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Background: Hepatitis c virus infection is a global health problem which chronically infected 71 million people in the world. This infection has a risk of becoming liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Since the current HCV therapy has been developed by direct-acting antivirals (DAA), however, most patients get limited access due to the high cost. Therefore, further development anti-HCV agent still greatly needed. Ruta angustifolia is a natural resource which was reported to possess anti-HCV activity. Ribavirin is an antiviral agent used to treat several virus infections, either DNA or RNA. Ribavirin was known to inhibit HCV infection by regulated immune system in host cells and interfering the replication of HCV by inhibit HCV RdRp. Objective: The current study evaluated the combination treatment of R. angustifolia extracts and ribavirin by in vitro culture cells of Huh 7it. Method: The study was conducted under an invitro cell culture of Huh 7it and infected with JFH1a. Result: The result demonstrated an enhancement effect of the extract by increasing the anti-HCV activity 3.5-fold higher compared to ribavirin alone. The 50% inhibitory concentration of ribavirin by single treatment was 10.43 ± 0.18 µg/mL, while in combination with Ruta angustifolia extract was 2.80 ± 0.03 µg/mL. Further analysis of the combination by CompuSyn software mediated a synergistic effect among the combination with a combination index value of 0.691. Conclusion: These results suggested that combination of Ribavirin and Ruta angustifolia should be considered in developing anti-hepatitis C virus agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ruta montana L. locally known as fidjel belongs to the rutaceae family. This plant is used in traditional medicine as an aphrodisiac, abortive and as hypoglycemic. The aim of this research is to evaluate the mean lethal dose (LD50) and subchronic toxicity of methanol extract of Ruta montana L. on female rat. To determine the LD50, 30 female rats were divided into 5 groups; each group received intraperitoneally, a single dose (800, 1000, 1200, 1400 and 1600 mg/kg bw) of the extract, toxicity symptoms and mortality were registered for 14 consecutive days. In subchronic toxicity (45 days), 14 female rats were divided into 2 groups; treated group received intraperitoneally 38,7149 mg/kg bw = 1/30 LD50 of the extract and control group received physiological water. Body weight, relative organ masses, reproductive hormones, haematological, biochemical and histopathological parameters were evaluated. The LD50 value was calculated to be 1161.4486 mg/kg by Litchfield and Wilcoxon method. In the subchronic study, there was a significant reduction in body weight in the 2nd and 7th week (P<0.05). Relative mass of the brain and ovaries registered a significant decrease and increase, respectively (P<0.05). Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH) and biochemical parameters did not record significant difference. Haematological parameters presented significant increase and decrease in mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH) and red cell distribution width (RDW), respectively (P<0.05). The histopathology revealed no abnormalities in different studied tissues. The current study revealed that the methanol extract of Ruta montana at the tested dose had no toxic effect on subjected organs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work aims to highlight the optimal temperature for the seed germination of Ruta chalepensis, an important threatened ethnomedicinal shrub, and assess its germination tolerance against salinity and water stresses as well. For this, the seeds were incubated firstly under different temperatures (5 to 30°C). After that, at 20°C, germination tests were performed under different sodium chloride (NaCl) concentrations (0 to 273.9 mM) and various polyethylene glycol solutions (PEG6000) (0 to -2.20 bar). Final germination percentage, velocity coefficient and latency time were subsequently the germination patterns determined and analysed. The optimum temperature for germination was 15°C, in which the maximum final germination percentage (85%) was noticed; germination fell steadily, however, above and below this temperature and completely ceased at 30°C. Germination behaviour of R. chalepensis seeds under osmotic stress conditions showed a significant effect of both NaCl and PEG6000. Germination decreased whether sodium chloride or polyethylene glycol was increased in the medium (p < 0.05). Moreover, the salinity tolerance threshold was 205.4 mM, equivalent to 16 g L-1 NaCl, while water stress was -1.16 bar, corresponding to 80 g L-1 PEG6000. Beyond these thresholds, germination stopped. Dropping in velocity coefficient and postponing in latency time with increasing both stresses were recorded either. The sensitivity of R. chalepensis seeds to environmental stresses should be taken into account for successful conservation programmes, which should be implemented by sowing seeds and planting seedlings in fresh habitats with sufficient