Phytochemical evaluation and anticancer activity of rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum) fruit endocarp extracts against human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG-2) cells

The current investigation was taken to screen the phytoconstituents present in fruit endocarp various extracts of Nephelium lappaceum commonly called as Rambutan fruit and its anticancer property against human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG-2) cells. Different analytical techniques including qualitative phytochemical analysis, cell viability assay (MTT), apoptotic nuclear staining (DAPI), DNA fragmentation assay, Attenuated total reflection (ATR) and Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) spectral analysis were carried out. ATR and GC–MS study revealed the presence of functional groups and 9 compounds, respectively in methanol endocarp extract. The results obtained depicts that methanol endocarp extract profoundly controlled cell proliferation and caused shrinkage of HepG-2 cells from polygonal to spherical shape. DAPI staining revealed that methanol endocarp extract caused increased fragmentation of nucleus and DNA fragmentation, which can be taken as a sign of apoptosis. The anticancer potential of methanol fruit endocarp extract of Nephelium lappaceum than other extracts and could be used successfully in future drug delivery systems and other biomedical concerns.     

In-vitro antioxidant,antimutagenic and cancer cell growth inhibition activities of Rhododendron arboreum leaves and flowers

In the current investigation, the active principles of the methanol extracts of Rhododendron arboreum leaves (MEL) and flowers (MEF) were investigated with the help of ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC), amino acid analyzer and gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). UHPLC revealed different polyphenols present in the extracts. GC-MS identified 20 phytochemicals in leaves and 17 in the flowers, whereas, amino acid analyzer confirmed 11 amino acids in leaves and 10 in the flowers. The extracts were subjected to the investigation of biological activity through analysis of antioxidant activity in different in vitro assays, antimutagenic activity in Ames assay and cancer cell growth inhibition activity by MTT (3-4,5 dimethylthiazol-2,5 diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay. MEL showed higher antioxidant activity in lipid peroxidation inhibition assay (95.32 ± 0.37%) than MEF (77.09 ± 4.17%) with IC₅₀103.6 µg/ml for MEL and 271.17 µg/ml for MEF. In nitric oxide scavenging assay, an activity of 94.46 ± 0.32% (IC₅₀ 150.13) was observed in MEF followed by 83.71 ± 0.74% (IC₅₀ 179.52) in MEL. The antimutagenic activity of both the extracts was evaluated against sodium azide, 4-nitro-O-phenylenediamine and 2-aminofluorene mutagens in TA-98 and TA-100 strains of Salmonella typhimurium. The analysis was carried out using pre- and co-incubation modes. However, both extracts were observed to possess considerable antimutagenic activity against different known mutagens, flowers came out to be more effective than the leaves in terms of % inhibition. The extracts also exhibited significant cancer cell growth inhibition activity, when tested against 3 cancer cell lines namely, Human cervical cancer cell line (HeLa), Breast cancer cell line (MCF7) and Lung cancer cell line (A549). In case of HeLa and A549, MEL showed higher activity of 64.62 ± 2.65 and 75.08 ± 1.68% as compared to 53.11 ± 2.84 and 45.92 ± 2.43% in MEL, respectively. The EC₅₀ values for MEL in HeLa and A549 were noted to be 232.76 and 155.38 µg/ml, respectively, whereas, MEF had EC₅₀ of 395.50 µg/ml in HeLa and 660.26 µg/ml in A549. Further, MEF showed higher cytotoxicity in MCF7 cell line (84.93 ± 1.17%) followed by the MEL (73.57 ± 1.27%) with EC₅₀ value of 95.16 µg/ml for MEF followed by 172.19 µg/ml for MEL. The biological activities of the extracts can be attributed to the phyto-constituents identified by sophisticated instruments.The biological activities of the extracts can be attributed to the active principles identified by sophisticated instruments.     

