalina hellenica Genn.

The scale insect Marchalina hellenica Genn. plays a key role in pine honey production and is hosted mainly by Turkish red pine (Pinus brutia Ten.). The needles of Turkish red pine are rich in essential oils. Moreover, essential oils can affect the host selection of insects. The essential oils in the needles and barks of Marchalina hellenica-infested and non-infested Turkish red pine were obtained via water distillation and their composition was determined by GC-MS analyses. The composition of the essential oils was found to differ in the needles of non-infested Turkish red pine and in those of pine infested by Marchalina hellenica. The Mann-Whitney U test results showed that the β-caryophyllene level was higher in the needles of Turkish red pine infested by Marchalina hellenica, whereas the junipen level was higher in the essential oil of non-infested Turkish red pine bark. Pimaral and α-guaiene were detected only in the needles of infested trees, but were absent in the needles of non-infested trees. These components may be markers that can act on their own or as part of the whole in the host tree selection of Marchalina hellenica. In addition, the cis-verbenone component found in Turkish red pine bark might play a role in attracting Marchalina hellenica. This phenomenon should be further investigated through additional studies.Ljuskavica Marchalina hellenica Genn. ima ključnu ulogu u proizvodnji meda od borovine, a uglavnom živi na turskome crvenom boru (Pinus brutia Ten.). Iglice tog bora bogate su eteričnim uljima. Štoviše, eterična ulja za insekte mogu biti presudna pri odabiru domaćina na kojemu će se nastaniti. Eterična ulja iz iglica turskoga crvenog bora zaraženoga i nezaraženoga ljuskavicom Marchalina hellenica dobivena su vodenom destilacijom, a njihov je sastav određen GC-MS analizama. Utvrđeno je da je sastav eteričnih ulja u iglicama ne-zaraženoga turskoga crvenog bora i u iglicama bora zaraženoga s Marchalina hellenica različit. Rezultati Mann-Whitneyjeva U-testa pokazali su da je razina β-kariofilena veća u iglicama crvenoga turskog bora zaraženoga s Marchalina hellenica, dok je razina kleke viša u eteričnom ulju nezaražene kore turskoga crvenog bora. Pimaral i α-guaiene otkriveni su samo u zaraženim iglicama stabala, ali ih nije bilo u iglicama nezaraženih borova. Te komponente mogu biti markeri koji pri selekciji stabla domaćina Marchaline hellenice mogu djelovati sami ili kao dio cjeline. Osim toga, komponenta cis-verbenon, pronađena u kori turskoga crvenog bora, mogla bi imati važnu ulogu u privlačenju Marchaline hellenice. Tu je pojavu potrebno detaljnije istražiti u dodatnim studijama

GC-MS Analysis of the Antioxidant Active Fractions of Micromeria juliana with Anticholinesterase Activity

The aerial parts of Micromeria juliana (L.) Bentham ex Reichb. were extracted with light petroleum, acetone and methanol, successively. The antioxidant activity of different concentrations of the extracts was evaluated using different antioxidant tests, namely total antioxidant (lipid peroxidation inhibition activity), DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging, ferric reducing power, and metal chelating. Total antioxidant activity was determined using the beta-carotene-linoleic acid assay. Unexpectedly, the light petroleum extract exhibited strong lipid peroxidation inhibition activity. The extract was fractionated on a silica gel column and the antioxidant activity of the fractions was determined by the beta-carotene-linoleic assay at 25 mu g/rnL concentration. The fractions that exhibited more than 50% inhibition activity were analysed by GC and GC/MS; thus, the structure of fourteen compounds were elucidated. In addition, acetyl- and butyryl-cholinesterase inhibitory activities of the extracts were also determined in vitro. The light petroleum and acetone extracts Were found to have mild butyrylcholinesterase inhibitory activity

Anticholinesterase activities from aqueous extract of different plant parts of Erica manipuliflora

Erica species are generally spread along the coasts of Turkey. There are five Erica species in these regions, namely; E. arborea, E. manipuliflora, E, bocquetii, E. sicula subsp. Libanotica and E. spiculifolia salisb. Among these species, E. manipuliflora is commonly found in Muğla and southwest part of Turkey. Erica species are called as "funda", "püren" or "tree heath" locally in Turkey and contain biologically active compounds such as flavonoids, coumarins and triterpenoids. Since ancient times, these species have been used as herbal tea and folk medicine by local people in Turkey. In folk medicine, they are used for diuretic, antiseptic and anti-inflammatory purposes. Inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) is useful for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. In this study anticholinesterase activity of aqueous extracts of leaves, flowers and aerial parts of E. manipuliflora have been investigated spectrophotometrically. The aerial parts extract of E. manipuliflora among the extracts (70.10%) showed the best inhibitory activity against AChE enzyme at 200 µg/mL concentrations. The extracts of leaves and flowers showed 44.42%, 49.91% inhibitions against acetylcholinesterase enzyme at 200 µg/mL concentrations respectively.The flowers extract of E. manipuliflora (80.41%) exhibited the best BChE inhibitory activity at 200 µg/mL concentrations. At the same concentration, the galantamine showed 82.23% inhibitory activity. Leaves and aerial parts extracts showed 15,75%, 31.62% inhibitory activity against BChE respectively. Hence, aerial parts of E. manipuliflora may be useful as a moderate anticholinesterase agent, and flowers of E. manipuliflora may be useful as the butyrylcholinesterase agent

