Extraction of Anthocyanins from Borage (Echium amoenum) Flowers Using Choline Chloride and a Glycerol-Based, Deep Eutectic Solvent: Optimization, Antioxidant Activity, and In Vitro Bioavailability

Borage flower (Echium amoenum), an annual herb native to the Mediterranean region, is an excellent source of anthocyanins and is widely used in various forms due to its biological activities. In the present study, a choline chloride and glycerol (CHGLY)-based natural deep eutectic solvent (NADES) was applied in order to extract the anthocyanins from borage flowers. The traditional solvents, including water, methanol, and ethanol, were used to evaluate the efficiency of CHGLY. The results showed that CHGLY was highly efficient compared to the traditional solvents, providing the highest amounts of the total anthocyanin content (TAC), total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), individual anthocyanins, and antioxidant activity (DPPH radical scavenging (DPPH) and ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays). The most dominant anthocyanin found in studied borage was cyanidin-3-glucoside, followed by cyanin chloride, cyanidin-3-rutinoside, and pelargonidin-3-glucoside. The bioavailability % was 71.86 ± 0.47%, 77.29 ± 0.57%, 80.22 ± 0.65%, and 90.95 ± 1.01% for cyanidin-3-glucoside, cyanidin-3-rutinoside, by pelargonidin-3-glucoside and cyanin chloride, respectively. However, cyanidin-3-glucoside was the anthocyanin compound showing the highest stability (99.11 ± 1.66%) in the gastrointestinal environment. These results suggested that choline chloride and glycerol-based NADES is not only an efficient, eco-friendly solvent for the extraction of anthocyanins but can also be used to increase the bioavailability of anthocyanins.

An exploratory method to determine the plant characteristics affecting the final yield: A study on Echium amoenum Fisch. & C.A. Mey. under different fertilizers application and plant densities

Background: Employing of advanced statistical methods to quantify agricultural information has helped to carry out targeted planning to alleviate the problems of farmers, researchers and policy section. One of these exploratory methods, is multivariate statistical analysis that examines and models the relationship between variables. Considering the importance of Echium amoenum and its use growing trend in traditional medicine and the pharmaceutical industry, also the lack of information on the correlations between its yield and morpho physiological traits, the objective of this study was to determine the causality path in which the Echium amoenum characteristics affects the yield of Echium amoenum as regards of application of organic and chemical fertilizers under different plant densities.Results: The employed method revealed that organic fertilizers increased flower yield compared with the control. The flower yield as a result of application of compost, vermicompost and cattle manure were increased by 25, 28, and 27 percent compared with the control, respectively. The results of multiple regression showed that variables of plant height, shoot dry weight, flower number per plant were the main factors affected the flower yield. The relative contribution of shoot dry weight was 16 and 25 percent more than plant height and flower number per plant, respectively. Conclusions: Causality analysis identified that shoot dry weight per plant had indirect effect on flower yield in different paths, as mainly was imposed through plant height considering the path coefficients. this study suggests that optimum production of Echium amoenum with application of ecological inputs along with effective agronomical managements of the causal paths of flower yield forming, including increase in shoot yield and plant height could be achieved through an ecological cropping system with reduced costs and no health concerning due to agrochemicals residual.

A Novel Optimization Algorithm for Echium amoenum Petals Drying

A novel multi-objective optimization algorithm was developed, which was successfully applied in the drying process. The effect of drying parameters (air velocity (vd), drying temperature (Td)) on the energy consumption (EC) and the quality parameters of Echium amoenum petals in fluidized drying were experimentally studied. The following quality parameters were examined: the color difference, the bioactive compounds as losses of total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and losses of phenolic (TPC), flavonoids (TFC) and anthocyanin (A). The six optimization objectives included simultaneous minimization of the quality parameters and energy consumption. The objective functions represent relationships between process variables and optimization objectives. The relations were approximated using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The Pareto optimal set with a nondominated sorting genetic algorithm was developed. No unequivocal solution to the optimization problem was found. Cannot be obtained E. amoenum petals characterized a low color change at low energy consumption due to its fluidized drying. Unique Pareto optimal solutions were found: Td = 54 °C and vd = 1.0 m/s–for the strategy in which the lower losses of TAC, TFC and A are most important, and Td = 59.8 °C and vd = 0.52 m/s–for the strategy in which the lower losses of TPC and TFC are important with accepted EC values. The results of this research are essential for the improvement of industrial dehydration of E. amoenum petals in order to maintain their high content of bioactive compounds with low energy consumption and low colour change

