Objectives The secondary metabolites of the fruits of Firmiana simplex (L.) were analysed by LC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS; furthermore, we evaluated their antioxidant and antigenotoxic properties. Methods The antioxidant activity was investigated using the 2,2 0 -diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH), the 2,2 0 -azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) and the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays. The antigenotoxic potential was determined via the comet assay. Key findings The ethyl acetate fraction (EtOAc) was analysed by LC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS: phenolic acids and flavonoids were the main polyphenols of the fruits. The EtOAc fraction yielded the highest content of polyphenols with 314.61 mg GAE/g extract, followed by 297.51, 153.75, 101.47, 97.19 for dichloromethane, butanol, methanol and water extracts, respectively. As expected, a strong correlation exists between the antioxidant activity of the investigated extracts and their total phenolic content. In the DPPH assay, the IC 50 value of the most active EtOAc fraction was 6.79 lg/ml, relative to 2.92 lg/ml of the standard ascorbic acid. ABTS and FRAP assays supported the results of DPPH assay. Moreover, using the comet assay, we could show that the phenol-rich EtOAc extract exhibits an antigenotoxic potential in human liver cancer cells (Hep-G2) treated with hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) as a genotoxic agent. Conclusions The fruits of Firmiana simplex may be a good natural source of antioxidant and antigenotoxic agents.

Background: Diabetes mellitus is the most common disease in Egypt. In this context, Beta vulgaris subspecies cicla L. var. flavescens is an edible plant that has been used in traditional medicine as a therapy for treating some diseases. Objective: The current study was performed to evaluate the antibacterial and potential anti-diabetic activities of different extracts and isolated flavone C-glycoside compounds isolated from Beta vulgaris subspecies cicla L. var. flavescens leaves. Methods: Phytochemical investigation of n-butanol extract led to the isolation of five phytoconstituents. Their structures were determined by spectroscopic tools, including 1D-NMR (1H- & 13C-NMR) and 2D-NMR (HMQC & HMBC) besides the comparison of the data with the literature. The extracts and phytoconstituents were evaluated in vitro for their activity against some bacterial pathogens, which represent prominent human pathogens, particularly in hospital settings. The antibacterial activity was examined against three Gram-positive bacterial strains (Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis & Enterococcus faecalis) and five Gram-negative ones (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis & Salmonella typhimurium) relative to Ciprofloxacin as a reference drug. Furthermore, the in vitro antidiabetic activity (Type II) was evaluated using the alpha-glucosidase inhibitory assay. Results: Five flavone C-glycosides namely; Apigenin 8-C-β-D-glucopyranoside (vitexin) (1), 2''-Oxylopyranosylvitexin (2), acacetin 8-C-β-D-glucopyranoside (3), acacetin 8-C-α-L-rhamnoside (4), and 6,8-di-C-β-D-glucopyranosylapigenin (vecinin-II) (5) were isolated from n-butanol extract of B. vulgaris subspecies cicla L. var. flavescens. Compound 1 showed a promising antibacterial activity against most of the test bacterial strains with respect to the minimum inhibitory concentration values (MIC) ranged from 1.95 to 15.63 µg ml-1. On the other hand, compounds 1 and 3 demonstrated superior antidiabetic activities with IC50 values of 35.7 and 42.64 µg ml-1, respectively, while an inferior potential antidiabetic activity was recorded for compound 4 (IC50 = 145.5 µg ml-1) in comparison with Acarbose as a reference drug. Conclusion: B. vulgaris L. is an edible plant, which could be used as a natural source of antibiotic and hypoglycemic drugs.

The current study aimed to identify the chemical constituents of Chenopodium ambrosioides (Linn.), and the assessment of the in vitro antioxidant activity of the different extracts and pure isolates. Methods: The antioxidant activity was estimated via free radical scavenging and phosphomolybdenum assays.

Different solvent extracts of the aerial parts of Senna italica (Mill.) were investigated for their chemical constituents and biological activities. Moreover, bio-guided fractionation led to isolation and identification of six compounds, namely: physcion (1), emodin (2), 2-methoxy-emodin-6-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (3), 1-hydroxy-2-acetyl-3-methyl-6hydroxy-8-methoxynaphthalene (tinnevellin) (4), quercetin 3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→6)-β-D-glucopyranoside (rutin) (5), and 1,6,8-trihydroxy-3-methoxy-9,10-dioxo-9,10-dihydroanthracene (6). The chemical structures of these compounds were established via 1D and 2D 1 H-and 13 C-NMR spectroscopy. Ethyl acetate and n-butanol extracts as well as compound 3 were evaluated for their anticancer activity against tumor cell lines. The tested extracts showed a moderate to weak activity, while compound 3 showed a moderate activity against human liver cancer (Hep G2) and breast cancer (MCF-7) cell lines with IC 50 values of 57.5 and 42.3 μg/mL, respectively. Both ethyl acetate and n-butanol extracts exhibited antimicrobial activities with different strengths, i.e., ethyl acetate exhibited antimicrobial activity against seven test microbes while n-butanol extract showed antimicrobial activity against all tested microbes. This is the first report for the isolation of compound 3 as a new compound from S. italica growing in Egypt.

