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Background and Purpose: Peripheral neuropathy is one of the most common adverse effects of cancer chemotherapy. Vincristine is prescribed to treat a variety of carcinomas, including lymphoma and leukemia, and may cause progressive peripheral neuropathy due to the damage of microtubules and mitochondria of neurons and affects inflammatory processes. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of Lavandula angustifolia hydroalcoholic extract (LHE) of aerial part on vincristine-induced peripheral neuropathy in a rat model., Experimental Approach: Neuropathy was induced in rats by daily intraperitoneal administration of vincristine (0.1 mg/kg for 2 weeks). Following the induction of neuropathy, animals were treated with the LHE (100, 200, and 400 mg/kg, p.o.) or pregabalin (20 mg/kg, IP) for 2 weeks, and their responses to vincristine-induced hyperalgesia and locomotor impairment were measured., Findings/results: LHE, at the dose of 400 mg/kg, showed analgesic effects in response to thermal hyperalgesia, tactile allodynia, and gait impairment. Also, pregabalin (20 mg/kg, IP) improved the symptoms of vincristine-induced peripheral neuropathy., Conclusions and Implications: According to the results, we can conclude that LHE alleviates neuropathic symptoms of vincristine and the effect is probably related to the presence of phenols and flavonoids in the extract., Competing Interests: The authors declared no conflict of interest in this study., (Copyright: © 2022 Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences.)

Silver compounds are known to be both toxic and carcinogenic. However, silver nanoparticles have been showed diagnostic and therapeutic value. They can be used as biological tags for a quantitative detection and/or be incorporated into wound dressings and cosmetics due to their antibacterial properties. Pakistani and Iranian traditional physicians still take the advantage of silver compounds, called silver Kushta, to treat dementia, leprosy, and skin cancers. The present study compared the physicochemical properties of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and silver Kushtas (Pakistani silver Kushta (PKAg) and Iranian silver) in terms of the morphology, silver content, chemical composition, and suspension stability. AgNPs were produced through a chemical reduction method using AgNO 3 and NaBH 4 at 4 °C. PKAg powder was purchased from Hamdard pharmaceutical company (Pakistan). IKAg powder was produced, using closed reactor (Aghili method). Physicochemical properties of all three compounds were examined by scanning electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, Fourier transform infrared, UV spectra Analysis, Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis, and X-ray diffraction. AgNPs were spherical-shaped and uniform in size. However, PKAg and IKAg particles show different sizes. Not only AgNPs but also IKAg & PKAg Particle sizes were less than 200 nm. According to EDX analysis, the silver contents of PKAg, IKAg, and were 66.24%, 50.43%, respectively. AgNPs, IKAg, and PKAg showed zeta potential values equal to -18.5 and -2.27, and -12 mV, successively. AgNPs, IKAg and PKAg sizes were 64.08, 190.4 and 51.72 nm, respectively. Moreover, XRD results indicated that the composition of IKAg and PKAg are completely different.

In this study, we investigated the sedative and hypnotic effects of the aqueous extract of Aloe vera on rats. In order to evaluate the overall hypnotic effects of the Aloe vera extract, open field and loss of righting reflex tests were primarily used. The sedative and hypnotic effects of the extract were then confirmed by detection of remarkable raise in the total sleeping time through analysis of electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings of animals. Analysis of the EEG recordings showed that there is concomitant change in Rapid Eye Movement (REM) and None Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep in parallel with the prolonged total sleeping time. Results of the current research show that the extract has sedative-hypnotic effects on both functional and electrical activities of the brain.

Primula auriculata (Tootia) is one of the most important local medicinal plants in Hamedan district, Iran. To investigate cytotoxicity and apoptosis induction of crude methanolic extract and different fraction of it, we compared several methods on HT-29 human colon Adenocarcinoma cells. Cancer cell proliferation was measured by 3-(4, 5‑dimethylthiazolyl)2, 5‑diphenyl‑tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and apoptosis induction was analyzed by fluorescence microscopy (acridin orange/ethidium bromide, annexin V/propidium iodide staining, TUNEL assay and Caspase-3 activity assay). Crude methanolic extract (CM) inhibited the growth of malignant cells in a dose-dependent manner. Among solvent fractions, the dichloromethane fraction (CF) was found to be the most toxic compared to other fractions. With double staining methods, high percentage of 40 µg/mL of (CM) and (CF) treated cells exhibited typical characteristics of apoptotic cells. Apoptosis induction was also revealed by apoptotic fragmentation of nuclear DNA and activation of caspas-3 in treated cells. These findings indicate that crude methanolic extract and dichloromethan fraction of P.auriculata induced apoptosis and inhibited proliferation in colon cancer cells and could be used as a source for new lead structures in drug design to combat colon cancer.

