Antioxidant and phytochemical analysis of Ranunculus arvensis L. extracts.

BACKGROUND: Ranunculus arvensis L. (R. arvensis) has long been used to treat a variety of medical conditions such as arthritis, asthma, hay fever, rheumatism, psoriasis, gut diseases and rheumatic pain. Here, we screened R. arvensis for antioxidant activity, phytochemical and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analyses. METHODS: The chloroform, chloroform:methanol, methanol, methanol:acetone, acetone, methanol:water and water extracts of R. arvensis were examined for DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) free radical scavenging assay, hydrogen peroxide scavenging assay, phosphomolybdenum assay, reducing power assay, flavonoid content, phenolic content and high performance liquid chromatography analysis. RESULTS: Significant antioxidant activity was displayed by methanol extract (IC 50 34.71 ± 0.02) in DPPH free radical scavenging assay. Total flavonoids and phenolics ranged 0.96-6.0 mg/g of extract calculated as rutin equivalent and 0.48-1.43 mg/g of extract calculated as gallic acid equivalent respectively. Significant value of rutin and caffeic acid was observed via high performance liquid chromatography. CONCLUSIONS: These results showed that extracts of R. arvensis exhibited significant antioxidant activities. Moreover, R. arvensis is a rich source of rutin, flavonoids and phenolics.

Antimicrobial, antitumor and brine shrimp lethality assay of Ranunculus arvensis L. extracts.

To investigate the antitumor activity, brine shrimp lethality assay, antibacterial and antifungal activity of Methanol Extract (ME), Water Extract (WE), Acetone Extract (AE), Chloroform Extract (CE), Methanol-Water Extract (MWE), Methanol-Acetone Extract (MAE), Methanol-Chloroform Extract (MCE) of Ranunculus arvensis (L.). Antitumor activity was evaluated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens (At10) induced potato disc assay. Cytotoxicity was evaluated with brine shrimp lethality assay. Antibacterial activity was evaluated with six bacterial strains including Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, Bordetella bronchiseptica, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Micrococcus luteus and Streptococcus anginosus and antifungal screening was done against five fungal strains including Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, A. fumigates, Fusarium solani and Mucor species by using disc diffusion method. Best antitumor activity was obtained with ME and WE, having highest IC50 values 20.27 ± 1.62 and 93.01 ± 1.33µg/disc. Brine shrimp lethality assay showed LC50 values of AE, MAE and ME were obtained as 384.66 ± 9.42µg/ml, 724.11 ± 8.01µg/ml and 978.7 ±8.01 µg/ml respectively. WE of R. arvensis revealed weak antimicrobial result against the tested microorganisms. On the other hand, the antifungal activity of the plant extracts was found to be insignificant. These findings demonstrate that extracts of R. arvensis possesses significant antitumor activity. Further extensive study is necessary to assess the therapeutic potential of the plant.

Serum sialic acid changes in non-insulin-dependant diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) patients following bitter melon (Momordica charantia) and rosiglitazone (Avandia) treatment.

Diabetes mellitus is associated with an increase in sialic acid concentration along with other complications. Sialic acid changes in NIDDM patients were investigated following bitter melon (55 ml/24h) and rosiglitazone (4 mg/24h) treatment. A total of 25 patients of both sexes were used in each experimental group. Patients following bitter melon treatment showed no significant difference of serum sialic acid (57.95+/-4.90 vs. 57.6+/-5.56 mg/dl, p=0.17) and serum glucose concentration (93.7+/-9.63 vs. 88.35+/-6.31 mg/dl, p=0.78) as compared to control subjects. However, the concentration of total cholesterol was significantly high in these patients as compared to control subjects (192+/-14.23 vs. 170.6+/-15.1mg/dl, p<0.03) but within normal range (160-200mg/dl), suggesting the significant hypoglycemic and lipid-lowering properties of bitter melon. The patients following rosiglitazone treatment showed a significant increase of serum sialic acid concentration (60.2+/-5.80 vs. 57.6+/-5.56 mg/dl, p=0.01) along with glucose (112+/-6.2 vs. 88.35+/-6.31 mg/dl, p<0.04) and total cholesterol concentration (216.45+/-20.2 vs. 170.6+/-15.1mg/dl, p<0.01) as compared to control subjects. In addition six of the patients had retinopathy, two of whom were suffering also from myocardial infarction and they still had a higher serum sialic acid (61.05+/-1.20mg/dl), glucose (187+/-2.11 mg/dl), total cholesterol (239.10+/-5.04 mg/dl) and triglyceride (183+/-4.14 mg/dl) concentration, indicating a poor response of these patients to rosiglitazone. Comparison of serum sialic acid concentration of patients, following bitter melon and rosiglitazone treatment revealed no significant difference but the study showed that bitter melon could be more effective in the management of diabetes and its related complications as compared to rosiglitazone.