annual rainfall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-pressure homogenization (HPH) was investigated to promote the extraction in water of bioactive molecules from Ruta chalepensis, a medicinal plant widely used in folk medicine. Aqueous suspensions (5% wt) of the pre-milled plant were treated by high-shear mixing (HSM), followed by HPH at 100 MPa for up to 10 passes. A considerable decrease in the size of the suspended particles was observed when applying HPH, which was related to cell deagglomeration and fragmentation. In contrast, no significant changes at the cellular level were observed when only maceration or HSM treatments were applied. Remarkably, HPH treatment did not significantly change the antioxidant activity of the aqueous extracts, but affected their composition: HPLC analysis revealed that HPH treatment significantly increased the content in the aqueous phase of quercetin (+ 452.7%), recovered by fractionation of the aqueous phase with ethyl acetate, and rutin (+ 29.8%), recovered with butanol. In addition, GC/MS analysis of the chloroform fractions obtained from the aqueous extracts revealed that the HPH treatment caused also a significant (p < 0.05) increase in γ-fagarine and chalepin of + 177% and + 1420%, respectively, whereas pteleine, skimmianine, kokusaginine, and arborinine levels were higher in the extracts obtained by maceration than the HPH-treated samples. These findings suggest that the recovery of low water-solubility compounds from R. chalepensis, such as rutin and quercetin, as well as of some alkaloids, such as γ-fagarine and chalepin, significantly improved by HPH-assisted extraction and associated cell disruption effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the present study was the optimization of the parameters affecting the hydrodistillation of Ruta chalepensis L. essential oil using response surface design type Box- Behnken. After an appropriate choice of three parameters, 15 experiments were performed leading to a mathematical second-degree model relating the response function (yield of essential oil) to parameters and allowing a good control of the extraction process. The realization of the experiments and data analysis was carried out by response surface methodology (RSM). A deduced second-order polynomial expression was used to determine the optimal conditions necessary to obtain a better essential oil yield. These optimized operating conditions were: a granulometry of 2 mm, a condensation-water flow rate of 3.4 mL/min and an extraction time of 204 min. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicates that the generated second-order polynomial model was highly significant with R2=0.9589 and P<0.006. The gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of essential oil extracted from the Ruta chalepensis L. aerial parts revealed the presence of 2-undecanone, 2- nonanone and 2-decanone as major components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rutin (1), rutin 3'-methyl ether (2), and a new flavonol glycoside, 6-hydroxy-rutin 3',7-dimethyl ether (3), were isolated from the methanol extract of the fruits of Ruta chalepensis, collected from Diyala, Iraq. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic analyses, including 1D-, 2D-NMR and HRESIMS. Antimicrobial activity of compounds 1-3 was tested against four Gram +ve and Gram -ve bacterial strains, and the only fungal strain, Candida albicans, using the 96-well based resazurin microtitre assay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to determine the level of selected metals in the leaves of Ruta chalepensis L. (Rue) cultivated in Ethiopia. Rue leaves samples were randomly collected from four different parts of Ethiopia (Kality and Alem Bank from Addis Ababa Administration, Holeta (Oromia Region) and Worabe (South Nations and Nationalities Peoples Region)). A 0.5 g Rue sample was digested with 3.0 mL of 69.5% HNO3 and 1.0 mL 70% HClO4 and the levels of selected metals were determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The validity of the optimized procedure was evaluated by analyzing the digest of the spiked samples with standard solution and the percentage recoveries varied from 92.0 to 102%. The levels of metals determined in mg/kg dry weight were in the ranges Ca (1872-3077), Zn (44.5-64.0), Cu (

Context:Rutagenus (Rutaceae) is abundantly used and described in the most ancient systematic records of medical practice of the Mediterranean world. In Tunisia, this genus is represented by two medicinal and aromatic shrubs:Ruta chalepensisL. andRuta montanaL. Objective:This study investigates the antioxidant and acetylcholinesterase inhibition (AChE) activities before and afterin vitrogastrointestinal metabolism of leaf decoction ofR. chalepensisandR. montana. Materials and methods:We study,in vitro,the effect of the gastrointestinal juices gastric (1.75 mL) or pancreatic (2.5 mL) juices, on the biological activity by the measurement of the antioxidant activity and AChE inhibition during 4 h of decoction extract obtained from the leaves of the two species ofRuta. Results:The results showed