Search

Mangifera indica, commonly called mango or amra belonging to a family of Anacardiaceae, is an important medicinal plant widely used in a variety of Ayurvedic preparations. Extract of its bark, leaves, flowers and kernels are being extensively used for curing various chronic diseases. Mango wood is used in yagya as base fire through which medicated smoke is generated. Three new compounds have been isolated from methanolic and hexane extracts of stem bark: 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid, mono(2-ethylhexyl)ester and 9,12-tetradecadiene-1-ol-acetate from the hexane extract and 3-chloro-N-(2-phenylethyl) propanamide from the methanolic extract. These were first separated by thin layer chromatography and later in a silica gel column and identified by characteristic infrared bands corresponding to respective functional groups. The compounds were further confirmed on the basis of GC-MS fragmentation pattern after comparing the data with NIST mass spectral database. All three compounds exhibited antimicrobial activity due to triterpenoids and flavonoids. Elemental analyses by INAA show it to be enriched in essential nutrient elements such as Ca, Fe, K, Mn and Zn which all play an important role in enzymatic processes., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

High copper (Cu) accumulation in medicinal plants might favor lipid peroxidation and hence affect antioxidant responses. This effect was studied by determining antioxidant activities in the water extracts of medicinal plants from Cu mining impact site and compared with control samples. Antioxidant activities of the extracted medicinal plants were assayed by measuring (1) total phenolic and flavonoid contents, (2) diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH)• free radical scavenging activity, and (3) inhibition capacities of lipid peroxidation. The total phenolic as well as total flavonoid contents of the mining impact samples and control samples are not significantly different. However, inhibition of lipid peroxidation capacities was significantly less (12-60%) for mining impact samples as reflected by the IC50 values. These anomalies were attributed to high concentrations of Cu (2-4-fold higher) in mining impact samples as measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. A positive correlation was observed between Cu levels and IC50 values for the inhibition of lipid peroxidation for mining impact samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]