Avicenna Journal of Phytomedicine
Volume:9 Issue: 4, Jul-Aug 2019

Hypertension is an important cause of cardiovascular disorders. The angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) plays an important role in hypertension; therefore, inhibition of ACE in treatment of chronically elevated blood pressure is an important therapeutic approach. In the current review, we have provided information from Persian Traditional Plants described by Avicenna in the Canon of Medicine and a number of more current scientific databases, with a focus on angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitory activity of the following six plants: Allium sativum, Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Jasminum grandiflorum, Tribulus terrestris, Vaccinium myrtillus and Vitis vinifera. A literature search was conducted and information on different traditional plants used for hypertension was collected from the Canon of Medicine and several other databases including PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar and Web of Science. The present article highlights the antihypertensive potential of the above-noted six plants. Administered doses, manner of consumption, types of extracts, preparations and derivatives, personal habits, and other geographic and epidemiologic variables have an important role in the potential efficacy of these plants. Recent studies indicated a significant correlation between the traditional use of Persian plants to reduce blood pressure and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitory activity.

Due to high prevalence of infertility and increasing tendency towards complementary medicine, this study was conducted to investigate the effect of a vaginal natural product based on honey and 1% extract of Myristica fragrans on the extent of success of intrauterine insemination (IUI). This non-randomized clinical trial study with a historic control group, was performed on infertile women. In this trial, 159 patients were assigned to the intervention group, and 288 patients were recruited to the control group. All the participants received clomiphene or letrozole from the third up to seventh day of menstruation, and on days 6, 7, and 8, they received human menopausal gonadotrophin (HMG) injections. IUI was performed 36 hours after human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) injection. In the intervention group, a natural vaginal product was used besides the above treatments, from menstruation day 7 until the day before performing IUI. Sixteen days after IUI, serum beta HCG was measured to investigate chemical pregnancy, and six weeks following IUI, vaginal sonography was performed to investigate clinical pregnancy. Analysis showed that the pregnancy rate was higher in the group that receiving the natural product compared to the control group. Chemical pregnancy rate was 18.1% vs. 15.4%, and clinical pregnancy rate was 15.2% vs. 13.8% for intervention and control groups, respectively; but, this difference was not significant. It seems that the use of this vaginal product for a longer period of time and across several menses cycles before IUI, may produce more positive results. Further studies, however, are needed to be done.

Microalbuminuria and hypertension are the risk factors for diabetic nephropathy, and increased levels of liver enzymes are prevalent among diabetic patients. The aim of this research was to examine the effects of Crocus sativus supplementation on nephropathy indices, liver enzymes, and blood pressure in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). This placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial was performed among 80 T2D patients. Subjects were randomly assigned to either Crocus sativus (n = 40) or placebo (n = 40) groups and treated with C. sativus and or placebo for 12 weeks, respectively. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), serum urea, creatinine, 24-hr urine albumin, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), physical activity, and dietary intakes were measured and blood samples were taken at baseline and after the 12‑week intervention to assess the differences between the two groups. C. sativus supplementation compared with the placebo resulted in a significant reduction of SBP (P<0.005). However, changes in other indices including liver enzymes, serum creatinine, serum urea, and 24-hr urine albumin, and DBP were not significantly different between the two groups (p>0.05). Also, no significant changes in dietary intakes and physical activity were seen between the two groups. This report shows that daily supplementation with 100 mg C. sativus powder improved SBP. However, it did not considerably improve DBP, nephropathy indices and liver functions in T2D patients after 12 weeks of administration.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the deadliest type of primary brain tumors, and the survival of patients is estimated to be only about one year. This study, for the first time, investigated the cytotoxic effects of auraptene on U87 GBM cell line. The cellular toxicity was measured by the MTT assay following 24 and 48-hr treatment with different concentrations of auraptene (0-400μg/ml). Apoptosis was evaluated by sub-G1 peak in cell cycle analysis of propidium-iodide- stained nuclei. Moreover, to determine the Bax, Bcl-2, MCP-1, NF-κB, IL-1β, and p53 genes expression, we used real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The results revealed that auraptene reduced the viability of U87 cells concentration- and time-dependently with IC50 values of 108.9 and 79.17μg/ml obtained for 24 and 48-hr treatments, respectively. Also, sub-G1 population was significantly increased following 24 (p real-time RT-PCR showed an up-regulation in Bax, NF-κB, IL-1β, and p53 but a down-regulation in MCP-1 and Bcl-2 genes expression. This study showed that auraptene triggered apoptosis probably through Bax/Bcl-2 regulation, blocked cell cycle progression and inhibited proliferation in U87 GBM cells. Taken together, auraptene can be utilized as an effective natural medicine against GBM, after complementary studies.

