Natural Products Journal, The - Volume 5, Issue 1, 2015

In the present investigation, the extraction of ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) rhizome using a new potential green solvents. 6-Gingerol is the major bioactive constituent responsible for the anti-inflammatory, antitumor and antioxidant activities of ginger. The 6-gingerol related compounds was successfully extracted and isolated from Zingiber officinale Roscoe using Natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) and compared extraction activity with organic solvents. Different combination of NADES was synthesized using evaporating and heating methods. The gingerol related compounds was characterized by using various instrumental methods like UV spectroscopy, FTIR, HPLC and NMR. The FTIR was confirmed presence of gingerols, shogoals and some other essential oils in different NADES extracts. HPLC analysis showed the major presence of gingerols, shogaols and minor existence of essential oils in ginger extracts. Chemical shift values of gingerol and shogaol structure were well fitted with the 1H and 13C NMR spectrum. The antioxidant activity of the NADES extracts was higher than the organic solvent extracts. From different combination of NADES extracts, L-Proline and lactic acid (1:1) combination having a higher antioxidant capacity than other three NADES combinations. Antimicrobial activity of four NADESs, ethanol and chloroform of Zingiber officinale Roscoe rhizome were evaluated using agar disc diffusion methods.

Essential oils (EO) are major products in the world economy. Citrus species (Rutaceae) EO, present in the pericarp of the fruit and leaves, provide raw material for a wide variety of industries such as resin products for paper and textiles, binders to manufacture insecticides, antiseptics, pharmaceuticals, perfumes and food. This study determines the chemical components monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, plus limonene and linalool enantiomeric distribution of Citrus aurantium Lineu, Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck and Citrus reticulata Blanco EO, through gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS). All EO were acquired and collected in South and South- Central Brazil. Samples were obtained by steam distillation, hydrodistillation or cold pressing extraction. The results showed that limonene (39.5 to 92.7%) is the main component of the pericarp and linalool (14.2 to 24.8%) is the main component of the leaves. It was shown that the extraction method did not change this distribution. The (R)-(+)-limonene was 60 to 99% in all Citrus EO analyzed. The (R)-(-)-linalool was 59 to 64% in Citrus aurantium and (S)-(+)-linalool was 76 to 99% in Citrus sinensis and Citrus reticulata. The hydrolate of Citrus aurantium (orange water) was also analyzed and presented as the main components nootkatone (17%), alpha-terpineol (10%), linalool (10%) with ee (R)-(-)-linalool, limonene (0.8%) with ee (R)-(+)-limonene. These results confirm the interesting quality of Citrus EO from Brazil, ensuring their applications in many industries, products categories, including medical applications owing their physiological and psychopharmacological properties, which show similarities with Citrus EO from other countries.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: The plant of the genus Sarcococca (Buxaceae) is widely distributed, and have long been used in folk medicine for the treatment of various ailments particularly ulcer, tumour, diarrhoea, fever, gastritis, syphilis, infections, muscular pain, inflammations and malaria. Aim of the Review: In present review we emphasized the recent progress in the chemistry and biology of this genus as well as its traditional uses. This database may provide guidance for researchers, chemists and herbologists for further investigations in the field. Materials and Methods: All literature available on the genus Sarcococca was collected via electronic search (using SciFinder, Google Scholar, Pubmed, Scirus, and Web of Science), books, theses and journals. This review covers the traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology from 1964 to December 2013. Results: Ethnobotanical uses of different species of genus Sarcococca have been reported from China, Pakistan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka for their different types of ailments. Genus Sarcococca possesses different chemical constituents including steroids, alkaloids, glycoside, triterpenoids, sugar and their alcohol. Crude extract, fractions and isolated secondary metabolites of genus Sarcococca have shown a wide range of pharmacological activities including antibacterial, antifeedant, antifungal, antileishmanial and cholinesterase inhibiting activities. Conclusion: The leaves and shoots of Sarcococca plants have been used for the treatment of rheumatic fever in the folk medicine system for years without any adverse effects. However, there is a need to search for individual secondary metabolites responsible for these actions and study their mode of actions, and physiological pathways in sufficient detail.

The present study was undertaken to investigate the preliminary phytochemical screening and antispermatogenic activity of different extracts of Artocarpus lakoocha Roxb fruits and the major constituent isolated from the active extract. The powdered plant material was defatted with petroleum ether and then successively extracted with chloroform, ethanol and distilled water. The prepared extracts were screened for the presence of various phytoconstituents, which showed the presence of alkaloids, steroids, carbohydrates, glycosides, saponin, protein and phenolic compounds. Petroleum ether, chloroform, ethanolic and aqueous extracts of Artocarpus lakoocha fruits were tested for their antispermatogenic potential, at the doses of 100, 200 and 300mg/kg, body weight, p.o., for 45 days. The chloroform extract of fruit (at a dose of 300 mg/kg body weight) was found to be most active among all. Therefore, it was subjected to the isolation of phytoconstituent responsible for the activity using column chromatography. The isolated compound was characterized by TLC, melting point, UV, IR, 1H-NMR and Mass spectroscopy and was identified as β-sitosterol. Antispermatogenic activity of the isolated compound was evaluated at a dose of 5 mg/kg body weight/day, for 45 days. The treatment caused significant decrease (P<0.01) in the weight of reproductive organs such as; testis, epididymis and seminal vesicle. Moreover, the sperm count, sperm viability and serum testosterone levels were significantly lowered when compared to that of the control group.

Objective: The protective effects of Agaricus blazei extract (ABE) and lactoferrin (LF) on 5-FU derivative-induced adverse reactions remain unclear. We examined the effects of a combination of ABE and LF on tumor growth and metastasis, as well as UFT-induced adverse reactions using a highly metastatic model in osteosarcoma LM8-bearing mice. Methods: In this study, we examined the antitumor activity and adverse reactions, such as myelotoxicity and body-weight loss, of the cancer chemotherapy drug a 5-FU derivative, UFT (50 mg/kg) when given with ABE (9:1, w/w; 0.43 or 1.4 g/kg, twice daily) and LF (100 or 300 mg/kg, twice daily) in sarcoma 180- or osteosarcoma LM8-bearing mice. Key Findings: ABE-LF or LF inhibited tumor growth and metastasis to the lung without causing adverse reactions in LM8-bearing mice. ABE-LF or LF prevented the reductions induced in the number of red blood cells, leukocytes, and platelets, as well as hemoglobin levels and the hematocrit percentage by UFT without affecting the antitumor and antimetastatic effects of UFT. Since neither ABE nor LF inhibited the phosphorylation of 5-FU, the protective effects of ABE-LF or LF on UFT-induced myelotoxicity (reductions in red blood cell numbers) could not be attributed to the inhibition of 5-FU phosphorylation. Conclusion: These results suggest that the protective effects of LF and/or ABE-LF on the adverse events induced by UFT toxicity such as myelotoxicity may be partly due to the myelopoietic actions of LF.