Future Natural Products
Volume:8 Issue: 2, Summer -Autumn 2022

Given the prevalence of urolithiasis and the popularity of black radish extract for the treatment of this problem, the present study was designed to investigate its effect in alkalizing urine in stone-forming patients referred to Imam Ali clinic in Shahrekord (Iran). 

In this clinical trial, the urine pH was measured along with the 24-hour urine assessment for urine volume and urine citrate, oxalate, calcium, uric acid, and creatinine levels of 20 patients before and after the intervention. 

The results showed a significant increase (P < 0.001) in mean urine pH after the administration of Raphanus sativus syrup for 14 days. The mean 24-hour urine volume and citrate level increased significantly (P < 0.05). In addition, the mean uric acid and oxalate levels decreased significantly (P < 0.05). Mean changes in 24-hour urine creatinine and calcium levels were not statistically significant after intervention (P > 0.05). 

Raphanus sativus extract treatment can increase urine pH, urine citrate level, and urine volume and decreases uric acid and oxalate levels. Therefore, the plant may be used for the treatment and prevention of uric acid and cystine stones.

Today, due to the increasing use of natural and traditional medicinal products, control and standardization of herbal and traditional medicinal products is very important. As most of the traditional medicinal plants are not scientifically validated, scientific evaluation along with traditional knowledge is essential to obtain effective drugs with significant control over the quality of the product for commercial purpose. In traditional Persian medicine, various forms of medicine including one or a combination of several drugs are mentioned. Coriander Triphala widely prescribed as a purgative, gastrointestinal and mental tonic. Despite the widespread use of this drug, no significant control or standardization and documented pharmacognosy studies have been performed on it. Therefore this study is developed for this purpose.  In this study, the traditional form of Coriander Triphala was prepared based on the pharmaceutics points mentioned in traditional medicine texts and quality control and pharmacognostic studies were performed. The associated fingerprints were performed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and then one of the main components of the product was determined by as gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID).  The spectrum of essential oils of Coriander Triphala and Coriander had 59.19% and 75.34% linalool, respectively. The microbial assay showed no undesirable results. The IR spectrum of Coriander Triphala at first day and 40 days later differed by 2%.  Standardization of the product using GC-FID indicates the presence of 0.172 μg linalool in 100 g the Coriander Triphala product.

This study used bibliometric tools to quantitatively achieve a structural overview of research characteristics and potentials of phytochemistry in Africa within the last five decades (1970–2022).  A total of 2662 phytochemistry related publications from 822 sources published between 1970 and 2022 were identified from Dimensions database and subjected to bibliometrics analysis using Bibliometrix package and VOSviewer software.  The publications span 9775 authors, 30 African countries, and 1142 organizations. In terms of research themes, text mining for high- relevance/frequency keywords revealed that “Phenol” (7.3182) and “Flavonoid” (5.3637) were the most cited plant metabolites among all publications. The key noun-phrases for solvents were “Aqueous”, “methanol” and “ethanol”. The most cited terms in plant family were “Tamaricaceae” (4.9575) and “Lamiaceae” (4.9273); plant species, “Acacia nilotica” (4.4909) and “Aloe barbadensis” (4.3946); bacteria strains, “Klebsiella pneumoniae” (4.6932) and “Staphylococcus aureus” (3.3538); fungal species, “Aspergillus” (2.7228) and “Penicillium notatum” (2.4054); Viral strains, “Human immune deficiency virus” (3.3482) and “Hepatitis C virus” (3.2796); parasites, “Plasmodium” (12.0576) and “Leishmania sp” (8.3602). The most cited methods of detection and analysis of phytochemicals were “Gas chromatography mass spectrometry” (1.7256) and “High performance liquid chromatography” (1.6889). Interactive Site Suitability Models, orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), plant organically bound tritium (OBT), and quantitative structure–activity relationship models (QSAR models) were the most cited models. Inequality in the geographical distribution of publication output was the source of concern.  A drive towards computational phytochemistry could be detected as an important change in research focus.

Pulmonary complications due to influenza A virus infection, in addition to being caused by the replication of the virus, are partly due to the excess production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. It is therefore helpful to seek out compounds to control the excess production of these cytokines along with administration of antiviral drugs. In this study, the effect of green tea (Camellia sinensis L.) extract on the replication of influenza A (H1N1) virus and on gene expression levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines was studied in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells. 

In this experimental study, hydroalcoholic extract of C. sinensis leaf was prepared with maceration method. In vitro anti-influenza virus activity of the extract was evaluated by performing hemagglutination (HA) and 50 % tissue culture infectious dose (TCID50) assays at 24 and 48 hours of incubation. The gene expression levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin 1 beta (IL- 1β) and IL-6 were studied using real-time Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) 24 hours after treatment. 

Camellia sinensis extract treatment caused a significant decrease in viral titer compared to control virus in a dose-dependent manner (P < 0.05). The gene expression levels of IL-6, TNF-α and IL-1β after treatment with the extract decreased significantly compared to the virus control (P < 0.05). 

Due to its antiviral effect and reducing the gene expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, C. sinensis extract can be used as an adjunctive drug along with current antiviral drugs in severe influenza infection as well as other viral infections, such as coronavirus, to minimize lung damage due to inflammation.

