Search

Copyright of Phytothérapie is the property of John Libbey Eurotext Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Low-cost-activated carbon derived from dates stones of Phoenix dactylifera L. has been used to replace the current high-cost methods of cadmium removal from aqueous solutions and waste waters. Effect of some operating parameters such as pH, contact time, initial metal concentration, and solution temperature was examined. Adsorption of cadmium ions was found to increase with increasing pH to reach a maximum removal rate of 4.29 mg/g at pH= 8 (C0 = 50 mg/l). Adsorption data are found to follow the Freundlich model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the chemical composition and biological activities of essential oils extracted from Daucus biseriatus collected from the Algerian Sahara. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry identified 57 compounds, constituting 97.09% of the oils, with myristicin (23.88%), methylogenol (22.60%), elemicin (7.86%), and δ-cadiene (6.91%) as the main constituents. The oils exhibited significant antimicrobial activity, notably against Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli, and M. luteus, with inhibition zones up to 27 mm. Antioxidant activity was tested using ABTS and linoleic acid methods, yielding IC50 values of >800 µg/mL and 29.62 ± 3.28 µg/mL, respectively. The oils also showed moderate inhibition of Alzheimer's-related enzymes, acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase, with IC50 values >800 µg/mL. Docking studies revealed myristicin as the most potent inhibitor of the LPS transporter (LptE). This pioneering research is the first to report on the essential oils of this plant.      .

Objectives: This study sought to examine the chemical profile, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antibiofilm, and anti-quorum sensing potential of two propolis ethanolic extracts (PEEs) collected from northeast Algeria., Materials and Methods: To achieve the main objectives of this study, multiple in vitro tests were employed. The phenolic and flavonoid contents were analyzed, and the chemical composition of both PEE was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. The antioxidant properties of the propolis extracts were investigated using six complementary tests. The inhibitory effects of propolis extracts were evaluated against multidrug-resistant (MDR) clinical isolates using agar well diffusion and microdilution methods, whereas their antibiofilm and quorum-sensing disruption effects were determined by spectrophotometric microplate methods., Results: The results demonstrated that phenolic and flavonoid contents were higher in propolis from the Guelma (PEEG) region (PEEG; 188.50 ± 0.33 μg GAE/mg E, 144.23 ± 1.03 μg QE/mg E), respectively. Interestingly, different components were identified, and cynarin was the major compound detected. The PEEG sample exhibited potential antioxidant effects in scavenging ABTS •+ radicals with minimal inhibitory concentration values equal to 10.46 ± 1.40 µg/mL. Furthermore, the highest antibacterial activity was recorded by PEEG against Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus MDR1. Similarly, PEEG effectively inhibited the biofilm formation of S. aureus MDR1 and the degradation of biofilm was up to 60%. In addition, quorum sensing disruption revealed that both extracts have a moderate capacity for violacein inhibition by the Chromobacterium violaceum ATCC 12472 strain in a concentration-dependent manner., Conclusion: These findings indicate that propolis can be regarded as a natural therapeutic agent for health problems associated with MDR bacteria and oxidative stress., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest: No conflict of interest was declared by the authors.

Two chalcones were synthesized by the aldolic condensation of enolizable aromatic ketones with substituted benzaldehydes under Claisen-Schmidt reaction conditions and then treated with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine to yield their corresponding hydrazones. The two (E,Z)-2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone structures, namely (Z)-1-(2,4-dinitrophenyl)-2-[(E)-3-(4-methylphenyl)-1-phenylallylidene]hydrazine, C 22 H 18 N 4 O 4 , (H1), and (Z)-1-[(E)-3-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-(naphthalen-1-yl)allylidene]-2-(2,4-dinitrophenyl)hydrazine, C 25 H 17 ClN 4 O 4 , (H2), were isolated by recrystallization and characterized by FT-IR, UV-Vis, single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction methods. The UV-Vis spectra of the hydrazones have been studied in two organic solvents of different polarity. It was found that (H2) has a molar extinction coefficient larger than 40000. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that the molecular zigzag chains of (H1) and (H2) are interconnected through noncovalent contacts. A quantitative analysis of the intermolecular interactions in the crystal structures has been performed using Hirshfeld surface analysis. All the synthesized chalcones and hydrazones were evaluated for their antibacterial and antioxidant activities. Results indicate that the studied compounds show significant activity against Gram negative Escherichia coli strain and the chalcone 3-(4-methylphenyl)-1-phenylprop-2-en-1-one, (C1), was the most effective. In addition, only hydrazone (H1) displayed a moderate DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl) scavenging efficiency.