Phytotherapy for wound healing: The most important herbal plants in wound healing based on Iranian etnobotanical documents

: Wound healing is a process which starts with inflammatory response after damage occurrence. This process happens by restoring the wound surface coating tissue, migrating fibroblasts to form the needed collagen, forming a healing tissue and finally contortion and extraction of the wound. Today, various drugs are used to heal the wound. However, the used drugs to repair wounds have some defects and side effects. In spite of all attempts to accelerate wound healing definitely, no safe drug has been introduced for this purpose. Therefore, the necessity of identifying herbal plants in ethnopharmacology and ethnobotany documents with healing effect is felt essential. In this article we tried to review and present Iranian effective medicinal plants and herbal compounds used for wound healing. Searching was performed on databases including ISI Web of Science, PubMed, PubMed Central, Scopus, ISC, SID, Magiran and some other databases. The keywords used included wound healing, skin treatment, medicinal plants, ethnobotany, and phytotherapy. In this regard, 139 effective medicinal plants on wound healing were identified based on ethnopharmacology and ethnobotanical sources of Iran. Medicinal plants such as Salvia officinalis, Echium amoenum, Verbascum spp., G1ycyrrhiza glabra, Medicago sativa, Mentha pulegium, Datura stramonium L., Alhagi spp., Aloe vera, Hypericum perforatum, Pistacia atlantica and Prosopis cineraria were the most important and effective medicinal plants on wound healing in Iran. These native Iranian medicinal plants are full of antioxidants and biological compounds and might be used for wound healing and preparation of new drugs.

Overview on Phyto-based Treatment for Anxiety

Background: The prevalence of psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety, is very common and affects many people all around the world. Currently, many synthetic pharmacological products/ drugs are available in the market to cure the disorder but associated with various adverse reactions or side effects, which may cause discomfort and sometimes other disorders to the patients. In the past years, the use of complementary and alternative medicine has increased. The exploration in the area of herbal psychopharmacology has received much attention as people are using more herbal treatment to benefit their health. Objective: To provide comprehensive information on anxiety disorder and its herbal treatment. Methods: In this review, we enlisted the plants, plant extracts and isolated components (if any) along with models used to explore anxiolytic property; in retrospect, still a lot of research required to establish them clinically. Result: Literature revealed that a variety of medicinal plants are effective for the treatment of anxiety like Ginkgo biloba, Passiflora incarnata, Gelsemium sempervirens, Piper methysticum, Bauhinia variegate, Matricaria recutita, Brassica oleracea, Hypericum perforatum, Echium amoenum, and Scutellaria lateriflora. Conclusion: Exploration of herbal plants may be beneficial to establish more potential compounds for the treatment of anxiety disorders.

Effectiveness of Echium amoenum on premenstrual syndrome: a randomized, double-blind, controlled trial

Background The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of Echium amoenum (EA) on the severity of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) in comparison with placebo. Methods The present study was a randomized double-blind controlled clinical trial. A checklist questionnaire was completed by 120, 18 to 35-year-old, college students. And then, 84 eligible women (20 to 35 years old) were enrolled in the trial; they were randomly assigned to two groups of intervention (EA) and control (placebo), with 42 participants in each group. Participants in the intervention group received 450 mg capsules of EA per day (three times a day) from the 21st day of their menstrual cycle until the 3rd day of their next cycle for two consecutive cycles. The severity of PMS was measured and ranked using the premenstrual symptoms screening tool (PSST). The generalized estimating equation was used to compare the total score of the severity of PMS between the two groups. Results Sixty-nine women with regular menstrual cycles suffering from PMS completed the study. The mean scores of the symptoms in the EA group were 35.3 and 16.1 (P ≤ 0.001) at baseline and after 2 months, respectively, while the mean scores of the symptoms in the placebo group were 31.0 and 28.3 (P = 0.09) at baseline and after 2 months, respectively. The evaluation of the first and the second follow-ups in the intervention group showed that, after being adjusted for age and body mass index (P ≤ 0.001), the mean scores of the premenstrual syndrome, using GEE analysis, have decreased to 6.2 and 11.6, respectively. Conclusion Based on the results, in comparison with the placebo group, EA was found to be more effective in improving the symptoms of PMS, and is highly recommended for treatment of this syndrome. Trial registration IRCT2015110822779N3; Registration date: 2015–11–27.