Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of Marrubium alysson extracts in high cholesterol-fed rabbits.

The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of hexane (HEXA), chloroform (CHLORO), ethyl acetate (EA) and total alcoholic (T. ALCOH) extracts of Marrubium alysson in hypercholesterolemic-fed rabbits were evaluated. Hypercholesterolemia was induced in male rabbits by high cholesterol diet (HCD) (350 mg/kg) for 8 weeks. Hypercholesterolemic rabbits were allocated into groups, treated with simvastatin (SIM 5 mg/kg), different extracts of M. alysson at two doses of 250, 500 mg/kg. A normal control group and an HCD control one were used for comparison. Lipid profile, as well as oxidized low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (ox-LDL-C), myeloperoxidase activity (MPO) and superoxide anion production (O2•(-)), C-reactive protein (CRP) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) were also evaluated. In addition, histological examination of ascending aorta was performed. We found dyslipidemia associated with significant increases in ox-LDL-C 123.5 ± 9.8 nmol MDA/mg non-HDL, MPO activity 0.08 ± 0.05 U/100 mg tissue and O2•(-) production 3.5 ± 0.3 nmol cytochrome C reduced/min/g tissue × 10(-4) in hypercholerterolemic rabbits. In addition, there was a significant increase in CRP 6.6 ± 0.49 µmol/L and MCP-1 190.9 ± 6.4 pg/ml and its mRNA expression in HCD. Intima appeared thick with thick plaques surrounding the intima and luminal narrowing. SIM, EA and HEXA extracts of M. alysson had lipid lowering effect, decrease in ox-LDL-C, MPO, O2•(-), CRP and MCP-1 mRNA expression with improvement of the pathological picture. M. alysson enhanced the stability of plaque, had lipid lowering, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities.

Comparative anti-herpes simplex virus type 1 and chemical profiling of Thymus capitatus and Artemisia herba-alba collected from North Africa.

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) can infect millions of people worldwide causing mild to life-threating infections. The current study demonstrates the first comparative anti-HSV type 1 activity and phytochemical investigation of Artemisia herba-alba and Thymus capitatus collected from Egypt and Libya. Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) analysis allowed the identification of 56 and 38 compounds in the Egyptian and Libyan Artemisia herba-alba ethanolic extracts, respectively, in addition to 46 and 50 compounds in the Egyptian and Libyan Thymus capitatus ethanolic extracts, respectively. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis of their corresponding essential oils revealed the presence of 15, 17, 17 and 8 compounds in Egyptian and Libyan Artemisia herba-alba and Thymus capitatus, respectively. The major chemical classes of the identified compounds were phenolic acids, flavonoids and oxygenated monoterpenes. Evaluation of the anti-HSV1 activities of the studied extracts showed that the Egyptian Thymus capitatus ethanolic extracts were the most potent extract with more than 200-fold reduction in the viral PFU.

Validated HPTLC Method for Dihydrokaempferol-4'-O-glucopyranoside Quantitative Determination in Alcea Species.

Dihydrokaempferol-4'-O-glucopyranoside, a flavanonol glucoside, is the major compound in the flower of Alcea rosea L. which possesses significant antioxidant and anticancer activity against HepG-2 cell line and thus can be considered a marker compound for A. rosea L. We attempted to establish a new simple, validated high-performance thin-layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method for the quantitation of dihydrokaempferol-4'-O-glucopyranoside to help in the standardization of the hydroalcoholic extracts of A. rosea L. flowers and to evaluate the best method for its extraction from the plant material. The separation was carried out on an HPTLC aluminum plate pre-coated with silica gel 60F-254, eluted with ethyl acetate-methanol-water-acetic acid (30:5:4:0.15 v/v). Densitometric scanning was performed using a Camag TLC scanner III, at 295 nm. A linear relationship was obtained between the concentrations (0.9-3.6 mg) and peak areas with the correlation coefficient (r) of 0.9971 ± 0.0002. The percentage relative standard deviations of intra-day and inter-day precisions were 0.22-1.45 and 0.49-1.66, respectively. The percentage w/w of dihydrokaempferol-4'-O-glucopyranoside in the flowers of A. rosea L. after maceration and sonication for 15 min was found to be 0.733 g/100 g and 0.928 g/100 g, respectively.

Flavonoids of Alcea rosea L. and their immune stimulant, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities on hepatocellular carcinoma HepG-2 cell line.

Alcea rosea L. is widely cultivated in gardens of Egypt as an ornamental plant and it has a great history of folkloric medicinal uses. In the present work, phytochemical investigation of the alcoholic extract of the flowers of A. rosea L. led to the isolation of six flavonoids (1-6). Dihydrokaempferol-4'-O-ß-d-glucopyranoside (1), dihydrokaempferol (2), kaempferol-3-O-[6″-(E-coumaroyl)]-ß-d-glucopyranoside (3), kaempferol-3-O-ß-d-glucopyranoside (4), Apigenin (5) and kaempferol-3-O-α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1'″→6″)-ß-d-glucopyranoside (6). Four of the isolated compounds were evaluated for their antioxidant, immunostimulant and cytotoxic activities against HepG-2 cell line. Compound (3) showed potent cytotoxic activity against HepG-2 cell line with high selectivity towards hepatocellular carcinoma in vitro (with IC50 = 3.8 µg/mL). Compounds 1 and 2 exhibited significant antioxidant activity and compound 4 showed a significant immune stimulant activity. Compound 1 is isolated for the first time from genus Alcea and this is the first report for its biological investigation.

Chemical constituents from Tribulus terrestris and screening of their antioxidant activity.

Two oligosaccharides (1,2) and a stereoisomer of di-p-coumaroylquinic acid (3) were isolated from the aerial parts of Tribulus terrestris along with five known compounds (4-8). The structures of the compounds were established as O-ß-D-fructofuranosyl-(2→6)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→6)-ß-D-fructofuranosyl-(2→6)-ß-D-fructofuranosyl-(2→1)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(6→2)-ß-D-fructofuranoside (1), O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→2)-ß-D-fructofuranoside (2), 4,5-di-p-cis-coumaroylquinic acid (3) by different spectroscopic methods including 1D NMR ((1)H, (13)C and DEPT) and 2D NMR (COSY, TOCSY, HMQC and HMBC) experiments as well as ESI-MS analysis. This is the first report for the complete NMR spectral data of the known 4,5-di-p-trans-coumaroylquinic acid (4). The antioxidant activity represented as DPPH free radical scavenging activity was investigated revealing that the di-p-coumaroylquinic acid derivatives possess potent antioxidant activity so considered the major constituents contributing to the antioxidant effect of the plant.