Macro- and micromorphology of the leaf, stem, stem bark and flower of Vangueria edulis cultivated in Egypt

Vangueria edulis belongs to Rubiaceae which includes about 620 genera with almost 13000 species which is widely distributed but mainly tropical. Biological studies showed that some species of the genus Vangueria showed antimicrobial activity, reported to have anthelmintic action and anti plasmodial activity and fed to cattle suffering from East Coast Fever. No detailed information could be traced concerning the macro- and micromorphology of the plant. This provoked the authors to carry out this study to identify the drug in both entire and powdered forms

Isolation and identification of a new homoisoflavan with potent antioxidant activity from commelina elegans

Potent antioxidative compounds have been isolated from the ethyl acetate extract of Commelina elegans, Commelinaceae, using a repeated column chromatography. On the basis of spectral analyses, the compounds were identified as brazilin, brazilein and the new homoisoflavan-3, 7, 9, 3', 4'-ol [4-4] dimer with X- and Y-conformers. The compounds inhibited both enzymatic lipid peroxidation using rat liver microsomes and mitochondria and non-enzymatic reactions. The compounds completely protected the activities of the mitochondrial enzymes NADH- and succinate-cytochrome c reductase. Furthermore, the radical scavenging activity on enzymatically and non-enzymatically generated superoxide anion was investigated. Electron spin resonance using the spin trapping method suggested that the compounds have potent superoxide anion scavenging activities

Sapogenin and lipids of trifolium seeds

The sapogenin content of Trifolium alexandrinium L. [varieties El-Fahl and Miskawi] and Medicago sativa L. seeds were isolated. The diosgenin content of the seeds was estimated spectrophotometrically at 480 nm after TLC separation and treatment with FeCl3/glacial acetic acid/H2SO4 reagent. The sapogenin and the diosgenin contents of the Medicago sativa L. seeds were higher than those of Trifolium alexandrinium L. seeds. The lipoidal matter of the seeds were investigated by TLC and were analyzed by GLC

Pharmacognostical study of Fumaria densiflora DC Part II Leaf and flower

The morphological and histological characters of the leaf and flower of Fumaria densiflora DC. [Fam. Fumariacoae] were studied in order to establish their characteristic features by which they can be identified both in entire and powdered forms

Fluorimetric determination of amide alkaloids

A simple rapid and sensitive fluorimetric method based on the concensation of the amide function alkaloids with malonic acid and acetic anhydride was developed for the determination of physostigmine and ergometrine. The strong fluorescence of the reaction mixture had maximum emission at 493 nm using 391 nm as an excitation maximum. Beer's Lambort law was valid over the concentration range of 0.5-3.5 x 10-7 mug/ml of the alkaloidal base. Mean% recoveries were 103.7 +/- 2.3 and 100.7 +/- 2.6 for physostigmine and ergometrine, respectively. The method was successfully applied for the determination of the alkaloids in dosage forms. The results were in agreement with those of other reported methods