Volume 23, Issue 4 , February 2008
J. Nazemi Rafih; S. Moharramipour
Abstract
Red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum isa major pest of stored products especially cereal flour depreciating the quantity and quality of the food economically. The application of repellents could be considered as a new control method in storage. In this study repellent activity of extracts from leaf, ...
Read More
Red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum isa major pest of stored products especially cereal flour depreciating the quantity and quality of the food economically. The application of repellents could be considered as a new control method in storage. In this study repellent activity of extracts from leaf, red and white flowers of Nerium oleander, Lavandula officinalis leaves and Ferula assafoetida gum was assayed on T. castaneum. Experiments were conducted in dark condition at 27±1ºC and 70-80% RH. To determine percentage repellency (PR), filter paper disks were impregnated with different concentrations of plant extracts. Each filter paper was divided into two equal parts. Then, each half-disk was separately added by extract dilutions (1.99, 3.98, 11.94, 19.90 and 27.78 μl/cm2) or acetone as control. Each treated half-disk was then attached lengthwise edge-to-edge, to a control half-disk with adhesive tape and placed in a petri dish (8cm diam.). Twenty adult insects were released in the middle of each filter paper, and the insects that settled on each half, were counted after 1 h and then at hourly intervals for 5h. The results showed that the repellency of Ferula gum was significantly higher than that of remaining extracts. The highest PR (98.75%) was observed in the Ferula gum in the concentration of 27.78 μl/cm2. While, the lowest PR (5.5%) was shown in the Lavandula leaf extract in 1.99 μl/cm2. Repellency increased with concentration in all cases, the repellent effect did not decreased with time over the 5-h experimental period.
M.R. Jalali; H. Jafari; P. Owlia; N. Fallah; A. Davati
Abstract
Salmonellosis is one of the most common infections in developing countries. Antibiotics used for management, may led not only to drug-resistance, but also to some serious complications. Since antiquity medicinal plants have been used for treatment of diseases, Garlic is one of these agents with multiple ...
Read More
Salmonellosis is one of the most common infections in developing countries. Antibiotics used for management, may led not only to drug-resistance, but also to some serious complications. Since antiquity medicinal plants have been used for treatment of diseases, Garlic is one of these agents with multiple effects i.e. antibacterial effects. Sixty rabbits of Dutch-polish race were randomly divided in three equal groups; contaminated with no treatment as the control group, contaminated with treatment by low and high-doses of garlic aqueous extract in the other groups. All rabbits were infected with 1011 CFU of S. typhimurium fourty-eight hours after contamination, garlic aqueous extract was used in treated-groups at 20mg/kg and 40mg/kg three times a day. Stool culture is performed at first before contamination and after 24, 48, 72, 96 and 168 hours of treatment. Bacterial colony count stool showed significant statistics in different days. A significant difference was also seen in colony count of treated groups with non-treated group (p<0.001). But there was no definite difference in stool colony count of treated groups (low dose & high dose). So garlic aqueous extract has antibacterial effects on S.typhimurium. Further studies are recommended for clinical usage of this agent.
M. Roghani; T. Baluchnejadmojarad; M. Ramazani
Abstract
Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common endocrine disorders which accompanies multiple metabolic abnormalities. On the other hand, Apium graveolens L. (AG) has been known to reduce lipid peroxidation and lower some serum lipids in an animal model of hyperlipidemia. Therefore, the effect of chronic ...
Read More
Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common endocrine disorders which accompanies multiple metabolic abnormalities. On the other hand, Apium graveolens L. (AG) has been known to reduce lipid peroxidation and lower some serum lipids in an animal model of hyperlipidemia. Therefore, the effect of chronic oral administration of this plant on serum glucose, triglyceride, total cholesterol, and HDL- and LDL-cholesterol level of diabetic rats was investigated. For this purpose, male Wistar rats (n = 40)(270-320 g; 3.5-4.5 months old) were randomly divided into 4 groups, i.e. control, AG-treated control, diabetic, and AG-treated diabetic groups. The treatment groups received oral administration of plant-mixed pelleted food (6.25%, w/w) for 6 weeks. Serum glucose, triglyceride, total cholesterol, LDL- and HDL- cholesterol levels were determined before the study, and at the 3rd and 6th weeks after the study. There was a significant reduction (p<0.01) in weight of animals in AG-treated and untreated diabetic groups after 6 weeks as compared to control one and the existing difference between these two groups were not significant. In addition, serum glucose level in diabetic group increased 6 weeks after the experiment as compared to the data a week before the study (P<0.001) and AG treatment of diabetic rats only had a slight and non-significant effect. Furthermore, triglyceride level in diabetic group increased 6 weeks after the experiment in comparison with related data one week before the study (P<0.05) and there was a significant lower level of triglyceride in AG-treated diabetic rats (p<0.01). Furthermore, a similar significant reduction was obtained for AG-treated-diabetic group compared to diabetic group regarding serum cholesterol level (p<0.05). On the other hand, HDL- and LDL- cholesterol levels were significantly higher (p<0.05) and lower (p<0.01) in AG-treated diabetic group compared to untreated diabetic group, respectively. As a result, oral chronic administration of AG has no significant hypoglycemic effect but leads to appropriate changes in blood lipid profile.
