Determination of Phenolic Compounds in Various Propolis Samples Collected from an African and an Asian Region and Their Impact on Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activities

The biological activities of propolis samples are the result of many bioactive compounds present in the propolis. The aim of the present study was to determine the various chemical compounds of some selected propolis samples collected from Palestine and Morocco by the High-Performance Liquid Chromatography–Photodiode Array Detection (HPLC-PDA) method, as well as the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of this bee product. The chemical analysis of propolis samples by HPLC-PDA shows the cinnamic acid content in the Palestinian sample is higher compared to that in Moroccan propolis. The results of antioxidant activity demonstrated an important free radical scavenging activity (2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH); 2,2′-azino-bis 3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) and reducing power assays) with EC50 values ranging between 0.02 ± 0.001 and 0.14 ± 0.01 mg/mL. Additionally, all tested propolis samples possessed a moderate antibacterial activity against bacterial strains. Notably, Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MICs) values ranged from 0.31 to 2.50 mg/mL for Gram-negative bacterial strains and from 0.09 to 0.125 mg/mL for Gram-positive bacterial strains. The S2 sample from Morocco and the S4 sample from Palestine had the highest content of polyphenol level. Thus, the strong antioxidant and antibacterial properties were apparently due to the high total phenolic and flavone/flavonol contents in the samples. As a conclusion, the activities of propolis samples collected from both countries are similar, while the cinnamic acid in the Palestinian samples was more than that of the Moroccan samples

Determination of Phenolic Compounds in Various Propolis Samples Collected from an African and an Asian Region and Their Impact on Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activities

The biological activities of propolis samples are the result of many bioactive compounds present in the propolis. The aim of the present study was to determine the various chemical compounds of some selected propolis samples collected from Palestine and Morocco by the High-Performance Liquid Chromatography–Photodiode Array Detection (HPLC-PDA) method, as well as the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of this bee product. The chemical analysis of propolis samples by HPLC-PDA shows the cinnamic acid content in the Palestinian sample is higher compared to that in Moroccan propolis. The results of antioxidant activity demonstrated an important free radical scavenging activity (2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH); 2,2′-azino-bis 3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) and reducing power assays) with EC50 values ranging between 0.02 ± 0.001 and 0.14 ± 0.01 mg/mL. Additionally, all tested propolis samples possessed a moderate antibacterial activity against bacterial strains. Notably, Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MICs) values ranged from 0.31 to 2.50 mg/mL for Gram-negative bacterial strains and from 0.09 to 0.125 mg/mL for Gram-positive bacterial strains. The S2 sample from Morocco and the S4 sample from Palestine had the highest content of polyphenol level. Thus, the strong antioxidant and antibacterial properties were apparently due to the high total phenolic and flavone/flavonol contents in the samples. As a conclusion, the activities of propolis samples collected from both countries are similar, while the cinnamic acid in the Palestinian samples was more than that of the Moroccan samples

Medicinal Plants as a Drug Alternative Source for the Antigout Therapy in Morocco

Background. The gout is a metabolic disease that is associated with a high level of uric acid in the blood. This disease is treated with some medications that aim to reduce serum urate levels. However, the use of various medicines leads to the appearance of some side effects, hence the importance of using other treatments based on natural resources. Objective. This study presents some medical treatments, their side effects, and some plants that are used for gout management in Morocco in the aim to valorize them. Methods. We have been consulting various English publications in PubMed, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect published between 1991 and 2019 using the following keywords “drugs,” “gout,” “Morocco,” “medicinal plants,” “in vitro,” and “in vivo” terms. Then, we have classified the medicines, according to their action mechanisms, and we have cited some species that were reported in Moroccan pharmacopeia as antigout. Results. Three methods of the gout medical management were cited in this work: xanthine oxidase inhibitors, uric acid excretion enhancer, and uricase recombinant. However, it was found that these treatments had various side effects. We have described 23 species, and some of them showed experimentally an antigout effect by blocking the “xanthine oxidase” enzyme. These plants belong to 11 families. Lamiaceae represents the most dominant family with six species followed by Asteraceae with two species. Colchicine isolated from Colchicum autumnale is the most known compound for its efficiency towards gout. Conclusion. This work summarized different treatments particularly medicinal plants that are used in Morocco to treat gout disease by blocking uric acid secretion. However, several studies are needed to valorize these antigout natural sources

