Tropical Medicinal Plant Extracts Against Rice Weevil, Sitophilus oryzae L.

Rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae L. is one of the major pests of stored commodities, the adult weevils feed on rice and the females lay eggs inside rice kernels. In the study chemical composition of extracts from black pepper, Piper nigrum L. and physic nut, Jatropha curcas L. were tested against this pest, under laboratory conditions. The chemical compositions of the extracts were identified by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). The major extracted components of P. nigrum were piperine (74.34%) and caryophyllene (18.53%), and for J. curcas were oleic acid (40.67%), linoleic acid (34.17%) and palmitic acid (18.03%). The mortality of adults increased with increasing concentration of extracts from 2 to 10 μl/g of rice and exposure time from 24 to 72 h. The petroleum ether (LC50=1.61 μl/g) and chloroform extracts (LC50=1.70 μl/g) of P. nigrum showed higher mortality rate compared to petroleum ether extracts (LC50=6.82 μl/g) of J. curcas with 99.56, 93.56 and 66.00% mortality, respectively. The P. nigrum extracts (92.0%) were significantly repelled S. oryzae compared to J. curcas extracts (69.6%). Petroleum ether and chloroform extracts of P. nigrum and petroleum ether extract of J. curcas extracts also showed strong antifeedant and opposed to progeny production. Furthermore, F1 adults were suppressed at the lowest concentration (2 μl/g) and no F1 was produced in all treatments. The results of this study show that P. nigrum and J. curcas extracts were able to protect stored grain

Anti-hyperalgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of Achillea santolina and Stachys athorecalyx extracts on complete Freund's adjuvant–induced short- term inflammation in male wistar rats

Introduction: Immune system is involved in the etiology and path physiologic mechanisms of inflammation. Medicinal plants are an important source of substances which are claimed to induce non-specific immune modulator effects. Given the above information and the role of IL-6 in inflammation and pain induction, this study investigated the effects of Achillea santolina and Stachys athorecalyx methanolic and defatted extracts on cmplete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) -induced short term inflammation in male Wistar rats Materials and Methods: Inflammation was induced on day zero by CFA injection in hind paw of rats. Methanolic and defatted extractions were prepared form aerial parts of both plants. 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg doses of extracts were selected for IP treatment during 6 days after CFA injection. Results: Results indicated dose related effects of A. santolina and S. athorecalyx extracts on edema, hyperalgesia and serum IL-6 level during inflammation. Although, both methanolic and defatted extracts of S. athorecalyx showed a significant reduction in the inflammatory symptoms, no significant differences was observed between these two kinds of extracts of S.athorecalyx with respect to their anti inflammatory effects. Only methanolic extract of A. santolina was effective during CFA-induced inflammation. Conclusion: These results could suggest that short-term administration of A. santolina and S. athorecalyx extracts possess potent anti-inflammatory effects and modulate paw edema, hyperalgesia and serum IL-6 level during CFA–induced inflammation. In addition, these dose-dependent effects may mediate via different extract supplements which need more investigations

Callus induction and shoot regeneration in Ducrosia anethifolia an important threatened medicinal plant 1

ABSTRACT Ducrosia Anethifolia is a threatened medicinal herb belongs to the family Apiaceae. This important medicinal plant is a native medicinal plant in Iran and has a restricted distribution in the world. It is used to treat of headache and backache in folk medicine. To callus induction, Leaf and lateral bud were used as explants and the Culture media was MS medium supplemented with 3% w/v sucrose, 0.7% w/v agar and 1gl -1 myoinositol at various concentration of cytokinins and auxins. After Five weeks, the calluses were transferred into regeneration medium that included MS medium supplemented with the combination of BA(0.5, 1 and 2 m gl -1 ) and NAA(0, and 0.5 mgl -1 ). The callus percentage, callus size and fresh weight, shoot length and number of shoots per explants were recorded. The analysis of variance showed that explants and media had significant effects on callus induction. The results revealed that the highest percentage (86.7%) of callus induction was created on MS media containing 2mg/l NAA and 1mg/l BA. On the other hand, lateral bud explants gave higher values in callus inducing percentage, fresh weight and size compared to leaf explants. In the case of plant regeneration, results indicated that the longest shoot length (21.6 mm) was exhibited for explants cultured on MS-medium containing 0.5mg/l BA and the highest number of shoots per explants(5.6) was obtained from callus grown on the medium supplemented with 2mg/l BA

Warm Stratification and Chemical Treatments Overcome the Dormancy and Promotes Germination of Colchicum kotschyi Boiss Seeds under in Vitro Condition

Colchicum kotschyi Boiss grows wildly in Iran. Propagation of this perennial geophyte plant takes a long time either by corm or seed. Seeds usually have a deep dormancy and take more than a year to germinate. Therefore in order to find out an effective method to shorten this period, a factorial experiment based on completely randomized design with four replicates was conducted to investigate the effects of warm stratification (no stratification and 8 weeks at 25oC) and different chemical priming treatments. Priming was done by: H2SO4 (0 and 50%) and GA3 at (0, 250, 500 and 1000 ppm) and KNO3 at (1 and 2%). Seeds were all cultured in a Potato Dextrose Agar media (1%) and put in a dark position for germination. The results showed that warm stratification priming alone, had a germination percentage of 28.7%. No germination was observed in control, H2SO4 and KNO3 treatments alone. Warm stratification along with GA3 significantly increased the germination percentage. Maximum germination percentage (70%) was obtained in warm stratification and GA3 (1000 ppm). It seems that the germination problem for most of the Colchicum kotschyi seeds is probably due to a kind of morphophysiological dormancy which is broken by warm stratification along with GA3

Antitrypanosomal isothiocyanate and thiocarbamate glycosides from Moringa peregrina

O-Methyl (1), O-ethyl (2), and O-butyl (3) 4-[(α-L-rhamnosyloxy) benzyl] thiocarbamate (E), along with 4-(α-L-rhamnosyloxy) benzyl isothiocyanate (4) have been isolated from the aerial parts of Moringa peregrina. The compounds were tested for in vitro activity against Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense and cytotoxicity in rat skeletal myoblasts (L6 cells). The most potent compound was 4 with an IC50 of 0.10 µM against T.b. rhodesiense and a selectivity index of 73, while the thiocarbamate glycosides 1, 2, and 3 showed only moderate activity. Intraperitoneal administration of 50 mg/kg body weight/day of 4 in the T.b. rhodesiense STIB 900 acute mouse model revealed significant in vivo toxicity. Administration of 10 mg/kg body weight/day resulted in a 95% reduction of parasitemia on day 7 postinfection, but did not cure the animals. Because of its high in vitro activity and its ability to irreversibly inhibit trypanothione reductase, an attractive parasite-specific target enzyme, 4-[(α-L-rhamnosyloxy) benzyl] isothiocyanate (4), can be considered as a lead structure for the development and characterization of novel antitrypanosomal drugs