S.H. Hejazian; M.H. Dashti; A. Salami
Abstract
One of the important objectives of biological investigations is to find substances which are involved in relieving pain. In this regard, application of medicinal herb are very useful. Carum copticum (L.) C. B. Clarke from Umbelliferae family has been introduced as an analgesic agent in Iranian traditional ...
Read More
One of the important objectives of biological investigations is to find substances which are involved in relieving pain. In this regard, application of medicinal herb are very useful. Carum copticum (L.) C. B. Clarke from Umbelliferae family has been introduced as an analgesic agent in Iranian traditional literature and it is widely used to relieve neuropathic pain and headache. In the present study we conducted to investigate the analgesic effect of Carum copticum fruit on formalin induced pain as compared with morphine. In this study formalin test was used as a standard pain inducing test and the analgesic effect of intra peritoneal injection of 400mg/kg of Carum copticum extract were compared with different concentrations of morphine (1&2mg/kg). The findings show that Carum copticum has no effect on early response of pain but its effect on late phase of formalin test in chronic response of pain is significant (P=0.01). This effect was the same as 1mg/kg of morphine sulfate. According to our finding Carum copticum extract significantly reduced pain sensation in inflammatory phase of formalin test. This may be due to its essential oil which has been reported to have an analgesic and inflammatory effect.
M.H. Yazdi; M.R. Pourmand; M. Bayat; A. Shahinjafari
Abstract
In order to investigate the antimicrobial effects of Iranian herbal essences of Zataria multiflora Boiss., Myrtus communis L. and Eucalyptus officinalis, this research was conducted under CLSI guidelines in vitro situation. Since Streptococcus pneumoniae, Moraxella catarrhalis and Haemophilus influenzae ...
Read More
In order to investigate the antimicrobial effects of Iranian herbal essences of Zataria multiflora Boiss., Myrtus communis L. and Eucalyptus officinalis, this research was conducted under CLSI guidelines in vitro situation. Since Streptococcus pneumoniae, Moraxella catarrhalis and Haemophilus influenzae are highly involved in Sinusitis and Bronchitis, the antibacterial effects of the essences were investigated on these species. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed by disk diffusion method for the essential oils and of determination Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) was carried out by serial dilutions. Zataria multiflora was effective against all the tested bacterias e.g. Streptococcus pneumoniae (52mm), Moraxella catarrhalis (55mm) and Haemophilus influenzae (40mm) based on disk diffusion method. Furthermore, the highly effective inhibition of Myrtus communis was on Moraxella catarrhalis (50 mm) (MIC≥78.66 µg/ml). This study showed that the herbal essences are very active against Streptococcus pneumoniae, Moraxella catarrhalis and Haemophilus influenzae in vitro situation. This confirms the application of herbal medicines for treating a range of infectious diseases in ancient times.
B. Dadman; R. Omidbaigi; F. Sefidkon
Abstract
This field experiment was conducted from April to October 2005 in order to study the effects of different nitrogen levels (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg ha-1) on essential oil content and compositions of Mexican marigold (Tagetes minuta L.). The utilization of nitrogen significantly affected essential oil ...
Read More
This field experiment was conducted from April to October 2005 in order to study the effects of different nitrogen levels (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg ha-1) on essential oil content and compositions of Mexican marigold (Tagetes minuta L.). The utilization of nitrogen significantly affected essential oil content and compositions of Mexican marigold compared to control samples without nitrogen fertilizer. The application of 200 kg ha-1 nitrogen gave the highest oil content (1.16%). The results of the oil analysis showed that the constituents of the oils varied between nitrogen levels. There fore it could be concluded that for maximum production of essential oil, Mexican marigold should be grown with 200 kg ha-1 nitrogen but in order to preserve environment by decrease consuming fertilizer and soil management it is better to suggest 150 kg ha-1 nitrogen to produce safer crops because of the little differences of 150 with 200 kg ha-1 nitrogen on oil content.