that the ability to inhibit the AChE enzyme was similar; being the greatest inhibitory activity exhibited by the ethanol extract (IC50 = 12 ± 1.1 μg/mL) obtained from leaves ofR. chalepensis. Conclusion:In conclusion, we showed that there was no appreciable degradation and that the activity was kept constant after gastric and pancreatic juice digestion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infections by gastrointestinal nematodes negatively affect small ruminant health and at the same time cause substantial economic losses worldwide. Because resistance to conventional anthelmintic compounds is growing, target studies evaluating the effectiveness of alternative ingredients of botanical origin on gastrointestinal nematodes are needed. In this study, we evaluated the in vitro anthelmintic activity of Ruta chalepensis L. extracts on the third-stage larvae of sheep gastrointestinal nematodes. A methanol extract showed the highest anthelmintic activity, with an EC50 = 0.10 ± 0.06 mg/ml after 96 h, while the essential oil had an EC50 = 1.45 ± 1.22 mg/ml after 48 h. Moreover, three secondary metabolites of the essential oil, i.e. 2-decanone, 2-nonanone and 2-undecanone, showed EC50 values of 0.07 ± 0.06, 0.25 ± 0.29 and 0.88 ± 0.73 mg/ml at 24 h, respectively. The present study indicated that the R. chalepensis methanol extract, the essential oil and its metabolites 2-decanone, 2-nonanone and 2-undecanone showed promising anthelmintic activity on gastrointestinal nematodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ruta Chalepensis L. leaf essential oils were hydrodistillated and analyzed by GC-MS for their chemical compositions. Ten compounds were identified from the plant leaves, with 2-undecanone (40.69%), butanoic acid3-oxo- ethyl ester (23.5%) and 2-acetylcycloheptanone (17.1%) as the three major chemical compositions. Moreover, butanoic acid 3-oxo- ethyl ester (23.50%), 2-acetylcycloheptanone (17.10%), acetic acid-sec-octyl ester (2.17%), and phenol 4 - (1, 1, 3, 3-tetramethylbutyl) (3.10%) were reported for the first time in the essential oil of R. chalepensis L. leaves collected from Mekelle, Ethiopia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ruta angustifolia Pers. is a perennial herb that is cultivated worldwide, including Southeast Asia, for the treatment of various diseases as traditional medicine. Objective: The purpose of the study was to identify an active principle of R. angustifolia and to investigate its effect on the HT29 cell death. Materials and Methods: The methanol and fractionated extracts (hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, and water) of R. angustifolia Pers. were initially investigated for their cytotoxic activity against two human carcinoma cell lines (MCF7 and HT29) and a normal human colon fibroblast cell line (CCD-18Co) using sulforhodamine B cytotoxicity assay. Eight compounds including rutamarin were isolated from the active chloroform extract and evaluated for their cytotoxic activity against HT29 human colon carcinoma cell line and CCD-18Co noncancer cells. Further studies on the induction of apoptosis such as morphological examinations, biochemical analyses, cell cycle analysis, and caspase activation assay were conducted in rutamarin-treated HT29 cells. Results: Rutamarin exhibited remarkable cytotoxic activity against HT29 cells (IC50value of 5.6 µM) but was not toxic to CCD-18Co cells. The morphological and biochemical hallmarks of apoptosis including activation of caspases 3, 8, and 9 were observed in rutamarin-treated HT29 cells. These may be associated with cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 and G2/M checkpoints, which was also observed in HT29 cells. Conclusions: The present study describes rutamarin-induced apoptosis in the HT29 cell line for the first time and suggests that rutamarin has the potential to be developed as an anticancer agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The effects of pharmacological waste on aquatic ecosystems are increasingly highlighted in ecotoxicology research. Many of these products are designed for human physiology but owing to the conservative nature of vertebrate evolution they also tend to have effects on aquatic organisms and fishes in particular when they find their way into aquatic systems via wastewater effluent. One area of research has focused on reproductive control and the associated hormone treatments. Many of these hormones affect the reproductive physiology of fishes and may cause feminization of male reproductive traits. Alternative medicines have also been widely used particularly in traditional cultures but few of these alternative treatments have been assessed with respect to their potential impact on aquatic ecosystems. Rue ( Ruta graveolens) has been used as a male contraceptive in traditional medicines but its effects on fish behavior and reproductive anatomy have yet to be established. Here we show that treating Siamese fighting fish, Betta splendens, with extract of rue has a significant effect on key aggressive/reproductive behaviors and the propensity to explore novel objects (boldness). In