Aisha Ashraf

Ethnomedicinal knowledge and relative importance of indigenous medicinal plants of Cholistan desert, Punjab Province, Pakistan.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE Ethnomedicinal studies are significant for the discovery of new crude drugs from indigenous reported medicinal plants. The current study aimed to report the indigenous medicinal knowledge of plants and herbal remedies used as folk medicines in Cholistan desert, Punjab Province, Pakistan. MATERIAL AND METHODS Rapid appraisal approach (RAA), semi-structured interviews, group meetings with herbalists, landowners and local people having awareness about the medicinal action of plants were employed to collect the data. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS This study reports 70 medicinal plants belonging to 27 families that were disseminated among 60 different genera and Poaceae was the predominant family over others with 13 reported medicinal plants. Among plant parts, leaves were the dominant over others with 26.4% used in herbal preparations followed by the stem (25.2%), fruit (21.5%), flower (16.3%), seed (6.5%), bark and pod (02%). Haloxylon recurvum exhibited the highest use vale (UV) 0.83 while least UV was exhibited by Mollugo cerviana that was 0.16. CONCLUSION Important medicinal plants, reported in this study have been screened for phytochemical and pharmaceutical activities in different parts of the globe. It is recommended that reported medicinal plants having potent action for cancer and hepatitis must be screened for pharmacological activities.

Batch versus column modes for the adsorption of radioactive metal onto rice husk waste: conditions optimization through response surface methodology

Batch and column adsorption modes were compared for the adsorption of U(VI) ions using rice husk waste biomass (RHWB). Response surface methodology was employed for the optimization of process variables, i.e., (pH (A), adsorbent dose (B), initial ion concentration (C)) in batch mode. The B, C and C2 affected the U(VI) adsorption significantly in batch mode. The developed quadratic model was found to be validated on the basis of regression coefficient as well as analysis of variance. The predicted and actual values were found to be correlated well, with negligible residual value, and B, C and C2 were significant terms. The column study was performed considering bed height, flow rate and initial metal ion concentration, and adsorption efficiency was evaluated through breakthrough curves and bed depth service time and Thomas models. Adsorption was found to be dependent on bed height and initial U(VI) ion concentration, and flow rate decreased the adsorption capacity. Thomas models fitted well to the U(VI) adsorption onto RHWB. Results revealed that RHWB has potential to remove U(VI) ions and batch adsorption was found to be efficient versus column mode.

Chemical Composition and Antidiabetic Activity of Essential Oils Obtained from Two Spices (Syzygium aromaticum and Cuminum cyminum)

The current aim was to evaluate antidiabetic potential of Syzygium aromaticum and Cuminum cyminum essential oils and their emulsions by alpha amylase inhibition assay. Antidiabetic activity of C. cyminum and S. aromaticum was examined in dose dependent mode (1 to 100 µg/mL). The maximum antidiabetic activity for S. aromaticum and C. cyminum essential oils was noted at the highest dose (100 µg/mL). Five emulsions (essential oil + surfactant [tween 80] + co-surfactant [ethanol] + water) of different concentrations for S. aromaticum (A1 to A5) and C. cyminum (B1 to B5) essential oils were formulated. Among different emulsions, A5 of S. aromaticum and B5 of C. cyminum essential oil exhibited a maximum antidiabetic activity with 95.30 and 83.09% inhibition of α-amylase, respectively. Moreover, the analysis of essential oils showed that eugenol (18.7%) and α-pinene (18.8%) were the major components of S. aromaticum and C. cyminum essential oils, respectively.

Chemical composition, antioxidant, antitumor, anticancer and cytotoxic effects of Psidium guajava leaf extracts

Abstract Context Psidium guajava L. (Myrtaceae) leaves are used in traditional medicines for the treatment of cancer, inflammation and other ailments. Objective The current study explores scientific validation for this traditional medication. Materials and methods We used ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazil (DPPH) assays to estimate antioxidant activity of P. guajava leaf extracts (methanol, hexane and chloroform). Antitumour and in vivo cytotoxic activities were determined using potato disc assay (PDA) and brine shrimp lethality assay, respectively. Three human carcinoma cell lines (KBM5, SCC4 and U266) were incubated with different doses (10–100 μg/mL) of extracts and the anticancer activity was estimated by MTT assay. NF-κB suppressing activity was determined using electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA). Chemical composition of the three extracts was identified by GC-MS. Total phenolic and flavonoid contents were measured by colorimetric assays. Results and discussions The order of antioxidant activity of three extracts was methanol > chloroform > hexane. The IC50 values ranged from 22.73 to 51.65 μg/mL for KBM5; 22.82 to 70.25 μg/mL for SCC4 and 20.97 to 89.55 μg/mL for U266 cells. The hexane extract exhibited potent antitumour (IC50  value = 65.02 μg/mL) and cytotoxic (LC50  value = 32.18 μg/mL) activities. This extract also completely inhibited the TNF-α induced NF-κB activation in KBM5 cells. GC-MS results showed that pyrogallol, palmitic acid and vitamin E were the major components of methanol, chloroform and hexane extracts. We observed significant (p < 0.05) difference in total phenolic and flavonoid contents of different solvent extracts. Conclusion The present study demonstrates that P. guajava leaf extracts play a substantial role against cancer and down-modulate inflammatory nuclear factor kB.

