Flower Crude Extracts Research Articles

In-vitro Anticancer and Antioxidant Activity of Gold Nanoparticles Conjugate with Tabernaemontana divaricata flower SMs Against MCF -7 Breast Cancer Cells

Biologically stabilized gold nanoparticles were synthesized from the flower aqueous extract of T. divari- cata. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by UV-Vis spectrophotometer, Zeta sizer, FTIR and TEM analysis. T. divaricata reduced gold nanoparticles having particle size and potential of 106.532 nm and -10.2 mV, respectively, with a characteristic peak of 550 nm in UV-visible spectrophotometer. FTIR graph after comparison between the crude flower extract and gold nanoparticles showed three major shifts in the functional groups. The morphology and size of the gold nanoparticles were examined by HRTEM analysis, which showed that most of the nanoparticles were nearly spherical with size of 100 nm. The gold nanoparticles synthesized demonstrated potent anticancer activity against MCF-7 cell line. The findings conclude that the antioxidant molecule present in T. divaricata may be responsible for both reduction and capping of gold nanoparticles which possess potential applications in medicine and pharmaceutical fields.

Antibacterial activity of northern Ontario medicinal plant extracts

Hassan, H. M., Jiang, Z.-H., Asmussen, C., McDonald, E. and Qin, W. 2014. Antibacterial activity of northern Ontario medicinal plant extracts. Can. J. Plant Sci. 94: 417–424. In the present study, the antibacterial activity (in vitro) of the leaf and/or flower crude extracts of Anaphalis margaritacea (L.) Benth & Hook.f., Grindelia squarrosa (Pursh) Dunal, Apocynum androsaemifolium L., Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (L.) Spreng, Cornus canadensis L. and Xanthium strumarium L. medicinal plants was analyzed through the hole-plate diffusion, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) assays against Escherichia coli, Aeromonas caviae, Paenibacillus alvei, Micrococcus luteus, Mycobacterium avium subsp. avium and Bacillus cereus bacteria. In addition, the time-kill dynamic processes of these extracts against A. caviae, B. cereus, P. alvei, and M. luteus bacteria were also tested. The leaf and flower extracts of Anap. margaritacea and G. squarrosa possess significant antibacterial activity against all the bacteria tested, with inhibition of A. caviae, P. alvei and M. luteus within 1–12 h of incubation at MBC. Particularly, at higher concentrations of the Anap. margaritacea flower crude extract (2–3×MBC), inhibition of A. caviae, B. cereus, P. alvei, and M. luteus bacteria is achieved between 0.5 and 4 h of incubation. In addition, these extracts exhibit high inhibition diameters (majority > 18 mm) and low MIC and/or MBCs (majority=1.25 mg mL−1). In contrast, the leaf extracts of Arct. uva-ursi, X. strumarium, Apoc. androsaemifolium and C. canadensis plants demonstrate moderate to low activity. These results indicate that extracts from Anap. margaritacea and G. squarrosa could be a source of novel antimicrobial scaffolds, compounds or pharmacophores with implications in the pharmaceutical industry and medicine.

Antioxidant and anti-acetylcholinesterase activities of extracts from Rapistrum rugosum in Tunisia

ObjectiveTo investigate the antioxidant potential and anti-acetylcholinesterase activity of Rapistrum rugosum extracts. MethodsThe crude, ethyl acetate, butanol and water extracts prepared from flowers, roots, stems and leaves of Rapistrum rugosum were tested at 1 mg/mL to determine their total polyphenol content, total flavonoid content and total condensed tannin content. Their antioxidant activity was assessed at different concentrations (0.0312, 0.0625, 0.1250, 0.25, 0.50 and 1.00 mg/mL) by using DPPH, ABTS, reducing power and β-carotene bleAChIng inhibition activity. Anti-acetylcholinesterase activity was also determined. ResultsThe extract of leaves and stems had the highest total phenolic content [(110.45±0.03) mg gallic acid equivalent/g dry weight]. The ethyl acetate extract of flowers had the highest total flavonoid content [(24.62±0.13) mg quercetin equivalent/g dry weight]. The butanolic fraction of flowers had the highest total condensed tannin content [(317.85±0.01) mg catechin equivalent/g dry weight]. The crude extracts of flowers exhibited an interesting antioxidant activity for DPPH assay (93.00±0.01)% at 1 mg/mL. The greatest acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity (IC50=1.60 mg/mL) was exhibited by the crude extracts from the flowers. ConclusionsThe results demonstrated that Rapistrum rugosum contains active constituents which possess antioxidant and anti-acetylcholinesterase activities.