all cases the respective behaviors were reduced relative to controls and sham injected fish. Histological analysis of the testes revealed that rue exposure reduced the number of spermatozoa but increased the number of spermatocytes relative to controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemical compositions of essential oils ofRuta chalepensisL. (Rutaceae) collected from the South-East of Tunisia (Thoujene at 525 m altitude) were identified. The essential oils were extracted from the leaves, stems, and fruits by hydrodistillation and they were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC-FID) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Nineteen compounds were identified from the different plant organs, where ketones and esters constituted the main chemical classes. The most abundant compounds in the leaves and stems’ essential oils were 2-nonanone (16.7–22.1 %), octyl acetate (12.1–26.8 %) and 2-undecanone (27.9–37.7 %), while 2-nonanone (19.1 %) and 2-undecanone (58.4 %) were found to be major compounds in the fruits’ essential oil. Our findings suggest thatR. chalepensisgrowing wild in South-East of Tunisia seems to be a new chemotype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the chemical composition of different solvent extracts from Ruta chalepensis L. was determined and their antioxidant and antimicrobial activities were evaluated. Indeed, the total phenol, flavonoids, ortho-diphenols, tannin and flavonols contents of these extracts were quantified, with a total phenolic content varying from 120.57 to 178.00 mg Gallic acid equivalents per gram of dry extract. The chemical analysis of the composition of these R. chalepensis L. extracts has shown a high content of coumarins and alkaloid compounds. Besides, their antioxidant activities were examined using various in vitro assays: DPPH radical scavenging, β-carotene bleaching method, reducing power and quantification of the total antioxidant capacity. The obtained results have confirmed that the ethanol extract exhibits the most potent antioxidant effect, followed by methanol and methanol/water (1/1) extracts. Furthermore, the ethanol, methanol, methanol/water (1/1) and ethyl acetate extracts were found to have an antibacterial activity against gram positive and gram negative strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of the oral administration of hydroalcoholic extracts of Prosopisflexuosa and Prosopisalpataco was evaluated on thegastric motility in a canine. This preliminary study was conducted in order to determine if these extracts, the same as in mice, delay gastric emptying. The aim of these tests is to evaluate new compounds that can be formulated with antiparasitic drugs as albendazole, to promote absorption by increasing the time they spend in contact with stomach acid pH. The results of these tests determined that Prosopisflexuosa do not produce variations in the gastric emptying time, increasing intestinal motility. The dose of Rutachalepensis hydroalcoholic extract used in these assays was toxic producing increased gastric motility and vomits. We conclude that further studies should be performed using lower doses to determine the potential of these extracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To our knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the biological activities of the methanolic extracts of leaves, roots and stems of Ruta chalepensis L. (Rutaceae) in Tunisia. The chemical composition of the essential oil extracted from R. chalepensis leaves was determined by GC-MS. The antioxidant activities of tested essential oil and the methanolic extracts of leaves, stems and roots of R. chalepensis were evaluated using DPPH and ABTS radicals scavenging tests. Their antimicrobial activities were achieved by disc diffusion method and broth dilution assay. The main components of the selected essential oil were menthol (43.92%) and linalool (42.10%). Significant differences were found between the total phenol contents and biological activities of the different parts of R. chalepensis. In addition, significant correlations were observed between antioxidant activities and phenolic contents for methanol extracts. In fact, leaves extract presented higher total phenol content than stems and roots extracts. The tested oil showed better antioxidant activity than methanolic extracts. The highest antioxidant activity was recorded in leaves methanolic extract. The latter showed strong antibacterial activity against tested microorganisms, whereas the evaluated oil remained almost inactive. The inhibition zones diameters and minimal inhibitrice concentration values for tested bacteria, which were sensible to different methanolic extracts, were in the range of 8-35 mm and 0.78-25 mg/ml, respectively. This study demonstrated that the R. chalepensis extract can be regarded as promising candidate for natural plant source of antioxidant and antimicrobial agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essential oil of Ruta chalepensis L, herb belonging to Rutaceae family, is useful in perfumery, for flavoring and has insecticidal