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The present study investigated the protective and treatment effects of different ginseng fractions against L-NAME-induced renal toxicity in rats. The data obtained demonstrated that L-NAME significantly increased creatinine, urea, KIM-1, and lipocalin-2 levels in serum; and also increased renal MDA and eNOS levels compared with the control group. Three bioactive fractions were newly extracted from ginseng, analyzed by GC-MS analysis, and were examined for antimicrobial, prebiotic, and histological activities. All ginseng fractions improved such histological changes, as reflected by significant reductions in creatinine, urea, KIM-1, and LCN-2 levels in serum, and renal MDA and eNOS contents in tissue homogenate. The water ginseng fraction (WGF) has the highest prebiotic index of 4.7 toward Lactobacillus reuteri, and can improve the renal functions more than butanol ginseng fraction (BGF) and ethanol ginseng fraction (EGF). These three ginseng fractions significantly reversed L-NAME-induced depletion in the TNF-α gene expression level. Interestingly, WGF was able to improve the renal functions more than BGF and EGF. L-NAME led to alterations in the histological structure and functions of renal tissue of rats and ginseng supplementation could offer greater protection against these changes. Moreover, the WGF exhibited superior renoprotection properties when compared with the other two fractions: BGF and EGF, and the reference drug losartan.

Senecio serpens (family Asteraceae) is used as a medicinal plant in Portugal. The present study addressed the chemical profile of essential oils of S. serpens using microwave-assisted extraction (M...

This work aims to highlight the effect of the extraction methods used on the chemical composition and evaluation of antimicrobial activity of the Origanum majorana Essential oil. Accordingly, three...

This article stands to introduce microwave assisted extraction (MAE) as a more effective method for extraction of Anastatica hierochuntica (L) essential oils (EOs) compared to traditional hydrodistillation (HD) and steam distillation (SD) methods. Analysis of EOs by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) showed significant differences in the constituents and percentages of the obtained oils. Using MAE and HD obtained oxygenated monoterpenes 50.79% whereas SD obtained sesquiterpene hydrocarbons 79.84% as major contents of the extracted oils. This is the first report of EO composition of the aerials parts of A. heirochunatica. It offered several advantages of MAE technique as a green method with shorter extraction time (60 min) and better yield.

Objective: Microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), as an effective tool for the extraction of essential oil from medicinal and aromatic plants, has gained a great attention over the last years, thus in this study, MAE was performed to extract essential oils from aerial part of Euphorbia sanctae-catharinae. Methods: microwave-assistedextraction (MAE), as well ashydro-distillation (HD) techniques was used for oil preparation. Oil composition was studied by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis.Results: Essential oil constituents and percentages of the obtained oils by MAE were compared with those obtained using conventional extraction HD technique. MAE offered reduction in the extraction time with better oil yield (1.2 % w/v) than that obtained when compared to HD(0.7 % w/v). Using MAE and HD for the extraction of E. sanctae-catharinae essential oil showed difference in the composition and percentage composition of the oil obtained with valencene (16.01%) and butyl hydroxy toluene (25.58%) being the major contents of the extracted oil using HD and MAE, respectively. Conclusion:To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study for the essential oil fromE. sanctae-catharinae. The tested essential oil samples did not show any significant antimicrobial activity at a concentration of 1 mg per disc.