Eight compounds were isolated and identified from the soil-inhabiting fungus Aspergillus fumigatus 3T-EGY, namely, stearic acid (1), α-linolenic acid (2), physcion (3), di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (4), 2,4,5,17-tetramethoxy pradimicin lactone (5), 3,5-dihydroxy-7-O-α-rhamnopyranoyl-2H-chromen-2-one (6), juglanthraquinone A-5-O-D-rhodosamine-(4′→1″)-2-deoxy-D-glucose (4″→1″′)-cinerulose B (7), and micropeptin (8). Their structures were determined on the basis of one-dimensional (1D-) and two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (2D-NMR) [ 1 H-, 13 C-NMR, 1 H-1 H COSY (COrrelated SpectroscopY), and 1 H-13 C HMBC (Heteronuclear Multiple Bond Correlation) spectroscopy]. Compound 7 showed moderate in vitro antimicrobial activity against three pathogenic strains with inhibition zones values were ranged from 9.0 to 10.66 mm compared to neomycin as a positive control with inhibition zones values were ranged from 14.0 to 19.0 mm.

No abstract

Different solvent extracts from the aerial part of Prosopis farcta growing in Egypt have been biologically evaluated by studying their antimicrobial, anticancer and antioxidant activities. Furthermore, the chemical analysis using GC/MS has been performed for the promising extracts n-hexane and methylene chloride, and this analysis led to the identification of twenty six and thirty two compounds respectively from n-hexane and methylene chloride. The major compound identified in the n-hexane is (Z) 9,17octadecadienal (10.60%) while for methylene chloride is tricosanoic acid (9.24%). In addition, chromatographic isolation of the ethyl acetate and n-butanol extracts resulted in the isolation of four compounds which were identified as; dihydrokaempferol-3-O-α-L-rhamnoside (1), apigenin (2), 4′methoxyquercetin (tamarixetin) (3) and acacetin-7-O-α-L-rhamnoside (4). n-hexane and methylene chloride showed moderate antimicrobial activities against three microbes for each, that is, Shigella spp., Escherichia coli and Proteus vulgaris for n-hexane and Erwinia spp., Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus epidermis for methylene chloride. On the other hand, the ethyl acetate showed higher antimicrobial activities against Shigella spp., Escherichia coli, and Candida albicans. Likewise nbutanol extract showed higher activity against Shigella spp., Erwinia spp., E. coli, P. vulgaris, S. epidermis and Candida albicans. Moreover, the anticancer activities were evaluated against four human tumor cell lines namely; HepG-2, HeLa, PC3 and MCF-7. The n-butanol extract showed the highest activity against MCF-7 cell line with IC 50 of 5.6 μg/ml compared to 5-fluorouracil with IC 50 of 5.4 μg/ml, while the ethyl acetate showed the highest activity against Hela cell line with IC 50 of 6.9 μg/ml compared to 5-fluorouracil with IC 50 of 4.8 μg/ml. Also, the inhibition percentages (I%) of ABTS radical were 83.1, 82.0, 87.2 and 87.0% respectively for the n-hexane, methylene chloride, ethyl acetate and n-butanol extracts, respectively, compared to ascorbic acid with 89.2%. In, conclusion the different extracts of P. farcta aerial part showed promising antimicrobial, anticancer and antioxidant activities, in which may be return to their identified bioactive secondary metabolites.

In this study, five Egyptian species were tested for their In vitro antimicrobial activities. The antimicrobial screening was carried out via disc diffusion method toward four strains of the clinical antibiotic resistant pathogens including Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger. Among the methanolic extracts screened, Azadirachta indica, Tectona grandis and Ficus sycomorus showed a broad antimicrobial spectrum against three strains with inhibition zones between 13-27 mm followed by Gmelina arborea and Ficus microcarpa with inhibition zones between 11-17 mm, all plants showed no activity against Aspergillus niger except Gmelina arborea with inhibition zones 12 mm. Penicillin G was used as positive control at concentration of 100 µg/disc with inhibition zones (Staphylococcus aureus 28mm, Escherichia coli 22mm, Candida albicans 25mm and Aspergillus niger 0mm). Owing to the high activity of the methanolic extracts, these extracts were defatted via petroleum ether then were fractionated via; chloroform, ethyl acetate and n-butanol. The n-butanol of Azadirachta indica was the most active against Candida albicans (25 mm), ethyl acetate of Ficus sycomorus against Staphylococcus aureus (18 mm), n-butanol of Gmelina arborea against Staphylococcus aureus (17 mm) and n-butanol of Ficus microcarpa against Staphylococcus aureus (15 mm). These results suggest that the tested plants may be effective potential sources of natural antimicrobials, and are potent inhibitors of antibiotic resistant pathogens.