Authentication of extra virgin Argan oil by selected-ion flow-tube mass-spectrometry fingerprinting and chemometrics.

Recognized for its nutritional and therapeutic use, extra-virgin Argan Oil (EVAO) is frequently adulterated. Selected-Ion Flow-Tube Mass Spectrometry (SIFT-MS) spectra were applied to quantify adulterants (i.e., Argan oil of lower quality (LQAO), olive oil (OO), and sunflower oil (SO)) in EVAO. Four data sets, i.e., using H3O+, NO+, O2+ reagent ions, and the combined data were considered. Soft independent modelling of class analogy (SIMCA), and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) were assessed to distinguish adulterated- from pure EVAO. The effectiveness of SIFT-MS associated with PLS and support vector machine (SVM) regression to quantify trace adulterants in EVAO was evaluated. Variable Importance in Projection (VIP), and interval-PLS (iPLS) were also investigated to extract useful features. Different models were built to predict the EVAO authenticity and the degree of adulteration. High accuracy was achieved. SIFT-MS spectra handled with the appropriate chemometric tools were found suitable for the quality evaluation of EVAO.

Ethnopharmacological Survey and Comparative Study of the Healing Activity of Moroccan Thyme Honey and Its Mixture with Selected Essential Oils on Two Types of Wounds on Albino Rabbits.

Wound healing consists of several continuous phases involving various cells and chemical intermediates. As a rich source of nutrition elements, honey has proved to have potential benefits in the treatment of various diseases. The present study was designed to investigate the healing effect of a honey mixture with selected essential oils on chemical and thermal wound models in rabbits. Dressing mixtures of Thymus vulgaris honey with three essential oils (Origanum vulgare, Rosmarinus officinalis, and Thymus vulgaris) were prepared and applied daily in the treatment groups. These essential oils were rich in phytochemicals and had significant antibacterial activity against four selected ATCC bacterial strains. Madecasol ointment was used as a standard control. The healing effect of the mixtures was evaluated by measuring wound surface area and comparing healing time. The results showed that the healing rate in the treatment groups was significantly higher than that of the untreated group and standard group. The best healing effect for burns was seen in the mixture of honey and Thymus vulgaris essential oil, which had wound closure rates of 85.21% and 82.14% in thermal- and chemical-induced burns, respectively, and showed the shortest healing time (14 days) in comparison to other groups. Therefore, it can be concluded that honey mixtures have significant beneficial effects on skin wound healing and, thus, they may be used as a healing agent in different types of wounds in humans after specific clinical trials.

Phenolic Content, Antioxidant Activity, Anti-Inflammatory Potential, and Acute Toxicity Study of Thymus leptobotrys Murb. Extracts.

Thymus leptobotrys is a medicinal plant belonging to the Lamiaceae family, endemic in Morocco, and used in traditional medicine. The present work aims to study the phenolic compounds, the antioxidant activity, the anti-inflammatory effect, and the toxicity of two ethanolic and methanolic extracts of Thymus leptobotrys aerial part. The yield of the methanolic extraction (22.2%) is higher than that of the ethanolic extraction (15.8%) and is characterized by higher contents of polyphenols 243.08 mg/g GAE (mg/g of gallic acid), flavonoids 179.28 mg/g RE (mg/g of rutin), and tannins 39.31 mg/g CE (mg/g of catechin). The in vitro measurement of antioxidant activity with the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical reduction test and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) test demonstrates the higher performance of the methanolic extract. The evaluation of the anti-inflammatory effect in vivo on adult Wistar female rats leads to a very significant decrease in the inflammation of the edema compared to the standard drug (indomethacin) and the control group. The toxicity test reveals that both extracts showed no toxicity within an LD50 above 2000 mg/kg body weight of the rats.

In vivo anti-inflammatory response and bioactive compounds' profile of polyphenolic extracts from edible Argan oil (Argania spinosa L.), obtained by two extraction methods.

The present work examined and assessed the in vivo anti-inflammatory effect of polyphenolic extracts from Moroccan edible Argan oils (Argania spinosa L.), extracted by two extraction processes: Hand pressing and mechanical pressing. Chemical properties, such as acidity, peroxide index, ultraviolet indices, total polyphenols composition, fatty acid composition, tocopherol composition, phenolic profiling, and sterol composition were studied. Then, the anti-inflammatory potential was determined by applying carrageenan, an induced paw edema test in rats. The results revealed an anti-inflammatory effect of edible Argan oil and indicated a higher efficiency of hand-pressed oil compared to mechanical-pressed oil, supporting its traditional use in human health, related to pain and inflammations. The chemical composition of these oils was evaluated, and total polyphenols, tocopherol composition, and some phenolic compounds were found highly concentrated in the hand-pressed oil. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: The present study highlights and compares the in vivo anti-inflammatory effect of polyphenolic compounds, extracted from Argan oil by two processes (hand and mechanical extraction). The study demonstrated the better quality of hand-pressed oil over mechanically pressed, supporting the traditional uses of this oil in treating several inflammations and pain-related situations. Moreover, the edible Argan oil may be introduced as a regular diet and food ingredient.

