RESUMO

Glycyrrhiza glabra L., Fabaceae, or licorice has shown potential therapeutic effects on fever, gastric ulcers, hepatic disorders, and malaria. This study aimed to assess the antimalarial activity of different fractions of root extract from twelve ecotypes from Iran. In this regard, mice were then randomly divided into 8 groups of 5 mice. Four hours after mice were infected by Plasmodium berghei, they received methanolic plant extract by intraperitoneal injection. The treatment was continued for 4 consecutive days (every 24 h), then on the fifth and seventh days, blood samples were taken from the tails of the mice and the parasitic percentages were calculated by microscopy technique. In comparison to control, every analyzed ecotype has a remarkable parasite inhibitory effect, whereas the source of the root also has a drastic difference in its antimalarial effects. The highest percentage of inhibition on days 5 and 7 was subjected to the extract of Semirom ecotype with suppression of 86.37 and 83%, respectively. On the other hand, 13.21 and 9.19% parasite growth inhibition was shown in the extracts of Shahrbabak and Haji Abad, respectively. The significant difference between these 12 ecotypes was shown with Mann-Whitney U pairwise comparison to variable parasitemia day 5 and parasitemia day 7 (p < 0.001). Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43450-022-00353-8.

RESUMO

OBJECTIVE: Oxidative stress is a mechanism of cadmium-induced reproductive dysfunction. Carpolobia lutea is a free radical scavenger. Our study investigated the potential protective effects of Carpolobia lutea root methanol extract against cadmium-induced reproductive toxicity. METHODS: We obtained the Carpolobia lutea root in Akure, and it was authenticated at the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN) herbarium, Ibadan, Nigeria, with FHI number 109784. We used Soxhlet extraction to obtain its methanol extract. We used thirty male Wistar rats (150-170g) in this study, (n=5 per group), and treated them as follows: Control (1 ml/kg normal saline), Cd (2 mg/kg), Cd+MCL (2 mg/kg+100 mg/kg), Cd+MCL (2 mg/kg+200 mg/kg), MCL (100 mg/kg), MCL (200 mg/kg). We administered Carpolobia lutea orally for 8 weeks. We administered a single dose of 2 mg/kg of cadmium intraperitoneally. We assessed the sperm profile using a computer-aided sperm analyzer. Under microscopy, we determined the sperm acrosome reaction and the DNA damage. We measured the seminal fructose level using spectrophotometry, and the data were analyzed using ANOVA at p<0.05. RESULTS: Cd+MCL (2mg/kg+200 mg/kg) significantly increased sperm count (339.0±25.0 vs. 29.0±4.5 million/mL), motility (80.0±0.2 vs. 55.0±4.9%), viability (68.7±2.7 vs. 31.3±2.9%) and decreased abnormal sperm (28.3±1.7 vs. 43.3±2.5%), relative to the cadmium group. Cd+MCL (2mg/kg+200 mg/kg) significantly increased acrosome reaction (68.0±7.5 vs. 15.2±2.4%) and seminal fructose level (0.49±0.06 vs. 0.28±0.06 mmol/L) relative to the cadmium group. Cd+MCL (2mg/kg+200 mg/kg) significantly decreased sperm DNA damage (14.1±1.6 vs. 35.9±5.3%) in relation to the cadmium group. CONCLUSIONS: Carpolobia lutea root extract improves the sperm variables of rats exposed to cadmium.

Assuntos

RESUMO

Leaf and root essential oils of two closely related but ecologically distant Philodendron species were extracted in natural conditions in French Guiana and analysed by GC/MS to i) describe the blends of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced by those species and ii) analyse species and environment-based variations in extracts composition. A total of 135 VOCs were detected with a majority of aliphatic sesquiterpenes. P. fragrantissimum produced mainly ß-bisabolene (on average 29.12% of the extract) as well as α- and ß-selinene (14.52% and 17.50%, respectively) while in P. melinonii, four aliphatic sesquiterpenes could alternatively be the main component: (E)-ß-farnesene (up to 91.42% of the extract), germacrene-D (73.74%), ß-caryophyllene (51.63%) and trans-α-bergamotene (41.26%). A significant effect of species and organs on extracts composition was observed while the environment (sun exposure) only affected the relative proportions of monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes in roots of P. melinonii. These results are discussed in the light of the potential role of leaf and root terpenes in Philodendron species.

Assuntos

RESUMO

The role of the substrate on germination of Gigaspora albida Schenck & Smith was investigated. Spores were desinfested with 0.5% sodium hypochlorite (20 min.) and placed on Petri dishes over a Millipore filter, with one of the following media: a- 1% water-agar; b- water-agar + aqueous extract of roots of Panicum miliaceum L.; c- salt medium of Murashige & Skoog (MS) or sterilized sand; and incubated in the dark at room temperature (28ºC ± 2). The experimental design was at random with four treatments and four replicates. Germination was evaluated every 7 days until the 28th day. The water-agar medium was the most feasible for spore germination at the 7th day, followed by the MS medium at the 14th day. Conversely, the sand and the root extract medium did not allow high germination. Spores maintained in water-agar also presented longer germ tubes than spores in the other treatments. Auxiliary cells were observed at the beginning of formation of hyphal branching in all treatments, however they were more numerous in the water-agar medium.

Foi investigado o papel do substrato sobre a germinação e o crescimento do tubo germinativo de Gigaspora albida Schenck & Smith. Os esporos foram desinfestados com hipoclorito de sódio a 0,5% por 20 min. sob agitação constante, lavados com água destilada esterilizada e colocados em membrana de milipore, em placas de Petri com: 1. ágar água 1%, 2. ágar água 1% + extrato aquoso de raizes de Panicum miliaceum, 3. meio com sais de Murashige & Skoog (MS) e 4. areia esterilizada. O material foi incubado no escuro, sob temperatura ambiente (28 ºC ± 2). O delineamento foi inteiramente casualizado, com quatro tratamentos e quatro repetições e a avaliação feita a cada sete dias até completar 28 dias. O meio ágar água 1% foi o mais propício para germinação (100%) após sete dias, seguido pelo meio MS, aos 14 dias. Ao contrário, o solo e o meio com extrato de raiz proporcionaram baixo índice de germinação. Os esporos mantidos em ágar água também apresentaram maior crescimento do tubo germinativo, em relação aos demais tratamentos. Células auxiliares características do gênero foram observadas no início das ramificações hifálicas, em todos os tratamentos, sendo mais numerosas no tratamento em ágar água 1%.