Jundishapur Journal of Natural Pharmaceutical Products
Volume:9 Issue: 1, Feb 2014

Saffron and its constituents are widely used around the world as a spice and medicinal plant. Different constituents in medicinal herbs are thought to have the potential to induce useful and/or adverse effects. So, efforts have been made to find the best and most valuable tools to reduce their adverse effects.. According to Iranian traditional medicine (ITM), it is believed that administration of whole herbs exhibits more activity and fewer side effects than isolated constituents. Since toxicological studies have indicated that safranal is more toxic than other active components in saffron stigma, thus this study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of co-administration of saffron extract and safranal in acute and sub-acute toxicities in rats.. In acute toxicity, rats received safranal (1.2 mL/kg, IP) plus saffron aqueous extract (25-100 mg/kg, IP). One and four days after the treatment, percentage of mortality was assessed. In subacute toxicity, rats were randomly divided into six groups. Group 1) safranal (0.2 mL/kg, IP), Groups 2, 3 and 4) safranal plus saffron aqueous extract (5, 10 and 20 mg/kg, IP) Groups 5 and 6) Paraffin and normal saline, as solvents of safranal and saffron aqueous extract, respectively. Treatments were continued for 21 days. For sub-acute toxicity, the percentages of lethality as well as some biochemical parameters were evaluated.. Our results showed that four days co-treatment of safranal and saffron significantly reduced mortality, so that the effect was more obvious in lower doses. Sub-acute toxicity studies showed that saffron could increase survival in rats so that no mortality was observed at dose of 10 mg/kg. Our data also indicated that the levels of triglyceride, BUN and ALT significantly increased after sub-acute interaperitoneal (IP) administration of safranal (0.2 mL/kg/day) and co-treatment of saffron aqueous extract (5 and 10 mg/kg) plus safranal significantly improved all toxic effects of safranal on biochemical parameters.. The co-administration of saffron aqueous extract and safranal reduced toxic effects of safranal in acute and sub-acute toxicities..

Plants are among promising and suitable platform systems for production of recombinant biopharmaceutical proteins due to several features such as safety, no need for fermentation, inexpensive investment, and fast and easy scale-up. Human insulin is one of the most widely used medicines in the world. Up to now different expression systems including Escherichia coli, yeast and CHO have been exploited for producing recombinant human insulin and a variety of different recombinant insulin are extensively used.. This study reports on the transformation and expression of proinsulin gene in tomato plants for the first time in Iran.. This study reports the cloning, transformation and expression of proinsulin gene in tomato plants. Specific primers were designed and used for PCR amplification and cloning of the proinsulin gene in the plant expression vector pCAMBIA1304. The recombinant construct was transferred into Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain LBA4404, and used for Agrobacterium mediated stable transformation of tomato plants. Presence of the desired gene in transgenic lines was confirmed through colony PCR and sequencing. The expression of the protein in transgenic lines was confirmed by immunodot blot assay.. The presence of the proinsulin gene in the genomic DNA of transgenic tomato was confirmed by PCR. Also total protein of transgenic tomato was extracted and the expression of proinsulin was detected using dotblot assay..This survey addresses the possibility of proinsulin gene transfer and expression in tomato transgenic lines. This study can be used as a basis for future researches to produce human proinsulin in tomato and other candidate plants..