Objective: One of the most common global disorders is related to gastrointestinal system. Functional dyspepsia (FD) defined as upper abdominal pain and discomfort in the absence of organic ailments is a prevalent disease without any confirmed medication. The purpose of this study was to find gastric disorders which might be coincidental to FD based on traditional Persian medicine (TPM)., Materials and Methods: We searched the main textbooks of TPM including Al-Havi (by Rhazes), Canon of medicine (by Avicenna), ZakhireKhawrazmshahi (by Ismail Jorjani), Moalijat-e Aghili and Makhzan Al-adviya (by Mohammad Hosein AghiliShirazi), and ExirAzam (by Hakim Azam Khan). Also, we searched Pubmed, Scopus, Science Direct, Medline, scientific information database (SID), Iranmedex and Google Scholar from 1980 to 1 August 2014 for dyspepsia, gastrointestinal disease, traditional Persian medicine, and gastric dystemperaments., Results: There is no equivalent term for FD in traditional Persian medicine although similar signs and symptoms are visible in terms like simple cold dystemperament of stomach, indigestion, and digestion debility in TPM sources. Some treatments mentioned in TPM have shown promising results in the current experimental tests., Conclusion: Finding these similarities in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) textbooks may lead to discovering new remedies for this widespread disease.

Background: 'Palpitation' is one of the most common complaints in patients referring to cardiologists. In modern medicine era, these patients suffer from much distress and some cases are known to be difficult to treat. Although the clinician's first duty is obviously to search for an organic basis for this symptom, the diagnostic evaluation is frequently unrevealing. However, clinical experience suggests that psychiatric causes are relatively common., Objectives: This research aimed to screen for mental disorders in patients complaining of palpitation and healthy persons in order to perform a preliminary comparison between them., Patients and Methods: This is a case-control study to screen mental disorders. The target population consisted of adult volunteers with benign palpitation and their matched healthy persons. They were referred during a 10-month-period to the cardiology outpatient's clinic of Mostafa Khomeini hospital in Tehran, Iran. Sampling was accidental and eventually 110 participants comprised the sample size. The measuring tool was GHQ-28 (28-item general health questionnaire) and the main variable was the questionnaire score obtained from the Likert scoring method., Results: Comparing two groups showed that the number of participants with the scores more than cut-off point in palpitation group was significantly more than healthy person group (85.4% vs. 43.6% with P < 0.001). Also the total score of GHQ-28 and scores of its subscale (somatization, anxiety, and social dysfunction) in patients complaining of palpitation were significantly more than those of the healthy participants (34.2 vs. 25.7, 8.9 vs. 6.4, 9.4 vs. 6.4, and 12.3 vs. 10.8, respectively with P < 0.001, P = 0.001, P < 0.001, and P < 0.007, respectively)., Conclusions: Palpitation is the most common symptom in psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and somatization disorders. According to the results of this study, psychiatric causes have an important role in Iranian patients complaining of palpitations (benign form). Considering this fact may lead to a more effective treatment of benign palpitations.

Malaria is the most serious parasitic disease and one of the oldest recorded diseases in the world. Because of the resistance of malaria parasites to current drugs, it is necessary to discover new antiplasmodial drugs. Traditional medicine is one of the important sources of new antiplasmodial drugs. In this study, twenty methanolic extracts from different parts of sixteen medicinal plants used in traditional medicine of Iran for the treatment of "Nobeh fever" and/ or fever were screened for in-vivo antiplasmodial activity against Plasmodium berghei and cytotoxic effect on Madin-Darby bovine kidney cells (MDBK). Eleven species (55%) were found to have antiplasmodial activity. Methanolic extract from Rosa damascena Mill. reduced parasitemia by 57.7% compared to untreated control mice at intra-peritoneal (i.p.) injection doses of 10 mg/Kg per day for 4 days. This is the first report that mentioned in-vivo antiplasmodial activity of Rosa damascena Mill.