activity. Its composition depends on the specific geobotanical conditions, and several chemiotypes has been described. The aim of this work was to establish the potential of the essential oil obtained from R. chalepensis as a candidate for the development of new antibacterials in the management of plant pathogens. The essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation with a Clevenger equipment; the yield determined and its chemical composition investigated by GC/MS. The antibacterial assessment was conducted using the agar diffusion technique. In the composition of the essential oil of rue (yield of 0.3 % (v/w)), aliphatic ketones were predominant; 2-undecanone (34.88%) and 2-nonanone (25.23%) showed the higher relative abundance. R. chalepensis essence inhibited growth of Xanthomonas albilineans (Ashby) Dowson and Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis (Smith) Davis et al. The antibacterial effect suggests that this essence can provide the basis for future development of new antimicrobials for pest management in sugar cane and tomato. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objective: Ruta graveolens is a plant used in traditional medicine with variety of therapeutic effects. This study was done to evaluate the antimicrobial effect of hydro and alcoholic extracts of Ruta graveolens on 8 species of pathogenic bacteria. Methods: In this descriptive study, standard strains of Enterococcus faecalis, Staphilococcus aureus, Staphilococcus epidermis, Strptococcus pneumonia, Escherichia Coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Salmonella typhi and Enterobacter Cloace were obtained from Iranian institute of scientific and industerial research center. The effect of hydro and hydroalcholic extracts of Ruta graveolens on the growth of bacteria was determined by disc diffusion and serial macro dilution methods. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for each extract was determined and the findings were compared with 8 common antibiotics including Co-trimoxazole, Oxycycline, Vancomycin, Erythromycin, Furazolidon, Tetracycline, amoxicillin / clavulanic acid and Ampicillin/sulbactam. Results: Hydro and hydroalcoholic extracts of Ruta graveolens did not show any inhibitory effect on growth of the pathogenic bacteria even in the presence of high concentration (3mg/ml). Conclusion: The extracts of arial organs of Ruta graveolens had no inhibitory effect on growth of the common human pathogenic bacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] We isolated essential oil of rutaceae and determined its constituents using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry technique. [•] We examined antimicrobial activity of essential oil against representatives of Gram-positive, Gram-negative bacteria and fungi. [•] Essential oil showed prominent antifungal activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioassay-guided separation with an eye toward antifungal activity led to the isolation of the new alkaloid 5-(1,1-dimethylallyl)-8-hydroxyfuro[ 2-3-b] quinoline (1) and the known biscoumarin daphnoretin (2) as the active constituents of the chloroform extract obtained from the leaves of Ruta chalepensis. The structures of the metabolites were elucidated on the basis of their spectral characteristics (NMR, UV, and MS) and were compared with the literature. The antifungal activity of the isolated compounds was evaluated against the phytopathogenic fungi Rhizoctonia solani, Sclerotium rolfsii, and Fusarium solani, which cause root-rot and wilt diseases in several economically important food crops such as potato, sugar beet, and tomato. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ruta graveolens L. ( Rutaceae) are traditionally used for the treatment of rheumatism, arthritis and other inflammatory conditions in the traditional medicine of India. The purpose of this study was to investigate anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects of methanolic extract of Ruta graveolens L. in adjuvant induced arthritis in rats. Methanolic extract of Ruta graveolens ( MER) exhibited maximum percentage of oedema inhibition at a dose of 20 mg/kg on 21st day of adjuvant arthritis. The effect was higher than that of standard drug indomethacin. The activities of cycloxygenase-2 and myeloperoxidase and concentration of thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) were decreased and the activities of antioxidant enzymes, vitamins C & E and reduced glutathione level were increased on treatment with MER. The increment in ESR and total WBC, reduction in RBC count and haemoglobin and aberrant changes to the C-reactive protein (CRP) and ceruloplasmin levels observed in the arthritic animals were also found to be significantly restored in MER treated rats. Histopathology of paw tissue showed decreased oedema formation and cellular infiltration on supplementation with MER. Thus the results demonstrated the potential beneficiary effect of methanolic extract of Ruta graveolens on adjuvant induced arthritis in rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The water distilled essential oil