[Comparison of morphinan alkaloids during different stages of growth in the medicinal plant opium poppy [papaver somniferum L.]]

Opium poppy contains important pharmaceutical alkaloids such as Morphine, Codeine, Thebaine, Noscapine, Papaverine and Sanguinarine which are of a high economic value in pharmaceutical industries. Since production volume of secondary metabolites is very low, many strategies have been so far adopted for commercialization of its production. This research has been carried out to investigate accumulation process of morphinan alkaloids in opium poppy plant during different stages of growth. Opium poppy plant was cultured in greenhouse condition and during three stages of seed, development and flowering, samples have been taken from root and aerial organs' tissues and after extraction of alkaloid from each specimen separately, amount of Morphine, Codeine and Thebaine using High Performance Liquid Chromatography [HPLC] was measured. Results indicated that amount of these alkaloids differs in various parts of plant during different stages of growth. Highest content of Morphine, Codeine and Thebaine was observed in aerial organs and at flowering stage of this plant. Morphine was the dominant alkaloid in all parts of plant. After study of the results, it was found that the plant's growth stage has a crucial role in the under study alkaloids concentration amount, so as the amount of all the three alkaloids, Morphine, Codeine, and Thebaine after flowering stage, both in the roots and aerial organs, is by far more than their amount at growth and seeds stages. Since the largest amount of morphine was observed in flowering stage, it seems that application of new techniques such as metabolic engineering will yield better results at this stage

[ effect of seasonal variation on the essential oil components of page mandarin [[c.reticulata var dancy x C.paradisi var dancan] x C.clemantina] peel]

It is appear, that the harvesting time of fruit is one affecting factor on the amount of flavor constituents existed in fruit peel oil [aldehydes, alcohols and esters]. The goal of the present study is to investigate on flavor constituents of page mandarin peel and their variation during a season. In the last part of November and February 2009, ten mature fruit were harvested and their Peel oil was extracted by using cold-press and eluted by using n-hexan, then analyzed by GC and CG-MS. In the last part of November, the amounts of aldehydes, alcohols and esters existed in the fruit peel oil were 1.34, 1.87 and 0.17, respectively. In the last part of February, these amounts were 0.46, 1.06 and 0.04, respectively. Oxygenated constituents, especially decanal and linalool, showed remarkable decreased in their relative concentration as the fruit harvested lately, where as the concentration of limonene showed a corresponding increase

chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of essential oil of Satureja intermedia C. A. Mey

The genus Satureja belongs to Lamiaceae family. 12 species exist in Iran of which 8 are endemic. Some of this genus had shown antibacterial effects. In this study chemical compounds and antibacterial activity of essential oil of Satureja intermedia was identified. Satureja intermedia has been collected from the elevation of Ardabil province in August 2006. Then air-dried aerial parts of the plant were submitted to hydrodistillation using a Clevenger apparatus to produce the essential oil and was analysed by GC/MASS. Investigation of antimicrobial activity was conducted by Disc-diffusion, MIC and MBC technique and different antibiotics compared with antimicrobial activity of this essential oil. In this study, 34 constituents were found representing 99.8% of the oil. The major components were thymol [25.6%], para-Cymene [21.44%], gamma-Terpinene [20%], Carvacrol [9.48%], alpha-Terpinene [7.94%] and Myrcene [3.58%]. The antibacterial test results showed that essential oil of this plant had a great potential antibacterial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Results presented here may suggest that the essential oil of Satureja intermedia possess antibacterial properties and is therefore a potential source of antibacterial ingredients for the food and pharmaceutical industry

Study on seasonal variation of flavonoids in ginkgo biloba l. cultivated in Iran

Ginkgo is a native plant to China which is recently cultivated in Iran. The extract of the Ginkgo leaves contains flavonoids and ginkgolids and has been used pharmaceutically for a while. Flavonoids of Ginkgo have been shown to have several effects which could increase blood flow of brain and limit the damage associated with ischemia also they inhibit cyclo-oxygenases and lipoxygenases activities and show antioxidant effects. The researchers showed that Ginkgo leaves flavonol glycosides varies during different seasons. The aim of the present research is study on seasonal variation of flavonoids of Ginkgo biloba leave's cultivated in Iran by HPLC method. In this study Ginkgo leaves from 5 years old trees collected in 2005 from North of Iran and evaluated. Plant leaves were dried, milled, and extracted with a suitable solvent. For analysis of flavonoid aglycones in the extract, flavonol glycosides were hydrolyzed in acid medium and identified by HPLC instrument and the peaks of standard material; Quercetin, Kaempferol and Isorhamnetin were obtained. According to our findings, flavonoids vary in amount during seasons and upper most amount was found in June Month [5.5%w/w]. Results of our study shows a mild variation of flavonoids content in Ginkgo tree leaves during different months, also we found a high concentration of flavonoids in young tree leaves that is very higher than pharmacopeia's standard [0.5% w/w] and these leaves are suitable for preparing of standardized extracts

Study on chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of thymus Trautvetteri Klokov and Desj - Shost

The genus Thymus belongs to Lamiaceae family. This genus is comprised of about 350 species widespread in the world. 14 species exist in Iran of which four are endemic. In this study chemical compounds and antibactrial activity in essential oil of Thymus trautvetteri was identified. Thymus trautvetteri has been collected from the highlands of Ardabil province in June 2006. Then air-dried aerial parts of the plant were submitted to hydrodistillation using a Clevenger apparatus to produce the essential oil and the extract was analysed by GC/MASS. Investigation of antimicrobial activity was conducted by Disc-diffusion, MIC and MBC technique and different antibiotics compared with antimicrobial activity of this essential oil. Results: In this study, 49 constituents were found representing 99.76% of the oil. The major components were thymol [24.43%], borneol [11.36%], para-cymene [10.09%] and gamma-terpinene [7.78%], alpha-pinene [5.29%] and carvacrol [5.07%]. The antibacterial activity of essential oil of this plant was assayed against seven bacteria and Staphylococcus aureus resulted to be the most sensitive microorganism with a MIC value of 125 micro g/ml. This study showed that essential oil of this plant have strong inhibitory and bactricidal effects against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Identification of chemical compounds of this species showed that thymol represented the most abundant compounds as the other Thymus species. The antimicrobial activity of essential oil of Thymus trautvetteri can be attributed of thymol and other terpenoides compounds