Chronic hyperglycemia and overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are strong predictors of the development of reproductive complications of diabetes. The present study was conducted to determine the effects of crocin on biochemical parameters, oxidative stress, and sperm characteristics as well as testes histopathology in diabetic rats. Twenty-four rats were divided into the four groups as follows: control, untreated diabetic and two crocin (40 and 60 mg/kg/day)-treated diabetic groups. Diabetes was induced by injection of a single dose of streptozotocin (STZ, 60 mg/kg). Administration of crocin (intraperitoneally) was started three days after STZ injection and was continued until the 28th day. At the end of the experiment, rats were anesthetized after weighing. Blood samples and epididymal sperm were subsequently collected to measure biochemical parameters (glucose and lipid profile), total oxidant and antioxidant status (TOS and TAS, respectively), oxidative stress index (OSI), and sperm characteristics (count, motility, and viability); also, testes were dissected out for histopathology examination. Our result indicated that blood glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL cholesterol levels, as well as TOS, and OSI decreased, but body weight, sperm counts, motility and viability, as well as TAS and HDL levels increased significantly in the crocin-treated diabetic rats (P˂0.05). In testis sections from diabetic rats treated with crocin (40 and 60 mg/kg), seminiferous tubules exhibited normal shape and restoration of testis architecture was observed. Administration of crocin in the present study, ameliorated blood glucose, lipid abnormalities, oxidative stress, sperm characteristics and testis damage in STZ-diabetic rats.

Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder associated with gradual loss of cognitive and memory abilities. It was shown that the hippocampus is one of the first structures in the brain that is affected by the disease. Ziziphora clinopodioides (Z. clinopodioides) is a member of Lamiaceae family and contains various substances. In this experimental study, 72 adult male Wistar rats were used for behavioral and histopathologic studies. They were divided into nine groups included: control, negative control (Alzheimer), positive control (Alzheimer's treated with rivastigmine), aCSF (artificial cerebrospinal fluid) + ziziphora extract with doses of 200,400, and 600 mg/kg, and STZ (stereptozotocine)+ziziphoraextract in 200,400,600 mg/kg doses. The injury was created with bilaterally intraventricular injection. The spatial memory was studied by passive avoidance test and neuronal density was evaluated by dissector method. To examine the histopathological lesions, Congo red and toluidine blue staining were done. Data were analyzed by ANOVA Minitab software. The memory index (neuronal density and passive avoidance test results) showed a significant decrease in negative control group compared to control (p≤0.001). Treatment with the hydroalcoholic extract at the doses of 400 and 600 mg/kg showed a significant increase in memory index in rats with Alzheimer's disease (p≤0.001). The effect of 200 mg/kg extract was not significantly different from that of the negative control group. The results of histological analysis indicated beta-amyloid plaques formation in the control group as compared to the negative control group while treatment with the extract at the doses of 400 and 600 mg/kg, significantly reduced beta-amyloid plaques formation.   These findings suggest that the extract of Z. clinopodioides can improve Alzheimer's condition and alleviate memory and histopathologic damages; also, it decreases beta-amyloid plaques and apoptosis in CA1 region of the hippocampus.

