Sonchus oleraceus L.: ethnomedical, phytochemical and pharmacological aspects.

Sonchus oleraceus L. (Asteraceae) is a cosmopolitan species native to Europe commonly known as lettuce, sowthistle, chicory, or fake dandelion, considered a weed. However, for many years in various cultures around the world, it has been used as food and medicinal plant.

Flaxseed Oil () Prevents Cognitive and Motor Damage in Rats with Hyperammonemia.

Hyperammonemia is characterized by the excessive accumulation of ammonia in the body as a result of the loss of liver detoxification, leading to the development of hepatic encephalopathy (HE). These metabolic alterations carry cognitive and motor deficits and cause neuronal damage, with no effective treatment at present. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of two subacute oral administrations of flaxseed oil (0.

C-Phycocyanin: A Phycobiliprotein from with Metabolic Syndrome and Oxidative Stress Effects.

is a cyanobacterium considered a "superfood" due to its metabolites and nutrient content. These include a complex mixture of minerals, vitamins, fatty acids, proteins, and accessory pigments. In recent years, it has positioned itself as a promising source of bioactive molecules for the treatment of several diseases, including metabolic syndrome, coronary diseases, cancer, and the improvement of health modulating oxidative stress.

Chemometrics: a complementary tool to guide the isolation of pharmacologically active natural products.

Chemometrics offers an important complementary tool to enhance the searching and isolation of bioactive natural products from natural sources.

Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive potential of Ternstroemia sylvatica Schltdl. & Cham.

Objective: To evaluate the anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antioxidant and acute toxicity of extracts obtained from a successive extraction with solvents of ascending polarity [hexane, hex; chloroform, CHCl and ethanol (EtOH)] of Ternstroemia sylvatica Schltdl. & Cham.

Methods: The antioxidant potential was evaluated by 2,2 diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, the ferric reducing/antioxidant power assays and by determining the total phenolic content.

Chemometrics-enhanced high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection of bioactive metabolites from phytochemically unknown plants.

This work describes the use of Colubrina greggii as a model to investigate the use of chemometric analysis combined with data from a leishmanicidal bioassay, using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Orthogonal Projections to Latent Structures (O-PLS), to detect biologically active natural products in crude extracts from plants having little or no phytochemical information. A first analysis of the HPLC-UV profiles of the extract and its semi-purified fractions using both Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Orthogonal Partial Least Squares (O-PLS) indicated that the components at tR 48.2, 48.

Salvinorin A content in legal high products of Salvia divinorum sold in Mexico.

Salvia divinorum (Lamiaceae) is a herb native to Mexico where it is used by Mazatec shamans for spiritual and divination purposes. S. divinorum products are easily available to consumers and are used worldwide as legal highs because of the hallucinogenic effects caused mainly by salvinorin A.

Cnidoscolus chayamansa Mc Vaugh, an important antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and cardioprotective plant used in Mexico.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Cnidoscolus chayamansa Mc Vaugh (Euphorbiaceae) is commonly known as 'chaya' in Central America. In South East Mexico, because of its high nutritional values, is an important part of the diet of many indigenous communities. Chaya is also used as a traditional remedy for the treatment of diabetes, rheumatism, gastrointestinal disorders and inflammation-related diseases.

Antimicrobial assays of three native British plants used in Anglo-Saxon medicine for wound healing formulations in 10th century England.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Three important Anglo-Saxon medical texts from the 10th century contain herbal formulations for over 250 plant species, many of which have yet to be evaluated for their phytochemical and/or pharmacological properties. In this study, three native British plants were selected to determine antimicrobial activity relevant to treating bacterial infections and wounds.

Materials And Methods: Several preparations of Agrimonia eupatoria L.

Anglo-Saxon pharmacopoeia revisited: a potential treasure in drug discovery.

Three of the four major Anglo-Saxon collections reporting medicinal formulations in England from the 10th century, the Old English Herbarium, Bald's Leechbook and the Lacnunga, could contain leads and insights into new medicinal uses. Previous pharmacological studies of medicinal plants mentioned in Anglo-Saxon medical texts suggested that some were effective and led to the identification and isolation of natural compounds. For example, matricin from yarrow Achillea millefolium L.

The ethanol extract of Scutellaria baicalensis and the active compounds induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis including upregulation of p53 and Bax in human lung cancer cells.

Despite a lack of scientific authentication, Scutellaria baicalensis is clinically used in Chinese medicine as a traditional adjuvant to chemotherapy of lung cancer. In this study, cytotoxicity assays demonstrated that crude ethanolic extracts of S. baicalensis were selectively toxic to human lung cancer cell lines A549, SK-LU-1 and SK-MES-1 compared with normal human lung fibroblasts.

Identification of sakurasosaponin as a cytotoxic principle from Jacquinia flammea.

The crude ethanolic extract of leaves, stem-bark and roots of J. flammea were tested for their cytotoxic effect against two mammalian cell lines (HeLa and RAW 264.7) and four bacterial species (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa).

Triterpenoid saponins from a cytotoxic root extract of Sideroxylon foetidissimum subsp. gaumeri.

Evaluation of the cytotoxicity of an ethanolic root extract of Sideroxylonfoetidissimum subsp. gaumeri (Sapotaceae) revealed activity against the murine macrophage-like cell line RAW 264.7.

Validation of a HPLC method for flavonoid biomarkers in skullcap (Scutellaria) and its use to illustrate wide variability in the quality of commercial tinctures.

Purpose: To compare the flavonoid biomarker content (baicalin, baicalein and wogonin) of eleven commercial tinctures derived from Scutellaria lateriflora aerial parts (n=7) and Scutellaria baicalensis root (n=4). S. lateriflora tinctures are used in by western herbal practitioners to treat anxiety whereas S.

Comparison of rosmarinic acid content in commercial tinctures produced from fresh and dried lemon balm (Melissa officinalis).

Purpose: To measure the rosmarinic acid content of eight commercial tinctures derived from fresh (n= 5) and dried (n=3) Melissa officinalis herb.

Methods: Rosmarinic acid and the internal standard (esculin) were purchased from Aldrich Chemical Co. The column used was a Luna C18, 5 um (150 x 4.