Study on the Antioxidant Activities of Gel Containing <i>Tagetes erecta</i> (L.)

Tagetes erecta Linn. (Asteraceae), commonly known as marigold, is a common garden plant in Thailand. It was reported that antioxidant, antimycotic, and analgesic activities were found in Tagetes erecta. In this study, the alcoholic crude extracts of flowers of Tagetes erecta were evaluated its free radical scavenging properties by using 2,2diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical. Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) was used as standard antioxidant. Tagetes erecta extract possessed the potency of DPPH radical scavenging activity (EC50 6.56±1.46 μg/ml) more than BHT (EC50 11.06±1.75 μg/ml). Later, it was prepared in gel formulation at concentration of 0.1 % w/w Tagetes erecta extract which Carbopol Ultrez 21 or Sepigel 305 was used as a gelling agent. Propylene glycol, Uniphen P-23, triethanolamine, and distilled water were used as ingredients. The physicochemical property was evaluated in terms of physical appearances, pH, viscosity, and antioxidant activity. All formulations possessed good antioxidant activity. In addition, it has good physical appearances, and pH ranged of 4 to 6. However, the viscosity depended on a polymer type and concentration of polymer.

Isolation and identification of antiplasmodial N-alkylamides from Spilanthes acmella flowers using centrifugal partition chromatography and ESI-IT-TOF-MS

The development of new antiplasmodial drugs is of primary importance due to the growing problem of multi-drug resistance of malaria parasites. Spilanthes acmella, a plant traditionally used for the treatment of toothache, was targeted as a lead for its potential antiplasmodial activity. A systematic approach for investigating a suitable centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) solvent system for N-alkylamides separation was reported. The partition behavior of three N-alkylamides has been studied using several biphasic solvent mixtures in search of an adequate CPC solvent system for this class of compounds. Major N-alkylamides in S. acmella were isolated from a methanolic crude extract of flowers by CPC with the solvent system heptanes–ethyl acetate–methanol–water (3:2:3:2, v/v/v/v). Four N-alkylamides were purified and the structures were illustrated by electrospray ionization-ion trap-time of flight-mass spectrometry (ESI-IT-TOF-MS), 1H nuclear magnetic resonance ( 1H NMR) and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance ( 13C NMR). The CPC fractions, which contained natural mixtures of phytochemicals, demonstrated significantly higher antiplasmodial activity compared to corresponding purified N-alkylamides, thus suggesting that interactions between these N-alkylamides may potentiate antiplasmodial bioactivity.

Suppressive Effect of a Proanthocyanidin-rich Extract from Longan (Dimocarpus longan Lour.) Flowers on Nitric Oxide Production in LPS-Stimulated Macrophage Cells

Anthocyanidins found in certain flowers have been shown to act as strong antioxidants in various systems, exhibiting multiple biological actions. The antioxidative effects of water extract and ethanolic extract of longan (Dimocarpus longan Lour.) flowers were evaluated by radical scavenging activity and compared to those of gallic acid, myricetin, and epigallocatechin gallate. In this study, the suppressive effects of longan flower extracts on nitric oxide and prostaglandin E2 production were investigated using a lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 cell model. Abundant levels of phenolic compounds including flavonoids, condensed tannins, and proanthocyanidins were found in water or ethanolic extracts prepared from dried longan flowers. The antioxidative effect of longan flower extract was similar to the effect exhibited by pure antioxidants. Moreover, longan flower extract showed prominent inhibitory effects on prostaglandin E2 production. Significant concentration-dependent inhibition of nitric oxide production was detected when cells were cotreated with lipopolysaccharide and various concentrations of longan flower extracts. These inhibitory effects were further attributed to suppression of inducible nitric oxide synthase protein expression and not to reduced enzymatic activity. These results suggest that longan flower crude extracts, especially ethanolic extract, have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, and the probable mechanism involves inhibition of inflammation by proanthocyanidins. Preliminary observations suggest that longan flower extract, especially alcoholic extract, could be another potential source of natural dietary antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent.

