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Plant-based Nanomaterials and their Antimicrobial Activity
Published in Mahendra Rai, Chistiane M. Feitosa, Eco-Friendly Biobased Products Used in Microbial Diseases, 2022
Mayuri Napagoda, Priyalatha Madhushanthi, Dharani Wanigasekara, Sanjeeva Witharana
In another study, 35 indigenous medicinal plants were identified in Urmia, Iran that were effective against infectious diseases of urinary, reproductive, digestive, respiratory tracts and the skin. Those plant species belonged to 17 plant families and the Lamiaceae had the highest frequency of plants for the treatment of infectious diseases. Althaea hirsuta, Mentha longifolia were some examples of plant species that had been used against pulmonary infections. Alhagi camelorum and Glycyrrhiza glabra were commonly used against intestinal infections while Dipsacus laciniatus and Equisetum arvense were used against urinary tract infections. Lamium album was employed as a remedy for both urinary tract infections and vaginitis. Some examples of plants that have been used against skin infections included Sanguisorba minor, Verbascum agrimonifolium and Ixiolirion tataricum. Plant leaves were the most widely used part in preparation of herbal remedies and most of the medicinal herbs were prescribed in the boiled forms (Bahmani et al. 2015).
An Overview of Important Endemic Plants and Their Products in Iran
Published in Raymond Cooper, Jeffrey John Deakin, Natural Products of Silk Road Plants, 2020
Equisetum arvense (Figure 7.43) is a perennial plant growing up to 0.6 m. It is suitable to grow in light (sandy), medium (loamy), and heavy (clay) soils and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. It is suitable to grow in the soil with acid, neutral, and basic (alkaline) pH. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It prefers dry or moist soil. They are rich in silica and contain several alkaloids (including nicotine) and various minerals. Horsetail is very astringent and makes an excellent clotting agent, staunching wounds, stopping nosebleeds, and reducing the coughing up of blood. The plant is anodyne, antihemorrhagic, antiseptic, astringent, carminative, diaphoretic, diuretic, galactogogue, hemostatic, and vulnerary. The plant is a useful diuretic when taken internally and is used in the treatment of kidney and bladder problems, cystitis, urethritis, prostate disease and internal bleeding, proving especially useful when there is bleeding in the urinary tract. The plant contains equisetic acid, which is thought to be identical to aconitic acid. This substance is a potent heart and nerve sedative that is a dangerous poison when taken in high doses. In industry, it is used for making polish, dye, sandpaper, and fungicide (Zargari, 2014; Mozaffarian, 2011; Plant for a Future; Al Snafi, 2017).
Atlas of Autofluorescence in Plant Pharmaceutical Materials
Published in Victoria Vladimirovna Roshchina, Fluorescence of Living Plant Cells for Phytomedicine Preparations, 2020
Victoria Vladimirovna Roshchina
The horsetail herb fluoresces in different ranges of the spectrum depending on the stage of development, as seen in Figure 3.10. Young plants (images a and b) have active secretory structures termed hydathodes, which release surplus water and solvated compounds (image b), emitted under 360–380 nm UV light at 490–500 nm (secretion) or 520–540 nm (hydathode), which may be related to flavonoids or flavins respectively (Roshchina 2008). The leaf endings of horsetail are characterized by the free entrance of fluorescent central vein (image c), which on excitation by UV light at 360–380 nm, emits in blue-green, with one maximum 520 nm in the spectrum. This fluorescence is peculiar to flavonoids (480–490 nm) and flavins (500–520 nm) (Roshchina 2008). Apigenin isolated from the herb shows bright blue fluorescence in UV light (Syrchina et al. 1974). The vein emission differed from that of mesophyll cells rich in chlorophyll (a large maximum at 675–680 nm). On excitation by blue (450–490 nm) light, the vein is seen in yellow (image c). The adult species is usually analyzed in pharmacy, although there is a sporophyte stage (images e and f) with the formation of sporangia with microspores (image g). The microspores, with a double set of chromosomes, are termed vegetative, unlike the male and female spores that develop later. The vegetative microspores (image h) fluoresce in blue-green due to cell wall phenol inclusions (Roshchina 2007a, b) and in red, showing the presence of chlorophyll. The fluorescence spectra (image i) reflect emission from the spores surrounded by elaters (threads serving for attachment to the soil), as shown in spectrum 1 with maxima 460 (flavonoids), 550 (carotenoids, alkaloids), and 680 nm (chlorophyll). Elaters lack chlorophyll (spectrum 2). When a microspore loses its elaters (spectrum 3), it has maxima 480 (flavonoids), 550 (carotenoids, alkaloids), and 680 nm (chlorophyll). Laser-scanning confocal microscopy reveals the emissions from the surface (image j) and after optical slicing (image k) respectively. The surface green fluorescence is clearly visible, and the slice shows chlorophyll in chloroplasts within the microspores. Extracts of spore-bearing stems of Equisetum arvense L. (field horsetail) contain saponaretin, apigenin 5-glucoside, luteolin 5-glucoside, kaempferol 3-sophoroside, quercetin 3-glucoside, and 4-hydroxy-6-(2-hydroxyethyl)-2,2,5,7-tetramethylindanone, a compound of ketonic nature. This last substance was isolated previously from an extract of the herbage of the yellow field horsetail and identified by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) (Syrchina et al. 1980). It appears that the surface fluorescence occurs due to phenol compounds. Methanolic extracts from the overground sporophytes of all species of the subgenus Equisetum (E. arvense L., E. bogotense HBK, E. fluviatile L., E. palustre L., E. pratense L., E. sylvaticum L., and E. telmateia Erh.) have been studied by HPLC. Interspecific and intraspecific variation of phenols, mainly flavonoid glycosides, was found in these species (Veit et al. 1995).
Collagen biosynthesis stimulation and anti-melanogenesis of bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea) extracts
Published in Pharmaceutical Biology, 2020
Romchat Chutoprapat, Waraporn Malilas, Rattikarl Rakkaew, Sarinporn Udompong, Korawinwich Boonpisuttinant
The BG-SB extract exhibited the highest stimulation of collagen biosynthesis on human dermal fibroblasts (18.04 ± 0.03%) when compared to the control (no treatment) (p < 0.05), whereas ascorbic acid, a collagen stimulator, gave 34.07 ± 0.03%. The collagen stimulation of the BG-SB extract was significantly lower than that of ascorbic acid by about twofold, whereas the BG-HB and BG-SS extracts showed lower stimulation activity of 13.36 ± 0.03%, and 1.08 ± 0.03%, respectively. Some phenolic and flavonoid compounds may be responsible for the highest activity on BG-SB extract. The formula herbal extract (PH) mixed with Equisetum arvense (Equisetaceae), Achillea millefolium (Asteraceae), Echinacea purpurea (Asteraceae) and Hyssopus officinalis (Lamiaceae) was found to have the highest phenolic compound (chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, luteolin and apigenin) and exhibited stimulation of collagen synthesis on L929 Mouse fibroblasts cell line (Alexandru et al. 2015). Recently, polyphenols present in plants such as gallic acid, elaeocarpusin, pedunculagin and ellagitannin enhanced proliferation, collagen production and inhibition of collagenase and elastase activity in the fibroblasts (Dzialo et al. 2016). Therefore, the effect of collagen stimulation of BG-SB might be caused by decreasing activity of collagenase of a metalloproteinase enzyme.