Background: Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a common gastrointestinal disease that is highly prevalent worldwide. Because of its heterogeneous pathophysiology, treatment options for FD can be difficult to choose; in this context, complementary and alternative medicine modalities have been suggested as promising options., Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of a traditional Persian medicine, jollab, in reducing patients' FD symptoms., Methods: In a double-blind randomized clinical trial, 160 patients with a diagnosis of FD were enrolled and treated with either jollab or placebo (15ml, t.i.d., four weeks, orally). The outcomes reported were changes in symptom frequency and severity as recorded in patients' diaries and evaluated with the Short Form of the Leeds Dyspepsia Questionnaire (SF-LDQ), and physical examination., Results: The response rate was higher in the treatment group (78%) than in the placebo group (31%) according to per-protocol sample analysis (P < .001). Symptoms of FD disappeared significantly more frequently, and the rate of concomitant synthetic drug consumption was significantly lower, in the jollab group compared to the placebo group at the end of the trial. Mean total symptom frequency and severity according to the SF-LDQ score was 1.55 ± 2.78 in the treatment group versus 5.61 ± 3.80 in the placebo group at the last follow-up time point (P < .001). A promising safety profile for jollab was observed throughout the trial., Conclusions: In patients with FD, jollab appeared to be more effective than the placebo. Complementary and alternative therapies such as the use of this traditional medicinal substance may be beneficial in relieving symptoms of dyspepsia [ACTRN12613000584730]., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Inula aucheriana DC is a member of the family Asteraceae which is known to produce cytotoxic secondary metabolites noted as sesquiterpene lactones. In the present study, sesquiterpene lactones inuchinenolide B, 6-deoxychamissonolide (stevin) and 14-acetoxy-1β,5α,7αH-4β-hydroxy-guai-9(10),11(13)-dien-12,8α-olide were isolated from I. aucheriana. Inuchinenolide B and 14-acetoxy-1β,5α,7αH-4β-hydroxy-guai-9(10),11(13)-dien-12,8α-olide were further evaluated by the MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay to demonstrate cytotoxic activity with IC50 values of (56.6, 19.0), (39.0, 11.8), and (55.7, 15.3) μg/mL against HepG-2, MCF-7 and A-549 cells, respectively. The cytotoxic activity of the two evaluated sesquiterpene lactones partly explains the cytotoxic activity that was previously observed for the extracts of Inula aucheriana. The isolated compounds could be further investigated in cancer research studies.

Background: Infections in critical care unit are high, and they are serious hospital problems. Infections acquired during the hospital stay are generally called nosocomial infections, initially known as infections arising after 48 h of hospital admission. The mostfrequent nosocomial infections (urinary, respiratory, gastroenteritis and blood stream infection) were common in patients at hospital.The aim was to study, the current status of nosocomial infection, rate of infection among hospitalized children at hematology-oncology ward of Dr. Sheikh children's hospital, Mashhad, Iran., Materials and Methods: Data were collected from 200 patient's records presented with symptoms of nosocomial infection at hematology-oncology ward of Dr. Sheikh children's hospital from March 2014 to September 2014. Descriptive statistics using percentage was calculated., Results: Incidence of nosocomial infections inpatients athematology-oncology ward was 31% (62/200). Of which 69.35% (43/62) blood stream infection being the most frequent; followed by 30.64% (19/62) was urinary tract infection (UTI), and the most common blood culture isolate was been Staphylococcus epidermidis 18 (41.86%), andour study showed that large numbers ofnosocomial UTIs causing by Gram‑negative bacteria., Conclusion: This study showed blood stream infection and UTI are the common nosocomial infections among patients athematology-oncology ward. Early recognition of infections and short term use of invasive devices along with proper infection control procedures can significantly decrease the incidence of nosocomial infections in patients.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease with a high prevalence in recent years. Dramatic growth in AD prevalence has increased the importance of more researches on AD treatment. History has shown that traditional medicine can be a source of inspiration to find new therapies., Objectives: This study tried to codify the recommendations of Iranian traditional medicine (ITM) by studying the main medical manuscripts. The second purpose was to compare these findings with new medical information., Materials and Methods: Cardinal traditional medical and pharmacological texts from 10th to 18th century were searched for traditional terms of dementia (Nesyan, Fisad-uz-Zekr, Faramooshkari) focused on treatment methods. The findings were classified into three groups: lifestyle recommendations, dietary approaches, and drug therapies. These findings were compared with new medical findings., Results: ITM has dietary recommendations for dementia such as increasing consumption of nuts, poultry and eggs, milk, and grape products (like raisin and currant). These compounds are full of unsaturated fatty acids, cholesterol, and polyphenolic compounds. New findings suggest that these substances can help in prevention and treatment of AD. ITM has some lifestyle considerations like increasing physical and mental activities, listening to music, attending musical feasts, and smelling specific perfumes. New medical findings confirm nearly all of these recommendations. Along with the aforementioned items, treatment with natural medicines is in the first line of traditional treatment of dementia. New investigations show that many of these herbs have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory factors and acetylcholine esterase inhibitory effects. A few of them also have N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) blocking activity. When these herbs are put together in traditional formulations, they can comprehensively fight against the disease., Conclusions: More ethnopharmacological and ethnomedical studies on ITM antidementia therapy can be followed by fruitful results.

