Journal of Medicinal Plants and By-products
Volume:7 Issue: 2, Winter and Spring 2018

The aim of this study was to evaluate effect of foliar application of titanium dioxide nanoparticles on quantitative traits and essential oil, thymol and carvacrol percent of thyme under different levels of water stress. Factorial experiment was used based on a completely randomized design with four replications. Factors included water stress (50, 70 and 90% of field capacity) and titanium dioxide nanoparticles (0, 1 and 3 mg/l). Plant height, number of branches, fresh and dry weight of shoot, fresh and dry weight of root and also essential oils (thymol and carvacrol) content were measured using standard compounds by GC-Mass. Results showed that the water deficit affects significantly (P<0.01) on all studied traits. The greatest amount of essence (0.42% per dry matter), thymol (82.302%) and carvacrol (12.33%) at 70% field capacity and the lowest essence (0.30% per dry matter), thymol (77.53%) and carvacrol (11.62%) approached with 50% of field capacity. Analysis of variance showed significant effect (P<0.05) of titanium dioxide concentration on plant height and shoot fresh and dry weights and root dry weight (P<0.01). It was concluded that use of titanium dioxide nanoparticles as spraying under water deficit stress has incremental effect on plant growth characteristics of thyme but had no effect on essential oil components.

Lattice henbane (Hyoscyamus reticulatus L.) is an herbaceous, biennial plant belonging to Solanaceae family. H. reticulatus hairy roots were established from two-week-old leaves infected by A7 strain of Agrobacterium rhizogenes on solid Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium. In this study, abiotic elicitors including; Sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) with different concentrations (0, 1, 5 and 7 mM) and silver nitrate (AgNO3) concentrations (0, 0.5, 1 and 2 mM) were added to hairy roots culture media. The results showed that, Na2SiO3 and AgNO3 significantly affected hairy roots fresh weight after 24h. Also, the highest hairy root fresh weight was observed in the control, and with broadening elicitor concentrations, fresh weight was decreased in both treated hairy roots with AgNO3 and Na2SiO3 but the effect of exposure duration was not significant. Biochemical analysis showed that total antioxidant activity (TAA), total phenol (TP), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and Guaiacolperoxidase (GPX) activities were enhanced in elicitated hairy roots compared to non elicitated hairy roots. The highest CAT, APX and GPX activities were observed in hairy roots treated with 7mM Na2SiO3 and 2mM AgNO3. Our results suggest that, Na2SiO3 and AgNO3 can stimulate the antioxidant defense systems and protect the plants from subsequent stresses.

Recently, there has been a great deal of interest in the use of the medicinal plants with high antioxidant compounds for curing liver injuries induced by hepatoxcitic agents. This study was to assess the protective effect of Carum carvi L. essential oil (E.O) on the hepatoxitic rats induced by overdose of iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs). The rats were distributed to 4 groups. In negative control group (NC), the rats received normal saline and DMSO daily for 3 days. In control group (C), iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe2O3) (200 mg/kg b.w) was injected daily for 3 days. In the treatment groups, iron oxide nanoparticles plus E.O at 100 & 200 mg/kg b.w were injected daily for 3 days. In following, cytochrome P450 (CYP450), glutathione S-transferase (GST), glutathione (GSH), aspartate transaminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and alanine transaminase (ALT) were estimated at 72 h after NP-treatment. The administration of the E.O could return considerably the decrease of the GST and GSH levels as well as the increase of the level of AST induced by iron oxide NPs. These results are in agreement with histopathological results. The data indicated that E.O provided an efficient prevention against iron oxide NPs-induced hepatotoxicity in rats.

Dopamine is one of the important medications of Portulaca oleracea L. To optimize the production of dopamine, one of the methods is the identification and engineering of metabolite pathways. To investigate the tyrosine decarboxylase (TDC) and tyrosinase, which seem to be the most important genes in dopamine synthesis pathway, hairy roots were produced from Portulaca oleracea using Agrobacterium rhizogenes and total RNA was extracted from hairy roots. A cDNA library was synthesized using RT-PCR. Then, the twogenes were amplified, isolated and cloned in a pTG 19-T vector. Bioinformatics' databases were used to predict the details of the structural, functional and biological characteristic of these genes. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed that the cloned cDNAs expressed TDC and tyrosinase, and contained a single open reading frame of 1800 bp and 1750 bp, respectively. TDC has the most similarity with TDC of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh.,but tyrosinase has 98% similarity withtyrosinase of Agaricus bisporus. Because of More negatively charged amino acids the TDC has hydrophobic properties, therefore affinity and hydrophilic chromatography can be used for purification of TDC. But tyrosinase has hydrophilic properties and hydrophobicity chromatography can be used for its purification. There were two peroxisomal signal peptide (KLAKEFEQL) and (KIEGRPLHL) in the TDC and tyrosinase, respectively. Therefore, they are biologically active in the peroxisomes, and included in biosynthesis dopamine through the transformation of L-lysine to L-dopa and finally to the dopamine. In conclusion, increasing the expression of TDC and tyrosinase through the genetic engineering can increase dopamine production in the Portolaca.

