In vitro expression of apocarotenoid genes in Crocus sativus L.

Calli were successfully induced from style explants of Crocus sativus L. on Murashige and Skoog's medium supplemented with -naphthalene acetic acid and 6-benzylaminopurine. Then they were divided into three different types based on developmental stages and pigmentation progress in induced stigma-like structures. RT-PCR method was set up using calli in different developmental stages to detect expression levels of CsLYC, CsBCH1, CsZCD and CsUGT2 genes for apocarotenoids biosynthesis via mevalonic acid pathway in C. sativus. The results obtained from in vitro investigationof CsUGT2 expression levels in all three developmental stages were analyzed and compared with the expression levels of selected genes carried out on intact stigmas in vivo. Apparently, this gene was only expressed in the stage III of the three in vitro different SLSs developmental stages. Furthermore,the expression levels of CsLYC, CsBCH1, CsZCD were detected in stage III with fully developed SLSs and were comparable with those of in red intact stigmas

The effect of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of chamomile on the vital activity of peripheral blood leukocytes of patients with covid-19

Background and Objective: Numerous studies have shown the anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anti-allergic, anti-cancer, anti-spasm, analgesic and wound healing effects of chamomile (Matricaria chamomile). In this study, the effect of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of chamomile on the vital activity of cultured leukocytes of patients with covid-19 was investigated. Materials and Methods: After preparation of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of chamomile, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of patients with covid-19 with doses of 200, 300, 400 and 500 micrograms/ml of ethanolic extract of chamomile and doses of 400, 500, 600 and 700 µg/ml chamomile aqueous extract were treated. After 24 hours, the vital activity of PBMCs was measured by MTT method. To analyze the findings, one-way analysis of variance was used in SPSS software version 24. P<0.05 was considered significant. Results: In the current research, chamomile ethanol extract in doses of 500 micrograms/ml and aqueous extract in doses of 600 and 700 micrograms/ml led to a significant decrease in the vital activity of peripheral blood mononuclear cells compared to the control group. Conclusion: Aqueous and ethanol extracts of chamomile significantly decrease the vital activity of peripheral blood mononuclear cells; This decrease in vital activity is dose-dependent, and with increasing dose, a decrease in vital activity is observed

A study on the modulation of alpha-synuclein fibrillation by Scutellaria pinnatifida extracts and its neuroprotective properties

Aggregation of alpha-synuclein (alpha-SN) is a key pathogenic event in Parkinson's disease (PD) leading to dopaminergic degeneration. The identification of natural compounds inhibiting alpha-SN aggregation may have a major role in treating PD. Different Scutellaria species are known as valuable medicinal plants, primarily due to their high flavonoid levels. Scutellaria pinnatifida (S. pinnatifida) is endemic to Iran;however, the knowledge of its pharmaceutical properties is limited. Here we report that S. pinnatifida extracts have an anti-fibrillation effect on alpha-SN aggregation and neuroprotective properties on PC12 and primary dopaminergic neurons. Treatment during alpha-SN fibril formation with S. pinnatifida extracts showed that the extractions performed with dichloromethane (DCMEx) and n-butanol (BuOHEx) strongly inhibited alpha-SN fibrillation. TLC-based analysis revealed that S. pinnatifida contains a great amount of flavonoids with high antioxidant properties as shown using a radical scavenging assay. Further analysis using HPLC and Mass spectroscopy on the DCMEx revealed the presence of baicalein in this extract. We then selected the more efficient extracts based on cell viability and ROS scavenging on PC12 cells and tested their neuroprotective properties on primary dopaminergic neurons. Our results showed the extracts strongly protected against alpha-SN oligomers. Surprisingly, they also neutralized the severe toxicity of paraquat. Therefore, S. pinnatifida may be a potential valuable medicinal herb for further studies related to the treatment of PD

Self-Assembled Asymmetric Block Copolymer Membranes: Bridging the Gap from Ultra- to Nanofiltration

The self-assembly of block copolymers is an emerging strategy to produce isoporous ultrafiltration membranes. However, thus far, it has not been possible to bridge the gap from ultra- to nanofiltration and decrease the pore size of self-assembled block copolymer membranes to below 5 nm without post-treatment. It is now reported that the self-assembly of blends of two chemically interacting copolymers can lead to highly porous membranes with pore diameters as small as 1.5 nm. The membrane containing an ultraporous, 60 nm thin separation layer can fully reject solutes with molecular weights of 600 g mol-1 in aqueous solutions with a water flux that is more than one order of magnitude higher than the permeance of commercial nanofiltration membranes. Simulations of the membrane formation process by dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) were used to explain the dramatic observed pore size reduction combined with an increase in water flux

Wet-spinnability and crosslinked fibre properties of two collagen polypeptides with varied molecular weight