Chemical composition,antioxidant and antibacterial activity of Piper chaba stem extracts with preservative effects on storage of raw beef patties

Piper chaba, a traditional South-east Asian medicinal herb and well-known curry spice, was studied to evaluate its suitability as a source of natural preservatives for beef products. Plant extracts that are high in phenolics and have high antimicrobial and antioxidant activities are likely to be useful as a natural preservative. Therefore, the phytochemical composition and the bioactivities of both ethanolic and methanolic extracts of P. chaba stem were examined first. The study revealed a significant antioxidant activities and potential antibacterial activity of P. chaba extracts. Next we investigated the preservation characteristics of P. chaba by using beef patties as a model system. Beef patties were produced and treated with 0.2 % ethanolic extract (mentioned as PEE) of P. chaba and 0.1 % commercial preservative (mentioned as PCP). They were then assessed for various storage quality parameters under refrigerated (4° C ± 1° C) conditions, including free fatty acid, antioxidant contents, and oxidative stability at 0, 6th, 16th, and 33rd days. No significant variations were observed across the products with regard to proximate composition study such as protein, ash and fat contents. In comparison to both PEE and PCP, the control product had higher free fatty acid values throughout the storage period. This indicates that the fat content of the PEE and PCP degraded at a slower rate than the control over the 33-day storage period. Our study also showed that both PCP and PEE had increased antioxidant capacity, implying that lipid oxidation is minimized. In contrast to the control, the oxidative stability of the P. chaba treated products was also higher. Altogether this study revealed that P. chaba could be utilized commercially, particularly in the food industry to preserve muscle foods.Practical ApplicationsNatural preservatives are becoming more popular as a result of the different carcinogenic and toxic side effects of conventional preservatives. P. chaba, an exquisite culinary herb in Bangladesh, has long been used as a traditional medicine, because of its antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. This study revealed that P. chaba can be utilized as a food preservative, which opens up new possibilities for its development and use in functional foods.     

Phyto-chemical and biological activity of Myristica fragrans,an ayurvedic medicinal plant in Southern India and its ingredient analysis

The major aspects of using plant-derived medications are significantly safer and secure than synthetic ones. The n-hexane seed extract of ayurvedic medicinal plants Myristica fragrans was also utilized as food ingredients have analyzed for phytochemical existence by Gas Chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Twenty-three phytoconstituents were identified with elemicin (24.44%) as the major constituent. Lipid peroxidase, catalase and DPPH assays were performed using the isolated elemicin and the results revealed significant antioxidant activity. The antibacterial study revealed that elemicin showed MIC of 31.25 μg/mL against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Salmonella typhi, and 62.5 μg/mL against Klebsiella pneumonia and Staphylococcus aureus. Elemicin exhibited better antifungal activity against Candida tropicalis and Aspergillus flavus than Aspergillus niger, Penicillium chrysogenum and Trichophyton rubrum. The study implies that the elemicin isolated from Myristica fragrans possess promising bioactive properties and can be crucially utilized in the development of therapeutic agents and food preservatives.     

Phytochemical profiling,antioxidant and antiproliferation potential of Euphorbia milii var.: Experimental analysis and in-silico validation

This study was aimed to investigate the anticancer potential of Euphorbia milii (E. milii) using an exquisite combination of phytopharmacological and advanced computational techniques. The chloroform fraction (Em-C) of E. milii methanol extract showed the highest antioxidant activity (IC₅₀: 6.41 ± 0.99 µg/ml) among all studied fractions. Likewise, Em-C also showed significant cytotoxicity (IC₅₀: 11.2 ± 0.8 µg/ml) when compared with that of standard compound 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) (IC₅₀: 4.22 ± 0.6 µg/ml) against hepatocarcinoma cell line (HepG2). However, in a human cervical cancer cell line (HeLa), Em-C demonstrated a non-significant difference in cytotoxicity (22.1 ± 0.8 µg/ml) when compared with that of 5-FU (IC₅₀: 6.87 ± 0.5 µg/ml). Furthermore, Western blot and qRT-PCR analysis revealed that the suppression of HepG2 cells was the consequence of a tremendous decrease in CDK2 and E2F1 protein expression. The GC–MS analysis of Em-C revealed the unique presence of cyclobarbital (CBT) and benzodioxole derivative (BAN) as major constituents. Furthermore, molecular docking of compounds BAN, CBT, and MBT into the binding site of different molecular targets i.e. cyclin dependent kinase 2 (CDK2), thymidylate synthase (TS), caspase 3, BCL2 and topoisomerase II was carried out. Compounds BAN and CBT have demonstrated remarkable binding affinity towards CDK2 and thymidylate synthase, respectively. Molecular dynamic simulation studies have further confirmed the finding of docking analysis, suggesting that CDK2 and TS can act as an attractive molecular target for BAN and CBT, respectively. It can be concluded that these E. milii phytoconstituents (BAN and CBT) may likely be responsible for anti-invasive activity against HepG2 cells.     