The Pathogenesis of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Evaluation and Prevention

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a major health problem causing severe acute respiratory illness in humans. It has spread rapidly around the globe since its first identification in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The causative virus is called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and the World Health Organization (WHO) named the new epidemic disease Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). The incidence of COVID-19 continues to increase with more than three million confirmed cases and over 244,000 deaths worldwide. There is currently no specific treatment or vaccine against COVID-19. Therefore, in the absence of pharmaceutical interventions, the implementation of precautions and hygienic measures will be essential to control and to minimize human transmission of the virus. In this review, we highlight the epidemiology, transmission, symptoms, and treatment of this disease, as well as future strategies to manage the spread of this fatal coronavirus

Hepatoprotective effect of Opuntia dillenii seed oil on CCl4 induced acute liver damage in rat

Objective: To investigate the hepatoprotective effect of Opuntia dillenii seed oil (ODSO) on CCl4 provoked liver injury in rat. Methods: Animals were treated orally with ODSO at a concentration of 2 mL/kg, once daily for one week before the first intraperitoneal injection of CCl4, and thereafter the administration of the oil was continued for 7 days until the introduction of the second injection of CCl4. Fourteen hours after the last dose of CCl4, rats were sacrificed, and the relative liver weight, weight gain, alkaline phosphatase, aspartate amino transferase, alanine aminotransferase, direct bilirubin, total bilirubin, triglycerides, total cholesterol, very low density lipoprotein, low density lipoprotein, high density lipoprotein, plasmatic glucose, urea, creatinine, acid uric and malondialdehyde were determined. Results: The significant increase was found in relative liver weight and plasma levels of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate amino transferase, alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, triglycerides, very low-density lipoprotein, urea, uric acid and malondialdehyde. Likewise, the significant decrease was indicated in the weight gain and the level of glucose plasmatic, and high-density lipoprotein levels in CCl4 produced liver injury in rats were re-established to normal levels when treated with ODSO. While, no change was observed in the total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein and creatinine in all animals. Conclusions: We conclude that the ODSO has a protective effect on CCl4-mediated liver injury. Hence, we suggest its inclusion as a preventive control of liver disorders

Evaluation of Hepatoprotective Activity of Caralluma europaea Stem Extract against CCl4-Induced Hepatic Damage in Wistar Rats

The present study aims to evaluate the hepatoprotective activity of stem aqueous extract of Caralluma europaea (AECe) on carbon tetrachloride- (CCl4-) induced hepatic damage in Wistar rats. The animals were daily treated with the aqueous extract of C. europaea at a dose of 250 mg/kg body weight for 14 days. CCl4 was injected (1 ml/kg, i.p.) two times, on the 7th and 14th days. At the end of the experimental period, all rats were anesthetized to collect blood for the assessment of biochemical parameters and then sacrificed to collect the liver for weighing. Hepatotoxicity was evaluated by measuring the serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), bilirubin (total and direct), malondialdehyde (MDA), total protein (TP), triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol, very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL-c ), low-density lipoprotein (LDL-c), high-density lipoprotein (HDL-c), urea, creatinine, and uric acid. Based on the results obtained in this study, the administration of C. europaea before exposure to the administration of CCl4 conferred favorable hepatoprotective effect in rats. The treatment with AECe (250 mg/kg) exhibits a significant hepatoprotective effect by ameliorating CCl4-induced alterations of these biochemical parameters. Hence, C. europaea could be a potential medicinal herb that can be used in the future to prevent liver intoxication

Inhibition of α-Glucosidase, Intestinal Glucose Absorption, and Antidiabetic Properties by Caralluma europaea

