Journal of Medicinal Plants
Volume:22 Issue: 87, Sep 2023

LC (Lung cancer) is the most common type of cancer and has an increased mortality and morbidity rate throughout the world. Although radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and surgical approaches are among the common curative strategies against LC, these methods have not enough efficacies and may cause adverse effects. As a result, identifying alternative ways in order to treat and control LC patients is necessary.

In this narrative review, we argued about the curative influences nano-based herbal medicine (Curcumin, Green tea, quercetin, and Marsdenia tenacissima) and their comparison with the focus on their mechanistic aspects against LC.

The databases of Google Scholar, Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and SID were searched, with no date limitation for articles published in English.

The evaluation results showed these herbal products through various mechanisms, such as regulating the immune system, stimulating cell apoptosis, and autophagy, can be helpful in LC treatment. However, the co-use of herbal medicine and nano-formulations, namely Zinc oxide NPs (Nano particles), CdS QDs (cadmium sulfide quantum dots), NPs conjugated with AuNPs (Au nanoparticles), can dramatically overcome some limitations of herbal medicine and increase its efficacy against LC.

It seems that the use of nanoformulations and herbal medicine improve LC. However, more studies with large sample sizes are needed to prove these findings.

The efficacy of common antibiotics has been hindered by the emergence of drug resistance, including multidrug resistance (MDR). As a result, there is a growing interest in exploring alternative treatments for drug-resistant infections. One promising avenue is the use of herbal medicine, which possesses antimicrobial properties and may serve as a viable supplement or alternative to conventional antibiotics.

This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of plant essential oils in Iran against drug-resistant bacteria.

In this systematic review, we searched for keywords including herbal medicine, essential oil, Acinetobacter spp, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, and Enterococcus species in Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, and internal databases. Articles published up to October 4, 2023, were considered without any time limit.

The results showed that the majority of studies conducted were related to thyme, and the most tested bacterial species were methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains. Thyme exhibited the highest antibacterial activity, with the lowest minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) equal to 0.31 µg/ml, followed by Oliveria decumbens with a MIC of 0.625 µg/ml.

Herbal medicines may offer an efficient treatment option for antibiotic-resistant bacteria. However, further studies are needed to investigate potential adverse effects, antibacterial properties, and possible synergistic effects with other medicinal plants.

Salvia tebesana Bunge, as an important herb in folk medicine, is distributed in limited geographical locations in the Middle East.

In this study, three protic solvents, 80 % methanol, 80 % ethanol, and double-distilled water, were investigated to recover the phenolic constituents from S. tebesana extracts.

The antioxidant activity (estimated by total antioxidant capacity, DPPH, and FRAP radical scavenging assays) and the content of phenols, ortho-diphenols, phenolic acids, flavonoids, flavonols, and proanthocyanidins of extracts from leaves and stems of S. tebesana were investigated. After selecting the best solvent, the samples were assayed for individual flavonoid compounds (apigenin, quercetin, myricetin, and rutin) by HPLC-PDA.

Different plant extracts demonstrated strong radical scavenging activities, and the leaf extract obtained by 80% methanol showed the highest antioxidant capacity. The same extract also exhibited the most ortho-diphenol, phenolic acid, flavonoid, and proanthocyanidin contents (1598.5 ± 46.2, 742.2 ± 41.3, 487.6 ± 21.9, and 350.1 ± 31.4 mg 100 g-1 DW sample, respectively), while 80 % ethanol extract of leaves gave the most phenolic and flavonol contents (2299.2 ± 47.3 and 359.1 ± 42.3 mg 100 g-1 DW sample, respectively). The high level of flavone apigenin (466.1 ± 11.1 µg g-1 DW) and flavonol rutin (348.6 ± 10.02 µg g-1 DW) were also found in methanol extracts of leaves and are reporting for the first time in S. tebesana.

These findings warrant that S. tebesana, in particular the leaves, can be suggested as a natural preservative in dietary and medical applications with the potential to reduce oxidative stress.

Ethnobotanical knowledge studies the indigenous, local and traditional uses of plants by different people and cultures.

Analysis of articles in the field of ethnobotanical characteristics of Iranian medicinal plants from the perspective of local people.

The study is a retrospective bibliometric analysis and science mapping. The articles retrieved from five databases were examined and exteracted characteristics such as the name of the region, the number of species, the family with the highest number of species, the plant organ used, the method of using plants, and the therapeutic uses of medicinal plants. Then VOSviewer was used to draw a scientific map.