Determination of Hypochlorite in Bleaching Products with Flower Extracts To Demonstrate the Principles of Flow Injection Analysis

The use of crude flower extracts is proposed to teach the principles of flow injection procedures. In this experiment a bleaching reaction between hypochlorite and the anthocyanins contained in the...

Modeling the kinetics of whey protein hydrolysis brought about by enzymes from Cynara cardunculus.

The purpose of this research work was to study the proteolytic activity of aqueous crude extracts of flowers of the plant Cynara cardunculus on the major whey proteins, namely, beta-lactoglobulin (beta-Lg) and alpha-lactalbumin (alpha-La). These extracts, containing a mixture of cardosins A and B (i.e., two distinct aspartic proteases), have been employed for many years in traditional cheese-making in Portugal and Spain. Cow's milk sweet whey was incubated for up to 24 h at various ratios of addition of crude enzyme extract, under controlled pH (5.2 and 6.0) and temperature (55 degrees C). The samples collected were assayed by gel permeation chromatography and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. A mechanistic model was proposed for the kinetics of the hydrolysis process, which is basically a double-substrate, double-enzyme Michaelis-Menten rate expression; the kinetic parameters were estimated by multiresponse, nonlinear regression analysis. The best estimates obtained for the specificity ratio (i.e., k(cat)/K(m)) of each cardosin within the mixture toward each whey protein indicated that said aspartic proteases possess a higher catalytic efficiency for alpha-La (0.42-4.2 mM(-1).s(-1)) than for beta-Lg (0-0.064 mM(-1).s(-1)), at least under the experimental conditions used. These ratios are below those previously reported for caseins and a synthetic hexapeptide. Cardosins are more active at pH 5.2 than at pH 6.0 and (as expected) at higher enzyme-to-substrate ratios.

Aplicação de pigmentos de flores no ensino de química

In the present work, the pH dependent colour change of the crude flower extracts is suggested as subject in teaching chemical or acid-base equilibria, visual indicators and some aspects of spectrophotometric concepts and applications. The vegetal species used are commonly found in Brazil, and the extraction methodology proposed is inexpensive and easy to perform in secondary schools and in general chemistry or instrumental undergraduate courses. A bibliographic review about the use of vegetal extracts in chemical education and a discussion of the flower colour are also presented.

Characterization and expression of chalcone synthase in different genotypes of Matthiola incana R.Br. during flower development

The expression of the key enzyme of flavonoid biosynthesis, chalcone synthase (CHS), has been followed in different genotypes of Matthiola incana R.Br. (Brassicaceae) which are genetically defined with respect to anthocyanin production. Enzyme activity was determined by a radioactive assay in crude flower extracts. The amount of enzyme protein in the developing flower was determined by use of SDS-PAGE, protein blotting, reaction with an antiserum against CHS of parsley (Petroselinum hortense), and PAP staining. The molecular weight of about 41 500 of the CHS subunits corresponds with that obtained from other higher plants. Steps of flower development were subdivided into stages-1,0, I-IV. During flower development of a Matthiola line with coloured petals (line 07) a defined pattern of CHS enzyme production can be observed: At the stage of bud opening (stage 0-I) a dramatic increase of the amount of CHS enzyme prodein in the petals occurs. This is quite different from results obtained with petals of the white flowering mutant line 18 bearing a genetic defect in the gene f coding for CHS. Here a reduced and nearly constant level of CHS enzyme protein can be observed during flower development. This line is most attractive for our studies of the regulation of enzyme synthesis because under stress conditions a slight colouring of the flower petals occurs, which is uniformly distributed and line-specific. This suggests that we are dealing with a CHS mutant producing a rather inactive enzyme protein at a low level. This protein may regain enzyme activity under certain environmental conditions. Preliminary investigations suggest a rather high level of CHS mRNA transcription at the bud opening stage of the flowers. Other white flowering mutant lines, line 17 (genotype ee) and line 19 (gg) with a late block in the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway, exhibit a concomitant reduction of CHS enzyme activity and protein content in comparison to anthocyanin-producing lines with the f(+)f(+)e(+)e(+)g(+)g(+)-genotype.