Eclipta prostrata (L.) L. (uses and bioactivities)

Eclipta prostrata has been long used by humans as traditional medicine and hair fertilizer. This study aims to explain the relationship between utilization and bioactivity of E. prostrata. The method used is a literature review of articles published online on Google Scholar using the keywords E. prostrata, uses E. prostrata, and bioactivity of E. prostrata. Ethnobotanically, E. prostrata is used to treat liver disorders, liver tonic, respiratory disorders (asthma, cough), hepatitis, snake venom poisoning, and gastritis. In the field of beauty E. prostrata is used to nourish hair and treat baldness. The E. prostrata has bioactivity to treat neurodegeneration, asthma, anti-cancer, overcoming baldness, anti-diabetes mellitus, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, hepatoprotective, anti-osteoporosis, and anti-hypercholesterolemia. The bioactivity of E. prostrata is related to the content of its secondary metabolite compounds. Echinocystic acid and ecclalbasaponin II from E. prostrata are associated with anti-cancer activity.

Preliminary Chemical, Total Phenolic Content, Flavonoid Content, and Antioxidant Activity of some Plants Used in Vietnam Folk Medicine

Crinum latifolium , Eclipta prostrata , Ocimum gratissimum , Phyllanthus urinar ia and Streptocaulon juventas have been used in Vietnam traditional medicine practices for anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer effects and antioxidant activities since prehistoric times. Ethanol and aqueous extracts from five medicinal herbs were evaluated for their antioxidative, free radical scavenging activities and phytochemical screening. Research results showed that these medicinal herbs all had rich chemical composition, such as alkaloids, coumarins, flavonoids, phenols, etc. Among ten extracts, C.latifolium ethanol extract showed the significantly highest total phenolic content (66.8 ± 4.14 mgGAE/g) and total flavonoids content (99.69 ± 9.88 mgQE/g). Both ethanol extracts from O.gratissimum and P.urinaria were showed the most elevated antioxidant potentials in DPPH and ABTS assays. These findings suggest that the rich phytochemical content and the good antioxidant activity of five herbal plants may be responsible for its popular and wide traditional use.

Estudio fitosociológico y evaluación del banco de malezas del suelo en tres fincas maiceras del Estado Portuguesa, Venezuela

Los estudios fitosociológicos (EF) y bancos de semillas de malezas del suelo (BSMS) son una herramienta para el manejo de las malezas. El objetivo de esta investigación fue realizar un EF y evaluar el BSMS en tres fincas maiceras del estado Portuguesa, Venezuela, determinándose el índice de valor de importancia (IVI) y plántulas por superficie. Se encontraron diferencias entre la composición florística entre fincas y estudios realizados, detectándose un mayor número de especies en el EF. Las especies con mayor IVI en la finca 1 fueron Ludwigia decurrens Walter, Eclipta prostrata (L.) L., Euphorbia heterophylla L. y Amaranthus dubius Mart. ex Thell., mientras que en el BSMS las de más altas densidades fueron Torenia crustacea (L.) Cham. & Schltd., L. decurrens y Cyperus esculentus L., con 1809,95; 434,39 y 253,39 plántulas∙m-2, respectivamente. En la finca 2, Rottboellia cochinchinensis (Lour.) W.D. Clayton, E. prostrata, Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn y Helianthus annuus L. tuvieron los más altos IVI, y en el BSMS las especies T. crustaceae, Ammannia latifolia L. y L. decurrens las densidades más altas (389,14; 181,00 y 126,70 plántulas∙m-2, respectivamente). En la finca 3, las malezas con mayores IVI fueron Murdannia nudiflora (L.) Brenan, Cyperus rotundus L. y E. indica, y el BSMS estuvo conformado principalmente por C. rotundus y E. indica con 687,78 y 171,95 plántulas∙m-2, respectivamente. En total, en los dos estudios se registraron 32 especies de malezas en 21 familias botánicas.

