January 2013

Warburgia salutaris (Bertol. f.) Chiov.: A multi-use ethnomedicinal plant species

Warburgia salutaris (Bertol. f.) Chiov. is used in many parts of Southern Africa to treat various human ailments. W. salutaris forms an integral part of Changana, Shona, Siswati, Sotho, Tsonga, Venda, and Zulu traditional healing systems particularly, in regions where the plant species is still found in the wild or cultivated in home gardens. W. salutaris has undergone a considerable decline...

Author(s): Alfred Maroyi    

January 2013

Alteration in antioxidant and antimicrobial attributes of leaves of Zizyphus species in response to maturation

This study was conducted to assess the antioxidant and antimicrobial potential of leaves extracts of five different species of Zizyphus. The methanol extracts of both young and mature leaves were prepared, and their antioxidant phytoconstituents (total phenol, total flavonoid) and activities (inhibition of linoleic acid peroxidation, DPPH scavenging ability, and reducing power) were subsequently determined. The...

Author(s): Saima Naz, Bushra Sultana, Muhammad Shahid and Khalil-ur-Rehman    

January 2013

Essential oil composition and antimicrobial activities of aerial parts from Tunisian Anacyclus clavatus (Desf.)

Volatiles composition of aerial parts from medicinal Anacyclus clavatus (Asteraceae) was determined by gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC/FID) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis. Altogether, 46 compounds were identified representing 81.2% of the total volatiles. The main components were Trans-Chrysanthenyl acetate (12.3%), Cis-Thujone (9.8%), Chrysanthenone (8.2%)...

Author(s): Saoussen Hammami, Abdelkader Ben Salem, Maha Mastouri, Danilo Falconieri, Mohamed Gorcii, Mohamed Farouk M’henni, Bruno Marongiu and Zine Mighri    

January 2013

Inhibitory effect of Rhinacanthus nasutus (Linn.) Kurz. and Stemona tuberosa (Lour.) extracts on herpes simplex virus infection

Efficacy of Rhinacanthus nasutus and Stemona tuberosa against herpes simplex viruses (HSV) was evaluated in this study. The cytotoxicities of the medicinal plant extracts were tested on Vero cell.  50% cytotoxic doses (CD50) of aqueous extracts of R. nasutus and S. tuberosa were 1268.0 and 5677.0 μg/ml, whereas ethanolic extracts of R. nasutus and S....

Author(s): Pratya Chaliewchalad, Narumol Thongwai and Yingmanee Tragoolpua

January 2013

In vitro and in vivo antioxidant properties of Tunisian carob (Ceratonia siliqua L.)

The present study aims at the quantification of phenolic compounds of Tunisian carob (Ceratonia siliqua L.) pods and the study of their in vitro and in vivo antioxidant activities in different extraction solvents. In this respect, we used 50 rats divided into five groups: Control and Carob-treated groups (100, 200, 600 and 1000 mg/kg, b.w.). Our results showed that the carob polar extracts...

Author(s): Hichem Sebai,#, Abdelaziz Souli,#, Latifa Chehimi, Kais Rtibi, Mohamed Amri,  Jamel El-Benna and Mohsen Sakly    

January 2013

The protective effect of Thai fermented pigmented rice on urethane induced somatic mutation and recombination in Drosophila melanogaster

This study was aimed to proof that fermentation could increase phenolic and anthocyanin contents, antioxidant activities and antimutagenicity of Thai pigmented rice. Six cultivars of rice (Sung Yod, Mon Poo, Hom Mali Daeng, Hom Nil, Riceberry, and black glutinous rice) were fermented with a mixed culture of yeasts and molds (Look-Pang) at 30°C for 3 days to produce six types of fermented rice...

Author(s): Yossaporn Plaitho, Kaew Kangsadalampai and Monruedee Sukprasansap