Aloe vera is a medicinal plant used to treat various skin diseases. The effects of using aloe vera gel on the healing process were investigated by microscopic methods, cell counting, and TGF-β gene expression in the wound bed. Sixty Wistar rats weighing 200-250 g were placed under anesthesia in sterile conditions. A square 1.5 cm × 1.5 cm wound was made on the back of the neck. The rats were divided into control and 2 experimental groups. Additionally, the control and experimental groups were separated into 3 subgroups corresponding to 4, 7, and 14 days of study. In the first experimental group, aloe vera was used twice on the wound. The second experimental group received aloe vera overtreatment once on the wound. The positive control group received daily application of 1% phenytoein cream following surgical wound creation. The control group did not receive any treatment. This tissue was examined using histological staining (H&E) and Masson's Trichrome. Wound surface and wound healing were evaluated separately. TGF-β gene expression was analyzed by RT-PCR. Results showed that fibroblasts in both experimental groups were significantly increased, thereby acceleration wound healing. Application of aloe vera gel will increase TGF-β gene expression, ultimately accelerating the wound healing process.

The genus Stachys (Lamiaceae) is distributed in the mediterranean regions and southwest Asia. About three hundred Stachys species are reported [1]; 34 of them are found in Iran, of which 13 are endemic [2, 3]. Several Stachys species are used in Iranian folk medicine as medicinal plants [4]. In addition, pharmacological studies confirmed that extracts or components of plants belonging to the genus Stachys exert significant antibacterial [5], anti-inflammatory [6], antitoxic [7, 8] and anti-anoxia [9] effects.Biosystematic and chemotaxonomic studies have been carried out on Stachys species in which flavonoids and flavonoid glycosides, quinones, iridoids, phenolic acids, diterpenoids, and essential oils were reported [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. As Stachys atherocalyx and Stachys sylvatica are used in Iranian folk medicine and potentially have medical importance, we decided to make an analysis of their essential oil composition.The compounds identifed by GC and GC-MS analyses from the essential oils of Stachys atherocalyx C. Koch. and Stachys sylvatica L. are presented in Table 1. Both essential oils were light yellow with a distinct sharp odor, and the total yield of both plants was 0.20% v/w. The yield from other species were: S. chrysantha, 0.18%; S. candida, 0.12%; S. setifera, 0.18%, S. obliqua, 0.075%; Stachys schtschegleevii, 0.2%; and Stachys balansae, 0.3% [5,13,14,17].In Stachys atherocalyx thirty six components were identified representing 98.1% of the total oil; spathulenol (22.1%) was the major component. Eighteen monoterpenes, representing 47.9%, thirteen sesquiterpenes, representing 42.9%, and two aromatic hydrocarbons, representing 1.6% of the total oil, were detected, in which 71.2% of them were oxygenated compounds. The more abundant sesquiterpene was β-bourbonene (5.7%), and the major monoterpenes that were found were β-pinene (9.6%), linalool (9.1%), linalyl acetate (8.9%), α-pinene (4.8%), and α-terpineol (4.3%). Also β-ionone (3.8%) was found with good aboundance.In Stachys sylvatica L. twenty-five components representing 93.9% of the total oil were identified. β-Caryophyllene (19.6%) was the major component, and nine sesquiterpenes and thirteen monoterpenes comprising 75.9% and 19.6% of the total oil were detected, respectively. Other major components were δ-cadinene (13.4%), spathulenol (12.5%), α-humulene (11.2%), δ-3-carene (7.4%), α-copaene (6.4%), and bicyclogermacrene (6.2%).In spite of the large size of the genus Stachys, the composition of the essential oil in only a small number of species has been reported. Previous works on the oil of members of the Stachys genus showed varying compositions [5,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. For example, the principal constituents of the oil of Stachys officinalis from Yugoslavia were a mixture of β-and isocaryophyllene (22.9%) [12]; the oil of Stachys candida consisted of manoyl oxide (12.07%), caryophyllene oxide (11.5%), and β-caryophyllene (9.58%) [5]; in the oil of Stachys balansae from Turkey [15], β-caryophyllene (24.3%), β-pin...

Objective: In this study the effect of Royal jelly on the growth of two important members of Bacteroides spp.; Bacteroides fragilis and Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, was evaluated. Also the physicochemical properties and cytotoxicity effects of Royal jelly on Caco-2 cell line as gastrointestinal epithelial cell model, assessed. Methods : Bacteria, Bacteroides fragilis and Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron were grown on brain heart infusion (BHI) broth medium supplemented with Royal jelly in 3 different concentrations (2.5, 5 and 10% v/v), both of the bacteria (1.5×108 cfu/mL) were inoculated to BHI broth contained Royal jelly in anaerobic condition. To calculate the bacterial optical density (OD), the absorbance was measured at 600 nm after an overnight. Also Caco-2 cells, was used to study the effects of Royal jelly on epithelial cell viability, and the Physicochemical properties consist of  total proteins, polysaccharides, phenolic compounds, total lipids, ash and moisture by UV-VIS spectrophotometric and gravimetric methods were evaluated . Results: The growth of B. fragillis and B. thetaiotaomicron were increased by Royal jelly (2.5, 5 and 10% v/v concentrations) and the results indicated that Royal jelly increased the growth of bacteria in a dose dependent manner (p<0.001). In addition MTT assay showed more than 95% viability of Caco-2 cells treated with Royal jelly. The Iranian Royal jelly sample contains 59.01% water, 11.57% proteins, 12% lipids, 12.63 % polysaccharide and 5% mineral. Conclusion: The present study showed that Royal jelly has a potential effect in the  preserving gut microbiota  and it is suggested that Royal jelly as a complementary and alternative medicine can be used to treatment diseases are associated  with gut microbiota- host interactions and immune regulating. Although we need to expand our knowledge by designing clinical trials to confirm the therapeutic effects of Royal jelly on gut microbiota modulation as a barrier function.

The aim of the present work was to continue studies on the alkaloid content of the minus and identifying major alkaloids of the above ground parts of Th. minus of Iranian origin. Thalictrum minus population of Iran, contained two major phenanthrene alkaloids that their structure were established by spectral methods. Thaliglucine has been detected for the first time in the minus. Thaliglucine N-oxide is assumed to be a new phenanthrene N-oxide.

Researchers have been trying to develop new broad-spectrum antibiotics against the infectious diseases caused by bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites for many decades. Prolonged usage of the antibiotics has led to the emergence of drug resistance among bacteria; therefore, there is a tremendous need for novel antimicrobial agents from different sources such as plants which are used in traditional medicine. The aim of this study was to evaluate antibacterial effect of <em>Achillea tenuifolia</em>.<em> </em>The plant material was extracted by maceration method using methanol three times at room temperature. The extract was concentrated after removing the solvent by rotary evaporator and then lyophilized using freeze dryer. Inhibitory effect of the extract was examined against four standard bacteria strains and two isolated strains from diseased hen using disk diffusion method and microdilution method to evaluate their inhibition zone diameter (IZD) and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), respectively. The results showed that the extract of the plant was active against standard strains including <em>Escherichia coli</em>, <em>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</em>, <em>Staphylococcus aureus </em>and <em>Enterococcus faecalis </em>with IZDs of 10.3±0.5, 14±0.0, 12±0.0 and 11.6±0.5, respectively.<strong> </strong>However, growths of isolated strains were not inhibited in the presence of the extract. Although, the growths of isolated strains were not inhibited by the plant extract, the standard strains were moderately susceptible to the extract; among those <em>P. aeroginosa</em> was more sensible than other tested strains