Seasonal variations may influence the quality and quantity of biologically active ingredients in medicinal plants. Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) a member of the Lamiaceae family, contains valuable antioxidant, anticancer and antibacterial substances, including Carnosic acid (CA). Here, the fluctuations of important active compounds present in rosemary leaf extracts collected in Golestan, Iran were studied during the year of 2012-2013. Plant phenolics, flavonoids, ascorbates, anthocyanins and soluble sugars were analyzed spectrophotometrically, while CA content was measured by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The highest amounts of total flavonoids occurred in autumn; while CA, phenolics, ascorbic acids and soluble sugars were greatest in winter, probably due to regional high precipitation and subtle winters. Most of the above indicated active compounds were low in early summer. Furthermore, total anthocyanins and soluble sugars showed significant positive correlations with CA over the year. These data suggest that rosemary extracts from the collected leaves in winter contain greater amounts of biologically active compounds; and can be used for standardization of plant materials harvested throughout a year.

According to various reports of beneficial effects of medicinal plants on the performance of broiler chickens and less extensively studies in laying poultries, this study was conducted to find an appropriate and harmless feed additive to enhance the quality and quantity of poultry eggs. The effect of three herbal extracts on quantity and quality of eggs, blood parameters, hatchability, intestinal bacterial population, and intestinal morphology in laying Japanese quail were investigated. The study was applied with 64, ten-week old laying Japanese quails for 8 weeks. The experiment was a completely randomized design with 4 treatments, 4 replications and 4 birds per replicate (the ratio of male to female 1:3). Experimental treatments involved: Control, with no additive in drinking water; chamomile extract; wild mint extract; and oregano extract. Herbal extracts were added 1 mL/L drinking water. The three treatments showed no significant effect on productivity, egg mass, FCR, egg weight, feed intake and qualitative indices of eggs; however, the herbal extracts specially the chamomile extract reduced the cholesterol of eggs (P<0.05). Herbal extracts showed no significantly effects on the hatchability of fertile eggs. Oregano extract showed the best effect on reduction of the intestinal bacterial population and increase the villus height in ileum (P<0.05). Chamomile extract by reducing the yolk cholesterol can improve the egg market’s popularity, and oregano extract by reducing the number of pathogenic bacteria and improving the villus height in ileum can be considered as a beneficial and low-risk additive for laying poultries.

Stachys L. one of the biggest genus of the Lamiaceae family comprises about 200-300 species. In this research, aerial parts essential oil composition and content of Stachys lavandulifolia Vahl (Lamiaceae)at different stages (vegetative, full flowering and initial fruiting stages) is reported. The oils obtained by water distillation method (Clevenger apparatus) and analyzed by GC and GC/MS. The results showed that the essential oils of S. lavandulifolia were affected by plant growth stages. The chemical composition varied in three harvesting times. It was found that the maximum obtained essential oil was in the flowering stage. Totally, 31 constituents with the range of 0.10 – 34.11% in the vegetative, 27 constituents with the range of 0.06 – 36.35% in the flowering stage and 27 compounds with the range of 0.06 – 37.2% in the initial fruiting stages were identified. The highest compounds were related to the vegetative stage (34 compounds) that representing 63.74% of oil. In this study, the highest amount of essential oil constituents in the vegetative stage belonged to germacren D (34.11%), n-decane (3.84%) and caryophyllene oxide (2.62%), in the flowering stage, germacren D (36.87%), borneol (4.3%), cis-thujone (4.24%), bicyclogermacrene (4.16%) & n-decane (3.88%) and in the stage of initial fruiting, germacren D (37.2%), borneol (4.76%), b-caryophyllene (4.20%), cis-thujone (4.16%) & bicyclogermacrene (3.99%).

Hymenocrater calycinus (Boiss.) Benth. is endemic to Iran and it is growing natural habitats in the north east of Iran. In traditional medicine, this plant use for flu treatment, diuretic, antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidant. In order, this plant know ecological characteristic for introduce and dense cultivation on farm land and then use in medical industries. Such as this plant natural sites were controlled of destroying. This study was executed in rangeland of Bojnourd. In the site, the studies were climatically characteristic, stand type, co-dominant plant and vegetable variation, physical and chemical analyses of the soil. The results revealed that this species could be adapted for regions with semiarid- cold climate, annual rainfall average of 332 mm and annual temperature average of 9.82 c°. This species have dispersed in altitude 1400- 2500 m of sea level in mountainous areas. The Soils physical and chemical analyses showed that the soil is very shallow with sandy-loom texture, Ph= 7.79, Ec= 55.97 µs/cm and lime. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that the variables of altitude, precipitation, saturation moisture percentage, pH, potassium, calcium and sand had significant correlations with the first axis and explained the 49.84% variation. For the second component, the percentage of organic matter and nitrogen were more important traits and explained the 27.94% variation. The stand type was Artemisia aucheri- Phlomis cancellata and the co-dominant plants were over 91 species. Average of canopy covers and density were 3.04% and 1778 shrubs in hectare respectively. The Results indicated that distribution pattern of H. calycinus is random in the region.