from aerial parts of Ruta chelepensis subsp. angustifolia (Pers.) P. Cout was investigated by GC and GC/MS techniques for the first time. The oil yield was 0.27%. It was characterized by a large amount of ketones (57.0%), with 2-undecanone (28.2%), 2-nonanone (20.0%), 2-methyloctyl acetate (12.7%) and 2-methyldecyl acetate (5.8%) being the major constituents found. A comparison with oils from Ruta species from different countries reported in literature shows a similarity in main compound with most species of these plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growth of Ruta graveolens shoots was induced when Bacillus sp. cell lysates were added to the culture medium. Elicitation of coumarin by this lysate was also very effective; the concentrations of isopimpinelin, xanthotoxin and bergapten increased to 610, 2120 and 1460 μg g−1 dry wt, respectively. It also had a significant effect on the production of psoralen and rutamarin (680 and 380 μg g−1 dry wt) and induced the biosynthesis of chalepin, which was not detected in the control sample, up to 47 μg g−1 dry wt With lysates of the Pectobacterium atrosepticum, their effect on growth was not so significant and had no effect on the induction of coumarin accumulation. But elicitation with this lysate was much more effective for inducing the production of furoquinolone alkaloids; the concentrations of γ-fagarine, skimmianine, dictamnine and kokusaginine rose to 99, 680, 172 and 480 μg g−1 dry wt, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the 50th anniversary of the introduction of metformin, also known as glucophage, an oral anti-diabetic drug. The development of metformin stemmed from the study of goat's rue, a plant used medicinally in medieval Europe. Metformin's 50-year history of safe and effective use reflects its importance as an effective treatment for diabetes and attests to the value of investigating traditional herbs for the development of modern pharmaceutical.

The article focuses on the evaluation of meadow rues. Several species of meadow rues are evaluated in terms of flower production, plant habits, winter hardiness and plant health. Other criteria include floral display and leaf color, cultural adaptability to soil and environmental condition of the test site and disease and pest problems. Description of the flowers and leaves of meadow rues is provided. INSET: Wild-collected Thalictrum Species.

Cinnamate 4-hydroxylase (C4H, EC 1.14.13.11) complete cDNA was cloned from the leaves of Ruta graveolens, a psoralen producing plant. The recombinant enzyme (classified CYP73A32) was expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mechanism-based inactivation was investigated using various psoralen derivatives. Only psoralen and 8-methoxypsoralen were found to inactivate C4H. The inactivation was dependent on the presence of NADPH, time of pre-incubation, and inhibitor concentration. Inactivation stoichiometry was 0.9 (± 0.2) for CYP73A1 and 1.1 (± 0.2) for CYP73A32. SDS–PAGE analysis demonstrated that [3H]psoralen was irreversibly bound to the C4H apoprotein. Ki and kinact for psoralen and 8-methoxypsoralen inactivation on the two C4H revealed a lower sensitivity for CYP73A32 compared to CYP73A1. Inactivation kinetics were also determined for CYP73A10, a C4H from another furocoumarin-producing plant, Petroselinum crispum. This enzyme was found to behave like CYP73A32, with a weak sensitivity to psoralen and 8-MOP inactivation. Cinnamic acid hydroxylation is a key step in the biosynthesis of phenylpropanoid compounds, psoralen derivatives included. Our results suggest a possible evolution of R. graveolens and P. crispum C4H that might tolerate substantial levels of psoralen derivatives in the cytoplasmic compartment without a depletive effect on C4H and the general phenylpropanoid metabolism. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This work was undertaken to examine possible embryotoxicity of Ruta graveolens (rue), a plant used by indigenous communities for the purposes of therapeutic and fertility regulation. Superovulated mice were mated and isolated after copulation. They were given aqueous extract of R. graveolens (5, 10, and 20% w/v) or plain water (control) orally for 4 days. Ninety-eight hours post-human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG), embryos were flushed from oviducts and uterine horns to assess their state of development and extent of embryo transport. Ingestion of rue at 10 and 20% resulted in a high proportion of abnormal embryos (36.7 and 63.6%, respectively, P<0.05). Cell number was diminished (P<0.01) and embryo transport was slightly delayed in the highest dose group. These findings demonstrate that oral administration of R. graveolens extract can interfere with preimplantation development and embryo transport. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Discusses the uses and importance of rue, one of the main medicinals in the European folk tradition. Traditional uses of the plant in Spain; Description, frequency and distribution of the uses of rue; Role of rue in countering supernatural evil in western tradition.