The formation of naturally-derived materials with wet stable fibrous architectures is paramount in order to mimic the features of tissues at the molecular and microscopic scale. Here, we investigated the formation of wet-spun fibres based on collagen-derived polypeptides with comparable chemical composition and varied molecular weight. Gelatin and hydrolysed fish collagen (HFC) were selected as widely-available linear amino-acidic chains of high and low molecular weight, respectively, and functionalised in the wet-spun fibre state in order to preserve the material geometry in physiological conditions. Wet-spun fibre diameter and morphology were dramatically affected depending on the polypeptide molecular weight, wet-spinning solvent (i.e. 2,2,2-Trifluoroethanol and dimethyl sulfoxide) and coagulating medium (i.e. acetone and ethanol), resulting in either bulky or porous internal geometry. Dry-state tensile moduli were significantly enhanced in gelatin and HFC samples following covalent crosslinking with activated 1,3-phenylenediacetic acid (Ph) (E: 726 ± 43 ‒ 844 ± 85 MPa), compared to samples crosslinked via intramolecular carbodiimide-mediated condensation reaction (E: 588 ± 38 MPa). Resulting fibres displayed a dry diameter in the range of 238±18–355±28 μm and proved to be mechanically-stable (E: 230 kPa) following equilibration with PBS, whilst a nearly-complete degradation was observed after 5-day incubation in physiological conditions

Pollen morphology study of Salvia sect. Plethiosphace and sect. Hemisphace (Lamiaceae) in Iran

In this research, plant morphology and pollen micromorphology of 14 populations of 3 species belonging to two sections Plethiosphace and Hemisphace of Salvia genus in Iran were studied. In the morphological study 25 quantitative and qualitative characters were investigated and the results clearly separated the species into two groups. The pollen grains from the herbarium specimens were prepared by acetolysis method and then 4 quantitative characters were examined by light microscopy. Data was processed by principal component analysis method. Results indicated that although the pollen grains in the section were comparatively homogenous and all of them were 6-colpate with reticulate ornamentation, a considerable variation in the quantitative characters studied turned out to exist. However among the characters studied, equatorial and polar diameters of pollen grains were the most significant and based on these characters the members of these sections can be divided into two groups

Comparison study of three methods for genomic DNA extraction from fresh and herbarium leaf specimens of Achillea wilhelmsii C.Koch

DNA extraction from plant tissues often causes most problems. For example, unsuccessful removal secondary metabolites during extraction, such as phenolic compounds in aromatic and medicinal plants, cause to some mistakes in result of molecular experiments by using of the extracted DNA. Achillea wilhelmsii is a medicinal plant belong to Asteraceae family and native to Iran, there is little information about genomic data in this plant. Therefore, optimizing of the DNA extraction methods for obtaining suitable quality and quantity yield is necessary. In this study, two traditional DNA extraction methods (using fresh and herbarium leaf samples) and commercial DNA kit MAGNANTM in Yarrow have been compared. Results showed that DNA extracted from fresh leaves of yarrow according to Khanuja et al. (1999) was better than the other methods which mentioned in this research, because of the increased amount of extracted DNA and reduced harmful compounds such as RNA, polysaccharides, protein and secondary metabolites. To evaluate the quality of extracted DNA from herbarium specimens showed that, in spite of the high yielding DNA (10-50 fold ratio to the other methods), quality of this extract was low on agarose gel because of smear and broken down the molecules. It can be considered as a limitation of the extract in molecular experiments. Procedure of MAGNANTM DNA kit was appropriate for reducing time and cost of the extraction as well as low contamination to protein and RNA, but the process needs some modifications for yarrow to increase the amount of extracted DNA

A1 Printed in the Islamic Republic of Iran

Abstract -Ferula assa-foetida L. (Apiaceae) is one of the most important endangered medicinal plants, which is rare in nature due to poor seed germination. In an effort to improve and promote the cultivation of this plant, the effects of two temperatures (23°C and 4°C), exogenous GA 3 and cytokinins (kinetin and BAP) were investigated on dormancy breaking and germination of F. assa-foetida L. seeds. Among the treatments, cold stratification (4°C) significantly stimulated seed breaking dormancy. The highest mean germination index (2.6 germinated seed per week) was obtained by treatment of seeds with 5 mg/L kinetin at 4°C. But, under no hormone treatment, the highest final percentage germination (73%) was obtained when the seeds were soaked in distilled water and then incubated at 4°C. Also, under this condition the germination index was achieved to 2.5 germinated seeds per week. Treatment of the seeds by GA 3 not only could not significantly enhance the germination index and percentage at 23°C, but also the existence of GA 3 caused a marked decrease in those values at 4°C. This result demonstrated that GA 3 was not effective to overcome dormancy for this species