Journal of Medicinal Plants
Volume:12 Issue: 45, 2013

Herbal medicines include a range of pharmacologically active compounds: in some cases it is not well understood which ingredients are important for a therapeutic effect. The supporters of herbal medicine believe that isolated ingredients in the majority of cases have weaker clinical effects than whole plant extract, a claim that would obviously require proof in each case. Generalizations about the efficacy of herbal medicines are clearly not possible. Each one needs systematic research including a variety of animal studies and also randomized clinical trials. In this review we focus on Passiflora incarnata and Salvia officinalis.

Insomnia, which is difficulty in initiating and maintaining sleep, is a very common experience for many people. Considering the increasing interest in medicinal plants in the past decade, many plants such as Coriandrum sativum, Salvia leriifolia, Salvia reuterana and Stachys lavanduli folia have been used in Iranian traditional medicine to abate insomnia. The present study was designed to investigate hypnotic effect of Salvia reuterana on male mice. Ethanolic extract of S. reuterana was prepared. Five groups of 6 animals each were pretreated with vehicle, Salvia extract (50, 100 and 250 mg/kg; i.p.) or diazepam (0.5mg/kg; i.p.) 30 minutes before ketamine injection (100 mg/kg, i.p.). The latency and total sleeping times were recorded to determine the hypnotic effect of the extract. The results indicated that ethanolic extract of S. reuterana, reduced the latency time and induced the total sleeping time in a dose dependent manner, compared to saline group. The present study suggests that S. reuterana produces hypnotic effect which can be evaluated clinically.

Applications of natural ingredients not only increase the shelf life of food but also omit the problems of synthetic preservatives compounds. Cinnamon verum essential oil (CVEO; 0.05, 0.1, 0.15%) and Echinacea purpurea extract (EPE; 0.25, 0.5, 0.75%) were added to Kolompe (a traditional cookie in Kerman-Iran) and their antioxidant and antimicrobial effects were compared with the samples of BHA (100 and 200 ppm) and control (without any antioxidant). Peroxide and tiobarbituric acid values (PV and TBA) and total count, mold, yeast, Escherichia coli, Enterobacteriaceae, Bacillus cereus, positive Staphylococci –coagulase were measured for antioxidant and antimicrobial assessment, respectively. PV and TBA values of control were more than others and antioxidant effect of CVEO- 0.05 was similar to BHA-0.01 (p< 0.01). The least PV and TBA values were for CVEO-0.1. Application of EPE-0.25 was too led more antioxidant effect (increased by increasing %) than BHA-0.01. All samples lacked aerobic microorganism, yeast and mold except EPE-0.25 (that was the same with control) in 30th day. The number of these microorganisms in EPE-0.5 was lower than control, BHA-0.01 and BHA-0.02. No microorganism was in EPE-0.75 that expressed strong antimicrobial effect of this level extract. Antioxidant effects for CVEO-0.1, CVEO-0.25, EPE-0.1 and EPE-0.25 were more than BHA. With increasing of concentration, PV and TBA values for pro-oxidant effect increased. Application of CVEO and EPE in Kolompe was strong effect in microbial properties and increase the shelf life of Kolompe.

Plants infection with microorganisms as well as physical factors such as osmotic stresses especially drought stress induced particular secondary metabolite production. Plant root and shoot hyoscyamine (HYO) and scopolamine (SCO) variations were investigated under three water deficit stress (WDS) levels as 30 (W1), 60 (W2) and 90 % (W3) water depletion of field capacity and Pseudomonas putida (PP) and P. fluoresence (PF) strains inoculation at flowering stage. Seedling radicles and culture media were inoculated with PP and PF (109 CFU/ml) strains. Monitoring of soil moisture levels was conducted using gravimetric method. Alkaloids extracted were identified by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Results revealed that HYO was the prevalent alkaloid in root and shoot organs. The highest ratio of SCO to HYO (0.53) and the highest alkaloids both HYO and SCO content in root and shoot was observed in W3PF treatment. The largest total alkaloids (HYO+SCO) yield (25.7 mg.plant-1) was showed in PP treated plants under W1 conditions. Integrative use of effective Pseudomonades strains and WDS sounds to be an encouraging and eco-friendly strategy for increasing tropane alkaloids yield and content in Hyoscyamus niger root and shoot parts.

Vaccinium arctostaphylos L. (Caucasian whortleberry) fruit is used as an antihyperglycemic agent for treatment of diabetes mellitus. The effects of whortleberry fruit and leaf extracts on the blood levels of fasting glucose, HbA1c (glycosylated hemoglobin), insulin, creatinine and liver enzymes SGOT and SGPT in alloxan-diabetic rats as well as LD50s of the extracts in rats were studied. The effects of 2 months daily gavage of each extract at the doses of 250 mg/kg, 500 mg/kg and 1000 mg/kg on the parameters after single alloxan intraperitoneal injection at a dose of 125 mg/kg in the rats were evaluated. To calculate LD50 (median lethal dose), each extract was gavaged to groups of 30 healthy male and female Wistar rats at various doses once and the number of dead animals in each group within 72 hours was determined. Alloxan injection resulted in significant increase of fasting glucose and HbA clevels but decreased insulin levels significantly. Oral administration of whortleberry fruit and leaf extracts (each at the doses of 250, 500 and 1000 mg/kg) significantly reduced the fasting glucose and HbA c levels but significantly increased the insulin levels without any significant effects on the SGOT, SGPT and creatinine levels in the diabetic rats compared with the control diabetic rats. The LD50s of the extracts were more than 15 g/kg. Whortleberry fruits and leaves may have anti-hyperglycemic and blood insulin level elevating effects without hepatic and renal toxicities in the alloxan-diabetic rats and are relatively nontoxic in rats.