Antioxidant activity of anti-inflammatory plant extracts

The antioxidant properties of twenty medical herbs used in the traditional Mediterranean and Chinese medicine were studied. Extracts from Forsythia suspensa, Helichrysum italicum, Scrophularia auriculata, Inula viscosa, Coptis chinensis, Poria cocos and Scutellaria baicalensis had previously shown anti-inflammatory activity in different experimental models. Using free radical-generating systems H. italicum. I. viscosa and F. suspensa protected against enzymatic and non-enzymatic lipid peroxidation in model membranes and also showed scavenging property on the superoxide radical. All extracts were assayed at a concentration of 100 microg/ml. Most of the extracts were weak scavengers of the hydroxyl radical and C. chinensis and P. cocos exhibited the highest scavenging activity. Although S. baicalensis inhibited the lipid peroxidation in rat liver microsomes and red blood cells, the extract showed inhibitory actions on aminopyrine N-demethylase and xanthine oxidase activities as well as an pro-oxidant effect observed in the Fe3+-EDTA-H2O2 system. The results of the present work suggest that the anti-inflammatory activities of the same extracts could be explained, at least in part, by their antioxidant properties.     

The first report on the in vitro antimicrobial activities of extracts of leaves of Ehretia serrata

The increasing resistance of infectious microbial organisms to the existing arsenal of antibiotic drugs is on the rise. There is a growing demand for the new antibiotics that are cost effective and easily available to the common people. In search of new antimicrobial entities, this report deals with the in vitro antimicrobial activities of the crude extracts of leaves of Ehretia Serrata. The methanolic extract and its sub-fractions namely n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, n-butanol and residual water fraction were screened against a range of 30 different bacterial strains and their zones of inhibition (ZI) and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) were subsequently evaluated. Methanolic extract has shown activity against all the tested microorganisms such as Azospirillum lipoferum, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Enterococcus sp. with ZOI ranged from 10.3 to 29.0 mm. Moreover, the MIC values of methanolic extract and its sub-fractions against the tested bacteria ranged from 0.8 to 5.1 mg/mL. GC–MS analysis of sub-fractions revealed the presence of mono (2-ethylexyl) 1,2-benzenedicarboxylate, diisooctyl-1,2-benzenedicarboxylate, 3,5-dehydro-6-methoxypivalate-cholest-22-ene-21-ol, and 3,5-bis (1,1-dimethylethyl)-4-hydroxybenzene-propanoic acid. This is the first report on the in vitro antimicrobial activities of leaves of E. Serrata.     

Antimutagenic and Antioxidant Potentials of Teucrium ramosissimum Essential Oil

The mutagenic and antimutagenic effects of the essential oil extracted from the aerial parts of Teucrium ramosissimum were evaluated by the bacterial reverse mutation assay in Salmonella typhimurium TA98, TA100, and TA1535, with and without exogenous metabolic activation (S9 fraction). The T. ramosissimum essential oil showed no mutagenic effect. In contrast, our results established that it possessed antimutagenic effects against sodium azide (SA), aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), and 4‐nitro‐o‐phenylenediamine (NOPD). The antioxidant capacity of the tested essential oil was evaluated using enzymatic, i.e., the xanthine/xanthine oxidase (X/XOD) assay, and nonenzymatic systems, i.e., the nitro‐blue tetrazolium (NBT)/riboflavin and the DPPH assays. A moderate free radical‐scavenging activity was observed towards DPPH^. and O$\rm{{_{2}^{{^\cdot} -}}}$ . In contrast, T. ramosissimum essential oil showed no effect for all the tested concentrations in the X/XOD assay.     

