IN VITRO GENOTOXICITY OF THREE PLANTS FROM ASTERACEAE FAMILY IN HUMAN LYMPHOCYTES CULTURES

Background: Onopordum carduiforme, Centaurea verutum, and Achillea santolina are medicinal plants grown in Syria and commonly used in traditional medicine. Such as antibacterial, antioxidant and anticancer properties. However, the genotoxic effects of these plants have not been studied. Aim and objective: the aim of this study was to evaluate the genotoxic effects of hydroethanolic extracts of these plants on human lymphocyte cultures model by evaluating the cell proliferation, determination of mitotic index (MI), and their effects on chromosomes. Methods: the hydroethanolic extracts of the aerial parts of the three plants were extracted using an Ultrasonic bath. Then the genotoxic effects of hydroethanolic extracts of these plants on human lymphocyte cultures was conducting by determination of mitotic index (MI). Results: the results showed that all three plants decreased non-significantly the mean of mitotic index in comparison with negative control (normal MI) (p>0.05) at concentrations (1, 3, 5 mg/ml) and the mitotic index values ranged was between (2.25±0.07 and 3.3±0.28). However, C. verutum showed the lowest mitotic index (3±0.14 at 1 mg/ml) and (2.25±0.07 at 5 mg/ml), and did not induce chromatid or chromosome breaks or gaps. Conclusion: these preliminary results on cytotoxicity and mutagenicity of these plants provide valuable information about the safety of using them in alternative medicine. Peer Review History: Received: 11 November 2021; Revised: 13 December; Accepted: 28 December, Available online: 15 January 2022 Academic Editor: Dr. A.A. Mgbahurike, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, [email protected] UJPR follows the most transparent and toughest ‘Advanced OPEN peer review’ system. The identity of the authors and, reviewers will be known to each other. This transparent process will help to eradicate any possible malicious/purposeful interference by any person (publishing staff, reviewer, editor, author, etc) during peer review. As a result of this unique system, all reviewers will get their due recognition and respect, once their names are published in the papers. We expect that, by publishing peer review reports with published papers, will be helpful to many authors for drafting their article according to the specifications. Auhors will remove any error of their article and they will improve their article(s) according to the previous reports displayed with published article(s). The main purpose of it is ‘to improve the quality of a candidate manuscript’. Our reviewers check the ‘strength and weakness of a manuscript honestly’. There will increase in the perfection, and transparency. Received file: Reviewer's Comments: Average Peer review marks at initial stage: 6.0/10 Average Peer review marks at publication stage: 7.0/10 Reviewers: Ahmad Najib, Universitas Muslim Indonesia, Makassar, Indonesia, [email protected] Dr. Dennis Amaechi, MrsFoluBabade Mini Estate , Flat 5 by Old Soldiers Quarter, Sabongari/Bwari, Abuja- Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria. [email protected] Dr. Sangeetha Arullappan, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia, [email protected] Similar Articles: A STUDY ON DIFFERENT PLANTS OF APOCYNACEAE FAMILY AND THEIR MEDICINAL USES STUDY LITERATION OF CHEMICAL CONTENTS OF SOME PLANTS THAT POTENTIALLY AS THE SOLAR SOWS EXPLORING THE ANTIPARASITIC ACTIVITY OF MEDICINAL PLANTS

GC-MS ANALYSIS OF BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS IN ETHANOL LEAVES EXTRACT OF SPHENOCENTRUM JOLLYANUM AND THEIR BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES.

Sphenocentrum jollyanum is a plant genus of the family Menispermaceae. It has high medicinal importance as it is used traditionally to treat various diseases such as jaundice, breast engorgement related to the menstrual cycle, tumour, fibroids and improve the health of people. The present investigation was carried out to analyze the bioactive compounds present in ethanol crude extract of Sphenocentrum jollyanum leaves using GC-MS analysis. GC-MS analysis of ethanol extract Sphenocentrum jollyanum was done using a 7890A GC system (Agilent Technologies), coupled with 5977B MSD (Agilent Technologies) while the mass spectra of the compounds found in the extract was matched with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) library. A total of 45 bioactive compounds representing 99.98% of the total extract based on the retention time, peak area, molecular formula, molecular weight, and biological activities were identified by GC-MS which ranges from high molecular weight to low molecular weight compounds. The major compounds identified with their peak area percentages were 2,4-Di-tertbutylphenol, (21.05%), Z-8-Methyl-9-tetradecenoic acid (19.12), Hexadecanoic acid, ethyl ester (7.86%), Diisooctyl phthalate (7.13%), Phytol, Oleic Acid (7.03), 6,9,12- Octadecatrien-1-ol (6.65%), 3-Eicosene, (E)-(4.63%), 2-Methyl-Z, Z-3,13-octadecadienol (4.24%), n- Hexadecanoic acid (4.09%), trans-13-Octadecenoic acid (3.81%), Cyclohexene, 4-(4-ethylcyclohexyl) -1- pentyl- (3.74%), Dibutyl phthalate (3.20%), and 9-Oxabicyclo (6.1.0) nonane, cis-(3.18%). The presence of these major phytoconstituents in the leaf extract provides various biological activities including antifungal, antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumour which supports the ethno-medicinal uses of the plant in curing diseases. We recommend

A Social-Ecological Approach to Studying Variation in Urban Trees and Ecosystem Services in the National Municipal District of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Maintaining a diverse urban forest that provides ecosystem services can promote urban sustainability and resilience to environmental change. Around the world, cities have taken to inventorying their urban trees and quantifying their ecosystem services but more so in industrialized counties than in Latin America. Here we describe the results of an i-Tree inventory that established 206 survey plots in the National Municipal District of Santo Domingo (NMDSD). We used social-ecological theory to evaluate potential factors that may influence urban forest structure, composition, and ecosystem services diversity across three wards with distinct social and urban characteristics. Rarefaction curves showed a diverse urban forest dominated by non-native trees that have ornamental and medicinal uses. Wards differed in species composition with palms being particularly dominant in Wards 1 and 2 where the proportion of low-income houses is smaller. Ward 1 supports high-income residential areas and Ward 3 is the area with higher population and housing densities and lower income residents. On average, we found no significant differences among wards in tree species richness, average dbh, leaf area, and percent tree cover per plot. Trees in Ward 2 were taller, on average, than those in Ward 1 but were comparable to those in Ward 3. Likewise, tree density per plot was highest in Ward 2, followed by Ward 1 and Ward 3. Despite these significant differences in stem densities, average values in four ecosystem services involving measures of carbon, rainfall, and contaminants (C-sequestration, C-storage, avoided runoff, and removal of air pollutants) were non-significant across wards. We found disproportionately more street trees in Ward 1 relative to Wards 2 and 3 and more trees in public spaces in Wards 1 and 2 relative to Ward 3. Evidence for the luxury effect on tree distribution in the NMDSD was subtle and manifested mostly through differences in species composition and tree distribution across public and private domains as well as the amount of planting space. Overall results point to inequalities in the potential of reforestation among NMDS wards and an overabundance of non-native species, which should guide urban forest management with ecosystem services and conservation goals.

Conventional Medicinal Uses, Phytoconstituents, and Biological Activities of Euphorbia officinarum L.: A Systematic Review

The Moroccan endemic plant Euphorbia officinarum is a traditional medicinal plant, known locally as “Daghmus.” Plants in the genus Euphorbia are well known for the chemical diversity of their diterpenoids and isoprenoid constituents, which perform many activities such as cytotoxic, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory activities, as well as different biological properties, that cannot be overlooked. The effect of bioactive compounds (antiviral, antidiabetic, anticancer, and antioxidant). Euphorbia officinarum is an important conventional medicine for the treatment of various conditions, including skin and ophthalmological diseases. It is also used against human pathogens (intestinal parasites). E. officinarum latex is the major part of the plant used for conventional medicine and synthesizing new bioactive compounds. The characterization and isolation of its components are necessary to exploiting and enhancing its therapeutic potential. However, to the best of our knowledge, no review is available to date. In order to have and define a research question, we adopt a strategy by considering the items of the PRISMA checklist. Therefore, this review aims to cover E. officinarum taxonomy, botanical description, distribution, conventional uses, and phytochemical compounds of this plant, including the biological activities of compounds isolated and of these semisynthesized compounds. This article provides a foundation for any further studies from this plant.

The Genetic Diversity of Enset (Ensete ventricosum) Landraces Used in Traditional Medicine Is Similar to the Diversity Found in Non-medicinal Landraces

Enset (Ensete ventricosum) is a multipurpose crop extensively cultivated in southern and southwestern Ethiopia for human food, animal feed, and fiber. It has immense contributions to the food security and rural livelihoods of 20 million people. Several distinct enset landraces are cultivated for their uses in traditional medicine. These landraces are vulnerable to various human-related activities and environmental constraints. The genetic diversity among the landraces is not verified to plan conservation strategy. Moreover, it is currently unknown whether medicinal landraces are genetically differentiated from other landraces. Here, we characterize the genetic diversity of medicinal enset landraces to support effective conservation and utilization of their diversity. We evaluated the genetic diversity of 51 enset landraces, of which 38 have reported medicinal value. A total of 38 alleles across the 15 simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci and a moderate level of genetic diversity (He = 0.47) were detected. Analysis of molecular variation (AMOVA) revealed that only 2.4% of the total genetic variation was contributed by variation among the medicinal and non-medicinal groups of landraces, with an FST of 0.024. A neighbor-joining tree showed four separate clusters with no correlation to the use-values of the landraces. Except for two, all “medicinal” landraces with distinct vernacular names were found to be genetically different, showing that vernacular names are a good indicator of genetic distinctiveness in these specific groups of landraces. The discriminant analysis of the principal components also confirmed the absence of distinct clustering between the two groups. We found that enset landraces were clustered irrespective of their use-value, showing no evidence for genetic differentiation between the enset grown for ‘medicinal’ uses and non-medicinal landraces. This suggests that enset medicinal properties may be restricted to a more limited number of genotypes, might have resulted from the interaction of genotype with the environment or management practice, or partly misreported. The study provides baseline information that promotes further investigations in exploiting the medicinal value of these specific landraces.

Ethnobotanical and ethnopharmacological study of medicinal plants used by a traditional community in Brazil’s northeastern

The aim of this research is to make a survey of the socio-environmental characteristics and the ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used in a traditional community in the Brazilian Northeast, Alagoas. The study was made based on visits with the application of a questionnaire with questions related to the socio-economic element and on the diversity of plants used in herbal medicine. The research was made from March/2019 to February/2020, where families and interviewed plant exhibitors were interviewed for botanical identification. The studied community, which were 24 interviewees, was compiled by residents of the Quilombola community from Pau D’arco in Arapiraca city - Alagoas. Residents interviewed, 15 (62.5%) attended between 56 to 80 years, 11 interviewees about 46% were born in the community and 13 (54%) had a fundamentally incomplete nature. At the end, there were mentioned 30 plant species used for phytotherapeutic purposes, from which presents bigger usage as plants against arterial hypertension (Salvia rosmarinus Schleid), diabetes Mellitos (Croton heliotropiifolius Kunth), pain and inflammation (Alternanthera tenella Colla), present the biggest number of species in the community. The species cited are related to numerous medicinal uses, among which there will be predominant associations associated with cardiovascular and inflammatory processes. The tea is the main way of preparing plants. It is perceived that medicinal plants are only widely used by this Quilombola community of and growth of the crops in the backyard are considered a tradition.

Enhancing Germination of Seeds of Cassia abbreviata and Senegalia nigrescens Using Pre-Sowing Seed Treatments in Botswana