Selected-ion flow-tube mass-spectrometry (SIFT-MS) fingerprinting versus chemical profiling for geographic traceability of Moroccan Argan oils.

This study investigated the effectiveness of SIFT-MS versus chemical profiling, both coupled to multivariate data analysis, to classify 95 Extra Virgin Argan Oils (EVAO), originating from five Moroccan Argan forest locations. The full scan option of SIFT-MS, is suitable to indicate the geographic origin of EVAO based on the fingerprints obtained using the three chemical ionization precursors (H3O+, NO+ and O2+). The chemical profiling (including acidity, peroxide value, spectrophotometric indices, fatty acids, tocopherols- and sterols composition) was also used for classification. Partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA), K-nearest neighbors (KNN), and support vector machines (SVM), were compared. The SIFT-MS data were therefore fed to variable-selection methods to find potential biomarkers for classification. The classification models based either on chemical profiling or SIFT-MS data were able to classify the samples with high accuracy. SIFT-MS was found to be advantageous for rapid geographic classification.

Chemical composition, acute toxicity, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of Moroccan Tetraclinis articulata L.

Hydro-distilled essential oil (EO) from the leaves of the western Mediterranean and Moroccan endemic plant Tetraclinis articulata was analyzed by GC/MS and examined for its acute toxicity on mice, in order to establish the safe doses. Furthermore, the anti-Inflammatory activity was evaluated based on carrageenan and trauma induced rats paw edema and the antioxidant potential has been investigated using different methods including DPPH radical-scavenging assay, Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) and Ferric-reducing antioxidant power assay (FRAP). The major identified compounds in GC/MS analysis were bornyl acetate (26.81%), camphor (22.40%) and α-pinene (7.16%), with 25 other minor constituents. No mortalities in acute toxicity were observed, indicating that the LD50 of T. articulata essential oil is highest than 5 g/kg. In the anti-inflammatory test based on chemical and mechanical induced trauma, the EO demonstrated an effective reduce swelling by 64.71 ± 9.38% and 69.09 ± 6.02% respectively obtained 6 h after administration at the dose of 200 mg/kg when compared to the control groups. Moreover in the antioxidant testing battery, T. articulata essential oil showed a promising scavenging effect measured by DPPH, TEAC and ferric-reducing power assays with IC50 values of 12.05 ± 0.24 mg/mL, 8.90 ± 0.17 mg/mL and 0.15 ± 0.01 mg/mL respectively. These results suggest that, the EO from the leaves of T. articulata constitutes a valuable source of anti-inflammatory and antioxidant metabolites. These findings argue for the possible integration of this oil in pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries.

Evaluation of anxiolytic activity of methanolic extract of Urtica urens in a mice model.

BACKGROUND: The present study was designed to study anxiolytic property of methanolic extracts of Urtica urens; an important and commonly used for its medicinal properties belongs to urticaceae family. METHODS: The anxiolytic activity was evaluated with the adult mice by hole board test, and the light-dark box test, and motor coordination with the rota rod test. The efficacy of the plant extract (100-400 mg/kg) was compared with the standard anxiolytic drug diazepam (1 mg/kg i.p.) RESULTS: The extract increased the time spent in the brightly-lit chamber of the light/dark box, as well as in the number of times the animal crossed from one compartment to the other. Performance on the rota rod was unaffected. In the hole board test, the extract significantly increased both head-dip counts and head-dip duration. Urtica urens, in contrast to diazepam, had no effect on locomotion. CONCLUSIONS: These results provides support for anxiolytic activity of Urtica urens, in line with its medicinal traditional use, and may also suggest a better side-effect profile of Urtica urens relative to diazepam.

Sedative and Hypnotic Activities of the Methanolic and Aqueous Extracts of Lavandula officinalis from Morocco.

We evaluate the sedative and hypnotic activities of the methanolic and aqueous extract of Lavandula officinalis L. on central nervous system (CNS). In this study, the effect of the methanolic and aqueous extracts of this plant was investigated in a battery of behavioural models in mice. Stems and flowers of Lavandula officinalis L. have several therapeutic applications in folk medicine in curing or managing a wide range of diseases, including insomnia. The methanolic extract produced significant sedative effect at the doses of 200, 400, and 600 mg/kg (by oral route), compared to reference substance diazepam (DZP), and an hypnotic effect at the doses of 800 and 1000 mg/kg while the treatment of mice with the aqueous extract at the doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg via oral pathway significantly reduced in both the reestablishment time and number of head dips during the traction and hole-board tests. In conclusion, these results suggest that the methanolic and aqueous extracts of Lavandula officinalis possess potent sedative and hypnotic activities, which supported its therapeutic use for insomnia.

[Analgesic activity of different nonvolatile extracts of Nepeta atlantica Ball and Nepeta Tuberosa L. ssp. reticulata (Desf.) Maire]. / Action analgésique de différents extraits non-volatils de Nepeta atlantica Ball et Nepeta tuberosa L. ssp. reticulata (Desf.) Maire.