I. Rasooli; L. Gachkar; D. Yadegarinia; M.B. Rezaei; M. Taghizadeh; M.H. Fakoor; A.M. Allameh
Abstract
Lipid peroxidation is the most important deteriorative effect of free radicals that leads to destruction of cell membrane. The routine use of antioxidants is becoming more limited due to their instability and their probable carcinogenic effects. The use of natural additives and antioxidants in treatment ...
Read More
Lipid peroxidation is the most important deteriorative effect of free radicals that leads to destruction of cell membrane. The routine use of antioxidants is becoming more limited due to their instability and their probable carcinogenic effects. The use of natural additives and antioxidants in treatment of microbial and non microbial diseases is gaining momentum among people. In the present work, we extract and identify the chemical compounds of the essential oils of Mentha spicata L. and Chenopodium ambrosioides.L. Antioxidative property, free radical scavenging capacity and antimicrobial characteristics of oils were then studied. The microorganisms employed in this study were: E.coli, S.aureus, S.enteritidis, L. monocytogenes. The plants were hydrodistilled and the essential oils were extracted. The chemical constituents of the oils thus obtained were identified by GC/MS. Employing disc diffusion and tube dilution methods antimicrobial effects of the oils on were studied. Zones of microbial growth inhibition and Minimum Inhibitory and Bactericidal concentrations (MIC & MBC) of the microorganisms exposed to various dilutions of the oils were determined. Kinetics of microbial death were determined. Antioxidant properties of the oils were tested and their relation to antimicrobial properties of the oils were studied. Chemical analysis lead to identification of 14 and 13 compounds in the essential oils of Mentha spicata and Chenopodium ambrosioides, respectively. The sensitivity of bacteria to the oils were the order of L. monocytogenes> E. coli> S. aureus> S. enteritidis. The antibacterial properties of the essential oils from Mentha spicata leaves were higher than the oils from C. ambrosioides leaves. The D values for E. coli, S. aureus, S. enteritidis and L. monocytogenes exposed to the MBC levels of the essential oils were: Mentha spicata (6.42, 10, 6.42, 6.42) and Chenopodium ambrosioides (2.85, 4.28, 5, 4.28) minutes respectively. The zones of microbial growth inhibitions were not correlated to microbicidal kinetics of the oils. The oils had antioxidant properties equivalent to or higher than synthetic BHA antioxidant. The correlation between antioxidative properties and antimicrobial activities of the oils were studied.
B. Abbaszadeh; E. Sharifi Ashourabadi; M.H. Lebaschi; M. Naderi hajibagher Kandy; F. Moghadami
Abstract
In this research effect of drought stress on physiological characteristics of balm (Melissa officinalis L.) was performed under field condition in Karaj, Iran in 2005. Experiment was conducted using randomized complete block design with 4 replications. Treatment included T1 (non stress), T2 (80%FC), ...
Read More
In this research effect of drought stress on physiological characteristics of balm (Melissa officinalis L.) was performed under field condition in Karaj, Iran in 2005. Experiment was conducted using randomized complete block design with 4 replications. Treatment included T1 (non stress), T2 (80%FC), T3 (60%FC), T4 (40%FC) and T5 (20%FC). Effect of drought stress on chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, proline, soluble sugars, relative water contents, percentage and yield of essential oil were significant (α=0.001). Effect of drought stress on total chlorophyll was significant (α=0.005). Comparison of treatment means showed that highest chlorophyll a (1.921mg/l), chlorophyll b (1.197mg/l), total chlorophyll (2/283mg/l) were related to T1 (control), T5 (20%FC) and T1 (control), respectively. Highest accumulation of proline with 2.545 mg/l mean was related to T3 (60%FC). Maximum relative water content with 93.369 mean percentage related to T1 (control). It could be concluded that plant accumulation of proline and solublesugars increased tolerance and showed that moderate drought stress is beneficial for balm production.
E. Talebi Kohyakhy; M. Mohammad Aliha; M.R. Naghavi
Abstract
Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers have been used to characterize the genetic diversity among 13 Iranian landraces of Ferula gummosa Boiss. The 7 primers used in this study amplified 69 scorable RAPD bands among which 64 were polymorphic (94%). The average number of bands was 9.14 for each ...
Read More
Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers have been used to characterize the genetic diversity among 13 Iranian landraces of Ferula gummosa Boiss. The 7 primers used in this study amplified 69 scorable RAPD bands among which 64 were polymorphic (94%). The average number of bands was 9.14 for each primer. Dice similarity index was used for measuring genetic similarities among landraces. The highest similarity (0.80) was found between Hamlon and Reef populations, whereas the lowest was between Hamloon and Semnan. UPGMA algorithm was used for cluster analysis. Cluster analysis separated the 13 landraces into three main groups. The results indicated that RAPD technique is an efficient tool for assessing genetic diversity in Ferula gummosa populations.
