Biological activity and food potential of plants Rumex crispus L. and Rumex obtusifolius L. – a review

Rumex crispus L. and Rumex obtusifolius L. (Poligonaceae) are perennial wild plants. For centuries these plants have been considered weeds in conventional agriculture. They have also been recognized as a serious problem in organic agriculture, as they are difficult to control without the use of chemical agents. However, Rumex crispus L. and Rumex obtusifolius L. are used worldwide in human nutrition and traditional medicine. They are available both in periods of abundance and in difficult times, and can be an important source of nutrients. As wild growing plants, with use in diet and traditional medicine, R. crispus and R. obtusifolius present potential sources of new therapeutic agents. This paper provides an overview of previous research for the plants Rumex crispus L. and Rumex obtusifolius L. in terms of their nutritional value, use in traditional medicine, as well as antioxidant and antimicrobial activity

Biological Application of Essential Oils and Essential Oils Components in Terms of Antioxidant Activity and Inhibition of Cholinesterase Enzymes

This chapter will be described oxidative stress related to modern age illness as well as biological activity of essential oils and essential oil components in terms of their antioxidant activity. The importance of essential oils and their constituents in terms of protecting lipids and proteins from oxidation will also be explained. Alzheimer’s disease as a disease related to oxidative stress and strategies in their treatment by using essential oil components as cholinesterase inhibitors will also be described. As case studies will be pointed out medicinal plants, endemic Saturejasubspicata L., and widely used Menthapulegium L. growing in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Medicinal plant Mentha pulegium L. – chemical profile and biological activity of its essential oil

The medicinal plant Mentha pulegium L. (Lamiaceae) is used in traditional medicine of Bosnia and Herzegovina to treat neurological and gastrointestinal disorders [1]. Healing properties of M. pulegium are attributed to monoterpenoids present in its essential oil and polyphenol derivatives [2]. These bioactive components have an important role in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases related to oxidative stress. One of them is Alzheimer's disease, a neurological brain disorder and the most common form of dementia, affecting the older population. Inhibitors of cholinesterases have an important role in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.                The aim of this work was to analyze the chemical composition as well as the antioxidant activity and cholinesterase inhibition potential of M. pulegium essential oil from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The chemical composition of the essential oil was determined by GC/MS and GC/FID techniques. The antioxidant potential was tested using DPPH and FRAP methods [3,4]. Inhibition of acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase was determined using the Ellman’s method [5].The major components found in M. pulegium essential oil where: pulegone (54.4%; Fig. 1), p-menthone (14.0%), piperitenone (12.8%) and piperitone (3.7%). A solution of the essential oil (1 g/L) showed a low antioxidant potential and a good inhibition of both cholinesterases

CASE STUDY: MOTIVATION, KNOWLEDGE, AND SUPPORT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AS FACTORS OF A SUCCESSFUL WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAM

Obesity is one of the biggest public health problems in the world today. The reasons for weight gain in humans are found in the interaction of numerous biological, genetic and psychosocial factors. How to deal with this problem is the subject of numerous studies, and based on the still limited knowledge of weight loss methods, it is concluded that there is no method optimally effective for all individuals. It is considered that the individual approach is one of the best, which is why in this case study the individual approach was first used to monitor the diet and lifestyle of the respondent and then based on the identified irregularities, a weight loss program was developed. The respondent kept a diet diary and a record of life habits for 30 days. 12 critical eating habits and several life habits were identified, which were analyzed in great detail in the first phase of the research. The weight loss program was based on gradual changes in established critical habits, three selected days per week, while on other days the respondent could consume what she wanted. The program lasted six months, had freer access, and was without strict restrictions, which contributed to the high motivation of the respondent for weight loss from the beginning to the end. With the continuous supervision of the program mentor and the support of the environment, the respondent is from the category of obesity III degrees (BMI 40.89 kg/m2) reduced body weight by 30 kg, and entered the category of overweight persons (BMI 28.49 kg/m2). A year after the program, she managed to maintain the weight she had achieved. This work confirmed that an individual approach and a gradual change in eating and living habits are effective in the weight loss process