The glucose-reducing effects of troxerutin was previously proven. This study was conducted to evaluate troxerutin effect on testicular structure and spermatozoid parameters in type-1 diabetic adult male rats.

Fifty male Wistar rats were randomly classified into 5 groups as follows: control (C), troxerutin (T), diabetic (DM), troxerutin-treated DM (DT) and insulin-treated DM (DI). Testicular structure, apoptosis, lipid peroxidation and antioxidant activity, and spermatozoid parameters were assessed 4 weeks after initiation of the interventions.

The results revealed that diabetes caused testicular stereological changes and significantly increased blood glucose level, testicular MDA content and apoptosis but decreased insulin level, testicular GPX activity, and sperm parameters compared to controls (p

Taken together, troxerutin, comparable to insulin, effectively improved DM-induced testicular dysfunction and sperm parameters in diabetic rats and these effects might be mediated through troxerutin’s anti-apoptotic effects.

Rosa beggeriana Schrenk has been consumed in Iranian traditional medicine. In contrary to its close species (e.g. R. canina), there is no data on its medicinal properties. Therefore, we explored possible cytotoxic effects of R. beggeriana against two cancer cell lines. The cytotoxic and anti-proliferative effects of R. beggeriana ethanolic and aqueous extracts on human liver cancer cells (LCLPI 11), breast cancer cells (MCF-7) and fibroblast-like cells (HSkMC) were evaluated by MTT, BrdU and TUNEL assays.  Following 48 h, IC50 values for LCL-PI11 and MCF-7 cells were found to be 3.9 and 4.2 μg/mL for aqueous extract, and 2.3 and 2.7 μg/mL for ethanolic extract, respectively. BrdU assay data verified the MTT results and showed that both extracts inhibit cell proliferation as much as 5-fluorouracil does (p<0.05). The ethanolic extract had a more marked inhibitory effect compared to the aqueous extract (p<0.05). Besides both extracts were less effective against HSKMC cells compared to other cells lines. TUNEL assay results demonstrated that following 48 h, the aqueous extract induced about 19 and 24% apoptotic death in the LCL-PI 11 and MCF-7 cells, respectively (p<0.05). While at the same time, the ethanolic extract was more potent and caused about 83 and 91% death in the LCL-PI 11 and MCF-7 cells, respectively (p<0.05). These data indicate that both extracts have anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic activities on these two cancer cell lines and these effects were more pronounced then their activities against normal cells. Also, the ethanolic extract was more potent than the aqueous extract. Further researches are necessary for finding and isolating effective anticancer ingredient of R. beggeriana.

Dryopteris filix-mas (D. filix-mas) (L.) Schott, (Dryopteridaceae) is used in traditional medicine, particularly in the Southern parts of Nigeria for the treatment of inflammation, rheumatoid arthritis, wounds and ulcers. In this study, we evaluated the anti-inflammatory activity of its ethanolic leaf extract and fractions. The ethanolic leaf extract and fractions were screened for anti-inflammatory properties using egg-albumin-induced paw edema, xylene-induced topical ear edema, formaldehyde-induced arthritis and ulcerogenic models. The ethyl acetate most promising vacuum liquid chromatography fraction (VLC-E7) was purified using size exclusion chromatography technique (Sephadex LH-20) and its structure was elucidated using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometry. Total phenolic and flavonoid contents were also determined. From the study, ethyl acetate and butanol fractions elicited better anti-inflammatory activities in egg-albumin-induced paw edema, formaldehyde-induced arthritis and xylene-induced topical ear edema. The ethanol extract, ethyl acetate and butanol fractions were non-ulcerogenic at 200 and 400 mg/kg. The compound isolated from Sephadex fraction (SPH-E6) was quercetin-3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside. Results of this study justify the ethnomedicinal use of D. filix-mas leaf for treatment of inflammation and rheumatoid arthritis. We suggest that D. filix-mas could be a prospective anti-inflammatory agent with no gastric irritation side effect, due to its bioactive component, quercetin-3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside.