[Study on anti_candida effects of essential oil and extracts of Iranian medicinal plants, in vitro]

Candidiasis is a primary or secondary mycotic infection caused by members of the genus Candida. Recently fungal infections especially Candidiasis has significantly increased. Limitations in treatment of fungal diseases include a few available anti-fungal drugs, side effects, drug resistance and decreased susceptibility of Candida species to anti-fungal drugs, leads to search for new anti-fungal agents as herbal medicines. 17 essential oils and 172 plant extracts, from 50 Iranian plant species obtained through the literature and interviews with traditional healers, were evaluated for Anti_ Candida activity. The essential oils and extracts were tested by disc diffusion against Candida albicans [ATCC=10231]. Amphotericin B, Ketoconazol and Nistatin were used as positive controls. Sixteen [32%] out of the 50 plants were found to be active. The essential oils of Thymus kotschyanus, Zataria multiflora Boiss, Artemisia sieberi, Mentha spicata, Satureia hortensis, Lavandula angustifolia and cuminum cyminum showed high strong activity. The essential oils of Nigella sativa and Rosmarimus officinalis and Myrtus communis showed strong activity. The essential oils of Eucalyptus globules, Pimpinella anisum, foeniculum vulagre, Heracleum persicum, showed intermediate activity. The results of this investigation showed a potent anti_candida activity of selected herbs against Candida albicans type strain. Therefore further investigation need in order to isolate and identify the active compounds to make it available for clinical use

Purification of immunomodulator fraction components of garlic [R10] by HPLC

It has been reported that garlic extract and its components show medicinal effects including immunomodulatory activities. We have isolated the immunomodulatory fraction [R10] previously In this study we have proposed to purify the components of R10 using HPLC. Crude garlic extract purchased from Hamadan, Iran. R10 fraction including 10-50 KD molecules have been isolated using ultrafiltration. Further purification has been made using Vaydac 208Tpv10, a semi-preparative HPLC reversphase choromatography column. Tricine SDS-PAGE has been used to determine molecular weight of the samples. 6 major peakes were obtained from HPLC of R10 at gradient of 0.25% of buffer B/min through 60 minute. The molecular weight of 3 peaks [samples 0, 1 and 3] was 12 KD with tricine-SDSPAGE. Using C8 HPLC reversphase choromatography seems to be appropriate tool for purification of R10 components and the purified components at peak 0, 1 and 3 seems to be isotypic molecules

Clinical evaluation of Graves ophthalmopathy in north-east Islamic Republic of Iran

This study evaluated the prevalence and severity of ophthalmic manifestations in all Graves disease patients [n = 68] presenting to endocrine clinics at Mashad University of Medical Sciences between December 2002 and September 2005. The mean age of patients was 38.0 [SD 14.0] years, range 15 to 71 years. The most common complaints were foreign body sensation [54.0%] and puffy eyelids [48.4%]. The most common apparent abnormality was lid retraction in 64.2% of patients [bilateral in 95.3% of cases]. The patients had a mean modified Werner's NO SPECS classification score of 3.00 [SD 1.46]. The score was significantly higher in males than females [3.58 [SD 1.44] versus 2.63 [SD 1.35]] and was positively correlated with age

Study of the different solvents on silymarin extraction from milk thistle

The seeds extract of Milk thistle [Silybum marianum [L]Gaertn]is named silymarin It is used widely in the treatment of cirrhosis, diabetes mellitus, and hypercholesterolemia. There are different methods for production of this compound but the best method is patented. In this study, we study the power of different solvents on silymarin production. 10g of three samples [Marzanabad, Golshan and Hungarian samples cultivated in our research farm], powdered and defatted by petroleum ether, the degatted powders were extracted with one of the following solvents: Methanol, ethanol acetone, ethylacetate, and acetonitril. The silymarin content was assayed by HPLC The results showed that methanol is the best solvent in extracting silymarin and all of its components after methanol, acetone and acetonitril had good power, in extracting silymarin and silybin Methanol is the best solvent for silymarin extraction and then acetone and acetonitril could be replaced for it