Different extracts of Nepeta atlantica Ball and Nepeta tuberosa L. ssp. reticulata (Desf.) Maire contain mainly secondary metabolites with iridoïd lactonic and glucosidic type, also with triterpine lupan type.The aerial part of each species is crushed, then extracted in methanol by cold maceration, called global extracts. The global extracts will be extracted through various solvents: initially by hexane, then by dichloromethane, after that by ethyl acetate and at the end by buthanol. Each one of the obtained extracts will be used for the following trials: i) Tail flick trial on the rat for central morphine-like analgesic activity; ii) Koster trial on the mouse for peripheral analgesic activity. The evaluation of the central and peripheral analgesic activities for the pre-cited extracts was realized after optimal doses determination of the global extracts activities for both species.The peripheral analgesic activity test on the mouse showed that, for 60 mg/kg intra peritoneum (IP), the hexanic, dichloromethanic, ethyl acetate and butanic extracts have a protection power against abdominal cramp respectively around 89.78%, 81.73%, 70.9% et 69.05% for Nepeta atlantica Ball, and around 89.16%, 82.98%, 71.52% et 70.27% for Nepeta tuberosa L. ssp. reticulata.Central morphine-like analgesic activity on the rat showed that, for both spices under 60 mg/kg IP, the central analgesic activity effect is significantly for two extracts only: dichloromethane and ethyl acetate.

Anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive activities of the stem bark extracts from Allanblackia monticola STANER L.C. (Guttiferae).

THE AIM OF THIS STUDY: was to assess the anti-inflammatory and mechanism of action of Allanblackia monticola (Guttiferae). The anti-inflammatory activity "in vivo" of the methylene chloride/methanol extract, methanol and methylene chloride fractions of stem barks of Allanblackia monticola, administered orally at doses of 37.5; 75; 150 and 300 mg/kg, was evaluated on carrageenan-induced oedema in rats to determine the most active fraction. Indomethacin, inhibitor of cyclo-oxygenase was used as reference drug. The effects of the most active fraction were then examined on the rat paw oedema caused by histamine, serotonin, arachidonic acid and dextran followed by its ulcerogenic effect. The results showed that the methylene chloride fraction of Allanblackia monticola was more effective on the oedema caused by the carrageenan. The anti-nociceptive activity of the methylene chloride fraction was assessed using the acetic acid-induced abdominal constriction model, formalin test and hot plate test. At 150 mg/kg, Allanblackia monticola caused maximum inhibitions of inflammation induced by carrageenan (83.33%), by histamine (42.10%), by dextran (40.29%) and by arachidonic acid (64.28%). Allanblackia monticola (75-300 mg/kg) did not cause significant modification of the oedema induced by serotonin. Concerning the anti-nociceptive properties of the plant, the methylene chloride fraction (75-300 mg/kg) caused a dose-dependent inhibition on abdominal contractions induced by acetic acid (32.34-77.37%) and significantly inhibited the inflammatory pain caused by formalin (40.71-64.78%). Allanblackia monticola did not increase the latency time in the hot plate test. Like indomethacin (10mg/kg), the fraction at the dose of 150 mg/kg caused ulceration of the gastric mucous membrane in treated rats. These results show that Allanblackia monticola has an anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities with gastric ulcerative side effects.

[Acute toxicity and analgesic activity of the global extracts of Nepeta atlantica Ball and Nepeta tuberosa L. ssp. reticulata (Desf.) Maire]. / Toxicité aiguë et action analgésique des extraits globaux de Nepeta atlantica Ball et Nepeta tuberosa L. ssp. reticulata (Desf.) Maire.

The global extracts of Nepeta atlantica Ball and Nepeta tuberosa L. ssp. reticulata (Desf.) Maire are especially rich in secondary metabolites of the type iridoid lactonique and glucosidique and of type lupane triterpine. The aerial part of each species is crushed, and then extracted by cold maceration in methanol. These total extracts are in the form of suspension in Arabic gum with 5%, they are tested on the mice for the tests of acute toxicity like for the peripheral analgesic activity according to the test of Koster; and also on the rats for the central analgesic activity of the morphine type based on the test "Tail Flick". The acute toxicity evaluation of these extracts follows upon the determination of the lethal amounts 50% of essential oils from these two species, already given it is specified here by the lethal dose 50% (DL50) of 1672 +/- 232 mg/kg with confidence limits [1030 - 2320] mg/kg for Nepeta atlantica and 1401 +/- 97.29 mg/kg with confidence limits [1130 - 1670] mg/kg for Nepeta tuberosa L. ssp. reticulata. The tests of Koster in the mouse and the "Tail Flik" in the rat showed that the global extracts of the studied species have all two greatly peripheral analgesic activity with an important protection against abdominal cramp 67.91% and 75.53% for 60 mg/kg IP respectively for Nepeta atlantica and Nepeta tuberosa L. ssp. Reticulata, which rise up to 90.10% and 92.89% for 120 mg/kg IP. A central morphine like analgesic activity is record with 120 mg/kg IP for the two species.