Evaluation of Antiproliferative Potentials Associated with the Volatile Compounds of Flowers: Selective In Vitro Activity.

Probing the chemical profiles and biological activities of medicinal plants is important for the discovery of new potent therapeutic products. Our study deciphers the chemical composition of the essential oils (EOs) obtained from three different flowers of and evaluates their antioxidant and anticancer activities. This work represents the first study of EOs obtained from this plant and is based particularly on the difference in flower color.

Bithiophenic MALDI matrices as valuable leads for the selective detection of alkaloids.

Alkaloids represent a group of biologically most interesting compounds commonly used in modern medicines but also known for exhibiting severe toxic effects. Therefore, the detection of alkaloids is an important issue in quality control of plants, dietary supplements, and herbal pharmaceutical and mostly facilitated by methods such as GC or LC-MS. However, benefitting from the development of selective matrices as well as requiring very little sample preparation, MALDI-MS may also provide a valuable supplement to these standard analytical methods.

Chemical Composition, Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Activities of Roots and Fruits of Berberis libanotica.

Fourteen compounds belonging to different chemical classes were characterized in the roots and fruits extracts from Berberis libanotica, using the same HPLC-DAD-MS method. Thirteen were reported, for the first time, from the fruits whereas the roots contained mostly alkaloids of which 3 out of 5 are reported for the first time. Their structures were established on the basis of MS data as gallic acid (1), chlorogenic acid (2), delphinidin (3), oxyacanthine (4), rutin (5), hyperoside (6), berbamine (7), isoquercitrin (8), quercitrin (9), jatrorrhizine (10), palmatine (11), berberine (12), quercetin (13) and luteolin (14).

Selective adsorption of antiphospholipid and anti-dsDNA autoantibodies on histidine based pseudobioaffinity adsorbent from sera of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune diseases characterized by the presence of antiphospholipid and anti-dsDNA autoantibodies in the sera of patients. These autoantibodies and their subclasses have received increasing attention by medical community due to their association with recurrent venous thrombosis, fetal loss and thrombocytopenia. In particular, attention has been paid to IgG subclasses in SLE.

Alternative and complementary antileishmanial treatments: assessment of the antileishmanial activity of 27 Lebanese plants, including 11 endemic species.

Aqueous, methanolic, and dichloromethane extracts from 27 Lebanese plants were investigated for their in vitro immunomodulatory and antileishmanial activities as compared to their toxicity against human cells. Extracts from yellow chamomile (Anthemis tinctoria), white larkspur (Consolida rigida), Syrian broom (Cytisus syriacus), coast spurge (Euphorbia paralias), shield fibigia (Fibigia clypeata), Auchers golden-drop (Onosma aucheriana), shell-flower sage (Salvia multicaulis), snowy woundwort (Stachys nivea), Palestine woundwort (Stachys palaestina), and polium-leaved speedwell (Veronica polifolia) exhibited interesting antileishmanial activities on the intracellular amastigote form of the parasite, while several extracts from A. tinctoria, F.

Daucane sesquiterpenes from Ferula hermonis.

The dried roots of Ferula hermonis yielded three new daucanes, (1R,4R)-4-hydroxydauca-7-ene-6-one (1), (1R,4R)-4-hydroxydauca-7-ene-6,9-dione (2), and (1R,3S,8S)-3-ethoxy-8-angeloyloxydauca-4-en-9-one (3), together with the three known sesquiterpenes, ferutinin, teferidin, and (+)-alpha-bisabolol. The structures of compounds 1-3 were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic evidence. The effect of these compounds on the proliferation of estrogen-dependent MCF-7 cells was evaluated, and it was found that compounds 1 and 3 exhibited proliferative activity, whereas 2 showed an antiproliferative effect.