Effect of lavender on blood brain barrier permeability in rats subjected to ischemia

Background and purpose: Lavender is a medicinal plant with antioxidant activity. Stroke causes long term disability and is associated with oxidative stress. The present study was conducted to evaluate the protective effect of lavender extract against blood brain barrier permeability and its possible mechanisms in an experimental model of stroke. Materials and methods: In this experimental study, 42 male Wistar rats weighing 250 to 300 g were used. The rats were divided into 6 groups (n= 7 per group). Group 1 was ischemic, groups 2 and 3 were ischemic that were given 100 and 200 mg/kg lavender extract, respectively. Group 4 were intact and groups 5 and 6 were intact groups which received lavender extract with dose of 100 and 200 mg/kg. Group 7 was also considered as the sham. Focal cerebral ischemia was induced in rats by the transient occlusion of the middle cerebral artery for 1 hr. Data were analysed with SPSS and comparison of means were compared using One Way Anova. Results: The ethanolic extract of lavender at 200 mg/kg significantly reduced the blood brain barrier permeability in rat stroke model compared with ischemic group. Conclusion: The results indicate that lavender extract has neuroprotective activity against cerebral ischemia and alleviated neurological function in rats

The evaluation of the antibacterial and antioxidant activity of Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus L.) essential oil and its chemical composition

Background: Food born pathogenic bacteria are the most important agents of infections in humans, and food spoilage also results in economic losses in food industry. Objectives: The aim of this study was the evaluation of chemical components, total phenolic content, antioxidant and antibacterial activities of Artemisia dracunculus essential oil. Materials and Methods: The essential oil of Tarragon was analyzed by gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The antioxidant activity and total phenolic content were evaluated by bleaching of β-carotene and folin ciocalteu methods, respectively. The antibacterial effect of the essential oil was inspected on seven Gram- positive and negative bacteria using the microdilution method. Results: A total of 19 compounds were identified by GC-FID and GC-MS. The main compounds were methyl chavicol (84.83), trans-ocimene (3.86), z-β-ocimene (3.42), limonene (1.79) and α-pinene (0.57). Total phenols were 10.16 ± 0.08 mg/g Gallic acid equivalent. The essential oil showed good antioxidant activity in bleaching of β-carotene method (50 ± 1.63). The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBC) for essential oil ranged between 3.8 to 250 mg/mL, respectively. Conclusions: The essential oil of Tarragon might be replaced by synthetic antioxidant and preservatives in food industry. © 2013, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences; Published by Kowsar Corp

Bioactivity of Apium petroselinum and Portulaca oleracea essential oils as natural preservatives

Nowadays, essential oils are used in different products such as food as natural antioxidants, antibacterial and flavoring compounds (1). Essential oils are used as a replacement for chemical preservatives such as butyl-ated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and tertiary butyl hydroqui-none (TBHQ) that can threaten human health as cancer promoters (2). Nearly 3000 different essential oils are known today, and 300 are available and used commercially (3). They are obtained from aromatic plants and their various parts including roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds (4). The aim of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant activity and antibacterial effects of Apium petroselinum and Portulaca oleracea essential oils on food spoilage bacteria. A. petroselinum and P. oleracea were purchased from the local grocery stores of Shahrekord city and authenticated by standard botanic work at the Medical Plants Research Cen-Essential oils were then extracted by steam distillation for three hours using a Clevenger-type apparatus and dried by adding anhydrous sodium sulfate and stored at 4°C, before being used for the assay. Total phenolic contents in the obtained essence were examined by the Folin Ciocalteu method and the results were expressed as milligrams of gallic acid equivalents (GAEs)/gram of essential oil. The total antioxidant capacities of their essential oils were assayed using β-carotene and linoleic acid (5). (IROST). The micro-dilution method in sterile 96-mi-crowell plates was used to obtain the minimum inhibi-tory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) (6). Each experiment was done in triplicates. Based on the obtained results, the two essential oils demonstrated antioxidant and antibacterial activities. The most sensitive bacteria were A. faecalis and S. dysenteriae, which are Gram-negative bacteria (Table 1). The results obtained in this work are in agreement with pervious studies. Earlier studies have reported that various bacteria such as S. dysenteriae, E. coli, Heli-cobacter pylori and S. aureus were sensitive to essential oils and extracts of the above mentioned plants (7, 8). However, the Gram-negative bacteria were more resistant than Gram-positive species, due to restricted diffusion of the hydrophobic compounds by the hydrophilic cell wall structure containing lipo-polysaccharide (LPS) (9). In conclusion, the study results suggest that replacement of synthetic preservatives with natural additives as a good source of healthy compounds, namely phenols (10), can be useful in the food industry to increase shelf life of food produc