The protective effect of medicinal herbs extracts including Cynara scolymus L., Cichorium intybus L. Taraxacum officinal L. and Berberis vulgaris L. in single and in combination form in CCl4 induced rat liver toxicity

Background: Several herbal remedies are used in traditional medicine for treatment of liver disorders, but their efficacy, safety, and dosage have not been investigated so far. Objective: The present study was aimed to evaluate the liver protective effects of medicinal herbs extracts such as Cynara scolymus leave (artichok), Cichorium intybus roots (chichory), Taraxacum officinale root (dandelium), Berberis vulgaris (barberry) root and stems extract in single and in combination form against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) induced liver toxicity. Methods: Total 70 wistar male rat, aged 5 months were divided in 7 groups of 10 rats each. One group kept as normal and out of six CCl4 intoxicated groups one served as control, one received mixture of four extract and four groups received artichok, chichory, dandelium, and barberry in the dosage of 150, 300, 300 and 250 mg/kg/day respectively. The plant extracts were injected intra peritoneal simultaneously with intoxication for three days. Three days after intoxication and extract treatments the serum liver enzymes levels such as ALT, AST and ALP as well as serum gluthathion and catalase were determined. Results: In group receiving mixture of 4 herbal extract the blood level of ALT, AST and ALP were reduced significantly as compared to control group. In all the groups receiving herbal extracts the serum glutathione and catalase levels did not differ as compared to control groups. Conclusion: In the present study administration of chichory, artichoke, dandelium and barberry in combination form prevent liver intoxication withought influence on serum antioxidant properties

Chemical constituents of sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) fruit in populations of central Alborz Mountains in Iran

Background and objectives: Hippophae rhamnoides L. known as sea buckthorn is a deciduous medicinal shrub belonging to Elaeagnaceae family. In this study, the most important chemical constituents of sea buckthornwere evaluated in wild populations of central Alborz Mountains in Iran during the growth season of 2014 and 2015. Methods: Phytochemical analysis of fruit pulp and seed oil traits was performed using different methods of chromatography such as spectrophotometry, HPLC and GC. Results: Based on the results of combined analysis of variance, significant (p≤0.01) difference ranges between populations were found in respect to fruit dry weight (21.32 to 32.03%), total phenolic compounds (20.78 to 34.60 mg/g), extractable tannin (1.99 to 5.74 mg/g), glucose (38.14 to 110.70 mg/g), total carotenoids (0.80 to 1.17 mg/g), lycopene (0.13 to 0.20 mg/g), β-carotene (0.18 to 0.26 mg/g), total flavonoids (0.98 to 2.80 mg/g), total soluble solids (TSS) (11.85 to 31.50%), vitamin C (1.47 to 8.96 mg/g), seed oil content (4.51 to 7.91%), and two major unsaturated fatty acids including linoleic acid (28.71 to 37.44%) and linolenic acid (21.52 to 28.28%). Factor analysis based on principal component analysis (PCA) revealed most important traits with the highest correlation factor such as vitamin C, carbohydrates, TSS, fruit dry weight (FDW), and tannin for the first component. Conclusion: content of vitamin C was the main variable in chemical constituents for effective detection of original wild populations of central Alborz Mountains. Accordingly, sea buckthorn populations were divided into four main clusters and groups with high diversity based on their chemical compositions

Overview on Chitosan as a valuable ingredient and biostimulant in pharmaceutical industries and agricultural products

Chitosan is a polysaccharide extracted from the shells of crustaceans, such as shrimp, crab, and cell walls of fungi. Chitosan is formed from chitin, a co-polymer of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine and D-glucosamine, when over 80% of the acetyl groups of the N-acetyl-D-glucosamine residues are removed. Chitosan and its derivatives have been shown to possess diverse biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-hypertensive, anti-coagulant, anti-diabetic, anti-obesity, anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and anti-cancer. Chitosan has been studied in recent years as a natural agrochemical biostimulant for applications in areas such as seed coating, preservation of fruits and vegetables, fungicides, growth biostimulants, elicitors, inducer of resistance to pathogens, etc. Chitosan as a biostimulant has biological properties and effective uses in the pharmaceutical industries, food industries, and agricultural products. This paper is a brief review on characterization, modification, and applications of chitosan

Allelopathic Effects of Harmal (Peganum harmala L.) Aqueous Extract on Seed Germination and Seedling Growth of Purslan (Portulaca oleracea L.) and Black Weed (Chenopodium album L.)

