Antiplasmodial activity and cytotoxicity of plants used in traditional medicine of Iran for the treatment of fever

Malaria is the most serious parasitic disease and one of the oldest recorded diseases in the world. Because of the resistance of malaria parasites to current drugs, it is necessary to discover new antiplasmodial drugs. Traditional medicine is one of the important sources of new antiplasmodial drugs. In this study, twenty methanolic extracts from different parts of sixteen medicinal plants used in traditional medicine of Iran for the treatment of "Nobeh fever" and/ or fever were screened for in-vivo antiplasmodial activity against Plasmodium berghei and cytotoxic effect on Madin-Darby bovine kidney cells [MDBK]. Eleven species [55%] were found to have antiplasmodial activity. Methanolic extract from Rosa damascena Mill. reduced parasitemia by 57.7% compared to untreated control mice at intra-peritoneal [i.p.] injection doses of 10 mg/Kg per day for 4 days. This is the first report that mentioned in-vivo antiplasmodial activity of Rosa damascena Mill

Cancer terminologies used in the medieval texts to the early modern Iranian traditional medicine [ITM]

A Large number of people are affected by cancer and the primeval history of this malady has attracted attention toward complementary and alternative therapies to manage this disease. The present study has performed a survey on cancer in the Iranian Traditional Medicine during the Islamic era [ITM] by focusing on cancer terminologies and related diseases over a millennium, from medieval to the early modern era. Seven ITM medical texts, in Arabic and Persian languages, from 7th to 18th century AD were evaluated. These medical literatures have been our the sources of ITM cancer recognition clues. These clues have been related to some cancer and cancer-like diseases. The terminologies could be helpful for future ethnopharmacologic assay about cancer in ITM

Herbal remedies connected to malaria like fever in Iranian ancient medicinal books- brief review article

Malaria is a major international public health problem. Drug-resistant parasites have made treatment and control of malaria more difficult. Therefore, safe, affordable and effective new drugs are urgently needed. Traditional medicine is an important source for new drugs. Determining the ancient medicinal books was the first step of this study for finding malaria or disease that has symptoms like malaria. Then the plants that used to treat "Ghebbe Khalesseh fever" were listed. Finally, recent antimalarial researches were explored. About 31 plants were identified. Information from these resources is valuable for the selection of plants for antiplasmodial screening programs

effects of selected hot and cold temperament herbs based on Iranian traditional medicine on some metabolic parameters in normal rats

This study was aimed to evaluate the effects of diets containing some hot and cold temperament herb seeds according to Iranian traditional medicine [ITM] on some metabolic parameters in acute [24 h] and sub-acute [7 day] experiments that were performed on rats. For each experiment, effects of diets containing 10% herb seeds in category of hot [anise, fennel, ajowan] and cold [cucumber, watermelon, pumpkin] temperaments were analyzed on body weight gain, food intake, water consumption, urine output, serum glucose [SG] and insulin levels of rats. In the acute experiment, anise or fennel fed groups showed a significant decrease in food intake and there were not any changes in other parameters. The hot temperament groups in comparison with the cold temperament ones showed a significant decrease in food intake and a significant increase in SG level. In the sub-acute experiment, anise and fennel fed groups had a significant decrease in body weight gain on the 4[th] day. On the 7[th] day, the anise fed group experienced a significant decrease in body weight gain and a significant increase in SG levels. The groups that were fed hot temperament diets compared to the ones that consumed cold temperament diets showed a significant decrease in body weight gain and food intake rates and a considerable increase in SG levels. Considering the findings of this study, one can conclude that it is possible that hot temperament herbs such as anise and fennel be useful for humans for certain conditions such as weight control

Determination of 18 beta-glycyrrhetinic acid in glycyrrhiza glabra l. extract by HPLC

A high performance liquid chromatography method was studied for determination of 18 p-glycyrrhetinic acid in Glycyrrhiza glabra L. [licorice] extract. The operating condition were C-18 reversed phase column [VP-ODS, [250x4.6 mm, 5 mm]] at room temperature, acetonitril/phosphoric acid [3/1] as mobile phase, at flow rate of 0.6ml/min [0-8min], 0.4ml/ min [8-20min] and UV detection at 230 nm. The recoveries were%99.60-%102.81 with relative standard deviation between%0.01-% 1.58. The relative standard deviation of the repeatability test was%2.96. The method is simple, rapid, safe, accurate, economical and useful for standardization of the licorice products

Labiatae family in folk medicine in Iran: from ethnobotany to pharmacology

Labiatae family is well represented in Iran by 46 genera and 410 species and subspecies. Many members of this family are used in traditional and folk medicine. Also they are used as culinary and ornamental plants. There are no distinct references on the ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology of the family in Iran and most of the publications and documents related to the uses of these species are both in Persian and not comprehensive. In this article we reviewed all the available publication on this family. Also documentation from unpublished resources and ethnobotanical surveys has been included. Based on our literature search, out of the total number of the Labiatae family in Iran, 18% of the species are used for medicinal purposes. Leaves are the most used plant parts. Medicinal applications are classified into 13 main categories. A number of pharmacological and experimental studies have been reviewed, which confirm some of the traditional applications and also show the headline for future works on this family

Preparation of testosterone using microbial metabolite of cholesterol

Natural sterols are potential raw materials for the prepartion of pharmacologically active steroid products. This paper details preparation of testosterone, one of the steroidal hormones, through microbial metabolism of cholesterol followed by chemical reduction. The side chain of cholesterol was selectively cleaved by Mycobacterium smegmatis PTCC 1307, and then selective reduction of resulting 17-keton group of androst-4-ene-3, 17-dione [AD], the main product of microbial transformation, with sodium borohydride at -10°C gave testosterone in high yeild [90%]. Assignment of structures were made by IR, NMR, Mass, and UV spectroscopic data