Antioxidant activity of stem and root extracts of Rhubarb (Rheum ribes): An edible medicinal plant

The antioxidant activity of chloroform and methanol extract of roots and stems of Rhubarb (Rheum ribes L.), which are used for medicinal purposes and also its fresh stems and petioles are consumed as vegetable, was studied. The antioxidant potential of both extracts of roots and stems were evaluated using different antioxidant tests, namely total antioxidant (lipid peroxidation inhibition activity), DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging, superoxide anion radical scavenging, ferric reducing power, and cupric reducing power (CUPRAC), and metal chelating activities. Total antioxidant activity was also measured according to the beta-carotene bleaching method, and all four extracts exhibited stronger activity than known standards, namely butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and alpha-tocopherol. Particularly, higher activity was exhibited by roots with 93.1% and 84.1% inhibitions of chloroform and methanol extracts, while 82.2% and 82.0% inhibitions by stem extracts, respectively. However, both methanol extracts exhibited higher DPPH radical scavenging activity than the corresponding chloroform extracts, moreover, methanol extract of the stems showed better activity than BHT. In addition, both root extracts showed more potent superoxide anion radical scavenging activity than BHT, and comparable with well known radical scavenger L-ascorbic acid. Except chloroform extract of the roots, the other three extracts exhibited better metal chelating activity than quercetin. Also, total phenolic and flavonoid contents in both extracts of the roots and stems of R. ribes were determined as pyrocatechol and quercetin equivalents, respectively. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

The Cooking Effect on Two Edible Mushrooms in Anatolia: Fatty Acid Composition, Total Bioactive Compounds, Antioxidant and Anticholinesterase Activities

The effects of baking practices on the fatty acid and bioactivity of edible mushrooms; namely, Lactarius delicious and Ramaria flava, naturally growing in Anatolia were investigated. Each mushroom species was divided into two parts and one of the parts was baked. Both baked and unbaked materials were extracted with hexane and methanol, successively. The fatty acid contents of baked and unbaked extracts of both species were carried out by GC and GC-MS analytical techniques. In the unbaked extracts palmitic acid (9.7-14.43%), stearic acid (41.41-6.68%), oleic acid (25.94-47.12%) and linoleic acid (22.85-9.78%) were identified as major fatty acids, respectively. In the baked extracts, however, palmitic acid (7.92-19.12%), stearic acid (49.94-6.23%), oleic acid (18.07-45.13%) and linoleic acid (23.36-9.25%) were identified as major fatty acids, as well. The antioxidative effect of the extracts of baked and unbaked mushroom species was also determined by using four complimentary assays. In addition, the extracts and the major fatty acids were also evaluated for anticholinesterase activity against acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) which are the chief enzymes of Alzheimer's disease. The baked methanol extract of R. flava showed the highest activity in DPPH scavenging, ABTS scavenging and BChE assays, while the unbaked hexane extract of R. flava exhibited the best lipid peroxidation inhibition activity. In conclusion, baking proved to have influence in nutritional values and bioactivity properties of L. delicious and R. flava. The nutrient concentration and bioactivities of L. delicious were decreased when baked; however, baked R. flava proved to have higher nutrient concentrations and higher bioactivities than unbaked samples

Investigation of Chemical Composition, Antioxidant, Anticholinesterase and Anti-urease activities of Euphorbia helioscopia

In this study, chemical composition, antioxidant, anticholinesterase and anti-urease activities of the essential oil, hexane, acetone, methanol and water extracts of Euphorbia helioscopia were investigated. The chemical composition of the essential oil was analyzed by GC and GC/MS and β-cubebene (19.3 %), palmitic acid (12.2 %) and caryophyllene oxide (11.7 %) were identified as major compounds. The antioxidant activity of essential oil and extracts was performed by several methods such as β-carotene-linoleic acid, DPPH•, ABTS•+ radical scavenging, CUPRAC and metal chelating assays. The water extract showed higher antioxidant activity than BHA and α-tocopherol in β-carotene-linoleic acid, DPPH•, ABTS•+ and CUPRAC assays with IC50: 1.08±0.39, 15.57±0.48, 1.89±0.33 and 12.50±0.11 μg/mL values, respectively. Also, the anticholinesterase and anti-urease activities were tested against acetylcholinesterase (AChE), butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) and urease enzymes, spectrophotometrically. The acetone extract (81.23±0.58 %) showed very close BChE inhibitory activity to galantamine. The hexane extract (96.97±0.36 %) of E. helioscopia showed higher anti-urease activity than thiourea (96.93±0.17 %) whereas the essential oil (91.37±0.26 %) indicated very close anti-urease activity to the standard