Current Issue : April-June Volume : 2024 Issue Number : 2 Articles : 5 Articles
Plant raw materials with a calming effect on the nervous system are increasingly used in modern phytotherapy. Lavender belongs to this group of plants, due to the content of essential oil with known therapeutic properties and other phytoconstituents that can be responsible for the sedative effect. Our studies confirmed the presence of sesquiterpenic acids characterized by sedative activity in lavender extracts. The contents of valerenic acid and acetoxyvalerenic acids in flowers and leafy stalks of two various Lavandula angustifolia cultivars—‘Blue River’ and ‘Ellagance Purple’—were determined. Analyses of methanolic extracts performed using the HPLC method showed that content of these sesquiterpenic acids varied with the cultivars and the morphological parts of the plant. The amount of acetoxyvalerenic acid was significantly higher than the amount of valerenic acid. In the ‘Blue River’ cultivar, higher levels of both compounds characterized by sedative properties were found. The content of valerenic acid in flowers ranged from 0.50 mg/100 g d.m. in the ‘Ellagance Purple’ cultivar to 1.75 mg/100 g d.m. in the ‘Blue River’ cultivar. In turn, leafy stalks contained 0.81 mg/100 g d.m. of valerenic acid in the ‘Ellagance Purple’ cultivar and 1.16 mg/100 g d.m. in the ‘Blue River’ cultivar. Interestingly, the ‘Blue River’ cultivar contained about 10 times more acetoxyvalerenic acid (65.80 mg/100 g d.m.) in flowers and four times more acetoxyvalerenic acid in leafy stalks (50.1 mg/100 g d.m.), in comparison with the ‘Ellagance Purple’ cultivar. The higher content of valerenic and acetoxyvalerenic acids in the flowers and leafy stalks of the ‘Blue River’ lavender cultivar can be important for its possible medical applications....
Aromatic plants of the family Lamiaceae, especially of the genus Thymus, have promising antioxidant applications in pharmacology, medicine, food, cosmetology, and aromatherapy. Hydrosols (HDs) were extracted by hydrodistillation from seven species of Lamiaceae, including Thymus vulgaris, Thymus mongolicus, Mentha × piperita, Melissa officinalis, Rosmarinus officinali, Salvia elegans, and Leonurus artemisia. In total, 369 volatile components were determined and analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Among them, alcohols (2.86–28.48%), ethers (2.46–10.69%), and phenols (0.11–21.78%) constituted a large proportion, mainly linalool (0.28–19.27%), eucalyptol (0.16–6.97%), thymol (0–19.54%), and carvacrol (0–26.82%). Multivariate statistical analyses were performed and 27 differential metabolites were screened. Three different methods (ABTS+•, DPPH•, and FRAP) were used to determine the in vitro antioxidant activity of seven HDs. Thymus vulgaris hydrosols (Tv HDs) and Thymus mongolicus hydrosols (Tm HDs) had the strongest antioxidant activity and their stronger antioxidant capacity was related to their high levels of phenolic constituents, mainly thymol. The antioxidant activity of the other five Lamiaceae HDs was associated with their high alcohol (mainly linalool and eucalyptol) content, and the alcohol constituents may synergistically affect their antioxidant capacity. Therefore, the present study suggests that Lamiaceae plants can be utilized as antioxidant products or antioxidants in different industrial sectors including pharmaceuticals, food, cosmetics, and agrochemicals....
Cirsium japonicum is a medicinal plant that has been used due to its beneficial properties. However, extensive information regarding its therapeutic potential is scarce in the scientific literature. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential of polyphenols derived from the Cirsium japonicum extracts (CJE) was systematically analyzed. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with mass spectrometry (MS) was used to examine the compounds in CJE. A total of six peaks of polyphenol compounds were identified in the extract, and their MS data were also confirmed. These bioactive compounds were subjected to ultrafiltration with LC analysis to assess their potential for targeting cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) and DPPH. The outcomes showed which primary compounds had the highest affinity for binding both COX2 and DPPH. This suggests that components that showed excellent binding ability to DPPH and COX2 can be considered significant active substances. Additionally, in vitro analysis of CJE was carried out in macrophage cells after inducing inflammation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). As a result, it downregulated the expression of two critical pro-inflammatory cytokines, COX2 and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). In addition, we found a solid binding ability through the molecular docking analysis of the selected compounds with inflammatory mediators. In conclusion, we identified polyphenolic compounds in CJE extract and confirmed their potential antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. These results may provide primary data for the application of CJE in the food and pharmaceutical industries with further analysis....
Calophyllum inophyllum L. has been used for many generations by Pacific Islanders because of its numerous health and aesthetic advantages. The leaves, stems, roots, fruits, flowers, and seeds of this plant contain significant phytochemicals, including flavonoids, coumarins, fatty acids, and xanthones, which have been shown to have wound healing, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antiaging, anti-arthritic, anti-cancer, anti-proliferative, anti-diabetic, anti-microbial, and anti-HIV effects. The chemical profiles and bioactive potential may vary due to different extraction techniques, plant parts, and geographical origins. Extraction is the essential first step in the analysis of bioactive compounds that leads to further separation, identification, and characterization. Conventional methods like maceration, Soxhlet, and percolation are often used to extract bioactive compounds from C. inophyllum. However, little study has been carried out on non-conventional methods such as pressured liquid extraction, supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), and ultrasound-assisted extraction. The SFE method can be used to extract bioactive compounds from C. inophyllum to retain their pharmacological properties for application in pharmaceutical and cosmetic products....
The objective of our research was to examine the antioxidant and membrane-protective characteristics of a few medicinal plant extracts belonging to the Asteracea family, along with their flavonoid and polyphenolic content, in order to identify strategies for enhancing beverage composition and boosting the antioxidant capacity of green and black tea. The activity of aqueous-ethanolic extracts from the dried parts of plants, such as Arictum tomentosum Mill., Ghnapilum kasachstanicum Kirp. & Kuprian. ex Kirp., Artemisia schrenkiana Ledeb., A. rutifolia Steph. ex Spreng., A. cina O.Berg, and A. vulgaris L., were examined using a model of Wistar rats. Thiobarbituric acid-reacting substances (TBARS), a marker of malondialdehyde concentration, were used to measure the amount of lipid peroxidation (LPO) in liver microsomes. Considering the outcomes, the extracts from A. tomentosum, G. kasachstanicum, and A. vulgaris exhibit the strongest membrane-stabilizing action among those examined. At a concentration of 5 g/mL, the extracts of these plants demonstrated a significant anti-hemolitic impact, whereas the remaining extracts displayed a similar effect at doses above 10 g/mL. Accordingly, among the extracts studied, the A. tomentosum, G. kasachstanicum, A. schrenkiana, A. rutifolia, A. cina, and A. vulgaris extracts have significant antioxidant properties. The integrated antioxidant and antihemolytic qualities of A. tomentosum and green tea extracts were comparable to those of the individual plant extracts. When the extracts of A. schrenkiana and green tea were combined, similar outcomes were seen, suggesting that there was no appreciable synergistic interaction....
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