Future Natural Products
Volume:2 Issue: 2, Spring 2016

Matricaria chamomilla is an important medicinal plant that widely is used in pharmaceuticals and food industries. The present study was aimed to evaluate the essential oil composition of samples of Matricaria chamomilla collected from different regions of Khouzestan.
In this experimental study, samples of Matricaria chamomilla were collected from different regions of Khuzestan at full flowering stage. The component identification was achieved by the Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Total GC running time was 75 min. The components of essential oil were identified on the basis of comparison of their retention time and mass spectra with published data. Moreover, they were identified by computer matching with Wiley 7n, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) libraries provided with computer controlling the GC-MS system, and Adams book in Centrallab of Agriculture and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan.
The main oil compounds of samples of Matricaria chamomilla were α-Pinene, Sabinene, β-Pinene, 1,8-Cineole, Citronellol, Aromadendrone, (E).β-farnesene, Spathulenol, Caryophyllene oxide, α-Bisabolone oxide A, α-Bisabolole oxide B, Chamazolene and
α-Bisabolole oxide A, collected from different regions of Khouzestan. Also, α-Bisabolone oxide A, Caryophyllene oxide, Chamazolene and α-Bisabolole oxide A were the highest percentage of the main oil compounds of these samples.
The Caryophyllene oxide, α-Bisabolone oxide A, Chamazolene, α-Bisabolole oxide A are dominant components in the essential oil of Matricaria chamomilla in weather and geographical conditions of studied samples and different climates are effective on plant essential oil composition.

Vitamins are a rich source of antioxidants that can neutralize the harmful effects of lead on spermatogenesis and sperm parameters. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of vitamin E on spermatogenesis and sperm parameters in lead-exposed rats.
This is an experimental study on 45 male Wistar that were allocated to
5 groups: distilled water gavage, intraperitoneal distilled water, vitamin E, lead, and lead vitamin E. All the rats were exposed to lead for 30 days. Then, the rats were sacrificed and sperm count, motility and morphology of sperm chromatin, and epididymitis and testis weight were investigated.
The findings showed significant differences in weight gain, epididymitis weight, sperm death, the highest mobility of sperm among the groups (P>0.05). Vitamin E and control (gavage) rats experienced more weight than other groups. There was a significant difference in the highest mobility of sperm between peritoneal control group and other groups (P0.05). There was a significant difference in sperm death between lead group, and the control groups and vitamin E group (P>0.05) with the least sperm death. Vitamin E group had a significantly lower sperm death than other groups. There was no significant difference in the testis weight, normal morphology, and normal DNA among the groups (P The results indicate the protective effects of vitamin E on spermatogenesis quality and some sperm parameters in rats exposed to lead.

Giardiasis is known as intestinal infection and created by the flagellate protozoan Giardia lamblia. Some studies showed that phenolic components, present in plant extracts and essential oils, have anti-Giardia activity. The current study was performed to compare anti-Giardia activity of Satureja hortensis (SH) alcoholic extract and metronidazole in vitro.
In this Laboratory-experimental study, it was separated cysts from the feces by Bingham procedure with minor modification. The numbers of cysts were calculated with Hemusytumetr and the purified cysts of Giardia lamblia (500 µl) were exposed with
500 µl of extract at concentrations of 10, 100 and 200 mg/ml and 125 mg/kg of metronidazole for 30, 60 and 120 min. The numbers of dead and live cysts was enumerated with a microscope.
Findings in the currnt studyshowed an increase in anti-Giardia activity of extract at high concentrations with increasing time. SH, at 100 mg/ml killed 53% in 30 min, 68% in 60 min and 78% in 120 min. Also, the extract killed by 62% in 30 min, about 88% in
60 minutes and 92% in 120 minutes. The drug had similar effects in 60 and 120 minutes, but it killed 83% in 30 minutes.
SH alcoholic extract showed anti-Giardia activity at high rates and more time. Thus, SH extract at 200 mg may be suitable alternative for Metronidazole, without side effects. However, anti-Giardia activity of SH needs to more attentions, especially clinical investigations

Terpenoids are one of the largest groups of natural compounds and is generally used for the treatment of human diseases e.g. taxol (anticancer drug) and artimesinin (antimalarial drug). Thus, these agents (terpenoids) derived from medicinal plant products that are effective against intracellular or extracellular infections and these are urgently required. Therefore, this research was directed to assess its immunosuppressive activity of crude terpenoids on hepatitis B vaccine containing surface antigen (HBsAg) on human whole blood.
In this study, crude terpenoids (6.25-25 mg/ml; 50 µl) extricate from the leaves of these medicinal plants and evaluated its immunosuppressive activity on HBsAg
(20 µg/ml) using human whole blood in order to determine the analysis of blood
counts (flow cytometry), cytotoxicity assay (MTT (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol–2-yl]-2,
5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) and nitric oxide (NO) production from cell culture supernatant.
The results showed that these terpenoids showed drastic decrease in monocytes and granulocytes count but increased in lymphocytes count and inhibited NO production at higher doses (25 mg/ml; 50 µl).
These terpenoids exhibited immunosuppressive activity and could be a promising source of medicinally important natural compound.