Cassia abbreviata and Senegalia nigrescens are indigenous trees found in North and Central regions of Botswana. However, inadequate knowledge of their silviculture and decline in population due to deforestation, expanding settlements, infrastructure and agriculture are major threats to most indigenous tree species in Botswana. Like many indigenous tree species, Cassia abbreviata and Senegalia nigrescens are slow-growing and are threatened by overexploitation for numerous uses. Because of the increased demand for medicinal uses, medicinal species such Cassia abbreviata are rapidly disappearing in many habitats and threatened to extinction. This study assessed the response of pre-sowing treatment methods on quiescency and germination of seeds of Cassia abbreviata and Senegalia nigrescens tree species found in semiarid Savanna Ecozone of Botswana. Pre-sowing treatment included immersion in 98% undiluted sulfuric acid (H2SO4) for 15, 30, 45 and 60 minutes, submergence in boiling water for one, two, three minutes and submerged in warm water for 24 hours, mechanical scarification of the seed coat and control. ANOVA showed that there is a highly significant difference (P < 0.0001) among the treatments of C. abbreviata in seed germination and no significant difference among the treatments of S. nigrescens. The highest germination percentage of C. abbreviata seeds was 81%, which was found from seeds immersed in H2SO4 for 30 minutes, while for S. nigrescens seeds, the highest germination percentage was 99%, which was found from seeds treated with mechanical scarification and those immersed in H2SO4 for 15 and 45 minutes. The objective of this study is to determine the effect of pretreatment methods on germination of C. abbreviata and S. nigrescens seeds. Based on these results, we recommend sulphuric acid and mechanical scarification as suitable seed pre-sowing treatments for enhancing the germination of C. abbreviata and S. nigrescens, respectively.

Prapration of Tablet from Pencil Cactus for Treatment of Piles by Direct Compression method

The intention of current review is to make available upto-date information on morphology, ecological biodiversity, medicinal uses, phytochemistry and pharmacological activities on different parts of Euphorbia tirucalli (E. tirucalli). This plant has a number of medicinal uses. Latex of E. tirucalli is vesicant and rubefacient which is used for rheumatism, warts, cough, asthma, ear-ache, tooth-ache and neuralgia. It acts as a purgative in small doses while in big doses it is bitter irritant and emetic. Milky juice is alexiteric, carminative and purgative. It is useful in whooping cough is used in treatment of piles. gonorrhea, asthma, leprosy, dropsy, dyspepsia, enlargement of spleen, colic, jaundice and stone in bladder. The fresh milky juice is good alternative in syphilis and a good application in neuralgia. A decoction of branches is used in gastralgia and colic. Bark is used in treatment of fractures. Poultices prepared from the stem are useful to repair the broken bones. Boiled root liquid acts as an emetic in cases of snake-bite and for infertility in women. The wood is used for rafters, toys and veneering purposes. It is also useful against leprosy and foot paralysis subsequent to childbirth. E. tirucalli is reported to have euphol, β-sitosterol, euphorbol hexacosonate, cycloeuphordenol, cyclotirucanenol, tirucalicine, tri-methyl ellagic acid, gallic acids, terpenic alcohol. genotoxic/mutagenic, hepatoprotective, insect repellants, immunomodulatory, larvicidal, molluscicidal/ovicidal/piscicidal, myelopoiesis, proteolytic/chitinolytics pharmacological activities. There is a need to isolate dynamic constituents, their biological trial, molecular mechanisms, experimental protection and legalization of therapeutic uses of E. tirucalli. The collected information will be helpful to locate up study protocol for expansion in curative and treat a variety used in treatment of piles., isoeuphorol, taraxasterol, tirucallol, euphorone, euphorcinol, euphorbins, 12-deoxy4βhydroxyphorbol-13-phenyl acetate-20-acetate, 12, 20- dideoxyphorbol-13-isobutyrate, glut-5-en-3-β-ol, 3,3′- diO-methylellagic acid, euphorbin-A (polyphenol), tirucallin-A (7) (tannin), tirucallin-B (11), euphorbin-F (14) (dimers), cycloartenol, 24- methylenecycloartenol, ingenol triacetate, 12-deoxy-4β-hydroxyphorbol- 13- phenyl acetate-20-acetate, taraxerone, euphorginol, taraxerol, campesterol, stigmasterol, palmitic acid, linoleic acid, β-amyrin, etc. Active phytoconstituents. E. tirucalli have possessed activity in humanly mphocytes, analgesic, anthelmintics, antiarthritic, antibacterial/antifungal/antimicrobial Antihemerrhoids. Keywords: Euphorbia tirucalli Morphology Ecological biodiversity Medicinal uses Phytochemistry Anticance antihemerrhoids