Iranian Traditional Medicine (ITM) describes a kind of dementia with similar signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD). It explains the pathology of dementia with cold intemperament of the brain, which means that the brain is colder than its healthy form. ITM strategy for treatment of dementia is to heat the brain up by medical "hot" herbs. Nepeta menthoides (NM) is one of these "hot" herbs. To evaluate the veracity of ITM concept about dementia and its treatment, we first try to examine if coldness of brain can make memory impairment. If so, can NM reverse memory impairment? Rats in cold-water-induced hypothermic (CWH) groups were immersed up to the neck in 3.5 °C water, for 5 min during 14 consecutive days. As a control, rats were forced to swim in warm water at the same conditions. To eliminate the impact of forced swimming stress, a group of intact rats was also added. After last swimming in day 14, some groups received drug (100 or 500 mg/ Kg aqueous extract of NM) or vehicle via i.p. injection. Learning and memory were assessed by Morris water maze, and tau hyperphosphorylation was measured by western blotting. The results showed that CWH impairs learning and memory and induces tau hyperphosphorylation. 100 mg/Kg of NM reversed memory impairment as well as tau hyperphosphorylation. ITM theory about the relationship between brain hypothermia and dementia is in accordance with our findings.

Medicinal plants have been investigated for possible anti-cancer effects. The aim of the present study was to examine the cytotoxic activity of several medicinal plants on different tumor cell lines. 11 selected plant species which have been used in folkloric prescriptions were collected from different sites of Hamedan district of Iran. The methanolic extracts of the plants were prepared and their cytotoxic effects on four human cancer cell lines (A549, human lung adenocarcinoma; MCF7, human breast adenocarcinoma; HepG2, hepatocellular carcinoma and HT-29, human colon carcinoma) and one normal cell line (MDBK, bovine kidney) were examined using the MTT assay. Three of these were exhibited antiproliferative activity against one or more of the cell lines. The extract from Primula auriculata demonstrated the highest cytotoxicity with IC50 of 25.79, 35.79 and 43.34 μg.mL-1 against MCF7, HepG2 and HT- 29 cells, respectively. For some of the plants, their traditional use was correlated with the cytotoxic results, whereas for others the results may support the non-cytotoxicity of species used traditionally as natural remedies. The cytotoxic species could be considered as potential of anticancer compounds.