Background: The study of allelopathic properties of plants is one of up-to-date biological and ecological methods, which can lead to discover the bio-herbicides and growth inhibitors. Objective: In order to study the allelopathic effects of harmal (Peganum harmala L) on seed germination and seedling growth on purslan (Portulaca oleracea L.) and black weed (Chenopodium album L.), these experiments were conducted. Methods: The aqueous extracts of harmal different organs including capsule, leaf, stem and root were applied at five concentration levels (0 as control, 1, 5, 10 and 15%) through a factorial experiment based on a completely randomized design with three replications. Results: The results showed that different organ extracts had different negative effects on seed germination and seedling growth of the two species in such a way that capsules extracts had the highest inhibitory effect. With increasing extract concentrations of harmal, the seed germination and seedling growth of the two species was reduced significantly. The minimum amount of seed germination and growth of the seedlings were observed at 15% extracts concentration of capsules. Also, purslan seedlings appeared to be more sensitive to harmal extracts than black weed seedlings. Conclusion: The aqueous extracts of harmal different organs had inhibitory effects on seed germination and seedlings growth of purslan and black weed. Also, the highest inhibitory effects were related to capsule extracts

Improve germination of caper (Capparis Spinosa l.) seeds by different induction treatments of seed dormancy breaking

Seed dormancy is a common phase of the plant life cycle; different treatments can be used for breaking dormancy. The aim of this study was to find the best treatment for breaking dormancy and improve germination of caper (Capparis spinosa L.). This study based on the completely randomized design (CRD) with 3 replications was done at research Laboratory of Medicinal Plants Institute, ACECR, Karaj, Iran. After different induction treatments containing different levels of potassium nitrate (KNO3), GA3, soaking and soaking with runner water, sulfuric acid, thidiazuron, and benzyl amino-purine, seeds were placed in Petri-dishes and incubated in two temperature regimes, first at fixed 20 ͦC, and second, alternate between 20 and 30 ͦC. The result showed that the germination percentage and germination rate of caper increased up to 75% and 1.35 respectively when the seeds treated with sulfuric acid for 15 min, and 2000 ppm GA3 under alternate 20-30 ͦC temperatures. Caper seed dormancy is mainly due to the inhibitors and hard seed coat that it prevents seed germination

Phytochemistry and antioxidant activity of Lallemantia iberica aerial parts

Background and objectives:Lallemantia iberica (Lamiaceae) is a medicinal plant distributed in different parts of Iran. This research, has evaluated the phytochemical constituents and antioxidant activity of the aerial parts of the plant. Methods: Different chromatographic methods such as column chromatographies using Silica gel (normal and reversed phases), Sephadex LH-20 and HPLC were used for isolation of the compounds from the ethyl acetate and methanol extract of L. iberica aerial parts. The structures of the isolated compounds were elucidated using 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR and EI-MS. Antioxidant activity of the extracts were also evaluated in DPPH and FRAP tests. Results: Two sterols,β-sitosterol acetate (1), β-sitosterol (2), one triterpenoic acid,ursolic acid (3), one polyphenol, rosmarinic acid (4) and six flavonoides,Luteolin-7-O-glucoside (5), 4'-methoxy-luteolin-7-O-glucoside (6), apigenin-7-O-glucoside (7), Luteolin (8),  diosmetin (9), apigenin (10) were isolated and identified from the ethyl acetate and methanol extracts. The antioxidant activity of the ethyl acetate (IC50 189.95±2.8 μg/mL) and the methanol extracts (IC50 140±1.2 μg/mL) were compared to the standard antioxidant, BHA (IC50 100±1.6 μg/mL) in DPPH method. The reducing power of the ethyl acetate (300.28 μmol Eq FeSO4.7H2O/mg DW), the methanol extract (553.14 μmol Eq FeSO4.7H2O/mg DW) and BHA (558.36 μmol Eq FeSO4.7H2O/mg of standard) were elucidated in FRAP assay. Conclusion: The results introduce L. iberica as a medicinal plant with valuable constituents which are responsible of different pharmacological activities