All 145 articles (325 authors and in 59 journals) are divided into three groups, including investigation of the ethnobotanical characteristics of medicinal plants in different regions, the ethnobotanical characteristics of a family/species, ethnobotanical characteristics of Iranian medicinal plants for the treatment/prevention of a disease/disorder. The keywords ethnobotany, medicinal plants, traditional medicine, and ethnopharmacology are among the most frequent keywords and digestive, cold, diabetes, dental, gynecological, respiratory and skin diseases were among the most frequent diseases reported in the articles.

The people of different regions of Iran pay attention to the use of different types of medicinal plants to treat diseases. However, the ethnobotanical characteristics of medicinal plants in many regions of Iran have yet to be investigated. Only original research articles published in journals have been reviewed in this study. It is suggested that conference and systematic review articles be evaluated in future studies.

In sustainable agriculture, reduction of chemical fertilizers- induced environmental pollutions is mainly considered. Therefore, recently application of organic fertilizers particularly their foliar applications received increased attention. Besides, herbal medicine with higher antioxidant activity will be able to limit the formation of free radical species.

Therefore, we aimed to determine the effect of foliar application of organic fertilizers on antioxidant activity and polyphenolic compounds of Marrubium vulgare L. in greenhouse experiment.

In a completely randomized design experiment with three replications that was carried out in 2019, the applied treatments consisted of four levels (0, 250, 500, and 1000 mg L-1) of foliar application of humic and fulvic acids (0, 250, 500, and 1000 mg L-1). Some phenolic compounds including gallic acid, chloregenic acid, coumarin, hesperidin, and eugenol were detected and quantified in the Marrubium vulgare L. extracts.

Application of 250 mg humic acid L-1 resulted in the highest extraction of phenolic compounds, coumarin, reducing this content at a higher applied level and by fulvic acid addition. As such, the foliar application of low concentrations of humic acid before the flowering stage was a useful and effective method to increase the synthesis of phenolic compounds. Among the studied organic acids, the application of 250 mg humic acid L-1 showed the highest antioxidant activities. These compounds can be effective in controlling diseases with free radicals.

Based on the findings of the present research, a more appropriate management of the growth and propagation of medicinal plants and their quality can be applied. In addition, humic substances application reduces the chemical fertilizers used, thereby maintaining the environment.

The Amygdalus communis L. var. Amara (bitter almond) kernel oil (ACKO) is used topically for palliation of musculoskeletal and joint pains in the Traditional Persian Medicine. Also, it had anti-inflammatory effects in experimental studies.

Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of ACKO in the symptomatic treatment of knee osteoarthritis.

One hundred and fifty six patients were equally randomized to apply ACKO, diclofenac, or placebo to their knees every 8 hours for 1 month. Fifty two, 50, and 51 patients in the ACKO, diclofenac, and placebo groups, respectively, finished the trial. At the trial’s start and end, the symptoms were assessed using the WOMAC (Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index) questionnaire. Also, hematological, and liver and kidney function tests were performed.

Both ACKO and diclofenac reduced the symptoms significantly more than the placebo (P ˂ 0.001). The percent changes of the WOMAC pain and stiffness scores in the ACKO group were similar to the diclofenac group while the percent changes of the WOMAC function and total scores in the ACKO group were less than the diclofenac group (P ˂ 0.001). ACKO and diclofenac had no significant effect on the blood tests. Moreover, no adverse effect was identified.

Topical ACKO and diclofenac are safe, and superior to placebo in reducing the symptoms of OA. While ACKO is similar to diclofenac in alleviating pain and stiffness, ACKO is less effective than diclofenac in improving the WOMAC total and function scores.

Fenugreek is one of the most widely used medicinal plants in terms of therapeutic properties, and numerous pharmacological effects have been found in various studies. Fenugreek seed extract contains many effective substances, including phytosterols (mainly β-Sitosterol).

This investigation was conducted to determine the optimal extraction method for fenugreek seeds based on the amount of β-Sitosterol detected on HPLC using a response surface methodology (RSM).

At first, the appropriate solvent was selected. The main variables affecting the extraction efficiency,including temperature, time, solvent percentage, and the ratio of solvent to powder, were investigated to optimize the best method. Optimizing the number of 29 experiments determined that extraction was done using the dynamic maceration method. After finding the optimized method, the extracts were injected into the HPLC device three times to determine the amount of total β-Sitosterol. Then it was modelled, and the final formula was obtained.

The analysis of results were shown that the optimal extract (based on the amount of total β-Sitosterol and weight), using the dynamic maceration extraction method with 96 % ethanol at a temperature of 44 ˚C, a duration of 30 minutes, a solvent percentage of 70 % and a ratio of solvent to powder of 7:1 was obtained.

The findings suggest the, this method seams the most efficient for maximum extraction of the β-Sitosterol compound from fenugreek seeds.