Articles
Archives of Iranian Medicine (10292977)(4)
Background: The date fruit is a remarkable source of nutraceuticals and bioactive compounds. Different types of phenolic compounds with high antioxidant capacity are found in date seed extract. Additionally, these compounds can be potential antibacterial agents to combat antibiotic resistance strains. Therefore, the main idea of the current study was to quantify five key phenolic acids in the ethanolic extract of Zahidi and Khastawi dates seed and to examine their antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Methods: The concentration of gallic acid, ferulic acid, p-coumaric acid, sinapic acid and cinnamic acid in the seed extracts were determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Then, antibacterial activity of date seed extracts was analyzed using well diffusion method. Furthermore, a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis was performed to confirm the antibacterial effects of the seed extracts. Results: Phenolic acids were found to be in the range of 10.59 to 33.65 µg mg-1 in Zahidi and 13.69 to 41.56 µg mg-1 in Khastawi date seed extract. Gallic acid was the dominant phenolic acid, while cinnamic acid was seen in the lowest concentrations compared with the other phenolic acids in both cultivars. Antibacterial activity study showed that the growth inhibition effect of Khastawi date (14 ± 0.21 mm) was higher than that of Zahidi date (8 ± 0.13 mm) against MRSA. As well, the maximum DPPH scavenging percentage was 79% and 62% for the Khastawi and Zahidi date seed extracts, respectively. Also, SEM analysis suggested that treatment of MRSA with date seed extract resulted in a significant disruption of bacterial structure. Conclusion: It can be concluded that date seed extract can be considered as a potential source of antibacterial compounds for the drug discovery purposes. © 2025 Academy of Medical Sciences of I.R. Iran. All rights reserved.
JSFA reports (25735098)(5)
Objective: The present study investigates the hypnotic action of the methanolic partition of Albizia julibrissin (MPAJ) and various partitions (total, ethyl acetate, and aqueous) of Melissa officinalis (MO) in mice. Methods: Pentobarbital-induced sleep (PIS) time prolongation was used to assess the hypnotic action of test compounds. For the tolerance study, MO and MPAJ were given alone or in combination for 7 days, and then the locomotor activity of the mice was measured as an index of tolerance. Mortality of the herbal extracts was studied after intraperitoneal (i.p.) and oral administration in mice. Results: Separate administration of total extracts of Melissa officinalis and methanolic extract of Albizia julibrissin at 12.5 mg/kg significantly increased the PIS time. In the combination of two plants, there was no additional or synergistic increase in sleepiness when compared to the separate administration of each plant (p < 0.05). In contrast to diazepam, the locomotor activity of the animals was not significantly altered after 7 days of injection with MPAJ or total extract of MO (TEMO), or their combinations. Conclusion: Separate administration of TEMO and MPAJ provides significant hypnotic effects. The combination of two extracts, however, does not result in synergistic or additive hypnotic action. The lack of additive effects could be due to possible interaction by components of the two plants. The increase in mortality rate and undesirable reactions observed after i.p. administration of MPAJ is probably due to the absorption of certain toxic compounds that are not normally absorbed after oral administration. © 2025 The Author(s). JSFA Reports published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.
Probiotics And Antimicrobial Proteins (18671306)
Heat-killed lactobacilli seem to have protective effects against oxidative stress and neurotoxicity. This study aimed to evaluate the antioxidant properties of specific heat-killed lactobacilli extracts and determine their neuroprotective effects against the neurotoxicity induced by blood plasma from people with multiple sclerosis (MS). The antioxidant activity of the three heat-killed lactobacilli was measured using the DPPH assay. For neuroprotective evaluations of lactobacilli, human neuroblastoma cells (SK-N-SH) were exposed to plasma from individuals with relapsing–remitting MS (RRMS) and healthy controls, with or without pre-treatment of heat-killed lactobacilli including Lactiplantibacillus plantarum (L. plantarum), Levilactobacillus brevis (L. brevis), and Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus (L. rhamnosus). The morphological changes of SK-N-SH cells associated with plasma-induced apoptosis were observed using an inverted microscope. The neurotoxic effects of plasma samples were assessed using flow cytometry as the percentage of apoptosis in neuronal cells treated with plasma from RRMS patients and healthy controls. The neuroprotective effects of the lactobacilli were also evaluated using flow cytometry, which showed an increased viability percentage in cells pretreated with heat-killed lactobacilli extracts compared to those without pre-treatment. Compared to plasma from healthy controls, plasma from RRMS patients caused morphological changes characteristic of apoptosis such as rounding, detachment, and shrinkage in SK-N-SH cells on microscopy observations. Significant apoptosis in MS plasma-treated neuronal cells was identified by flow cytometry analysis compared to cells treated with plasma from healthy controls (p < 0.01). Heat-killed lactobacilli extracts showed antioxidant activity above 50% in the DPPH radical scavenging assay. Pre-treatment of cells with heat-killed lactobacilli significantly reduced the morphological changes and apoptosis percentage in neuronal cells induced by MS plasma samples. L. plantarum and L. rhamnosus had considerable neuroprotective effects (p < 0.001), followed by L. brevis (p < 0.05). These findings demonstrate that heat-killed lactobacilli extracts as bacterial fractions free of live microorganisms, are suitable safe candidates for adjunctive therapy with potential antioxidant and neuroprotective properties in MS. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2025.
Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences (17355362)(2)
Background and purpose: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease specified by chronic and irreversible destruction of neurons. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of different extracts (aqueous, hydroalcoholic, hexane, and ethyl acetate) and manna of Echinops cephalotes (EC) on impaired cognitive function induced by scopolamine in mice. EC is shown to have anti-cholinesterase-butyrylcholinesterase activities. Experimental approach: In this study, aqueous and hydroalcoholic extracts, hexane and ethyl acetate fractions of EC (25, 50, 100 mg/kg, i.p.), and the manna (25, 50, 100 mg/kg, gavage) were administered for 14 days alongside scopolamine (0.7 mg/kg, i.p.). Rivastigmine (reference drug) was administered for 2 weeks i.p. Mice were tested for their memory function using two behavioral models, object recognition test (ORT) and passive avoidance test (PAT). Findings/Results: Administration of scopolamine significantly impaired memory function in both behavioral models. In the PAT model, all extracts at 50 and 100 mg/kg significantly reversed the effect of memory destruction caused by scopolamine. At a lower dose of 25 mg/kg, however, none of the extracts were able to significantly change the step-through latency time. In the ORT model, however, administration of all extracts at 50 and 100 mg/kg, significantly increased the recognition index. Only the manna and the aqueous extract at 25 mg/kg were able to reverse scopolamine-induced memory impairment. Conclusions and implications: These results suggest that all forms of EC extracts improve memory impairment induced by scopolamine comparably to rivastigmine. Whether the effects are sustained over a longer period remains to be tested in future work. © 2024 Copyright:
