The effect of collection time on essential oil of Oliveria decumbens Vent.

Background and objectives: Oliveria decumbens belongs to Apiaceae family and is used in wide range of diseases such as gastrointestinal disorder. Several studies have shown that Oliveria decumbens essential oil possessed high amount of thymol and carvacrol but some other studies revealed that myristicin was one of the main components of the oil. The aim of the present study was investigation of the lunar phases effect on chemical composition and yield of the essential oil. Methods: Oliveria decumbens aerial parts were collected in three times based on the lunar phases (new moon, full moon and waning crescent) from the southwest of Iran. The essential oils of all three phases were obtained using hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Results: Our results showed that the plant was collected in the full moon phase indicated the highest yielded of the oil (4%), whereas the new moon showed the lowest yield (1.2%). Moreover, this investigation revealed that, the lunar phases significantly affected the main components of the oils. The full moon essential oil had high proportions of thymol and carvacrol (totally: 75.09%) and waning crescent volatile oil showed the lowest proportion (56.92%). It is noticeable that myristicin was in the highest amounts in waning crescent (15.32%) while being the lowest in the new moon phase (2.01%). Conclusion: According to the results, difference of the three essential oils may be due to the difference of the lunar phases. Complementary studies on the plant essential oil in the lunar phases are in progress

Evaluation of some medicinal plants effect on Rhodamine 123 accumulation and efflux in Caco-2 cell line by flowcytometry

Background and objectives: In review of traditional Persian medicine (TPM) literature concerning multi drug therapy, a group of medicinal plants that are called "convoy drugs", agents which penetrate fast into whole or specific part of the body and accelerate delivery of drugs into specific target has been mentioned. In this study, the inhibitory effect of the aqueous extracts of some selected medicinal plants on P-glycoprotein (P-gp) was assessed in order to determine the possibility of herb-drug interactions. Methods: P-gp inhibitory effect of aqueous extracts (250 µg/mL) from some medicinal plants and verapamile (5 µg/mL) was measured using flow cytometry by Rhodamine 123 (Rh123) in Caco2 cell line. Inhibition percent of each sample (%) was compared with a control group (Caco-2 cell with Rh 123). Results: According to the results pennyroyal, aniseed (

Comparative study of the essential oil and hydrolate composition of Lythrum salicaria L. obtained by hydro-distillation and microwave distillation methods

Essential oils are considered as very complex natural mixtures containing numerous components at quite various concentrations. Lythrum salicaria has not been previously subjected to examination of its volatile oil. The present study was carried out to evaluate the essential oil composition of the flowering aerial parts of the plant by using conventionally hydro-distillation (HD) and microwave assisted hydro-distillation (MAH) methods along with the aromatic water obtained by hydro-distillation. Components of these three samples were recognized by GC/MS. Identification of components resulted in recognition of 14 (98% oil), 32 (98.4%), and 10 (95.5%) compounds for HD, its hydrolate, and MAH samples, respectively. The predominant constituents in the HD oil were bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (29.2%), n-hexadecanoic acid (22%), and pentacosane (9.5%). The major constituents of the hydrolate were elucidated as 2(4H)-benzofuranone-5,6,7,7a-tetrahydro-4,4,7a-trimethyl (6.4%), neryl acetone (6%), pentanoic acid (5.7%), nonanoic acid (5.6%), and octanoic acid (5.5%). Accordingly, bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (43.2%), methyl-cyclopentane (36.5%), and pentacosane (4.7%) were assessed as the main components of MAH oil. Comparing the three samples compositions, it was concluded that the extraction procedure led to variations in quality and quantity of volatiles. Besides, bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, the common plasticizer, was identified as the main pollutant in both HD and MAH oils. The presence of this substance in the oils provided the evidence of contaminations that was absorbed from water into the plant suggesting GC/MS as a suitable method for its detection in plant materials

In vitro cholinesterase inhibitory activity of Areca catechu L.

Background and objectives: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized as the most prevalent age related neurodegenerative disease along with cognitive impairment in elderly people. Most of therapeutic treatments for AD have dedicated to the inhibition of cholinesterase (ChEs) to increase the level of acetylcholine (ACh) in the cholinergic synaptic cleft. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrilcholinesteras (BChE) are two enzymes which hydrolyze choline-based esters leading to the improvement of symptom in patients with AD. In this study, focusing on the efficacy and versatile biological activities of medicinal plants, we investigated the anti-ChE activity of Areca catechu L. used in Iranian traditional medicine for the improvement of AD symptoms. Methods: Anticholinesterase activity of aqueous and hydroalcoholic extracts of the plant was evaluated according to Ellman’s method and compared with rivastigmine as the reference drug. Also, kinetic study was performed based on the same method. Results: The best anti-AChE activity was obtained by aqueous extract of A. catechu with IC50 32.00±0.84 µg/mL. However, the hydroalcoholic extract showed anti-AChE activity with IC50 389.89±0.16 µg/mL. It should be noted that the aqueous extract of A. catechu depicted good activity against BChE with IC50 48.81±0.12 µg/mL whereas the hydroalcoholic extract showed no activity. Also, kinetic study of aqueous extract of A. catechu for AChE confirmed a mixed type of inhibition. Conclusion: Our results showed that A. catechu possessed satisfactory anti-ChE activity and could be considered for further anti-AD studies to obtain a herbal supplement

The effect of extraction method on the major constituents and biological effects of Trachyspermum ammi L. fruits

Background and objectives: Variety of extraction methods coupled with definite solvents could increase the removal rate ofmajor constituents from plants. This research has been conducted to evaluate the effect of extraction methods on the main group of compounds, cytotoxicity, anti acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and antioxidant activity of Trachyspermum ammi fruits. Methods: To compare the quality of extracts earned from maceration and reflux techniques, the amounts of total phenolics, flavonoids and antioxidant property of T. ammi’s fruits extracts were determined; moreover, the cytotoxic activity against Human acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cell lines (NALM-6) was conducted using MTT assay. Anti-acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) activity of both extracts were also examined by Ellman’s method. Results: The extraction yield of the plant was significantly higher for maceration compared to reflux extraction. Also, both antioxidant activity and total flavonoid contents (IC50=132.95 µg/mL and 140.15 mg catechin/g dry extract, respectively) showed higher amounts considerably in the maceration extraction. In reverse, the content of phenolic compounds (147.28 mg gallic acid/g dry extract and 16.6 mg thymol/g dry extract) was elevated in the refluxed extract. The result exerted moderate inhibition on butyrylcholinesterase activity (IC50= 394.161 µg/mL) and cytotoxicity (IC50 =166.92±1.76 μg/mL for NALM-6 cell line) of the extract using maceration. Conclusion: The maceration method could provide additional amounts of major constituents and greater biological properties compared to the reflux technique