review on medicinal characteristics of pomegranate [Punica granatum L.]

Pomegranate [Punica granatum L.] is a deciduous shrub and native to Iran having ancient culture in this country and Iran is one of the biggest producers of pomegranate in the world. This fruit is used in traditional medicine because of its antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and alleviative characteristics. Extracts of different parts of pomegranate fruit is rich in phenolic compounds and its rind extract and seed oil have vigorous antioxidant activity. Elagic acid is one of the most important phenolic compound with antioxidant activity, present in the pomegranate rind extract. Inhibitory effect of pomegranate seed oil on breast and skin cancer has been reported. Use of seed oil and extracts of different parts of pomegranate fruit has been considered in production of phytostrogenic compounds. At the present time, the fruit of pomegranate besides its use as a fruit and having nutritional value is also considered for its pharmaceutical characteristics. This paper is a review on articles and different sources in order to get more familiarity with medicinal characteristics of this fruit

Essential oil analysis wild and cultivated of cymbopogon olivieri [Boiss.] Bor. in Iran

Cymbopgon olivieri [Boiss.] Bor. with the common Persian names of kah-makki and Putar, an aromatic perennial grass of Iran, is distributed in tropical regions of south provinces of Iran. The aim of this study was evaluation of quantitative and qualitative differences in the essential oil composition of wild and cultivated samples of Cymbopgon olivieri. Aerial parts and rhizomes of plant were collected in June 2003 from Siahoo [Hormozgan province]. Rhizomes were cultivated in the field of Medicinal Plants and Drugs Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University. Air-dried aerial parts of wild and cultivated samples were subjected to hydrodistillation. The obtained oils were analyzed by GC and GC-MS. In total 40 and 33 compounds were identified, representing 95% and 96.3% of the oils of natural and cultivated samples, respectively. The quantitative and qualitative oil components were compared. The main constituent of both samples was piperitone [48.9% and 56.7%] followed by a-terpinene [13.8% and 14.2%], limonene [6.3% and 7.5%] and elemol [3.7% and 4%]