Inflammatory bowel disease is a chronic inflammatory disease whose prevalence is rising worldwide. The treatment-related challenges of this disease have expanded the research on other compounds with suitable therapeutic properties. Carvacrol monoterpene phenolic compound, with a wide range of therapeutic properties, can be an appropriate choice. This study aims to investigate the protective effect of carvacrol on acetic acid-induced colitis in mice, further emphasizing the modulating role of oxidative stress and inflammation.  This experimental study was conducted on 60 mice divided into six groups. Colitis was induced by intrarectal injection of acetic acid. Five groups of mice received carvacrol at doses of 12.5, 25, 50, and 100 mg/kg and normal saline (1 ml/kg). One group was considered normal (without colitis) and received normal saline (1 ml/kg). The severity of colitis complications was assessed through histopathological examination of colon tissue samples. Furthermore, the malondialdehyde (MDA) level, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and gene expression of inflammatory markers were investigated in the colon samples. Data analysis was done by PRISM version 8 using one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s test.  The results showed that the induction of colitis caused significant damage to the intestinal mucosal layers, and the administration of carvacrol reduced the severity of this damage. Interestingly, the TAC of all groups that received carvacrol was higher than that of the group that received normal saline (P < 0.05). The administration of carvacrol decreased the MDA level (P < 0.05). In addition, the gene expression of interleukin-1beta (IL-1β), Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) reduced after carvacrol administration (P < 0.05).  Carvacrol exerted a protective effect on the acetic acid-induced colitis in mice, probably via inhibiting the inflammatory cascade and modulating oxidative stress.

Dry eye disease (DED) is a globally prevalent disorder due to the loss of homeostasis of the tear film that causes a range of different signs and symptoms. This problem affects visual function and patients’ daily activities and damages physical and psychological health and finally the quality of life while it has no definite cure until now. Thus, developing new medicines and formulations is needed. Meanwhile, traditional Persian medicine as an ancient comprehensive school among the world’s traditional medicine is a good source of active ingredients and formulations. 

Prescribed herbal medicines and related formulations for DED in traditional Persian medicine references including Exir-e-Azam, Tebb-e-Akbari, Moalejat-e-Aghili, and Makhzan-al-Advieh were investigated and analyzed in comparison with recent therapeutic studies. 

Our findings show that traditional Persian medicine scientists relied on mucilage-containing materials like psyllium and quince seeds and unsaturated and polyunsaturated plant oils such as sweet almond oil, pumpkin seed oil, and olive oil as principal components for treating DED. 

DED treatment in Persian traditional medicine was based on using mucilages and plant oils mainly as ophthalmic drops to keep moisture and lubricate eyelid movement. Moreover, advised medicines were generally in accordance with modern medicine findings and found to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory activities that can beneficially modulate pathological mechanisms of dry eye disease.

Due to the increasing incidence of skin cancer and other skin disorders caused by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, development of more efficient sunscreens seems to be essential. Mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) are one group of the natural UV absorbent compounds with sunscreen characteristics that have been the focus of a number of researches. This article aims to introduce different sources of MAAs in order to discuss pros and cons in finding the best way for high-scale MAAs production. 

Scientific databases and search engines including Science Direst and Google Scholar were investigated using “Mycosporine-like amino acid” AND “Production” as main keywords. 

An increasing number of publications have been published regard to MAAs in recent 10 years. Publications showed that a wide range of organisms can produce these UV-absorbing compounds, especially under stressful and extreme conditions. Numerous studies has been performed to identify the pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical applications of MAAs. However, it is still challenging to choose the best source for the large-scale production of these compounds. Direct MAAs extraction from natural sources, heterologous production of MAAs using recombinant DNA technology or metabolic engineering, and a few studies of chemical synthesis of MAA derivatives have been reported, so far. 

Among various reports, direct extraction from the natural source has got the main position, until now. However, there is an increasing interest on the recombinant production of MAAs in new hosts, with more appropriate features for large-scale production. Nevertheless, it also seems that the chemical synthesis of these compounds is not affordable.

Plants are cost-effective biological delivery carrier. Plant-based vaccines are more reliable due to the lack of human pathogen or endotoxin, and oncogenic DNA. Plant cells are low-cost factories that are able to produce adjuvant component (immunostimulant), an inevitable component of vaccine. In addition, plant cells can synthesize proteins with post-translational modifications that can be purified easily and safely. The authors recommended to directly bind the plant to Lactococcus without further purification to produce more low-cost vaccines. This subunit, adjuvant-free vaccine potently induced vigorous immune responses in mice and chickens.Genetic engineering strategies have been utilized to produce recombinant vaccines in plant cell. The gene of target antigen transfects host plant cells using efficient delivery system such as plant specific viruses (pathogens). Several post-translational modifications can occur in plant cells. In addition, the Ag needed to post translation modification can correctly produce in nuclear or chloroplast of plant cells. Until now, several plants such as carrot, papaya, lettuce, and tobacco have been used to express complex parasite Ag. The variable parts and composition of Ag may affect the efficiency of vaccine. For example, subunit expression of Fasciola hepatica in lettuce is more immunogenic when combined with hepatitis B virus core protein (HBcAg). The oral administration of this plant-based vaccine could introduce high levels of antibodies against F. hepatica in rats. Interestingly, single intramuscular injection of purified malaria Ag made in tobacco induced strong human immune responses.  Vaccination is one of the efficient ways to protect humans against various types of pathogens. Numerous studies have shown the potential of plant cells as a low-cost source to develop effective vaccines.