Background: These days, the desire for naturally occurring antioxidants has significantly increased, especially for use in foodstuffs, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical products, to replace synthetic antioxidants that are regularly constrained due to their carcinogenicity. Methods : The study in hand aimed to appraise the antioxidant effect of two Euphorbia dendroides extracts using reducing power, anti-peroxidation, and DPPH (1,1 Diphenyl 2 Pycril Hydrazil) scavenging essays, in addition to the anticancer activity against two tumor cell lines, namely C6 (rat brain tumor)cells, and Hela (human uterus carcinoma)cell lines. Results : The results indicated that the ethyl acetate extract exhibited antiradical activity of 29.49%, higher than that of n -butanol extract (18.06%) at 100 µg/mL but much lower than that of gallic acid (78.21%).The ethyl acetate extract exhibits better reducing capacity and lipid peroxidation inhibitory activity compared to n -butanol extract but less than all tested standards. Moreover, the ethyl acetate extract was found to have an antiproliferative activity of more than 5-FU (5-fluoro-Uracil) against C6 cells at 250 µg/mL with IC 50 and IC 75 of 113.97, 119.49 µg/mL, respectively, and good cytotoxic activity against the Hela cell lines at the same concentration. The HPLC-TOF-MS (high performance liquid chromatography-Time-of-flight-Mass Spectrometry) analyses exposed the presence of various compounds, among which Gallic and Chlorogenic acids functioned as major compounds. Conclusions : The two extracts exhibited moderate anticancer abilities and behaved somewhat as average antioxidant agents. Based on the total phenolics and flavonoids contents, as well as HPLC results, it could be concluded that antiproliferative and antioxidant activities depend upon the content of different phenolics and flavonoids.

A new compound (microphybenzimidazole, 7) along with the six known compounds matairesinol (1), prestegane B (2), umbelliferone (3), daphnoretin (4), microphynolide A (5) and microphynolide B (6) were isolated from Thymelaea microphylla. The structures of the pure compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic and mass-spectrometric analyses, including 1D-, 2D-NMR, and HPLC-TOF/MS. Compounds 2 and 4, as well as three fractions (F6, F6-C5, and F6-W42) obtained from a 50% (v:v) CH 2 Cl 2 :MeOH extract exhibited a selective activity against rat brain glioma cells (C6). Moreover, compound 1 and other fractions obtained from 50% (v:v) CH 2 Cl 2 :MeOH and 70% (v:v) MeOH:H 2 O extracts exhibited dose- and time-dependent effects on human cervical cancer cell (HeLa), as measured by xCELLigence assay. Compound 2 (IC 50  = 14.0 ± 0.2 μg/mL) and fraction F5 (IC 50  = 12.4 ± 0.1 μg/mL) showed higher radical scavenging ability than the synthetic agent butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT, IC 50  = 22.7 ± 0.6 μg/mL).

Twenty compounds were detected in the essential oil of Rhanterium suaveolens representing 98.01% of the total oil content. Perillaldehyde (45.79%), caryophyllene oxide (24.82%) and β-cadinol (5.61%) were identified as the main constituents. In β-carotene-linoleic acid assay, both the oil and the methanol extract exhibited good lipid peroxidation inhibition activity, with IC50 values of 17.97 ± 5.40 and 11.55 ± 3.39 μg/mL, respectively. In DPPH and CUPRAC assays, however, the methanol extract exhibited a good antioxidant activity. The highest antibiofilm activity has been found 50.30% against Staphylococcus epidermidis (MU 30) at 20 μg/mL for essential oil and 58.34% against Micrococcus luteus (NRRL B-4375) at 25 mg/mL concentration for methanol extract. The in vitro anticholinesterase activity of methanol extract showed a moderate acetylcholinesterase inhibitory (IC50 = 168.76 ± 0.62 μg/mL) and good butyrylcholinesterase inhibitory (IC50 = 54.79 ± 1.89 μg/mL) activities. The essential oil was inactive against both enzymes.

The essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation from Daucus sahariensis Murb. harvested at three different growth stages were characterized by GC/MS analysis. In total, 88 compounds were identified, with myristicin (29.8-51.7%), myrcene (6.7-31.1%), α-pinene (11.6-14.8%), and limonene (5.3-11.5%) as main constituents. Monoterpene hydrocarbons were the most represented compounds in the oils of the plant samples collected during the flower-budding and full-flowering periods. On the contrary, during the fruiting stage, the oils were dominated by phenylpropanoids. The essential oils were subject of considerable variation in their composition during the various developmental stages, particularly concerning the content of myrcene that decreased significantly passing from the vegetative to the fruiting stage. Conversely, for myristicin, the opposite trend was observed. Furthermore, the essential-oil yields were quite low during the flower-budding phase (0.27%), but rapidly increased during plant development (0.63 and 0.68% for the flowering and fruiting phases, resp.)., (Copyright © 2013 Verlag Helvetica Chimica Acta AG, Zürich.)

Background: The biological importance of members of genus Ferula promoted us to investigate the leaves of Ferula vesceritensis Coss et Dur. (endemic plant) previously not investigated. This study presents the chemical composition and antibacterial activities of the hydrodistilled oils., Results: Volatile components of the leaves of F. vesceritensis have been studied by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to afford 23 compounds. The major components were found to be 5,9-tetradecadiyne (24.72%), germacrene D (24.51%), farnesene (8.57%), and α-bisabolene (8.57%). The antimicrobial activities of the essential oils were evaluated by disk diffusion method and tested against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The volatile oil showed a strong antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Klebsiella pneumonia., Conclusions: These results reinforce the previous studies showing that the genus Ferula is considered as a good source of essential oils. The results presented here can be considered as the first information on the antimicrobial properties of F. vesceritensis.

Background: Several species of the genus Launaea are used in folk medicine such as in bitter stomachic, skin diseases, and reported to have antitumor, insecticide, and cytotoxic activities. The antimicrobial activities of coumarin constituents and the neuropharmacological properties have been investigated as well. In this study, the chemical composition of essential oils from Launaea resedifolia L. has been identified using the ordinary GC-MS technique to reveal the presence of 19 compounds dominated by dioctyl phthalate. Moreover, the antibacterial activity of the crude oil has been carried out using disk diffusion method against seven bacteria strains., Results: Nineteen compounds of essential oil of L. resedifolia L. were identified, representing 86.68% of the total oil. The compounds were identified by spectral comparison to be mainly esters, alcohols, ketones, and terpenes. The principal constituents are dioctyl phthalate (39.84%), Decanoic acid, decyl ester (12.09%), 11-Octadecenal (11.24%), and Eucalyptol (07.31%), while others were present in relatively small amounts. As far as antibacterial essays are concerned, it was found that the oils are active against most of the tested bacterial strains., Conclusion: A major constituent in visible parts was Dioctyl phthalate (39.84%) and the yield of essential oils was 0.9%. These extracts reveal in vitro antibacterial activity on the studied bacterial, confirmed by the inhibition zone diameter ranging from 11 to 37 mm and a MIC value between 0.09 and 0.69 depending on the microorganism being tested.

Phytochemical studies of the aerial parts of Euphorbia rigida afforded three triterpenes: betulin (1), cycloart-23Z-ene-3, 25-diol (2) and cycloartan-3, 24, 25-triol (3), firstly isolated from this plant. The structures and relative stereochemistry were determined on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analyses, including 1D and 2D NMR experiments (1H NMR, 13C NMR, COSY, NOESY, HMQC and HMBC).