In the recent years nanostructured materials have been the focus of researches due to their wide-spread possibilities to provide new shapes and structures for some materials. Microemulsions can provide uniform nano-sized droplets for templating. Microemulsions are isotropic, thermodynamically-stable systems of oil, water and surfactant with a 20-200 nm droplet size. They can be prepared as oil-in-water (o/w), water-in-oil (w/o) or bicontinuous systems, depending on the equilibrium spontaneous curvature of the surfactant layer at the oil-water interface.. The aim of this study was to introduce a system designed to improve and enhance the bioavailability of bioflavonoids in the Prunus cerasus (sour cherry) seed kernel extract by developing a novel delivery system, i.e. microemulsion (nanosized particles).. Microemulsion formulations were prepared by mixing appropriate amounts of surfactants (Tween 80 and Span 20), cosurfactant (propylene glycol) (3:1 ratio), and oil phase (olive oil). The prepared microemulsions were evaluated regarding their mean droplet size, transparency, viscosity, and pH. Sour cherry kernel extract microemulsion was orally administered to mice at doses of 2.5%, 5%, and 10% for 10 days. On the last day, their blood as well as their liver and kidney were used for biochemical and histopathological analyses, respectively.. Biochemical factors levels and the pathological study indicated that there were not significant differences in microemulsion extracts compared with the control group (P > 0.05).. Not only no toxicity evidence of this product was observed in the dose range used in foods or healthcare, but also it improved the cardiac function recovery..

Cellulite is the accumulation of subcutaneous fat and connective tissue in tights and buttocks. Xanthines, such as aminophylline, are used as phosphodiesterase inhibitors, and are also adenosine receptor antagonists.. The aim of the present study was to characterize in vitro aminophylline transdermal absorption through shed snake skin, and to investigate the absorption enhancing effect of various enhancers.. Aminophylline gels were prepared using theophylline and ethylenediamine as raw materials of aminophylline, hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) F4M as gelling agent, and propylene glycol as a co-solvent. Sodium tauroglycocholate (STGC) (100, 200, and 500 μg/mL), lauric acid (1.7 and 15%), and ethanol (60%) were added as enhancers. In vitro percutaneous absorption experiments were performed on snake skin using Franz diffusion cells. Flux (J), permeability coefficient (P), and enhancement factor (EF) for each formulation were calculated.. The results indicated that all of enhancers significantly enhanced drug permeability. This effect was decreased by increasing the concentration of STGC; in contrast, by increasing the concentration of lauric acid from 1.7 to 15%, EF was enhanced Although ethanol (60%) and STGC (100 μg/mL) showed the highest EFs, the effect of ethanol on drug permeability appeared with a lag time.. According to the findings, type and concentration of penetration enhancers can effect on transdermal permeation of drug..

Paraoxonase 1 (PON1) is a high- density lipoprotein (HDL)-associated enzyme, displaying esterase and lactonase activity. The PON1 is involved in a variety of inflammatory diseases, metabolizing toxic oxidized lipids and detoxifying of organophosphorus insecticide compounds and nerve agents.. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of methanolic date seed extract (DSE) on paraoxonase and arylesterase activities in hypercholesterolemic rats.. Experiments were conducted in two groups of normal and hypercholesterolemic rats and continued for four weeks. Two weeks after receiving the normal and hypercholesterolemic diet, different dosages of DSE were administered during the last two weeks of the treatment. Blood samples were taken from animals before administration of DSE (at day 14) and at the end of the experimental period (at day 28). Paraoxonase and arylesterase activities of PON1 enzyme were assayed by kit using paraoxone and phenylacetate as the substrates. Relative changes in serum paraoxonase and arylesterase activities and total antioxidant capacity (TAOC) were compared between the two groups during this interval.. Administration of DSE significantly increased serum paraoxonase and arylesterase activities in treated hypercholesterolemic groups compared to untreated ones. There was a significant difference in the TAOC of serum between the normal diet and hypercholesterolemic groups. However, DSE did not change the TAOC in hypercholesterolemic groups significantly.. DSE increases serum paraoxonase and arylesterase activities. These beneficial effects may be subjected to the presence of natural antioxidants such as phenolic compounds in the date seed. Despite this, DSE did not increase TAOC in treated hypercholesterolemic groups compared to the untreated ones based on ABTS (2,2''-azino-di-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline)-6-sulfonic acid) radical reduction assay. This indicates that the hypercholesterolemic diet, apart from DSE and atorvastatin effects, may be responsible for the serum TAOC reduction. However, it is concluded that DSE may be useful in decreasing the symptoms of diseases resulting from the low activity of paraoxonase..