ĐÁNH GIÁ IN VITRO KHẢ NĂNG KHÁNG VI-RÚT GÂY BỆNH ĐỐM TRẮNG CỦA CÁC LOẠI CAO CHIẾT TRÊN MÔ HÌNH TÔM THẺ CHÂN TRẮNG (Litopenaeus vannamei)

Vi-rút gây bệnh đốm trắng (WSSV) là tác nhân lây nhiễm và gây tử vong hàng loạt trên tôm nuôi nước lợ. Nghề nuôi tôm hiện nay thường sử dụng hóa chất và kháng sinh để điều trị và kiểm soát nhiều loại bệnh trong đó có bệnh đốm trắng, việc này gây nhiều trở ngại cho xuất khẩu và tiêu dùng. Có rất nhiều nghiên cứu đã cho thấy tác dụng của nhiều loại thảo dược giúp phòng trị bệnh đốm trắng trên tôm. Trong nghiên cứu này, 15 loại cao chiết thảo dược đã được đánh giá độ độc tính và khảo sát in vitro khả năng kháng WSSV trên mô hình tôm thẻ chân trắng bằng phương pháp tiêm. Kết quả khảo sát độc tính cho thấy, hầu hết các cao chiết là an toàn khi tiêm vào tôm ở nồng độ 0,25 mg/mL, trong đó 5 loại thể hiện độc tính cao, 4 loại thể hiện độc tính trung bình và 6 loại an toàn với tôm. Kết quả đánh giá in vitro cho thấy đưng, dà vôi, ổi, mấm trắng, cỏ mực, đước, cốc trắng và diệp hạ châu có hoạt tính kháng WSSV tốt nhất ở nồng độ khảo sát 0,0025 mg/mL. Những kết quả này tạo tiền đề cho các khảo sát in vivo khả năng kháng WSSV của 8 loại cao chiết thảo dược nhằm tìm ra các loại cây thảo dược tiềm năng trong phòng trị bệnh đốm trắng trên tôm. ABSTRACT White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) is a highly infectious agent and causes mass mortality in farmed shrimp. In shrimp farming nowadays, farmers often use chemicals and antibiotics to treat and control many diseases, including white spot disease, thus resulting in many obstacles for shrimp export and consumption. Many studies have shown the effects of herbs on preventing white spot disease. In this study, 15 types of herbal extracts were evaluated for their toxicity and the in vitro resistance to WSSV in white leg shrimp injection models. The results of the toxicity showed that all the herbal extracts were safe when being injected into shrimp at a concentration of 0.25 mg/mL. Five of the herbs were highly toxic, four had medium toxicity, and six were safe for shrimp. The in vitro WSSV resistance testing showed that there were eight herbal extracts (Rhizophora mucronata, Ceriops tagal, Psidium guajava, Avicennia marina, Eclipta prostrata, Lumnitzera racemosa, Phyllanthus urinaria and Rhizophora apiculata) having the highest activity against WSSV at the concentration of 0.0025 mg/mL. These initial results suggest the in vivo investigations on the resistance to WSSV of these eight herbal extracts to find potential herbal plants for aquaculture use, instead of antibiotics, in the prevention and treatment of white spot disease in shrimp.

Eclipta prostrata (L.) L. (Asteraceae): Ethnomedicinal Uses, Chemical Constituents, and Biological Activities

Eclipta prostrata (L.) L. (Syn.: Eclipta alba (L.) Hassak, Family: Asteraceae) is an important medicinal plant in the tropical and subtropical regions. It is widely used in treating various diseases of skin, liver and stomach in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and other countries. The main aim of this review was to collect and analyze the available information on traditional uses, phytoconstituents, and biological activities of E. prostrata. The scientific information was collected from the online bibliographic databases such as Scopus, MEDLINE/PubMed, Google Scholar, SciFinder, etc. and books and proceedings. The active phytochemicals were coumestan derivatives, phenolic acid derivatives, flavonoids, triterpenoid and steroid saponins, substituted thiophenes, etc. Various extracts and isolated compounds of E. prostrata showed a wide range of biological activities such as antimicrobial, anticancer, hepatoprotective, neuroprotective and hair growth promoting activities. Relatively a few studies have been performed to reveal the exact phytoconstituents responsible for their corresponding pharmacological activities. Future studies should focus on detailed mechanism based studies using animal models and clinical studies.