Biochemical characterization,cytotoxic, antimutagenic,anticancer and molecular docking studies on Tecomella undulata

In this study bioassay-guided screening of Tecomella undulate was performed for its cytotoxic, antimutagenic and anticancer potential. The ariel parts were extracted on a polarity basis (methanol, dichloromethane and hexane). The in vivo toxicity was assessed on Caenorhabditis elegans, and its locomotion was affected by Tecomella undulata hexane (TUAH) the most. Ames test for antimutagenicity showed Tecomella undulata methanol (TUAM) exhibited against mutagen 2AA showed inhibition of 71.03% and 26.32% 2AA in TA98 while in in vitro MTT assay on carcinoma cell lines TUAM showed 68.1% cytotoxicity. Moreover, In resazurin assay on fibroblast cells African green monkey kidney VERO and on the panel of carcinoma cell lines, the most effective extract was TUAM on liver HepG-2 with CC₅₀ value 117.37 ± 4.73 µg/ml followed by on lungs A549 with 142.01 ± 5.3. Furthermore, for the bioassay-guided screening, the selectivity index was calculated for TUAM CC₅₀ ratio on HepG-2 and VERO which showed a decent 2.77 score. After column chromatography, the fraction TU-63 should remarkable cytotoxic effect in dose–response manner assay as (Hep-G2) CC₅₀ value 11. 67 ± 1.37 µg/ml followed by (A549) CC₅₀ value 17.23 ± 0.58 µg/ml. For qualitative analysis of anticancer potential LC-ESI-MS/MS the potential phytochemicals were identified. In silico molecular modelling against selected carcinogenic proteins. The results suggest Tecomella undulate the substantial anticancer potential which supports potential natural anticancer therapeutic drug candidate development for combating cancer.     

Deciphering the CNS anti-depressant,antioxidant and cytotoxic profiling of methanol and aqueous extracts of Trametes versicolor and molecular interactions of its phenolic compounds

The present study sought to evaluate the central nervous system (CNS) depressant, antioxidant, and cytotoxicity activity of methanol and aqueous extract of Trametes versicolor (METV and AETV). The CNS activity was assessed by the open field, hole-cross, forced swimming, thiopental sodium-induced sleeping time, hole-board, and rotarod tests in Swiss albino mice. For both extracts, a substantial decrease in locomotion was observed in open field and hole-cross tests. In addition, the molecular docking study has been implemented through Maestro V11.1. The higher dose of METV (400 mg/kg) and the lower dose of AETV (200 mg/kg) exhibited a significant decrease in immobility time in forced swimming test and increased prolongation of sleep in thiopental sodium-induced sleeping time test, respectively. In contrast, a moderate finding was observed for the hole-board and rotarod tests. Additionally, a significant DPPH scavenging assay and a high toxicity effect in brine shrimp lethality assay were observed. Besides, five phenolic compounds, namely baicalin, quercetin, catechin, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, and quinic acid, were used for the molecular docking study, whereas catechin demonstrated the highest binding affinity towards the targets. The findings conclude that the T. versicolor could be an alternative source for CNS anti-depressant and antioxidant activity.     

Secondary metabolites,phytochemical characterization and antioxidant activities of different extracts of Sideritis congesta P.H. Davis et Hub.-Mor.