Pycnocycla spinosa Decne. ex Boiss is an aromatic plant which showed relaxant effects on isolated ileum contractions and antidiarrheal activity. Thirty four components have been extracted from P. spinosa essential oil, of which several major constituents were found to show seasonal variation.. The aim of this work is to evaluate the diurnal variation of its oil constituents during specific hours of the day.. The Pycnocycla spinosa samples were collected at different times of the day. The hydro-distilled aerial parts oils of collected P. spinosa were analyzed by GC and GC/MS.. Fourteen monoterpenoid and nine sesquiterpenoid components were identified, of which the fluctuating constituents were p-cymene, trans-β-ocimene, β-citronellol, citronellyl pentanoate, geranyl isovalerate, α-humulene, caryophyllen oxide, α-cadinol, and α-eudesmol. The content of p-cymene in the essential oil in different daily times varied from 0.16 to 4.19%, and the geranyl isovalerate 7.75 -23.99%.. Essential oils with different qualities can be obtained according to the harvest time of the plant in a day..

Chlorpheniramine maleate (CM) is widely used as an antihistaminic drug but it is very bitter and as yet no mouth dissolving/disintegrating taste-masked preparation that might be useful for pediatric and geriatric patients is available in the market.. The purpose of this research was to mask the bitter taste of CM by formulating microspheres of the taste-masked drug.. This work was done to develop alginate/chitosan particles prepared by ionic gelation (Ca2+ and Al3+) for the CM release. The effect of different chitosan and Ca2+ concentrations on taste masking and the characteristics of the microspheres were investigated. Ca2+ and Al3+ alginates microspheres of CM were prepared using cross-linked insoluble complexes that precipitate, incorporating the drug. Formulations were characterized for particle size and shape, entrapment efficiency, fourier transform spectroscopy (FTIR), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), bitter taste threshold and in vitro drug release in simulated gastrointestinal fluids.. FTIR, XRD and DSC demonstrated unstable characters of CM in the drug-loaded microspheres and revealed an amorphous form. Also, the peak of alginate microparticles (Ca2+ and Al3+ ions) in all formulations remained the same, with low intensity of spectrum. The results of DSC, X-ray diffraction and FTIR showed the presence of several CM chemical interactions with alginate and ions (Ca2+ and Al3+). The microsphere formulations showed desirable drug entrapment efficiencies (62.2-94.2%). Calcium/aluminum alginate retarded the release of CM at low pH = 1.2 and released the drug from microspheres slowly at pH = 6.8, simulating intestine pH. The drug release duration and the release kinetics were dependent on the nature of the polymers, the cation concentrations, and valences (Ca2+ and Al3+). The drug release rate was decreased by an increase in chitosan and cation concentrations.. The results of the present study indicated that oral preparation of CM with an acceptable taste is feasible..

Many medicinal plants from the Lamiaceae family can be easily found in Algeria. These plants have been used as traditional medicines by local ethnic groups. Thymus capitatus is known in Algeria as «Zaatar» and has been commonly used as a spice, and reported to have many biological effects.. This paper focused on the assessment of the antioxidant potential and antifungal activity of essential oil and solvent extracts of T. capitatus against the growth of certain fungi.. Essential oil, ethanol and hexane extracts of T. capitatus were tested for their antioxidant and antifungal activities. The 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay was used to determine the free radical quenching capacity. Antifungal activity was assessed using the radial growth technique.. DPPH free radical scavenging effect of the extracts was compared with standard antioxidant ascorbic acid and showed significant results. The ethanol extract showed high activity at the concentration of 80 g/mL, but less than the standard ascorbic acid. The essential oil was effective against all the fungi used in the experiment. The highest inhibitory effect on the growth of Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus oryzae, Penicillium digitatum, and Fusarium solani was exhibited by the essential oil at concentrations between 0. 1 and 0. 5 μg/mL.. These findings demonstrated that ethanol extract obtained from T. capitatus is a potential source of natural antioxidant, while the essential oil extract can be exploited as an ideal alternative to synthetic fungicides for use in the treatment of many fungal phytopathogens..