Investigation of anti-Alzheimer's activity of aqueous extract of areca nuts (Areca catechu L): in vitro and in vivo studies / Investigación de la actividad anti-Alzheimer del extracto acuoso de nueces de areca (Areca catechu L): estudios in vitro e in vivo

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disorder. Sever cognitive and memory impairments, huge increase in the prevalence of the disease, and lacking definite cure have absorbed worldwide efforts to develop therapeutic approaches. Since many drugs have failed in the clinical trials due to multifactorial nature of AD, symptomatic treatments are still in the center attention and now, nootropic medicinal plants have been found as versatile ameliorators to reverse memory disorders. In this work, anti-Alzheimer's activity of aqueous extract of areca nuts (Areca catechu L.) was investigated via in vitro and in vivo studies. It depicted good amyloid ß (Aß) aggregation inhibitory activity, 82% at 100 µg/mL. In addition, it inhibited beta-secretase 1 (BACE1) with IC50 value of 19.03 µg/mL. Evaluation of neuroprotectivity of the aqueous extract of the plant against H2O2-induced cell death in PC12 neurons revealed 84.5% protection at 1 µg/mL. It should be noted that according to our results obtained from Morris Water Maze (MWM) test, the extract reversed scopolamine-induced memory deficit in rats at concentrations of 1.5 and 3 mg/kg.

La enfermedad de Alzheimer (EA) es un trastorno neurodegenerativo relacionado con la edad. Los severos deterioros cognitivos y de la memoria, el enorme aumento de la prevalencia de la enfermedad y la falta de una cura definitiva han absorbido los esfuerzos mundiales para desarrollar enfoques terapéuticos. Dado que muchos fármacos han fallado en los ensayos clínicos debido a la naturaleza multifactorial de la EA, los tratamientos sintomáticos siguen siendo el centro de atención y ahora, las plantas medicinales nootrópicas se han encontrado como mejoradores versátiles para revertir los trastornos de la memoria. En este trabajo, se investigó la actividad anti-Alzheimer del extracto acuoso de nueces de areca (Areca catechu L.) mediante estudios in vitro e in vivo. Representaba una buena actividad inhibidora de la agregación de amiloide ß (Aß), 82% a 100 µg/mL. Además, inhibió la beta-secretasa 1 (BACE1) con un valor de CI50 de 19,03 µg/mL. La evaluación de la neuroprotección del extracto acuoso de la planta contra la muerte celular inducida por H2O2 en neuronas PC12 reveló una protección del 84,5% a 1 µg/mL. Cabe señalar que, de acuerdo con nuestros resultados obtenidos de la prueba Morris Water Maze (MWM), el extracto revirtió el déficit de memoria inducido por escopolamina en ratas a concentraciones de 1,5 y 3 mg/kg.

Traditional and modern aspects of hemorrhoid treatment in Iran: a review / 中西医结合学报

Hemorrhoidal disease is a prevalent anorectal condition which is generally not managed well with current pharmacologic interventions. However, in Iranian traditional medicine (ITM) there are numerous plants with hemorrhoid-healing properties. The present research assembled plants with hemorrhoid-healing properties in ITM; their related pharmacological effects, phytochemical constituents and mechanisms of action in the modern medicine were also gathered. For this purpose, leading ITM textbooks were searched for plants with hemorrhoid-healing effects. Further, in vitro, in vivo and clinical studies on the most cited species were considered using scientific databases. Studying ITM textbooks revealed 37 medicinal plants with hemorrhoid-healing effects. Among the mentioned herbal medicines, six species, including Allium ampeloprasum, Phyllanthus emblica, Aloe vera, Terminalia chebula, Vitis vinifera and Commiphora mukul, had the largest number of related pharmacological effects documented in scientific databases. These herbs from ITM should be considered as important resources for producing novel drugs for hemorrhoid treatment.