Many medicinal plants around the world are used for therapeutic purposes against several diseases, including diabetes mellitus. Due to their composition of natural substances that are effective and do not represent side effects for users, unlike synthetic drugs, in this study, we investigated the inhibitory effect of Caralluma europaea (CE) on α-glucosidase activity in vitro; then the kinetics of the enzyme were studied with increasing concentrations of sucrose in order to determine the inhibition type of the enzyme. In addition, this effect of Caralluma europaea (CE) was confirmed in vivo using rats as an experimental animal model. Among the five fractions of CE, only the ethyl acetate fraction of C. europaea (EACe) induced a significant inhibition of α-glucosidase and its inhibition mode was competitive. The in vivo studies were conducted on mice and rats using glucose and sucrose as a substrate, respectively, to determine the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). The results obtained showed that the EACe and the aqueous extract of C. europaea (AECe) have significantly reduced the postprandial hyperglycemia after sucrose and glucose loading in normal and diabetic rats. AECe, also, significantly decreased intestinal glucose absorption, in situ. The results obtained showed that Caralluma europaea has a significant antihyperglycemic activity, which could be due to the inhibition of α-glucosidase activity and enteric absorption of glucose

Assessment of Indigenous Plants Knowledge among Traditional Healers in Eastern Morocco: Quali-Quantitative Approach (Part I)

Background: This is the first ethnobotanical study focused on medicinal plants traditionally recommended by traditional healers (THs) of Eastern Morocco. In this work, we documented the medicinal plants recommended by THs and highlighted the value and importance of medicinal plants recommended by specialist healers. Methods: A quali-quantitative ethnobotanical method has been performed, snowball sampling and structured interviews were used to evaluate the traditional plant knowledge by traditional healers in the study area. Species identification was performed and verified from the African Plant Database and Plant List. Two Relative Cultural Importance indices were used for this analysis “Informant Consensus Factor (ICF) and Frequency of Citation (FC)”. Results: A total of 135 plants were inventoried in our surveys. These species belong to 64 families and were reported to be used to treat 23 different categories of ailments. The botanical profile of the plants listed is dominated by LAMIACEAE’s Family with 12 species, followed by FABACEAE (11 species) and ASTERACEAE (10 species). In the category of the digestive system, nutrition problems and nervous system problems seem to be the predominant diseases treated. The Informant Consensus Factor (ICF) results indicated that cancer and gastrointestinal disorders had a higher concordance among informants (ICF = 0.60 and 0.58 respectively). Conclusion: Our results, showed that the Traditional healers, in Eastern Morocco, hold impressive knowledge related to the use of medicinal plants. This observation is reflected in the high number of medicinal plants recommended for the medication of the population. Furthermore, the consistency of healers in this area of study is justified by the ICF values

Nephroprotective and Antioxidant Effects of Flavonoid-Rich Extract of Thymelaea microphylla Coss. et Dur Aerial Part

Thymelaea microphylla Coss. et Dur (T. microphylla), a medicinal herb that grows in arid and desert pastures, has been traditionally utilized by Moroccans to treat many diseases, including kidney failure. This study aims to evaluate the nephroprotective effect against gentamicin-induced nephrotoxicity (GM), and thus the antioxidant activity of an aqueous extract rich in flavonoids from the aerial part of T. microphylla (APTM). The antioxidant activity of APTM was assessed using the 2-2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging test and the β-carotene bleaching assay. The nephroprotective effect of this extract was evaluated in two doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg in GM-exposed male rats. Acute toxicity of the APTM was tested out on Swiss albino mice using 2000 mg/kg as the dose limit. The findings showed that the aqueous extract of APTM is abundant in total polyphenols and flavonoids and has significant antioxidant properties against DPPH radicals and β-carotene oxidation. According to the acute toxicity research findings, the administered doses of the APTM extract do not cause toxicity and death. A significant increase in the serum concentrations of creatinine, urea, uric acid, sodium, chloride, calcium, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (gamma-GT), and alkaline phosphatase, as well as an increase in urinary volume, water consumption, and relative kidney weight, were all caused by the administration of GM to rats. In addition, a significant reduction in urinary concentrations of creatinine, uric acid, urea, and albumin, and thus the clearance of creatinine and weight gain were observed in rats injected with GM. Also, the administration of GM dramatically raised the malondialdehyde level in the kidneys. Likewise, rats that had been poisoned with GM had histological kidney abnormalities. However, the daily treatment of APTM aqueous extract to rats given GM injections dramatically improved the biochemical and histological parameters affected by GM administration in rats. Finally, APTM extract enhanced GM’s biochemical and histological indicators of nephrotoxicity, supporting its use as an ethnomedicinal