B.Z. Sahaf; S. Moharramipour
Abstract
Recently, there has been a growing interest in research concerning the possible use of plant extracts as alternatives to synthetic insecticides. Essential oils are among the best-known substances tested against insects. These compounds may act as fumigants, contact insecticides, repellents, antifeedants ...
Read More
Recently, there has been a growing interest in research concerning the possible use of plant extracts as alternatives to synthetic insecticides. Essential oils are among the best-known substances tested against insects. These compounds may act as fumigants, contact insecticides, repellents, antifeedants and may affect growth and development of the insect. The objective of the present study was to test the possible properties of, medicinal plants, Carum copticum C. B. Clarke (Apiaceae) and Vitex pseudo-negundo (Haussk) Hand. I. MZT. (Verbenaceae) essential oil vapors against Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) to elucidate their deterrency on oviposition. The experiment was conducted with six concentrations (0.02-0.5 ml oil per one gram seed) at 27 ± 1°C, 60 ± 5 % R.H. and in dark condition. The essential oils were obtained from dry seeds of C. copticum and leaves of V. pseudo-negundo subjected to hydrodistillation using a modified clevenger-type apparatus. In each vial, two pairs of adult insects and 10 g chikling vetch were used. Oviposition deterrence of C. copticum was significantly higher than V. pseudo-negundo. At the highest concentration (0.5 ml per one gram seed) oviposition deterrence was reached to 100% and 76.33% by C. copticum and V. pseudo-negundo, respectively. Our results showed that these essential oils exhibited strong oviposition deterreny on C. maculatus at sublethal doses.
S. Saber Amoli; Sh. Noroozi; A. Shekarchian; M. Akbarzadeh; M. Kodoori
Volume 23, Issue 4 , February 2008, Pages 532-543
Abstract
This research was conducted for identification of essential oil of Labiatae spesies and investigation of ecological characteristics of their habitates in Kerman province.The Labiatae is very important in production of essential oil. Ecological characteristics are required for cultivation of natural and ...
Read More
This research was conducted for identification of essential oil of Labiatae spesies and investigation of ecological characteristics of their habitates in Kerman province.The Labiatae is very important in production of essential oil. Ecological characteristics are required for cultivation of natural and self growing plants of this family. Kerman province is about 186423 km3 in area and placed in southeast of Iran. Lowest and highest altitude in this province is 300m to 4500m a.s.l. and more than 10 kinds of climates are found in this area. 51 essential oil species belong to 17 genera. They are collected and identified by Flora. Many ecological characteristics of habitat are recorded as soil texture, rainfall, temperature, altitude, life form. More species belong to Nepeta and Salvia genera; chamaephyte and terophyte life formes; semiarid-cold, semiarid-warm and arid desert-cold; 2000-3000 altitude. Ziziphora tenuir L., Teucrium polium L., Nepeta glomerulosa Boiss. and Mentha longifolia (L.) Hudson are the most dispersed species in variety of climates, that indicates more ecological compitability of these species in different habitats.
H.R. Mirdavoodi; P. Babakhanlo
Abstract
Markazi province has different types of climatic conditions due to its location which is inside the angle of Alborz and Zagros mountain chains. As a consequence of such a charactrisitic it possess a great variety of diversity of plant species. On the basis of existing reports and scientific resources ...
Read More
Markazi province has different types of climatic conditions due to its location which is inside the angle of Alborz and Zagros mountain chains. As a consequence of such a charactrisitic it possess a great variety of diversity of plant species. On the basis of existing reports and scientific resources as well as field investigations, 144 species were introduced from Markazi as medicinal plants. They belonged to 127 genera and 48 famillies, that Compositeae and Labiateae were dominant. The distribution of some of these species are limited to special habitats and elevations. Majority of them have wide distribution in the province and changes of altitude and rainfall are not effective.
M. Najafpour Navaei; M. Mirza
Abstract
Leonurus cardiaca L. is an aromatic and medicinal plant which could be found in high and mountainous parts of Iran. It is a considerable plant for its essential oil. In order to study the volatile constituents, its aerial parts were collected from Damavand, essential oil isolated by water steam distillation ...
Read More
Leonurus cardiaca L. is an aromatic and medicinal plant which could be found in high and mountainous parts of Iran. It is a considerable plant for its essential oil. In order to study the volatile constituents, its aerial parts were collected from Damavand, essential oil isolated by water steam distillation (clevenger) and were analyzed by a combination of capillary GC and GC /MS. 37 compounds were identified representing 98.4 % of the oil. It was dominated by Germacrene-D (20.9%), α–humulene (15.3%) and β–caryophyllene (13.8%).