Liver tonics: Review of plants used in Iranian traditional medicine

Considering the fact that liver is one of the most important organs in our body, it deserves special attention and protection. Among various recommended supplements, complementary and alternative medicines particularly herbal remedies have received much attention owing to their truly healing properties. This review profits from Iranian traditional medicine and presents advantageous herbal guide directions for liver protection. According to credible Iranian medical literature such as Al Qanun Fil Tibb, Al-Havi and Makhzan-al-Aadvia, a wide spectrum of plants have been found to be useful for cleansing and protecting the liver. Some herbs such as ghafes (Agrimonia eupatoria), kasni (Cichorium intybus), anar (Punica granatum), darchin (Cinnamomum zeylanicum), za'feran (Crocus sativus), gole-sorkh (Rosa damascena) and zereshk (Berberis vulgaris) appeared to get strong consideration and were well documented as outstanding liver tonics. We conducted a comprehensive review of available Iranian medical resources such as scientific information database and medical sciences databases which cover all in vitro and in vivo studies of medicinal plants as liver tonics and hepatoprotective candidates. Literature survey was accomplished using multiple databases including PubMed, ISI web of knowledge, and Google Scholar.

Healing potential of Iranian traditional medicinal plants on burn wounds in alloxan-induced diabetic rats

Malva sylvestris, Punica granatum, Amygdalus communis, Arnebia euchroma and Scrophularia deserti are important medicinal plants in Iranian traditional medicine (Unani) whose have been used as remedy against edema, burn, and wound and for their carminative, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities. The ethanol extracts of M. sylvestris and P. granatum flowers, A. communis leaves, A. euchroma roots and S. deserti stems were used to evaluate the burn healing activity in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Burns were induced in Wistar rats divided into nine groups as following; Group-I: normal rats were treated with simple ointment base (control), Group-II: diabetic rats were treated with simple ointment base (control), Groups-III and -VII: diabetic rats were treated with simple ointment base containing of extracts (diabetic animals), Groups VIII: diabetic rats were treated with simple ointment base containing of mixed extracts, Group-IX: diabetic rats received the standard drug (Silver Sulfadiazine). The efficacy of treatments was evaluated based on wound area, epithelialization time and histopathological characteristics. Wound contraction showed that there is high significant difference between the different groups (p<0.001). At the 18th day, A. euchroma, S. deserti, A. communis and mixed extract ointment treated groups healed 80-90%. At the 9th and 18th days the experiment, the best results were obtained with A. communis and standard drug, when compared to the other groups as well as to the controls. It may be concluded that almond leaves (sweet and bitter) formulated in the simple ointment base is effective in the treatment of burns and thus supports its traditional use.

Review on the indigenous use and ethnopharmacology of hot and cold natures of phytomedicines in the Iranian traditional medicine

Objective: According to our best knowledge, this is the first and also a relatively comprehensive review on the cold and hot (or warm) nature of common Iranian traditional herbal medicines, based on the evidence-based and directly collected from the user and native-healers, instead of reviewing the classical texts of Iranian traditional medicine. This column resulted from a wide field study on the common Iranian traditional herbal medicine for their so-called effects of cold, hot and also balanced natures, used currently among ethno-pharmacologists, herbal-drug sellers and rural native-healers. Methods: The junior medical students were grouped into several groups for data collection. The information gathered from ethno-pharmacologists, herbal-drug sellers and rural native-healers, from different regions of Iran, especially Northwest, Southwest, Central and Northern provinces. For each repeated report of a certain indication, we added “a point” to the specification of that plant. If the number of every reported indication was, more than 5-20 times we reported that indication or pharmacological effect in our final report in this article.Results:The data recorded for every plant included: scientific name, family names, English name, Persian name, therapeutic nature (cold, hot or balanced), suggested actions and pharmacology, indication and usage, used parts/preparation, mode of administration. The plants were grouped into 25 families. Of a total 61 plants 16 were with cold (26%) and 43 were with hot nature (70%) and the rest were with balanced nature (4%). Conclusions: Almost of them have been long used as the components of the ancient receipts, hence, they may be more readily tried as suitable candidates in the future modern pharmacological investigations. Nevertheless, almost of them have been already evaluated in pharmacological laboratories, and their efficient properties have been confirmed. Considering the pharmacological properties of these plants, for finding a clear correlation of the pharmacological activities with the hot or cold nature, more detailed studies need to be conducted. Here we presented 61 plants currently used in Iranian traditional herbal medicine.