Journal of Medicinal Plants
Volume:17 Issue: 67, Summer 2018

As a chronic psychiatric disorder, schizophrenia affects the worldwide population with a lifetime prevalence of 1% and considerable long-term mortality, morbidity, and burden. Besides the adverse effects of routine treatment regimens, a significant portion of patients remain symptomatic despite treatment, especially those with negative symptoms which are the major disabling factors in these patients. There is an emerging role for herbal medicine in the treatment of schizophrenia. In this review we focus on some herbal medicines that have been reported to have some effects on schizophrenia.

Fucoxanthin, an allenic carotenoid, is abundant in macro and microalgae as a component of the light-harvesting complex for photosynthesis and photo protection. This carotenoid has shown important pharmaceutical bioactivity, exerting antioxidant, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, anti-obesity, anti-photoaging, anti-angiogenic, and anti-metastatic effects on a variety of biological models. This carotenoid has been proven to be safe for animal consumption, opening up the opportunity of using this bioactive compound in the treatment of different pathologies. In this paper, an updated account of the research progress in biosynthetic pathway and health benefits of fucoxanthin is presented. Meanwhile, a review on the various methods of extraction of fucoxanthin in macro and microalgae is also revisited. According to these studies providing important background knowledge, fucoxanthin can be utilized into drugs and nutritional products.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a progressive, age-associated disease that is characterized with cartilage destruction, subchondral bone remodeling and inflammation of the synovial membrane. Considering the complications of common treatments of OA, including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAIDs) and corticosteroids, investigating new treatments for this disorder is crucial. Recently, the role of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) expression in pathogenesis of OA has attracted attention. This study aimed to explore the effect of punicic acid (PA) in inhibition of MMPs gene expression in LPS-stimulated Bovine Fibroblast-like synoviocytes (BFLS) as a model of OA. In the first stage, the toxicity of PA was measured using MTT assay on BFLS cells. Afterward, the cells were stimulated by LPS (Lipopolysaccharide) and MMPs (Matrix Metalloproteinase) expression level in the BFLS cells were investigated using Real-Time PCR, in vitro Migration and Gelatin Zymography, Western Blot Analysis, ELISA Assay and Invasion Assay. The results showed that PA significantly decreased MMP-9 expression levels in LPS-stimulated BFLS cells; also, it suppressed migration and invasion of the mentioned cells. However, PA had no significant effect on MMP-1-2-3. Based on our results PA could significantly reduce the activity and inflammatory effect of MMP-9 in OA, its potential role as a supplementary agent to common NSAIDs and corticosteroids was confirmed. Nonetheless, cellular modeling does not significantly confirm the beneficial effect of OA in patients.

Tissue culture is a new approach for production of secondary metabolites with many advantages over conventional methods. Elicitors such as nano particles are molecules that can stimulate the production of secondary metabolites. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of some nano particles on mucilage production in Linum usitatissimum under tissue culture conditions. Concentrations of 5, 10 and 20 mg/L of nano-ZnO, nano-SiO2 and nano-Al2O3 were selected as elicitor treatments. The cultures incubated in growth room at 25 ± 1 oC with 16/8 h illumination periods. After 2 weeks of incubation callus fresh weight, percentage of mucilage and mucilage yield were recorded. The results indicated the positive effect of low dosage of nano elicitors on callus induction and mucilage production. Furthermore, the callus induction is tightly dependent to the presence of auxin and cytokinin, which stimulate both cell division and cell elongation. Generally, the type and concentration of nano elicitors had significant effects on the mucilage content.

Biotechnologic methods are common for secondary metabolites production from the plants and other sources in pharmaceutical sciences. Hairy root cell lines as the biotechnologic method have been used for in vitro production of major plant metabolites. In this study, hairy roots of Hypericum Perforatum have been prepared using the seeds and bio transformed by bacteria. Finally, the hypericin have been producted by the hairy roots. First, the seeds have been incubated in the plant media to hairy roots produced. Then, the hairy roots have been dipped in Rhizobium rizogenes suspension for biotransformation of bacterial genes. Morphological and phytochemical features of hairy roots have been determined in order to select the H. perforatum genotypes with higher hypericin contents. The fresh and dry weight of ten lines clones were measured after 30 days. In addition to, methanolic extracts of final hairy roots have been prepared and hypericin has been isolated and assayed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography. According to the observations, one of ten hairy root lines shows 75-fold higher hypericin content (339.27 ppm) compared to non-transformed H. perforatum (4.58 ppm) in the same of body weight of roots. The clone with the most content of hypericin had significant development of biomass of hairy roots and increase the hypericin production. Transformed clones were varied in morphology, growth, and metabolite productivity. The mentioned methods induce the production of hairy root secondary metabolites in high scale to improve the quality and the quantity of pharmaceutical compounds.

