Variations in Hormones and Antioxidant Status in Relation to Flowering in Early, Mid, and Late Varieties of Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera) of United Arab Emirates.

The present study was carried out to assess the status of various hormones responsible for the flower induction of Nagal, Lulu, and Khalas date palm varieties in UAE. The nonenzymatic antioxidant compounds and the antioxidant enzymatic activities at preflowering, flowering, and postflowering stages of the date palm varieties were quantified. The ABA and zeatin concentrations were found to be significantly higher during the preflowering stage but gradually decreased during the flowering period and then increased after the flowering stage. Gibberellic acid (GA) concentrations were significantly higher in the early flowering varieties and higher levels of ABA may contribute to the delayed flowering in mid and late varieties. The results on hormone profiling displayed a significant variation between seasons (preflowering, flowering, and postflowering) and also between the three date palms (early, mid, and late flowering varieties). Ascorbic acid (AA) concentration was low at the preflowering stage in the early flowering Nagal (0.694 mg/g dw), which is similar with the late flowering Lulu variety (0.862 mg/g dw). However, Khalas variety showed significantly higher amount of AA content (7.494 mg/g dw) at the preflowering stage when compared to other varieties. In flowering stage, Nagal (0.814 mg/g dw) and Lulu (0.963 mg/g dw) were similar with respect to the production of AA, while the mid flowering variety showed significantly higher amount of AA (9.358 mg/g dw). The Khalas variety produced the highest tocopherol at 4.78 mg/g dw compared to Nagal and Lulu, at 1.997 and 1.908 mg/g dw, respectively, during the preflowering stage. In Nagal variety, the content of reduced glutathione (GSH) at the preflowering stage was 0.507 mg/g dw, which was not significantly different from the flowering and postflowering stages at 0.4 and 0.45 mg/g dw, respectively. The GSH was significantly higher in Khalas compared to Nagal and Lulu varieties, at 1.321 mg/g w in the preflowering phase followed by 3.347 mg/g dw and 2.349 mg/g dw at the flowering and postflowering phases, respectively. Catalase activity increased with different stages of growth. The lowest catalase activity was observed at the preflowering stage in Khalas (0.116), with similar observations noted during flowering (0.110) and postflowering stage. This study provides an insight into the possible roles of endogenous hormones and antioxidants and in the activities of antioxidant enzymes in the regulation of flower development in date palm varieties.

Traditional Uses, Pharmacological Efficacy, and Phytochemistry of Moringa peregrina (Forssk.) Fiori. -A Review.

Moringa is a sole genus of Moringaceae family with 13 species distributed in the tropical and sub-tropical regions. Among them, Moringa peregrina is one of the species which has wide range of traditional, nutritional, industrial, and medicinal values. The plant parts are used in folk medicine for many human health care purposes including diabetes, wound healing, disinfectant, fever, constipation, muscle pains, slimness, burns, labor pain, hypertension, malaria, stomach disorder, asthma, skin problems, and to expel a retained placenta. In addition to medicinal value, M. peregrina has cultural, spiritual, and religious connections with the native people of Arabian Peninsula. M. peregrina plant parts were tested for many pharmacological activities viz, antioxidant, anti-microbial, anti-diabetic, anti-spasmodic, hypertension, hepatotoxicity, lipid lowering activity, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and memory disorders. Few active molecules belong to the class isothiocyanate, flavonoid, triterpenoid, phytosterol, polyphenol, and glycoside were also isolated, identified and reported for anti-microbial, anti-oxidant, anthelmintic, anti-mutagenic, neuroprotective, anti-cancer, anti-hypertensive, anti-diabetic, anti-infective, anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, herbicidal, lipid lowering potential, anti-trypanosomal, and cytotoxic activities. So, the aim of the present review is to provide comprehensive information from recognized sources on the traditional uses, pharmacological efficacy and phytochemistry of the desert medicinal plant, M. peregrina. The information provided in this review will be very useful for further studies to develop novel therapeutic drugs.

Medicinally active principles analysis of Tephrosia apollinea (Delile) DC. growing in the United Arab Emirates.

BACKGROUND: Tephrosia apollinea is a leguminous plant and is native to southwest Asia, Arabia, northwestern India and northeast Africa. In traditional system, it is used for medicinal and coloring purpose. The present study aims to explore the phytochemical, proximate analysis, element contents and antioxidant potential of T. apollinea extract. METHODS: The phytochemical screening was done with qualitative methods. Proximate analysis and elemental composition were performed from powdered sample. In vitro antioxidant assays such as 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals and reducing power-scavenging assays were used for evaluating the antioxidant properties. RESULTS: Qualitative screening of methanolic extract of T. apollinea showed the presence of alkaloids, phenolics, flavonoids, terpenoids, glycosides and saponins. The methanolic extract of T. apollinea exhibited a significant dose dependent inhibition of DPPH activity, with a 50% inhibition (IC50) at a concentration found to be 29.41 µg/ml, which was compared with standard GAE (IC50 = 31.09 µg/ml). The reducing power shows good linear relationship in both standard gallic acid (R2 = 0.956) and T. apollinea extract (0.984). CONCLUSIONS: The results of our study clearly suggested that the methanolic extract of T. apollinea may serve as potential source of natural antioxidant for nutraceutical application.