CASE STUDY: MOTIVATION, KNOWLEDGE, AND SUPPORT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AS FACTORS OF A SUCCESSFUL WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAM

Obesity is one of the biggest public health problems in the world today. The reasons for weight gain in humans are found in the interaction of numerous biological, genetic and psychosocial factors. How to deal with this problem is the subject of numerous studies, and based on the still limited knowledge of weight loss methods, it is concluded that there is no method optimally effective for all individuals. It is considered that the individual approach is one of the best, which is why in this case study the individual approach was first used to monitor the diet and lifestyle of the respondent and then based on the identified irregularities, a weight loss program was developed. The respondent kept a diet diary and a record of life habits for 30 days. 12 critical eating habits and several life habits were identified, which were analyzed in great detail in the first phase of the research. The weight loss program was based on gradual changes in established critical habits, three selected days per week, while on other days the respondent could consume what she wanted. The program lasted six months, had freer access, and was without strict restrictions, which contributed to the high motivation of the respondent for weight loss from the beginning to the end. With the continuous supervision of the program mentor and the support of the environment, the respondent is from the category of obesity III degrees (BMI 40.89 kg/m2) reduced body weight by 30 kg, and entered the category of overweight persons (BMI 28.49 kg/m2). A year after the program, she managed to maintain the weight she had achieved. This work confirmed that an individual approach and a gradual change in eating and living habits are effective in the weight loss process

The importance of the accuracy of the experimental data for the prediction of solubility

Aqueous solubility is an important factor influencing several aspects of the pharmacokinetic profile of a drug. Numerous publications present different methodologies for the development of reliable computational models for the prediction of solubility from structure. The quality of such models can be significantly affected by the accuracy of the employed experimental solubility data. In this work, the importance of the accuracy of the experimental solubility data used for model training was investigated. Three data sets were used as training sets – data set 1, containing solubility data collected from various literature sources using a few criteria (n = 319), data set 2, created by substituting 28 values from data set 1 with uniformly determined experimental data from one laboratory (n = 319), and data set 3, created by including 56 additional components, for which the solubility was also determined under uniform conditions in the same laboratory, in the data set 2 (n = 375). The selection of the most significant descriptors was performed by the heuristic method, using one-parameter and multi-parameter analysis. The correlations between the most significant descriptors and solubility were established using multi-linear regression analysis (MLR) for all three investigated data sets. Notable differences were observed between the equations corresponding to different data sets, suggesting that models updated with new experimental data need to be additionally optimized. It was successfully shown that the inclusion of uniform experimental data consistently leads to an improvement in the correlation coefficients. These findings contribute to an emerging consensus that improving the reliability of solubility prediction requires the inclusion of many diverse compounds for which solubility was measured under standardized conditions in the data set

Centaurea rupestris L.: Cytogenetics, Essential Oil Chemistry and Biological Activity

Centaurea species are used in eastern Mediterranean ethnopharmacology due to variety of bioactive compounds they comprise. Aim of this work was to characterize the Centaurea rupestris L. hydrodistilled essential oil chemical composition and test its biological activity: antimicrobial effect, antioxidant potential and inhibition of cholinesterases. Plant material authentication was by chromosome number counting and genome size assessment with the flow cytometry. Hydrodistilled essential oils were characterized using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry technique GC-MS and GC-FID. The antimicrobial effect was tested using disk diffusion and microdilution methods, antioxidant potential was tested with DPPH and FRAP methods and cholinesterases inhibition was tested with Ellman method. Genome size for C. rupestris species: sample A presented 2C=3.60 (0.10) pg and sample B 2C=3.62 (0.08) pg. The chromosome number was 2n=20 for both samples. The main essential oil constituents in isolated sample A oil, detected with GC-MS and GC-FID were: germacrene D (24.3 %), heptacosane (14.4 %), phytol (6.7 %), β-caryophyllene (5.0 %) and pentacosane (4.5 %). Sample B essential oil had the main constituents: hexadecanoic acid (18.7 %), heptacosane (13.8 %), α-linolenic acid (11.8 %), nonacosane (7.8 %) and germacrene D (5.4 %). Both samples of oil showed broad spectrum antimicrobial effect with good activity against emerging Gram-positive and Gram-negative opportunistic pathogens and pathogenic fungi which indicates the pharmaceutical potential of the C. rupestris essential oil. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Chemical and biological profile of selected plant species used in traditional BiH medicine : doctoral thesis

U usporedbi sa zemljama Centralne i Zapadne Europe, tradicionalna medicina Bosne i Hercegovine je većinom neistražena. Cilj ovoga doktorskog rada bio je odrediti fitokemijski i biološki profil četiri biljne vrste iz porodice Lamiaceae; Mentha pulegium L., Teucrium montanum L., Satureja subspicata L. i Clinopodium vulgare L., koje su karakteristične i nedovoljno istražene ljekovite biljne vrste za područje BiH. Fitokemijski profil je odreĎen kroz kemijski sastav izoliranih eteričnih ulja te vodenih i metanolnih ekstrakata. Analiza eteričnih ulja provedena je vezanim sustavom GC/MS, dok je analiza ekstrakata provedena veznim sustavom HPLC/DAD. Eterična ulja M. pulegium i T. montanum, u usporedbi s uljima istih biljaka s drugih područja, pokazuju sličan sastav s razlikom u udjelu glavnih komponenti, dok ulja S. subspicata i C. vulgare pokazuju veću varijabilnost u sastavu i sadržaju. Vodene i metanolne ekstrakte karakterizira visok sadržaj fenola i flavonoida, s ružmarinskom kiselinom, kao dominantnom komponentom. Izuzetak su ekstrakti T. montanum, s p-kumarinskom kiselinom kao dominantnom komponentom. Eterična ulja pokazuju slab antioksidacijski potencijal i umjerenu sposobnost inhibicije enzima AChE i BChE. Ispitivani ekstrakti pokazuju dobar antioksidacijski potencijal. Vodeni ekstrakti pokazuju vrlo dobre, a metanolni ekstrakti dobre rezultate u zaštiti lipida od oksidacije. U pogledu zaštite proteina od oksidacije svi ekstrakti pokazuju prooksidacijsko djelovanje. Ispitivani ekstrakti pokazuju slabu sposobnost inhibicije AChE. Slabu sposobnost inhibicije BChE pokazuju samo metanolni ekstrakt S. subspicata te vodeni ekstrakti M. pulegium i T. montanum.Unlike the countries of Central and Western Europe, the traditional medicine of Bosnia and Herzegovina is mostly unexplored. The aim of this work was to determine the phytochemical and biological profile of four plant species from the Lamiaceae family; Mentha pulegium L., Teucrium montanum L., Satureja subspicata L. and Clinopodium vulgare L., which are characteristic and insufficiently researched healing plant species in the area of BiH. The phytochemical profile is determined through the chemical composition of isolated essential oils, water and methanolic extracts. Essential oils analyses were performed by GC/MS, while extracts analyses were performed by HPLC/DAD. The M. pulegium and T. montanum essential oils, compared to the oils of the same plants from other regions, show a similar chemical composition with the difference in the proportion of the main components, while the S. subspicata and C. vulgare essential oils show greater variability in chemical composition and content. Water and methanol extracts are characterized by the high phenol and flavonoid content, with rosemary acid as the major compound, except for T. montanum extracts, where the dominant component is p-coumaric acid. Essential oils show low antioxidative potential and moderate inhibitory potential on AChE and BChE. Tested extracts show a good antioxidant potential. Water extracts show very good, while methanolic extracts show good potential in lipid protection against oxidation. In the sense of protein protection against oxidation, all extracts show prooxidant activity. The tested extracts show low inhibitory potential on AChE. Only the S. subspicata methanolic extract and the M. pulegium and T. montanum water extracts show the low inhibitory potential on BChE