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Oxidative stress plays a key role in the pathogenesis of age-related neurodegeneration, and the nonenzymatic production of 8-iso-prostaglandin F(2alpha) (8-iso-PGF(2alpha)) may represent a reliable index of cellular oxidative damage. Garlic (Allium sativum) has been associated with peripheral antioxidant activities and therefore might prevent or reverse 8-iso-PGF(2alpha) production, but scant data are available on its possible neuroprotective effects. Therefore, we have studied the possible antioxidant effects of a garlic extract in rat brain synaptosomes obtained from young (3-month-old) and aged (14-month-old) male Wistar rats that were perfused, in vitro, with graded concentrations of a garlic extract (10-500 microg/mL). Release in the effluent was evaluated, both in the basal state and after hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress. In young rats, we observed a concentration-dependent inhibitory effect of the garlic extract on brain 8-iso-PGF(2alpha) production, both basally and after hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stimulus. In aged rats, 8-iso-PGF(2alpha) production was not affected by the garlic extract in the basal state, whereas, after hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stimulus, an antioxidant effect of the garlic extract appeared only at the higher concentration tested. In conclusion, garlic supplementation could be effective in preventing brain oxidative damage in young animals, whereas the aging brain seems to be resistant to the antioxidant effects of garlic, in vitro.

Our objective was to study the anti-inflammatory and analgesic activity of extract of Spartium junceum L. flowers. Samples of flowers were collected from wild plants, dried, powdered, and extracted with hexane and methanol. The extracts were evaporated to dryness and then suspended in suitable solvent. They were then tested for anti-inflammatory activity in the carrageenin rat paw edema test and for analgesic activity in the Randall and Selitto mechanical pressure test and in the tail-flick test. Twenty-four hours after treatment, the gastric mucosa of each rat was observed macroscopically. Based on these results the hexane extract was fractioned by column chromatography, and the fractions obtained were tested in the same way. The results showed good anti-inflammatory activity only for a single fraction of the hexane extract, while all the extracts and all the other hexane fractions showed both peripheral and central analgesic activity. In rats treated with the tested compounds hyperemia and ulcers were absent. The data from this preliminary study reveal interesting pharmacological properties of S. junceum L. flowers extract related to the marked analgesic activity and the absence of gastric ulcerogenic activity.

The dichloromethane extract of leaves of Cordia salicifolia Cham. (Family Boraginaceae) was fractionated by SiO(2) column chromatography and analyzed by gas chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The apolar extract is characterized by a very high content of (+)-spathulenol (0.53%). The major component of the extract exhibited a very weak activity as an inhibitor of growth of Helicobacter pylori in vitro (minimum inhibitory concentration = 200 microg/mL).