Sideritis congesta, an endemic plant to Turkey, is extensively consumed as energizing herbal tea and used as a remedy in folk medicine. This study was designed to comparatively evaluate the phytochemical composition and antioxidant potentials of different extracts (methanol, infusion) and fractions (chloroform, ethyl acetate, and remaining water) of S. congesta. Antioxidant potentials of the samples were evaluated by DPPH radical scavenging, FRAP, CUPRAC, and total antioxidant capacity tests. Total phenolic, phenolic acid, and flavonoid contents were also evaluated spectrophotometrically. Moreover, presence of twenty-two phenolic metabolites were affirmed by using LC-MS/MS in MRM scan mode and then the quantification of verbascoside, martynoside, and leucoseptoside A was performed by using HPTLC densitometry. EtOAc fraction contained the highest phenolic content and the antioxidant activity, as well as the highest verbascoside and martynoside contents followed by R-H₂O fraction. Phytochemical studies on R-H₂O fraction, yielded seven compounds, including a phenylethanoid glycoside, verbascoside (1), two flavonoids, stachyspinoside (2), isoscutellarein 7-O-(6‴-O-acetyl)-β-allopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-β-glucopyranoside (3), a phenolic acid chlorogenic acid (4), an iridoid glycoside ajugoside (5), and a monoterpenoid glucoside mixture betulalbuside A (6) and 1-hydroxylinaloyl 6-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (7). The molecular structures of the isolated compounds were determined by NMR and MS experiments. This is the first phytochemical study on the polar constituent of S. congesta and the first report of the isolation of compounds 2, 6 and 7 from the genus Sideritis L.     

Anti-urolithiatic,antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of Erica arborea flowers and leaves hydromethanolic extracts: An ethnopharmacological study

Erica arborea L. is a medicinal plant vastly used in therapeutic purposes in several parts of the world for antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and diuretic purposes, and in treating urinary infections and kidney stones. The current investigation aimed to evaluate the medicinal use of E. arborea in Algeria's Bejaia region, and to examine the anti-urolithiatic, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory (in vivo), analgesic, and toxicity effects of E. arborea hydromethanolic extracts from leaves (EALE) and flowers (EALE) to give a justification for its use in the traditional medicine. The in vitro anti-urolithiathic activity of E. arborea leaf and flower hydromethanolic extracts nucleation and aggregation of crystals were measured using spectrophotometric methods. The agar disk diffusion assay and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) determination were employed to estimate the antibacterial effect of EAME against three Gram-positive and three Gram-negative bacterial strains in vitro. In addition, the xylene and croton oil-induced ear edema methods in mice were used to examine the topical and oral anti-inflammatory potential of the extracts. Similarly, the analgesic effect of the extract was assessed via the acetic acid-induced abdominal constriction in mice, whereas the acute toxicity of EAME was conducted following OECD guidelines. An ethnobotanical survey was conducted among 171 informants with 212 questionnaire cards. Results indicated that 28.04 % of people in the studied region used E. arborea in traditional folk medicine. Additionally, results revealed the presence of epicatechin, palmitic acid, and kaempferol-3-O-glucoside in the plant extracts. Results also showed that EAME exhibits significant and dose-dependent anti-urolithiatic activity in nucleation and aggregation assays. Furthermore, results revealed that the extracts exhibit significant antibacterial activity. The E. arborea flower extract (EAFE) showed maximum antibacterial activity, especially against P. aeruginosa, E. coli, S. gallinarum, and B. cereus. In addition, a greater minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) in this extract was found at 1.60 mg/mL against M. luteus strain compared to the positive control. Moreover, the EAME caused a significant inhibition influence in the xylene and croton oil-induced edematous in mice. In contrast, the topical anti-inflammatory potential showed that extracts exhibit a considerable anti-edematogenic effect in both animal models. In the writhing reaction induced by the acetic acid model, the two extracts significantly reduced abdominal contractions. Finally, results of the toxicity assay showed that EAME is safe and no deaths or changes in mice behavior were observed even when doses as high as 5 g/kg DW were used. From the ethnopharmacological studies, our consequences endorse the benefit of E. arborea in folk medicine. Results of this investigation suggest that the leaf and flower extracts of E. arborea exhibit notable anti-urolithiatic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and antibacterial activities and are safe as a natural source of drugs with the above effects.     

Characteristics of antibacterial molecular activities in poplar wood extractives

As one of the dominant plantations in north and central China, poplar was considered as the uppermost wood raw materials, however, the chemical constituents of poplar wood weren’t effectively used by high added value. Therefore, the molecules of wood extractives in Populus lasiocarpa and Populus tomentosa were extracted and studied to further utilize the bio-resources. The results showed that the LD-010, LD-021, LD-150, LD-174 wood extractives were identified as having 3, 24, 3 27 components, respectively. P. lasiocarpa wood was fit to extract 2,4-hexadiyne, 1,3,3-trimethyl-2-hydroxymethyl-3,3-dimethyl-4-(3-methylbut-2-enyl)-cyclohexene, and P. tomentosa wood was fit to extract 1,5-hexadien-3-yne, (all-E)-2,6,10,15,19,23-hexamethyl-2,6,10,14,18,22-tetracosahexaene. So the extractives of poplar wood contained rich and rare drug and biomedical activities.     