Dyeing of Agro-Waste Castor Fibres with Eclipta Prostrata Dye

Fiber extracted from castor plant is a bast fiber like hemp, jute, flax and kenaf. Based on the chemical constitutes; physical and chemical properties of these eco-friendly fibers extracted from agro waste are used in making different materials like union fabrics and reinforcement materials. In the present study, castor fiber was dyed with Eclipta prostrata plant extract and evaluated for colorfastness and color strength properties. The colorfastness properties of castor fiber dyed with pre, simultaneous and post-mordanting methods using four mordants aluminum potassium sulfate (commonly called alum) (KAI(SO4)2 .12H2O),stannous Chloride (SnCl2), copper sulfate (CuSO4) and ferrous sulfate (FeSO4) were tested. The colorfastness to light, wash, crock and perspiration was found to be good for CuSO4 and FeSO4 dyed fibers. Color strength properties for the samples were also assessed and found to be good.

First Report of Powdery Mildew Caused by Podosphaera xanthii on Sigesbeckia orientalis in China

Sigesbeckia orientalis L., (St Paul’s wort) is an annually grown natural herb of Asteraceae with a long therapeutic history for a wide range of inflammation-related diseases in China (Zhong et al. 2019). In June 2020, typical symptoms of powdery mildew were observed on 30% of wild S. orientalis plants grown along the roadsides and gardens in Minjiang University, Fuzhou, China. Circular to irregular white powdery fungal colonies were observed on both surfaces of the leaves and young stems, causing necrosis and premature senescence. Fungal hyphae were epigenous, flexuous to straight, branched, and septate. Appressoria on the hyphae were nipple-shaped or nearly absent. Conidiophores were straight, 30 to 210× 8 to 12 μm, and produced 3 to 7 immature conidia in chains with a crenate outline. Foot-cells were cylindrical, 45 to 75 ×10 to 12 μm, followed by 1 to 2 shorter cells. Conidia were hyaline, ellipsoid-ovoid to barrel-shaped, 25 to 38 × 18 to 23 μm with distinct fibrosin bodies. Germ tubes were produced from a lateral position on the conidia. Chasmothecia were not observed on the infected leaves. Based on anamorph characteristics, fungus was identified as Podosphaera xanthii (Castagne) U. Braun & N. Shishkoff (Braun and Cook 2012). For molecular identification, total genomic DNA was extracted (Mukhtar et al. 2018) from fungal colonies on infected leaves of five collections separately. For each DNA sample, the part of LSU and ITS regions were amplified using primers LSU1/LSU2 and ITS1/ITS4 (Scholin et al. 1994; White et al. 1990), respectively. A BLAST search revealed 100 % sequences similarity with P. xanthii sequences reported on Ageratum conyzoides (KY274485), Eclipta prostrata (MT260063), Euphorbia hirta (KY388505), Sonchus asper (MN134013), and Verbena bonariensis (AB462804). Representative sequences (ITS: MZ613309; LSU: MZ614707) of an isolate were deposited in GenBank. The phylogenetic analysis also grouped the obtain sequences into P. xanthii clade. Pathogenicity was confirmed by gently pressing the infected leaves onto young leaves of five healthy one-month-old S. orientalis plants, while three non-inoculated plants were used as controls. All plants were maintained in a greenhouse at 25 ± 2°C. After, seven days, white powdery colonies were observed on inoculated plants, whereas controls remained mildew-free. On inoculated leaves, the fungus was morphologically and molecularly identical to the fungus on the original specimens. P. xanthii has been reported as a significant damaging pathogen on a wide range of plants in China (Farr and Rossman 2021). To our knowledge, this is the first report of powdery mildew caused by P. xanthii on S. orientalis in China as well as worldwide. S. orientalis is one of the most important commercial Chinese medicinal herbs and the occurrence of powdery mildew is a threat to its production, quality, and marketability. References: Braun, U., and Cook, R. T. A. 2012. The Taxonomic Manual of the Erysiphales (Powdery Mildews). CBS Biodiversity Series 11: CBS. Utrecht, The Netherlands. Farr, D. F., and Rossman, A. Y. 2021. Fungal Databases. Syst. Mycol. Microbiol. Lab., USDA ARS, 9 October 2021. Mukhtar, I., et al. 2018. Sydowia.70:155. Scholin, C. A., et al. 1994. J. Phycol. 30:999. White, T. J., et al. 1990. Page 315 in: PCR Protocols: A Guide to Methods and Applications. Academic Press, San Diego, CA. Zhong, Z., et al., 2019. Chin. Med. (U. K.) 14, 1–12. 10.1186/s13020-019-0260-y