It has been considered by researchers to study the possibility of replacing chemical food additives (synthetic antioxidants) by natural products (medicinal plants). This study investigated the antioxidant properties of Satureja hortensis L. essential oil (SHEO) on safflower oil oxidation. Different assays have been used to evaluate the antioxidant activity of SHEO: total phenol content (TPC), DPPH•, ABTS+•, ferric thiocyanate (FTC), β - carotene bleaching. For evaluation of SHEO effect on safflower oil oxidation, peroxide value (PV), conjugated dienes (CD), and tiobarbituric acid (TBA) indices were compared with BHT (a synthetic antioxidant). TPC of SHEO was determined to be 293.7 mg gallic acid equivalent in 1 ml of sample and IC50 was 0.71 mg/ml in DPPH•. 0.4 and 0.1 mg/ml of SHEO at all time (1, 5, 10, 15 min) showed the highest and lowest antiradical ABTS°+ activity (118.2 and 26.6 μg/ml AscAE =Ascorbic acid equivalent) in 15 min. In FTC and FTC-TBA, 8 mg/ml SHEO showed the highest activity. In β-carotene bleaching of 0.1-2 mg/ml SHEO, 0.1 has the minimum (%9.02), and 1 and 2 has the maximum inhibitory effects (%34.33 and %36.86 inhibitions). 4 mg/ml of SHEO had the highest inhibitory effect in the safflower oil test and that peroxide does not have significant difference with 0.1 mg/ml BHT. Antioxidant activities of SHEO concentrations increased in all indices (p< 0.05) and various concentrations were able to slow down the oxidation process.

Diabetes mellitus type 2 with dyslipidemia is a common disease. Previous studies suggest that chemical constituent present in pinus eldarica (P. eldarica) nut posesess antioxidant properties and positively affect glucose metabolism. However blood glucose and cholesterol lowering effects of P. eldarica nut have not been studied so far. The present study was undertaken to explore the possiblility of anti hyperglycemic and anti-hypercholesterolemic effects of the P. eldarica nut extract in hypercholesterolemic diabetic rats. Sixty male wistar rats six months of age from central animal house of the institute of medicinal plants were selected. 10 rats were kept as normal group and diabetes was induced in the remaining rats by intraperitonial injection of 120 mg/kg aloxan monohydrate. After one week the diabetic rats with fasting blood glucose between 180 to 250 mg/kg were assigned to 5 groups of 10 rats each and were fed on hypercholesterolemic diet. One group was kept as control group (untreated diabetic rats) and P. eldarica nut extract in doses of 50, 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg was gavaged daily to the remaining rats. After one month, the fasting blood glucose, cholesterol and triglyceride levels were determined in all groups. The results indicate that fasting blood glucose in 200 and 400 mg/kg P. eldarica nut extract treated groups significantly decreased (P=0.000 and P=0.000) and fasting blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels did not change significantly compared with control group. P. eldarica nut extract lowers blood glucose level withought affecting blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels in hypercholesterolemic diabetic rats.

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea L.) is one of the most important medicinal plants. Hairy root culture of Echinace, represent a valuable alternative to field cultivation for the production of bioactive secondary metabolites. The present study investigates the effects of KNO3, CaCl2 and MgSO4 concentrations on growth and the biosynthesis of cichoric acid in Echinacea purpurea hairy root culture. Agrobacterium rhizogenes strain R15834 was used for hairy root induction. The experiment was performed with 0.5 g of fresh hairy roots (about 2 cm long segments) per 100 ml Erlenmeyer flasks containing 30 ml of hormone-free liquid 1/2MS salts with B5 vitamins supplemented with different amounts of KNO3 (3131, 3939, and 4747 mg/l), CaCl2 (85, 170, and 340 mg/l) and MgSO4 (370 (control), 600, and 1600 mg/l). After 4 weeks, growth parameters and cichoric acid amounts were assessed. Results indicated that the highest fresh (99.69 g/l) and dry weight (6.91 g/l) of hairy roots were achieved using 3131 mg/l KNO3. Fresh and dry weights of hairy roots in various CaCl2 and MgSO4 concentrations were not significantly different from those of control. The highest amount of cichoric acid (30.55 mg/g DW) was produced by 1600 mg/l MgSO4 treated hairy roots after 4 weeks. The present work demonstrated the effectiveness of modified 1/2MS salts supplemented with B5 vitamins medium for improving hairy root growth and in vitro production of cichoric acid.

Numerous molecules in Papaveraceae family display interesting cytotoxic activities against tumor cell lines in vitro and hints of anticancer activities in vivo have been reported in a few cases. Numerous molecules in this family display interesting cytotoxic activities against tumor cell lines in vitro and hints of anticancer activities in vivo have been reported in a few cases. In this study we evaluated the cytotoxic effects of total and alkaloid extracts of Glaucium flavum Crantz and Glaucium grandiflurom Boiss. & Huet, the two species of this genus, on cell proliferation of HT-29, Caco-2, T47D, and NIH/3T3 cell lines by MTT method and their IC50s were determined. The aerial parts of G. grandiflurom and G. flavum were collected from Jajrud in Tehran Province in June 2011. The effect of total extract and alkaloid extract of them on HT-29, Ta7D, NIH/3T3 and Caco-2 cells was determined by MTT assay. Alkaloid extracts showed a moderate cytotoxic effect on the cell lines. IC50 values confirmed that the growth and proliferation of NIH/3T3 cells were less affected in comparison to other cell lines. The effects of alkaloid extracts of both plants on human colon adenocarcinoma cell lines (HT-29, Caco-2), showed that these extracts contain certain compounds that can inhibit the proliferation of colon cancerous cells.