3-Aryl-4-acyloxyethoxyfuran-2(5H)-ones as inhibitors of tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase: Synthesis,molecular docking and antibacterial evaluation

Thirty-eight 3-aryl-4-acyloxyethoxyfuran-2(5H)-ones were designed, prepared and tested for antibacterial activities. Some of them showed significant antibacterial activity against Gram-positive organism, Gram-negative organism and fungus. Out of these compounds, 4-(2-(3-chlorophenylformyloxy)ethoxy)-3-(4-chlorophenyl)furan-2(5H)-one (d40) showed the widest spectrum of activity with MIC₅₀ of 2.0 μg/mL against Staphylococcus aureus, 4.3 μg/mL against Escherichia coli, 1.5 μg/mL against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and 1.2 μg/mL against Candida albicans. Our data disclosed that MIC₅₀ values against whole cell bacteria are positive correlation with MIC₅₀ values against tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase. Meanwhile, molecular docking of d40 into S. aureus tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase active site was also performed, and the inhibitor tightly fitting the active site might be an important reason why it has high antimicrobial activity.     

Biochemical and in silico study of leaf and bark extracts from Aphanamixis polystachya against common pathogenic bacteria

Aphanamixis polystachya may be a natural, renewable resource against antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. The antibacterial activity of A. polystachya leaf and bark extracts was investigated against three antibiotic-resistant bacterial species and one fungus. Methanolic leaf extract showed only limited antibacterial activity but both methanolic and aqueous bark extract showed high antimicrobial activity. In an antioxidant activity test, leaf and bark extracts exhibited 50% free radical scavenging at a concentration of 107.14 ± 3.14 μg/mL and 97.13 ± 3.05 μg/mL, respectively, indicating that bark extracts offer more antioxidative activity than leaf extracts. Bark extracts also showed lower toxicity than leaf extracts. This suggests that bark extracts may offer greater development potential than leaf extracts. The molecular dynamics were also investigated through the simulated exploration of multiple potential interactions to understand the interaction dynamics (root-mean-square deviation, solvent-accessible surface area, radius of gyration, and the hydrogen bonding of chosen compounds to protein targets) and possible mechanisms of inhibition. This molecular modeling of compounds derived from A. polystachya revealed that inhibition may occur by binding to the active sites of the target proteins of the tested bacterial strains. A. polystachya bark extract may be used as a natural source of drugs to control antibiotic-resistant bacteria.     

The antioxidant properties and microbial load of Moringa oleifera leaves dried using a prototype convective air-dryer

The recent COVID-19 pandemic resulted in major postharvest losses because most fresh produce could not be sold. Drying is an important thermal-based food preservation method which could have prolonged the shelf-life of these produce, but most drying technologies are costly, and cannot be afforded by small-time farmers. From this context, we were interested in evaluating the drying of Moringa oleifera leaves (MOL) using a low-cost self-built prototype convective-air dryer (CAD), alongside conventional drying methods for its antioxidant properties, microbial load and phytoconstituents. Results showed total polyphenol content was the highest (p < 0.05) in our CAD samples, and it retained among the highest total flavonoid content, total antioxidant capacity, total alkaloid content and DPPH radical scavenging activity. Furthermore, methanolic CAD extract presented lower coliform and yeast and mold count than the aqueous CAD extract. We also briefly explored MOL as a sanitizer where the microbial load of the methanolic extract was comparable (p > 0.05) with several commercial non-alcoholic sanitizers, indicating its commercialization potential as a bio-friendly sanitizer. Finally, using GC–MS, we are the first to report (best of our knowledge) on the presence of caprolactam, an important bio-medical field compound, in the CAD sample’s aqueous extract.     