Cyclophosphamide (CP), is a widely used cytotoxic alkylating agent with antitumor and immunosuppressant properties. In spite of its therapeutic importance, a wide range of adverse effects including reproductive toxicity has been demonstrated following CP treatment in humans and experimental animals. This drug has serious side effects such as inducing genotoxic effects, renal and hepatic damage Therfore The current report was designed to investigate the possible protective effect of Heracleum persicum against cyclophosphamide(CP)-induced hepatotoxicity in rats.
In this experimental research, 30 male albino Wistar rats, with body weights of 180-200 g were obtained. The animals were randomly assigned into five groups of 6 in each.Group 1 (control) group 2 (only receiving cyclophosphamide) and groups 3, 4, 5 (receiving cyclophosphamide with different doses of methanol extract of H. persicum). In order to induce liver toxicity in groups 2, 3, 4 and 5, CP was administered as a single dose (0.5 mg/kg), intraperitoneally and methanol extracts (0.5, 1 and 2 mg/Kg) wereadministered by gavage in 24-h cycles over a 21-day period.
The results showed that administration of CP induced hepatic damage associated with significant increase in the serum marker enzymes aspartate and alanine transaminases (AST, ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) level in the CP treated
group in comparison with the control (P The results revealed that the methanol extract of H. pesicum has hepatoprotective effect against cyclophosphamide(CP)-induced toxicity in rats.

Smirnova iranica Sabeti is one of the valuable and adapted shrub native species to the sandy fields of Central Iran and of Fabaceae family that in terms of the production of forage and soil conservation and creating a beautiful landscape and medicinal value is critically important. No study has been conducted on this plant essence in Iran, so far.
In the habitat of the plant, located in Kashan sandy areas, during flowering in the third week of April in each site, flowers were collected and after extraction of essential oils using simultaneous method of distillation and extraction using organic solvents, a chromatography device connected to a mass spectrometer (GC/MS) was used in order to identify the combinations of essential oils.
The essence yields were 0.02% and the color of essential oils was yellowish. The important and main combinations of essential oils were Hexadecanoic acid, Tetradecanoic acid and 6,10,14-Trimethyl-2-pentadecanone which consisted more than 10 percent of the composition.
It can be concluded that Smirnova iranica sabeti is a versatile plant found in sandy fields of Iran with medicinal, anti-virus, anti-cancer and anti-bacterial properties.

VL (Viseral Leishmaniosis) the second- most dreaded parasitic disease after malaria is currently endemic in 88 countries. Artemisia sieberi is native medicinal plants in Iran and their effects are scientifically proven to be effective on leishmaniasis. The aim of this study was to investigate antileishmanial effects of A.sieberi essential oil on Leishmania infantum in vitro. This is the first application of A. sieberi for treatment of L.infantum.
Promastigotes of L. infantum were treated by A. sieberi in 1, 5, 10, 15, 20 μg/ml concentration. MTT test ([3-(4, 5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2, 5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide] was done in 48h after treatment to determine the effect on promastigote viability. The data were analyzed by SPSS, and using one-way ANOVA and Mann Whitney tests.
Fewer than 15 μg /ml concentrations of A. sieberi essential oil were no appreciable effect on the parasite. A dose of 15, 20 μg/ml showed growth inhibitory on
L. infantum in 24h/48h compared to control group (P The A. sieberi essential oil had antileishmanial effects against L.infantum
in vitro. Therefore, they might be a reliable source for preparation of new drugs. More
in vivo investigations are required to clarify details of effects of A.sieberi on leishmania spp and analysis of its natural components.

Thymus vulgaris L. (Thyme) is an aromatic plant belonging to the Lamiaceae family, used for medicinal and spice purposes almost everywhere in the world. The aim of this study is to evaluate the botanical, microscopic characteristics, cultivation, biochemical compounds, and pharmacological effects.
In review article, we reviewed published papers in Medline database, Scopus, PubMed, Science Direct, SID, Civilica and Magiran.
There are approximately 100 species of Thyme. The aroma mostly comes from the leaves, which is the part of the herb most commonly used. The leaves are generally used fresh or dried. Thymus vulgaris L. has a chemical polymorphism with 6 different chemotypes that show marked spatial segregation in nature. In general, phenolic chemotypes of Thymol and Carvacrol, which occur at the end of the biosynthetic chain, have a significantly lower proportion of their oil composed of their dominant monoterpene than nonphenolic chemotypes Geraniol, alpha-Terpineol, and Linalool. This is due to the presence of high amounts of precursors gamma-Terpinene and p-Cymene in the oil of phenolic chemotypes, Flavones (e.g. Apigenin, Luteolin, 6-Hydroxyluteolin) and their glycosides methylated flavones (e.g. Cirsilineol, Eriodictyol, Thymonin). Thyme pharmacological effects are such as antifungal and antibacterial, spasmolytic and antitussive, expectorant and secretomotor.
In this review study, it was showed that Thyme plant considered as an important medicinal herb and used in pharmaceutical considerable commercial value.