Alkaloids: The Potential of Their Antimicrobial Activities of Medicinal Plants

Given the potential adverse effects of chemical drugs, utilizing natural products with diverse therapeutic and antimicrobial compounds is advisable. Countries can use indigenous flora from their regions in vegetation for medicinal purposes. Several nations exhibit distinctive indigenous flora owing to their geographic positioning and climatic conditions. These plants have been the subject of our research, which has explored their antimicrobial properties against fungi, parasites, bacteria, and viruses. Studies have investigated the therapeutic and antimicrobial effects of plants and their bioactive compounds, such as alkaloids, flavonoids, and terpenoids. Among them are alkaloids, a diverse class of naturally occurring chemicals, such as tropanes, terpenoids, and steroids. Some of these medicinal plants have been found to possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties in addition to their antimicrobial effects. This chapter explores the antimicrobial potential of alkaloids found in medicinal plants

Antioxidant, Antimicrobial Activity and Toxicity Test of Pilea microphylla

A total of 9 plant extracts were tested, using two different kinds of extracting methods to evaluate the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities from Pilea microphylla (Urticaceae family) and including toxicity test. Antioxidant activity were tested by using DPPH free radical scavenging, also total phenolic contents and total flavonoid contents were determined. Toxicity assay carried out by using brine shrimps. Methanol extract of method I (ME I) showed the highest antioxidant activity at 69.51 ± 1.03. Chloroform extract of method I (CE I) showed the highest total phenolic contents at 72.10 ± 0.71 and chloroform extract of method II (CE II) showed the highest total flavonoid contents at 60.14 ± 0.33. The antimicrobial activity of Pilea microphylla extract was tested in vitro by using disc diffusion method and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The Pilea microphylla extract showed antibacterial activity against some Gram negative and positive bacteria. The extracts did not exhibit antifungal and antiyeast activity. The hexane extract of method I (HE I) was not toxic against brine shrimp (LC50 value was 3880 μg/ml). Therefore, the extracts could be suitable as antimicrobial and antioxidative agents in food industry

The effectiveness of psychiatric therapy against Malaysian cancer patients with depressive disorders: a systematic review

The aim of this study is to compare depression in terms of treatment between psychotherapy and medical approach or to combine these approaches among cancer patients in Malaysia with respect to the cancer categories. It also studies the major prevalence of depressive disorder in the group together with the specialized clinical connection to the health outcomes. The annual incidence of cancer cases in Malaysia is 30,000 at late stage of the disease. We found 17 eligible researches out of 142 articles which most were under designed of cross-sectional or prospective study, and contained 2,523 cancer patients. This study was conducted on systematic electronic review using the databases such as Pub-Med, Scopus, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, Wiley Online Library were carried out from the period of time between 2006 and 2015. For data collection purposes, the study goes through the Malaysian articles in English language, in which some of the considered factors were general management principles, cancer level among the depressed patients, the selection of the psychological therapies and the use of antidepressant medication. However, the evidences are still not enough to present an effective diagnostic method for the depressive disorders in cancer patients, and to find a successful antidepressant drug and/or an appropriate psychotherapy in this group of patients. Hence, many different approaches could be presented for psychotherapy. In conclusion, we found increased hazard rates for the cancer death among psychiatric patients compared to the control group without a registered mental illness

Antidepressant-like effect of extracts from Urtica dioica in mice model of depression

Urtica dioica (Stinging nettle) leaves have been used as a traditional medicine to treatrheumatoid arthritis, to alleviate rheumatic pain benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), diuretic and prevention of kidney stones by local people in Middle East region especially in Iran, Turkey and East Europe. Hence, this investigation evaluates the antidepressant effect of selected crude extracts in the forced swimming test (FST) and tail suspension test (TST), two models predictive of antidepressant activity. The acute treatment of mice with extracts by intra-peritoneal (i.p.) route significantly reduced the immobility time in the FST (50 and 100 mg/kg) and TST (50 and 100 mg/kg), as compared to positive controls (haloperidol and fluoxetine) at 1 and 10 mg/kg, respectively. On the third day of experiment, a significant decrease of mobility was observed for chloroform extract (CE I) and butanol extract (BE II) compared to first day. CE I and BE II led to reduction of immobility time, as the selected extracts with two doses administered were different compared to the control, in the FST method by 65.37% and53.92% for 100 mg/kg, respectively. However, CE I showed the best result compared to our positive controls. Similar results of increased antidepressant effect, that was, of immobility time depending on the concentration administered, were obtained with the TST method. Also our data showed that there was no significant differences between doses (50 and 100 mg/kg). The results suggested that the antidepressant action of the butanol extract and of U. dioica its fraction (BE II2) was mediated by an interaction with 5-hydroxytrptamine (5-HT). U. dioica showed a potential source for the isolation of important natural products with antidepressant-like properties. However, further studies are still require

Distribution and Prevalence Potato virus Y Isolates Obtained from Potatoes Grown in the Iran by RT-PCR

To survey the distribution and prevalence of potato virus Y (PVY) strains in north western Iran, 381 symptomatic infected samples of the main potatoes grown in the said region were collected from the fields between (Hall et al., 1998) 2007 and 2008. The collected samples were first tested for PVY infection via a double antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DAS-ELISA) technique. Of the total number of collected samples, 79 (20.73%) tested positive for PVY infection. The highest level of PVY infection was observed in the district of Gilak-Abad in Sarab County, whereas the lowest infection was observed in the district of Oughan in the suburbs of Sarab city. The RT-PCR detection of PVY strains by using specific primers resulted in the amplification of DNA fragments specific to the PVY strains NTN, C, O, and N at 725, 1553, 352, and 616 bp, respectively. The highest strain diversity of PVY was detected in the district of Shirehjin in Sarab city and the lowest in the district of Ghaleh Jugh in Bostan-Abad city. Both single and multiple infection types of the PVY stains were observed in the region. Of the 79 PVY-infected samples, 77.21% were infected with strain O, 62.02% with strain C, 39.24% with strain N, and 8.86% with strain NTN. The highest level of multiple infections was observed in the combinations of the strains C+O (27.84%) and the triple strains O+N+C (15.18%). This paper is the first to report the detection of the PVY strain NTN in Iran. Keywords: RT-PCR, Molecular diagnosis, Potato, ELISA, Potato Virus Y (PVY

Zebrafish as a Successful Animal Model for Screening Toxicity of Medicinal Plants

The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is used as an embryonic and larval model to perform in vitro experiments and developmental toxicity studies. Zebrafish may be used to determine the toxicity of samples in early screening assays, often in a high-throughput manner. The zebrafish embryotoxicity model is at the leading edge of toxicology research due to the short time required for analyses, transparency of embryos, short life cycle, high fertility, and genetic data similarity. Zebrafish toxicity studies range from assessing the toxicity of bioactive compounds or crude extracts from plants to determining the optimal process. Most of the studied extracts were polar, such as ethanol, methanol, and aqueous solutions, which were used to detect the toxicity and bioactivity. This review examines the latest research using zebrafish as a study model and highlights its power as a tool for detecting toxicity of medicinal plants and its effectiveness at enhancing the understanding of new drug generation. The goal of this review was to develop a link to ethnopharmacological zebrafish studies that can be used by other researchers to conduct future research

Screening antimicrobial activity of various extracts of Urtica dioica

Urtica dioica or stinging nettle is traditionally used as an herbal medicine in Western Asia. The current study represents the investigation of antimicrobial activity of U. dioica from nine crude extracts that were prepared using different organic solvents, obtained from two extraction methods: the Soxhlet extractor (Method I), which included the use of four solvents with ethyl acetate and hexane, or the sequential partitions (Method II) with a five solvent system (butanol). The antibacterial and antifungal activities of crude extracts were tested against 28 bacteria, three yeast strains and seven fungal isolates by the disc diffusion and broth dilution methods. Amoxicillin was used as positive control for bacteria strains, vancomycin for Streptococcus sp., miconazole nitrate (30μg/mL) as positive control for fungi and yeast, and pure methanol (v/v) as negative control. The disc diffusion assay was used to determine the sensitivity of the samples, whilst the broth dilution method was used for the determination of the minimal inhibition concentration (MIC). The ethyl acetate and hexane extract from extraction method I (EA I and HE I) exhibited highest inhibition against some pathogenic bacteria such as Bacillus cereus, MRSA and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. A selection of extracts that showed some activity was further tested for the MIC and minimal bactericidal concentrations (MBC). MIC values of Bacillus subtilis and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) using butanol extract of extraction method II (BE II) were 8.33 and 16.33mg/mL, respectively; while the MIC value using ethyl acetate extract of extraction method II (EAE II) for Vibrio parahaemolyticus was 0.13mg/mL. Our study showed that 47.06% of extracts inhibited Gram-negative (8 out of 17), and 63.63% of extracts also inhibited Gram-positive bacteria (7 out of 11); besides, statistically the frequency of antimicrobial activity was 13.45% (35 out of 342) which in this among 21.71% belongs to antimicrobial activity extracts from extraction method I (33 out of 152 of crude extracts) and 6.82% from extraction method II (13 out of 190 of crude extracts). However, crude extracts from method I exhibited better antimicrobial activity against the Gram-positive bacteria than the Gram-negative bacteria. The positive results on medicinal plants screening for antibacterial activity constitutes primary information for further phytochemical and pharmacological studies. Therefore, the extracts could be suitable as antimicrobial agents in pharmaceutical and food industry.Urtica dioica u ortiga se utiliza tradicionalmente como medicina herbaria en el oeste de Asia. En esta investigación se estudia la actividad antimicrobiana de nueve extractos crudos de U. dioica, los cuales fueron preparados utilizando diferentes disolventes orgánicos y obtenidos a partir de dos métodos de extracción: el extractor Soxhlet (Método I), que incluía el uso de cuatro disolventes con acetato de etilo y hexano, y las particiones secuenciales (Método II) con un sistema de cinco disolventes (butanol). Las actividades antibacterianas y antifúngicas de extractos crudos fueron ensayados contra 28 bacterias, tres cepas de levadura y siete cepas fúngicas por la difusión en disco y el método de dilución en caldo. La amoxicilina se utilizó como control positivo para cepas de bacterias, vancomicina para Streptococcus sp., nitrato de miconazol (30μg/mL) como control positivo para los hongos y levaduras, y el metanol puro (v / v) como control negativo. El ensayo de difusión en disco se utilizó para determinar la sensibilidad de las muestras, mientras que el método de dilución en caldo se utilizó para la determinación de la concentración de inhibición mínima (CIM). El acetato de etilo y el extracto de hexano del método de extracción I (AE I y EH I) mostraron mayor inhibición contra algunas bacterias patógenas tales como Bacillus cereus, MRSA y Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Una selección de extractos que mostraron algún tipo de actividad se probó para el CIM y las concentraciones mínimas bactericidas (CMB). Los valores de CIM de Bacillus subtilis y de Staphylococcus aureus resistentes a la meticilina (MRSA) usando extracto de butanol mediante el método de extracción II (EB II) fueron: 8.33 y 16.33mg/ mL, respectivamente; mientras que el valor de MIC con el uso del extracto de acetato de etilo por el Método de extracción II (EAE II) para Vibrio parahaemolyticus fue 0.13mg/mL. Nuestro estudio mostró que el 47.06% de los extractos inhibieron bacterias Gram-negativas (8 de 17), y el 63,63% de los extractos también inhibieron bacterias Gram-positivas (7 de 11), además que estadísticamente la frecuencia de la actividad antimicrobiana fue de 13.45% (35 de 342), que de este porcentaje un 21.71% pertenece a los extractos de actividad antimicrobiana con el método de extracción I (33 de 152 de los extractos crudos) y un 6.82% del método de extracción II (13 de 190 de los extractos crudos). Sin embargo, los extractos crudos del método I exhibieron una mejor actividad antimicrobiana contra las bacterias Gram-positivas que las Gram-negativas. Los resultados positivos en la detección de plantas medicinales para la actividad antibacteriana constituye información primaria para la realización de nuevos estudios fitoquímicos y farmacológicos. Por lo tanto, los extractos podrían ser adecuados como agentes antimicrobianos en la industria farmacéutica y de alimentos