Objectives: Considering the increasing prevalence of depression in modern societies and the positive effects of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on depression, this study aims to investigate the omega-3 and omega-6 content of various foodstuffs, prescribed or prohibited by Iranian Traditional Medicine (ITM)., Materials and Methods: Firstly, reliable sources of Iranian Traditional Medicine were reviewed in order to identify the prescribed and prohibited foodstuffs for depressed patients. Afterwards, according to the online database of United States Department of Agriculture (URL: http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list), the ratio of linoleic acid to alpha linolenic acid (as representatives of omega-6 and omega-3, respectively) was identified in each foodstuff. Finally, the ratios of omega-6 to omega-3 were compared between seven food groups of vegetables, fruits, dry goods, high protein products, dairies, breads, and spices., Results: Based on the resources of Iranian Traditional Medicine, the following foods are prescribed for depressed patients: basil, coriander, spinach, lettuce, squash, peppermint, dill, chicory, celery, beet, quince, cucumber, watermelon, grape, peach, pomegranate, banana, apple, currant, pistachio, dried fig, almond, egg, chicken, lamb, trout, milk, bread without bran, saffron, oregano, and coriander seeds. On the other hand, cabbage, eggplant, onion, garlic, broad beans, lentils, beef, whole wheat bread, and mustard are prohibited. It should be noted that omega-3 content in some prescribed foods is more than that of the prohibited ones., Conclusion: The present study showed that mint, basil, spinach, lettuce, squash, lamb, saffron, oregano, cucumber, pistachio, milk, and also wild trout can be considered as medicinal foods for depressed patients.

Background and the purpose of the study: The amount of elder people who suffer from Alzheimer disease is continuously increasing every year. Cholinesterase inhibitors have shown to be effective in alleviating the symptoms of the disease, thus opening a field of research for these treatments. Herbal products, owning a reputation as effective agents in many biological studies are now drawing attention for inhibiting acetylcholinesterase, in other words, Alzheimer disease. In the present study, the ability of three sesquiterpene lactones from Inula oculus-christi and I. aucheriana to inhibit AChE has been evaluated through Ellman assay. Materials and Methods: Gaillardin and pulchellin C were obtained from I. oculus-christi and britannin from I. aucheriana by chromatographic methods. They were dissolved in methanol in concentration of 3 mg/mL and the AChEI activity of the compounds was determined by Ellman method using Acethylthiocholine iodide as the substrate and 5, 5'-dithiobis-2-nitrobenzoic acid as the reagent, in 96-well plates at 405 nm. Results: AChEI activity of the examined compounds was obtained as 67.0, 25.2 and 10.9% in concentration of 300 µg/L for gaillardin, britannin and pulchellin C, respectively. Conclusion: Among the three sesquiterpene lactones, gaillardin with 67% inhibition of AChE could be considered a good candidate for future Alzheimer studies.

Antiepileptic drugs used to treat epilepsy can cause severe, life threatening side effects. In Iranian traditional medicine, herbal remedies have been used for centuries to treat seizures. In this study, the five most important herbals in Iranian traditional medicine, namely Canon, al-Hawi, al-Abniah 'an Haqaeq al Adwia, Tuhfat al-Mu'minin, and Makhzan ul-Adwia, were searched for the term "sar-e", which means epilepsy, to identify the herbs used for treatment in ancient times. We also searched scientific literature for pharmacological evidence of their effectiveness. Twenty-five plants were identified as herbal remedies to treat epilepsy. Pharmacological data related to the antiepileptic activity of eleven of these plants exists. A large number of these plants which have not been investigated pharmacologically for antiepileptic activity would be good candidates for study in exploring new herbal anticonvulsant remedies., (Copyright © 2014 British Epilepsy Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Considering the increasing prevalence of depression in contemporary societies, general tendency for safer treatments with fewer side effects has recently been a subject of interest., Objectives: Food-based strategies, which are one of the outstanding medical solutions in Complementary and Alternative Medicine including Iranian Traditional Medicine have been investigated., Materials and Methods: In this review study, firstly some important sources of Iranian Traditional Medicine including Kamel al-Sanaat al-Tibbyyah, Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb and Zakhireh Kharazmshahi were reviewed. Next, a literature search was performed on PubMed and Magiran databases with the keywords "depression", "depressive", "mood", "antidepressant", "antidepressive", "nutrition", "nutritional", "diet", "meal", "food", "functional food", "healthy food", "healthy diet", "medicinal food" and scientific and English terms of all singular foodstuff and some combined foodstuff which are introduced in this paper., Results: Food-based strategies for depression management in Iranian Traditional Medicine resources involving both prevention and treatment parts have been classified under three headings singular foodstuffs, combined foodstuffs, and nutrition rules with the separation of prohibition and prescription items. Among the prescribed or the prohibited singular and combined foodstuffs in Iranian Traditional Medicine manuscripts, only the effectiveness of fish, garlic, milk, oregano, mint, and spinach on depression has been examined by modern medicine methods., Conclusions: The presented food-based strategies in this study introduce a precise management for depression benefiting from Iranian Traditional Medicine Resources.