卡瓦胡椒及胡椒的RAPD聚类分析

目的：通过RAPD分析搞清楚卡瓦胡椒与胡椒及胡椒属其它近缘野生种的亲缘关系。方法和结果：采用随机引物80条进行筛选,用从80条随机引物中入选的20条引物,对卡瓦胡椒和胡椒属共计28份材料进行RAPD扩增,均能产生清晰的扩增谱带。重复1—2次,结果稳定可靠。20个引物共扩增出170个条带,其中多态性条带有20条,占总扩增条带数的12％。RAPD分析结果显示在相似系数0．36处对28份种质可划分为6个类型,其中卡瓦胡椒被单独聚为一类,说明卡瓦胡椒与胡椒及其它近缘野生种的亲缘关系有一定的距离。     

Antioxidant activity,acetylcholinesterase and tyrosinase inhibitory potential of Pulmonaria officinalis and Centarium umbellatum extracts

In this study several investigations and tests were performed to determine the antioxidant activity and the acetylcholinesterase and tyrosinase inhibitory potential of Pulmonaria officinalis and Centarium umbellatum aqueous extracts (10% mass) and ethanolic extracts (10% mass and 70% ethanol), respectively. Moreover, for each type of the prepared extracts of P. officinalis and of C. umbellatum the content in the biologically active compounds – polyphenols, flavones and proanthocyanidins was determined. The antioxidant activity was assessed using two methods, namely the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay and reducing power assay. The analyzed plant extracts showed a high acetylcholinesterase and tyrosinase inhibitory activity in the range of 72.24–94.24% (at the highest used dose – 3 mg/mL), 66.96% and 94.03% (at 3 mg/mL), respectively correlated with a high DPPH radical inhibition – 70.29–84.9% (at 3 mg/mL). These medicinal plants could provide a potential natural source of bioactive compounds and could be beneficial to the human health, especially in the neurodegenerative disorders and as sources of natural antioxidants in food industry.     

Chemical Compositions and Antioxidant Activities of Essential Oils Extracted from the Petals of Three Wild Tree Peony Species and Eleven Cultivars

The aim of this study was to investigate the essential oil (EO) compositions and antioxidant activities from petals of three wild tree peony species (Paeonia delavayi, P. lutea, and P. rockii) and eleven P. suffruticosa cultivars from different cultivar groups. The EOs yields varied from 0.63% to 1.25% (v/v) among samples when using supercritical CO₂ extraction. One hundred and sixty‐three components were detected by GC/MS; and among them, linalool oxide, (Z)‐5‐dodecen‐1‐yl acetate, nonadecane, (Z)‐5‐nonadecene, heneicosane, phytol, and linoleic acid ethyl ester were dominant. According to hierarchical cluster analysis, principal component analysis and correspondence analysis, P. lutea, P. delavayi, and ‘High Noon’ were clustered in a group described as having a refreshing herbal‐like note due to high rates of phytol and linalool oxide. Notably, P. lutea and P. delavayi also had strong DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities. These results suggest that P. lutea and P. delavayi are the most promising candidates as useful sources of fragrances and natural antioxidants.     

In-vitro free radical scavenging effect and cytotoxic analysis of Black Cummins and Honey formulation

BackgroundThe antioxidant potential and antiproliferative activity of the extracts of Nigella sativa seeds (Black Cummins) and honey formulations are to be explored.MethodThe gas chromatography-mass spectrum (GC–MS) and Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) fingerprint of Black Cummins and Honey formulation revealed alkaloid, saponin, volatile oil, flavonoid, glycosides, sugar, and phenolic compound in the extract. GC–MS profiling of the cold extract of Nigella sativa seeds and honey formulation shows peaks for eleven fractions of compounds. Using TLC, the phenolic compounds of Nigella sativa seeds and honey formulations were separated.ResultsThe current study discovers the cytotoxic effect of black Cummins seeds and honey formulation on human ovarian cancer (PA-1) cell line as assessed by MTT assay. PA-1 cells were inhibited with the increasing concentration of Nigella sativa seeds extract and honey formulation.ConclusionThe study validates the importance of the tested extracts in the treatment of cancer.