The aim of this study was to determine total flavonoids and individually flavanone glycosides as well as antioxidant capacity in peel of Satsuma mandarin(Citrus unshiu) on different rootstocks. On other hand, the purpose of this study was to identify the rootstock that could produce the highest amount of flavonoids.Total flavonoids content was measured using aluminum chloride colorimetric method, whereas Folin-Ciocalteau colorimetric method was used to determine the total phenols content. The antioxidant activities were evaluated using reducing scavenging assays of DPPH radicals. HPLC-PDA detection was used for the analysis of individual flavanone glycosides (narirutin, naringin and hesperidin).The results showed that, the highest individually flavanone glycosides (27.73 mg/g DW), total flavonoids (10.74 mg/g DW), total phenol (3.91 mg/g DW) and DPPH scavenging activity (60.00 mg/g DW) were in the peel of Satsuma mandarin grafting on the flying dragon rootstock. According to results, the amount of phenolic acids (0.36 mg/g DW) of Satsuma mandarin grafted on trifoliate orange was higher than those of other rootstocks. Among the flavonone glycosides, hesperidin was determined in the highest concentration in all investigated peels. The results of correlation showed that there were a high positive correlation between the amount of total flavonoids and total phenols. Results showed that rootstock had an important role in increasing of concentration flavonoids, as well as antioxidant capacity. Finally based on the obtained results it can be concluded that although the concentration of flavonoid compounds is strongly related to the genotype of fruit, it seems that rootstocks affect the amount of flavonoids in the fruit.

The extraction method is critical for the recovery of phenolic compounds. The main goal was to evaluate the effect of an extraction process from mango seed on their phenolic profile, antioxidant and antimicrobial capacities. Phenolic extraction was performed in different steps: maceration, alkaline hydrolysis, acid/alkaline hydrolysis, polar and non-polar fraction of an ethyl acetate separation.The macerated extract showed a higher variety of polyphenols from mango seed:gallic (138.36 µg/g dry weight), coumaric (65.36 µg/g), ferulic (1376.67 µg/g) , chlorogenic (57.75 µg/g) anddicaffeoylquinic (219.29 µg/g) acids, catechin (16.78 µg/g) and rutin (6678.62µg/g). In alkaline hydrolyzed extract most of these compounds were lost, ferulic acid decreased 1356.77 µg/g dw and gallic acid increased 1383.89 µg/g dw. Gallic and chlorogenic acids increased 165 and 969. 45 µg/g dw respectively in acid/alkaline hydrolyzed, 109.57 and 841.38 µg/g dw respectively in non-polar and 277.15 and 77.88 µg/g dw respectively in polar extracts related to the macerated extract. Rutin was found only in acid/hydrolyzed and non-polar extract in lesser amount (87.62 and 78.51 µg/g dw) compared to macerated extract. The content of phenolic compounds was higher for the macerated extract (phenols=484.42 mg GAE/g and flavonoids=86.59 mg QE/g) than for the other steps. Acid/alkaline hydrolysis increased the antioxidant activity (1787.67 μmol TE/g for DPPH and 3692.86 μmol TE/g for TEAC); while the alkaline hydrolysis increased the antimicrobial effectivity (MIC=2.5 mg/mL for bacteria and 0.5 mg/mL for yeast). Results indicate that the acid or alkaline hydrolysis yields a stronger antioxidant and antimicrobial extract.

Andrographis paniculata (Burm.f.) Nees is a medicinal herb in the family Acanthaceae. The leaves of the mature plant contain abundant diterpinoids of medicinal properties.The objectives of the present study were to investigate the impacts of compost tea rates on photosynthesis parameters and antioxidant reactions of A. paniculata. The plant was propagated using seed and planting in a polybag. After four weeks, the plant was transplanted into polybag sized 20 cm×25 cm. Compost tea was used at rates of (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100%). Treatments were arranged in randomized completely block design (RCBD) with three replicates. Before flowering stage, the plants were harvested. The results revealed that rates of compost tea significantly affected total dry weight, leaf area, chlorophyll, stomatal conductance, FRAP and total flavonoid contents (P≤0.01), while there were no significant difference on DPPH reduction, and total phenolic contents and photosynthetic rate. Soil amendment with compost tea gave a favorable effect on growth and improved soil pH and CEC. Total flavonoid was highly significantly differences among the treatments. The greatest TDW (26.15 g), FRAP (96.03% of inhibition) and flavonoid (1943.7 mg/g) were observed at the 70% rate of compost tea. The highest rates of compost tea (100%) significantly decreased the phenolic and flavonoid compounds. These results suggested that A. paniculata could reach high biomass and quality characteristics with 50 and 70% rate of compost tea. However, in general compost tea had a good potential to improve soil pH and increase plant growth and antioxidant contents.