The article discusses the ecocenotic differentiation between Thalictrum (T.) minus L. and Thalictrum simplex L. in the Southern Urals, Russia. Meadow rues Thalictrum minus L. and T. simplex L. are producers of isoquinoline alkaloids, which serve as the active ingredients of different effective drugs. Thalictrum minus is a holarctic species that can be found throughout Eurasia and in North America.

Abstract: The essential oils of the dried aerial parts of Ruta chalepensis collected from the north of Tunisia were recovered by hydro-distillation with approximately 5.51% yield on a dry weight basis. The effects of drying and hydro-distillation duration on the chemical composition of the essential oils were studied. The obtained essential oils of the different parts of the herb were analyzed by GC–MS and 13 major compounds were identified. The main ones are 2-undecanone (77.18%), 2-decanone (8.96%) and 2-dodecanone (2.37%). 2-Undecanone was shown to be the unique component (100%) of the essential oil obtained from R. chalepensis flowers. Pulegone was identified only in the essential oil of the stems (about 32.11%) and camphor was identified exclusively in the essential oil of leaves (2.46%). The identification of the components of R. chalepensis essential oil should contribute to the understanding of the pharmacological activities of the herb. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACTThe essential oil of aerial parts of Ruta montanaL. growing in the Oran region in the west of Algeria was obtained by hydrodistillation with a 1.63 yield on a dry weight basis. Gas chromatography (GC) and GC/mass spectrometry (MS) analyses were carried out to identify the chemical composition of R. montanaessential oil. Moreover, spectrophotometric analyses were employed to highlight the scavenger capacity of this oil using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) test. Twenty compounds were identified by GC and CG/MS analyses, and the bulk of the compounds of the oil were undecan-2-one (32.8), nonan-2-one (29.5), nonanol-2-acetate (18.2), and psoralen (3.5). The results obtained using the DPPH test show that R. montanaessential oil possesses antiradical activity in a concentration-dependent manner. Thus, a linear correlation (correlation coefficient R2 0.971, P< .001) was found between the reduction of DPPH stable free radical and the concentration of R. montanaessential oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ruta graveolens L. shoots cultured in stationary liquid phase produced furanocoumarins: psoralen, bergapten, xanthotoxin, isopimpinellin and imperatorin at the amount totalling almost 1 g/100 g dry wt of the shoots. The dominating metabolites were therapeutically important compounds: xanthotoxin – 0.33 g/100 g dry wt and bergapten – 0.32 g/100 g dry wt. Maximum contents of the majority of the compounds were observed on 28th day of culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses several reports published within issue on topics including autoecology of species of the genus Ruta, plants widely used in North African medicine; and G-banding chromosomal analyses of four rodents from Tunisia.

The article presents a case study of an 8-year-old girl with berloque dermatitis consisting of pendant-like streaks of macular hyperpigmentation on her neck and upper chest. The dermatitis appeared two days after the application a homemade ointment containing rue for the treatment of Pediculosis capitis. She denied erythema or blistering before the hyperpigmentation developed. The article discusses a case of phytophototoxicity induced by rue.

The current investigation was carried out in the Centro de Desarrollo de la Montaña focussed on the ex vitro rooting of rue (Ruta graveolens L.) shoots, a medicinal plant recognized with a few number of individuals among twenty medicinal plants in Guantánamo province. Shoots obtained from tissue culture were used as starting material. Shoots were planted in sand after they had been submerged in different concentrations of BIOBRAS-16 (0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.5 mg.l-1). The immersion of the shoots in 0.1 mg.l-1 of BIOBRAS -16 permitted to obtain an efficient rooting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A list of plants that could be used to adorn school grounds is presented, including herbs that grow in shade like early meadow rue, the ones that grow in poor soil like wild indigo and creeping, ground-covering ones such as common periwinkle, evergreen creeper.