Background: Dietary notifications have been introduced recently for Alzheimer Disease (AD). In Iranian old medical manuscripts, there are some nutritional recommendations related to Nesyan (AD equivalent). The aim of this article was to compare dietary recommendations of Iranian traditional medicine (ITM) with novel medical outcomes., Methods: 1) Searching for dietary recommendations and abstinences described in ITM credible manuscripts; 2) Extracting fatty components of ITM diet according to the database of the Department of Agriculture of the USA; 3) Statistical analysis of fatty elements of traditionally recommended foods via Mann-Whitney Test in comparison with elements of the abstinent ones; 4) Searching for AD dietary recommendations and abstinences which currently published in medical journals; 5) Comparing traditional and new dietary suggestions with each other., Results: 1) Traditionally recommended foods are fattier than abstinent ones (P<0.001). There are meaningful differences between unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) (P<0.001), saturated fatty acids (P<0.001), and cholesterol (P<0.05) of recommended foods and abstinent ones. 2) Traditionally recommended diet is also fattier than the abstinent diet (4.5 times); UFAs of the recommended diet is 11 times more than that of the abstinent one; it is the same story for cholesterol (1.4 times); 3) Recent studies show that diets with high amounts of UFAs have positive effects on AD; a considerable number of papers emphasizes on probable positive role of cholesterol on AD; 4) Traditional recommended diet is in agreement with recent studies., Conclusion: ITM recommended diet which is full of unsaturated fatty acids and cholesterol can be utilized for complementary treatment of AD.

Based on the collected ethnobotanical data from the Traditional Medicine and Materia Medica Research Center (TMRC), Iran, Myrtus communis L. (myrtle) was selected for the assessment of in vitro and in vivo antimalarial and cytotoxic activities. Methanolic extract of myrtle was prepared from the aerial parts and assessed for antiplasmodial activity, using the parasite lactate dehydrogenase (pLDH) assay against chloroquine-resistant (K1) and chloroquine-sensitive (3D7) strains of Plasmodium falciparum. The 4-day suppressive test was employed to determine the parasitemia suppression of the myrtle extract against P. berghei in vivo. The IC50 values of myrtle extract were 35.44 µg/ml against K1 and 0.87 µg/ml against 3D7. Myrtle extract showed a significant suppression of parasitaemia (84.8 ± 1.1% at 10 mg/kg/day) in mice infected with P. berghei after 4 days of treatment. Cytotoxic activity was carried out against mammalian cell lines using methyl thiazol tetrazolium (MTT) assay. No cytotoxic effect on mammalian cell lines up to 100 µg/mL was shown. The results support the traditional use of myrtle in malaria. Phytochemical investigation and understanding the mechanism of action would be in our upcoming project.

The assessment of the degree or rate of cellular proliferation and cell viability is critical for the assessment of the effects of drugs on both normal and malignant cell populations. In the present study, a few novel 3-substituted derivatives of 2-indolinones were synthesized by condensation of substituted oxindole or isatin derivatives with appropriate aldehydes or primary aromatic amines respectively. The synthesized compounds were screened for their cytotoxicity against HT-29 (human colon adenocarcinoma cell line) and MCF-7 (human breast adenocarcinoma cell line) cells using short term cytotoxicity MTT assay protocol. A few derivatives with IC50 < 10 µM were identified among them. he compound bearing 5-bromo substitution was the most potent derivative. Global physicochemical properties for compounds IVa-e and Va-h were calculated and the two most active compounds (IVa and IVb) showed similar CLogP values.

Methanolic extract of 15 Iranian medicinal plants were prepared and tested for their cytotoxic activities against three cancer cell lines (MCF7, HepG2, WEHI164) and one normal cell line (MDBK). Some plants showed cytotoxic activities. The extract of Ferula szowitsiana root, which proved to be the most active, was chosen for further phytochemical studies. The major compounds of the most potent acetone extract were isolated. They were identified as chimgin and chimganin, two known monoterpenoids, by spectroscopic means. Their cytotoxic activity was evaluated in three cell lines. The results show that these compounds are responsible, at least in part, for the cytotoxic activity of this plant.