Biological active compounds from Georgian Galanthus shaoricus.

Amaryllidaceae alkaloids exhibit antitumour, antiviral and anticholinergic activities. Some of them have been used in the treatment of myasthenia gravis, myopathy and diseases of the nervous system. In this study, the characterization of these compounds from Amaryllidaceae plants along with some biological activities and some regulations to conserve the native flora will be reviewed. Plants materials: Galanthus shaoricus Kem.-Nath., were collected in 2007-2008 during the flowering period in Georgia. The preparation of extracts and fractions were obtained using methanolic maceration. Crude alkaloidal extracts were typically purified by liquid-liquid partitioning of their basic forms in chloroform. Lycorine, galantamine and tazettine has been found as one of the major alkaloid from Amaryllidaceae plants. Galanthus shaoricus have shown good antimalarial and cytotoxic activity in a dose-dependent manner. Methanolic extracts from bulbs demonstrated significant growth inhibition on human Hela and HCT-116 cells lines with IC50 (µg/mL) 16.3±1.8; 22.1±2.9 (aerial parts) and 12.8±1.7; 16.5±1.9 (Bulbs), respectively. Concerning the Amaryllidaceae alkaloids, lycorine with IC50 (µM) 0.8±0.5 and 2.6±0.2, haemantaimene (IC50=1.1±0.7 and 2.7±0.8 µM), hamaine (IC50=3.4±1.0 and 6.2 ±1.4 µM), homolycorine (IC50=1.4±0.9 and 3.3±1.0 µM), hipeastrine (IC50=2.8±1.0 and 7.5±1.8 µM) were found to be responsible for the cytotoxic activity on HCT-116 and Hela cell lines, respectively.

Antioxidant polyphenols from Populus alba growing in Georgia.

The aim of the study was to evaluate natural antioxidant properties of Populus alba. The antioxidant effects in plants are mainly due to the presence of phenolic compounds such as flavonoids, phenolic acids, tannins and phenolic diterpenes. Oxidative damage is implicated in most diseases processes. In vitro studies are able to demonstrate for flavonols and flavones a considerable antioxidative activity, mainly based on scavenging of oxygen radicals. The antioxidative potential of different fractions (respective organic fractions of n-hexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate) of 70% methanol extract of Populus alba was evaluated using free radical-scavenging activity on DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl ) assays. The methanol extract showed significant (p<0.05) activities in all antioxidant assays and contained a high level of total phenolic content. It was observed that the level of hydrophilic phenolic content was higher than that of hydrophobics. Among those organic solvent fractions, ethyl acetate fraction exhibited significant activities due to the highest level of total phenolic content and their IC50 values were 0.18±0.02 mg/mL, 0.26±0.03mg/mL and 0.28±0.02 mg/mL in DPPH, respectively. These activities were superior to those of a commercial natural antioxidants tested. The chloroform and hexan fractions also exhibited significant (p<0.05) free radical-scavenging activity, attributed to the high amount of hydrophilic phenolics.

Production of effervescent tablets Mucomali from polysaccharides of Malva Silvestris L.

The aim of the article was the estimation of efficiency of a method of production of effervescent tablets Mucomali from polysaccharides of Malva Silvestris L sum. The 5% polyethylene glycol solution of polyvinylpyrrolidone was used as connective agent. Experimentally was ascertained good solubility of effervescent tablets (Mucomali), produced from polysaccharide of Malva Silvestris L sum. The pressing power 110 mpa was found optimal for getting effervescent tablets of Mucomali.