Ethnopharmacological survey on medicinal plants used in herbal drinks among the traditional communities of Pakistan

The discovery of bioactive molecules from botanical sources is an expanding field, preferentially oriented to plants having a tradition of use in medicine and providing high yields and availability. Temperate forage legumes are Fabaceae species that include worldwide-important crops. These plants possess therapeutic virtues that have not only been used in veterinary and folk medicine, but have also attracted the interest of official medicine. We have examined here Medicago sativa (alfalfa), Trifolium pratense and T. repens (clovers), Melilotus albus and M. officinalis (sweet clovers), Lotus corniculatus (birdsfoot trefoil), Onobrychis viciifolia (sainfoin), Lespedeza capitata (roundhead lespedeza), and Galega officinalis (goat's rue). The phytochemical complexes of these species contain secondary metabolites whose pharmacological potentials deserve investigation. Major classes of compounds include alkaloids and amines, cyanogenic glycosides, flavonoids, coumarins, condensed tannins, and saponins. Some of these phytochemicals have been related to antihypercholesterolemia, antidiabetic, antimenopause, anti-inflammatory, antiedema, anthelmintic, and kidney protective effects. Two widely prescribed drugs have been developed starting from temperate forage legumes, namely, the antithrombotic warfarin, inspired from sweet clover's coumarin, and the antidiabetic metformin, a derivative of sainfoin's guanidine. Available evidence suggests that temperate forage legumes are a potentially important resource for the extraction of active principles to be used as nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals.

Therapeutic Potential of Temperate Forage Legumes: A Review.

In vitro screening of forty medicinal plant extracts from the United States Northern Great Plains for anthelmintic activity against Haemonchus contortus

For a long time, Apiaceae species have been widely employed in the southeast of Morocco for culinary and folk healing purposes. In the current study, we investigated three Apiaceae herbs known as coriander (Coriandrum sativum), celery (Apium graveolens), and parsley (Petroselinum crispum) for their antioxidant, antiperoxidative, and antihemolytic properties. The HPLC-DAD has been used to classify and measure phenolic compounds. The major phenolic compounds studied were p-coumaric, chlorogenic, caffeic acids, luteolin, and quercetin. The polyphenol level was also estimated via Folin–Ciocalteu’s method, aluminium chloride, and acidified vanillin. Parsley showed the highest polyphenol level and, thus, showed potential antioxidant activities demonstrated by DPPH, ABTS scavenging tests, and reducing power (FRAP), as well as TBARS assays. Very strong correlations were depicted among phenol levels and antioxidant assays (R2 ≥ 0.910) and among antihemolytic activity and flavonoids (R2 ≥ 0.927), indicating the implication of phenolic compounds, mainly flavonoids, in the antiradical properties. These finding may prove the traditional use of these Apiaceae species in the management of numerous disorders cited within the Moroccan pharmacopoeia.

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Bioactive Compounds and Antioxidant, Antiperoxidative, and Antihemolytic Properties Investigation of Three Apiaceae Species Grown in the Southeast of Morocco.

Two closely related species: Melilotus alba and M. officinalis were compared in respect to chromatographically separated and visualized flavonoids. Several compounds were common for both species. Taking into account that phenolic compounds are genetically strictly controlled and not sensitive to environmental influences, the presence of characteristic compounds for each species confirmed their taxonomic values and differences.

Phenolic compounds pattern in sweet clover (Melilotus officinalis) vs white clover (M. alba) revealed by 2D TLC (two-dimentional thin-layer chromatography) and its taxonomic significance

Six natural populations of sweet clover (Melilotus officinalis) were examined for allelic frequencies at 7 electrophoretically detected polymorphic loci in five enzyme systems: LAP, AP, ME, EST and Px. According to Nei’s statistics, the extent of genetic variability in all populations shows that intra-population genetic variability is expressed by higher values of GST coefficient (mean value for all loci 0.135) which exceeds values of inter-population differences expressed by DST=0.059 coefficient. Gene flow between populations is rather low (Nm=1.60). Hierarchical clustering (UPGMA) of Hedrick’s genetic distances (when examined simultaneously in all the allozymes), demonstrated three groups of populations suggesting certain tendency to geographic connections.

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M. Krzakowa

Papers

Phenolic compounds pattern in sweet clover (Melilotus officinalis) vs white clover (M. alba) revealed by 2D TLC (two-dimentional thin-layer chromatography) and its taxonomic significance

Electrophoretically detected genetic variability of yellow sweet clover Melilotus officinalis (L.) Lam populations.