Biological effects of essential oils and extracts
F. Moraghebi; Sh. Aghazadeh Yamchelo; S.M. Maddah
Abstract
Gastric cancer is a malignant tumor that is one of the most common types of cancer in the world and Iran. Plants are rich sources of a variety of antioxidant compounds which can be used to produce anti-cancer drugs. In this study, the antioxidant properties and cytotoxicity of Ephedra major Host. extract, ...
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Gastric cancer is a malignant tumor that is one of the most common types of cancer in the world and Iran. Plants are rich sources of a variety of antioxidant compounds which can be used to produce anti-cancer drugs. In this study, the antioxidant properties and cytotoxicity of Ephedra major Host. extract, collected from "Parandak" in Robat Karim city, Tehran province, were investigated on AGS gastric cancer cells. Ethanol and methanol hydroalcoholic extracts (80%) of plant vegetative shoots were extracted by soaking method. Phenolic content of the extracts was measured by Folin-Ciocalteu agent and their antioxidant activity was assessed using DPPH test. Also, the cytotoxicity degree of different concentrations of this plant extract on the AGS gastric cancer cells was evaluated at three times of 24, 48, and 72 hours using MTT method. BCL2 gene expression change was measured using Real time-PCR. The results showed that the antioxidant properties and phenolic content of ethanol extract were higher than methanol one. The results of MTT test showed that with increasing concentration of ethanol extract, cell viability decreased and after 48 hours, IC50 was obtained 250 µg.ml-1 of extract. The BCL2 gene expression decreased in the extract treatment, although this decrease was not significant. Overall, the ethanol extract of the aerial shoots of this plant could inhibit the growth of gastric cancer cells, but did not have a significant effect on reducing the expression of BCL2 anti-apoptotic gene.
M. Mofid Bojnoordi; M. Aghdasi; M. Mianabadi; M. Nadaf
Abstract
Ephedra, belonging to the Ephedraceae family of gymnosperms, is a dioecious shrub, which has different medicinal properties. The purpose of this study was to compare some secondary metabolites of male and female stems of Ephedra major during August to October months. The male and female samples were ...
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Ephedra, belonging to the Ephedraceae family of gymnosperms, is a dioecious shrub, which has different medicinal properties. The purpose of this study was to compare some secondary metabolites of male and female stems of Ephedra major during August to October months. The male and female samples were collected from Bojnoord highlands and then were dried. The methanolic extract was separated by solvent method and total alkaloid, ephedrine, total phenol, total flavonoid and tannin levels were measured in collected samples. The measurement of total alkaloid and ephedrine content showed significant difference between male and female stems during different months. The highest amount of total alkaloid was obtained in samples collected from male stem during October month. While, the highest level of ephedrine was observed in samples collected in both male and female stems during August month. The data from HPLC analysis showed that ephedrine content ranged from 1.5 to 1.99 mg/g dry weight. Meanwhile, total phenol, total flavonoid and total tannin content ranged from 31.5-41.13, 3.51-5.81 and 15.57-24.46 mg/g dry weight, respectively. The obtained results revealed that there was significant difference between male and female stems in total phenol just in October, total flavonoid in September and October, and total tannin in August and September.