A review on emerging persistent organic pollutants: Current scenario in Pakistan

ABSTRACT During the last few years, a new drift on screening of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) present in the environment of Pakistan has been observed. However, across the globe a number of reports have been devoted to the screening levels, distribution, and risk assessment and on the emission of POPs. In the case of Pakistan, the knowledge achieved and understanding of POPs contamination in the environmental compartments are still limited. Recently published literature has been a key to explore the mystery of new emerging POPs from the environment of the country. In this review, an effort was made to summarize the results of recently published reports on POPs (PCNs, PBDEs, DPs, and PCBs) from biotic and abiotic environments of Pakistan. This review also presents the available data published to date for organochlorines. The results of previously reported studies reflected that newly emerging POPs were influenced by the industrial and urban fractions and were in line with the distribution pattern of other regions of the world. These results revealed that urgent attention must be paid to these new emerging POPs, as they are reported to be present in considerable concentrations. Such detected concentrations of these banned pollutants should be checked/screened by scientific authorities to avoid adverse health risks to humans and animals.

Ethnopharmacological relevance of indigenous medicinal plants from district Bahawalnagar, Punjab, Pakistan.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE Indigenous plants have played a key role in the treatment of human diseases. This study was aimed to report the indigenous medicinal plants from Bahawalnagar district of Southern Punjab, Pakistan to document the important medicinal plants and herbal preparations. MATERIAL AND METHODS Rapid appraisal approach (RAA) involved direct interaction with local people and observations during the field visits; was used to collect data during March to June and August to December 2012. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS A total of 63 plants were reported to be effective for ailments treatment in the local healthcare system of the study area, belonging to 56 genera and 34 families. Among families Fabaceae was the predominant by contributing 09 species. CONCLUSION Plants knowledge is not uniformly distributed among the 488 informants interviewed by mean of questionnaire.

PHENOLIC COMPOSITION AND BIOLOGICAL (ANTI DIABETIC AND ANTIOXIDANT) ACTIVITIES OF DIFFERENT SOLVENT EXTRACTS OF AN ENDEMIC PLANT (HELIOTROPIUM STRIGOSUM)

Heliotropium strigosum plant is widely used in traditional medicines for treatment of various ailments. In current study, an effort was made to evaluate phenolic profile as well as antidiabetic and antioxidant activities of crude methanol extract and different solvent (n-hexane, ethyl acetate, chloroform and aqueous) fractions of H. strigosum . Total phenolic contents were determined by spectrophotometric assay. Polyphenolic compounds in crude methanol extract and each solvent fraction were identified by reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). Antioxidant and antidiabetic activities were determined using DPPH and α-amylase inhibition assays, respectively. The outcome of spectrophotometric assay showed that methanol extract had higher amount of total phenolic (84.50 ± 0.06 μg GAE/ mg of plant extract) contents than aqueous, ethyl acetate, chloroform and n-hexane fractions, respectively. The RP-HPLC analysis revealed the maximum number of phenolic (chromotropic acid, quercetin, trans-4-hydroxy-3-methoxy cinnamic acid, vanillic acid, gallic acid, caffeic acid, m-coumaric acid, p-coumaric acid, syringic acid, sinapic acid and ferulic acid) compounds in methanol extract. Methanol extract (IC 50 = 8.97 μg/mL) exhibited the maximum antidiabetic activity followed by aqueous (IC 50 = 20.04 μg/mL), ethyl acetate (IC 50 = 27.79 μg/mL), chloroform (IC 50 = 56.87 μg/mL) and hexane (IC 50 = 32.16 μg/mL) fractions, respectively. The outcome of antioxidant assay revealed that methanol extract was the leading one with regard to antioxidant activity at different doses (10 to 250 μg/mL). The current study concludes that H. strigosum solvents extracts with significant phenolic profile and potent biological activities could be explored for potential uses in neutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries.

Phenolic compounds’ characterization of Artemisia rutifolia spreng from Pakistani flora and their relationships with antioxidant and antimicrobial attributes

ABSTRACT Artemisia rutifolia (Asteraceae) had been used in traditional medicines for the treatment of different ailments. In the current study, an effort was made to explore the phenolic composition, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activities of different solvent extracts obtained from A. rutifolia leaves. The reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) analysis revealed the higher extent of polyphenolic compounds (i.e., gallic acid, caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, syringic acid, sinapic acid, p-coumaric acid, m-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, vanillic acid, myricetin, and quercetin) in methanol extract. Methanol extract consistently showed the highest total phenolic contents (98 ± 2 µg GAE/mg of plant extract), total flavonoid contents (28 ± 0.0 µg QE/mg of plant extract), antimicrobial activity, free radical (DPPH) scavenging (IC50 = 39 µg/mL) activity, and reducing power (18.3 ± 0.2 mg GAE/g of plant extract) followed by those of chloroform and hexane extracts, respectively. The current study concluded that extracts of A. rutifolia are novel natural source of antioxidative and antimicrobial agents for the treatment of oxidative stress-related disorders and microbial infections.

Dietary and toxicity exposure of emerging persistent organic pollutants to human health through consumption of cereal crops from Pakistan

ABSTRACT There is a lack of scientific literature regarding the bioaccumulation, dietary, and toxicity exposure of emerging persistent organic pollutants through food crops. The current mini-review presents the dietary intake, spatial distribution pattern, and screening-levels risk assessment of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the cereal crops and environmental compartments from Punjab Province, Pakistan. Results of congener specific analysis were in accordance to the previously reported pattern of detected POPs across the globe. Spatial distribution was influenced by the industrial and urban fraction and trend of spatial distribution pattern was observed as follows: industrial/urban areas > industrial/peri-urban areas > agricultural/rural areas. Dietary intake of Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) via consumption of cereal crops was observed higher and was in accordance to the previously reported levels while human health was at marginal risk to cancer. The results of dietary and toxicity exposure of detected POPs warrant auxiliary devotion in future, to this group of contaminants.