The Apiaceae family is defined with the diversity of essential oil. Some of composition could be used to control of storage pests. This study was conducted to estimate and identification of the seed essential oil composition of four Apiaceae species. The essential oil composition of the seeds of the four Apiaceae’s species including (Pimpinella anisum L., Foeniculum vulgar Mill, Coriandrum sativum L. and Petroselinum hortense) were identified by Gas chromatography- mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and compared with each other. Finally, biological effects of the four different species of Apiaceae family were evaluated against adult insects of two important storage pests. The results of analysis showed Anethol with 76.56% and 76.22% is the original component of Pimpinella anisum L., Foeniculum vulgar Mill, respectively. Also, Linalool with 58.80% and α-Pinene with 42.15% are the original components of Coriandrum sativum L. and Petroselinum hortense, respectively. Regarding to the identified components of the essential oils and obtained results, Pimpinella anisum L. and Coriandrum sativum L. showed the most fumigant toxicity on the storage pests.

Ribes biebersteinii (Rb) is one of pharmaceutical plants which was used in traditional medicine for decreasing blood sugar. In this study, effect of aqueous fruit extract of Rb on blood sugar of rats was investigated. In this research 60 male Wistar rats were categorized randomly in 10 equal groups with two timeframes (7 & 14 days). Extraction of Rb was performed with 50 g in 500 ml of distilled water for 18 hours by using a soxhlet extractor. For inducing diabetes, streptozotocin
7 mg/0.5 ml in normal saline was injected intramuscularly per 100 gram of rat body weight. Aqueous fruit extract of Rb was given orally to rats daily (80 mg/0.5 ml in distilled water per 100 gram of rat body weight). Then the blood samples sent to the laboratory to measure the following factors: glucose, lipids; and activity of the enzymes in plasma serum. Ribes biebersteinii compared to diabetic group had significant effect on blood sugar (P≤0.0001). After 14 days, there is significant difference between weight of treated rats with fruit extract of Rb (162.2 ± 1.70) and diabetic group (149.7±2.16) (P≤0.001). Also fruit extract of Rb had no effect on blood fat (Cholesterol, Triglyceride, LDL, HDL) of treated rats. According to the results concluded that extract of Ribes biebersteinii had effect on the blood sugar of rats and led to decrease blood sugar of rats. Because the fruit is rich in anthocyanins, this effect may be due to the its antioxidant effect.

Essential oil content and composition in medicinal and aromatic plants is highly affected by both biotic and abiotic factors. To investigate the effects of drought stress, zeolite and bio-fertilizers on morphological characteristics and essential oil constituents in Dracocephalum moldavica L. This experiment was conducted in the form of split factorial based on randomized complete block design with three replications in two years (2014 and 2015). The factorial experimental treatment was three levels of soil moisture (90%, 60% and 30%FC) applied to main plot, while application of zeolite (0 and 2 g per kg of soil) and bio-fertilizers (control, nitroxin, phosphate barvar-2 and nitroxin×phosphate barvar-2) were applied to sub plots. Application of zeolite had the highest effect on plant height, leaf area, dry matter and flowering top branches yield (FTBY) in 90%FC and essential oil percentage and yield in 60%FC. Similarly, combination of nitroxine+phosphate barvar-2 caused maximum value of plant height, leaf area, dry matter and FTBY in 90% FC and essential oil percentage and yield in 60%FC. The GC-MS analysis of the essential oil identified 14 compounds including ester and non ester combinations. The main compounds of ester combinations were geranyl acetate and neryl acetate and the main compounds of non ester combinations were neral, geraniol and geranial. The maximum percentage of ester and non ester combinations produced in 30%FC and 60-90%FC, respectively. Application of zeolite accompanied by combination of nitroxine+phosphate barvar-2 produced the highest value of examined traits in D. moldavica L.