Sideritis scardica Griseb. (ironwort, mountain tea), an endemic plant of the Balkan Peninsula, has been used in traditional medicine in the treatment of gastrointestinal complaints, inflammation, and rheumatic disorders. This study aimed to evaluate its gastroprotective and anti-inflammatory activities. Besides, continuously increasing interest in assessing the role of the plant active constituents preventing the risk of cancer was a reason to make a detailed examination of the investigated ethanol, diethyl ether, ethyl acetate, and N-butanol extracts regarding cytotoxicity. Oral administration of the investigated extracts caused a dose-dependent anti-inflammatory effect in a model of carrageenan-induced rat paw edema. Gastroprotective activity of the extracts was investigated using an ethanol-induced acute stress ulcer in rats. The cytotoxic activity of plant extracts was assessed on PBMC, B16, and HL-60 cells and compared to the cytotoxicity of phenolic compounds identified in extracts. Apoptotic and necrotic cell death were analyzed by double staining with fluoresceinisothiocyanate (FITC)-conjugated annexin V and PI. The developed HPLC method enabled qualitative fingerprint analysis of phenolic compounds in the investigated extracts. Compared to the effect of the positive control, the anti-inflammatory drug indomethacine (4 mg/kg), which produced a 50 % decrease in inflammation, diethyl ether and N-butanol extracts exhibited about the same effect in doses of 200 and 100 mg/kg (53.6 and 48.7 %; 48.4 and 49.9 %, respectively). All investigated extracts produced dose-dependent gastroprotective activity with the efficacy comparable to that of the reference drug ranitidine. The diethyl ether extract showed significant dose-dependent cytotoxicity on B16 cells and HL-60 cells, decreasing cell growth to 51.3 % and 77.5 % of control, respectively, when used at 100 µg/mL. It seems that phenolic compounds (apigenin, luteolin, and their corresponding glycosides) are responsible for the diethyl ether extract cytotoxic effect. It also appears that induction of oxidative stress might be involved in its cytotoxicity, since B16 and HL-60 cells increased their ROS production in response to treatment with diethyl ether extract. Neither of the tested extracts nor any phenolic compounds showed significant cytotoxic effect to human PBMC. These results demonstrated the potent anti-inflammatory and gastroprotective activities, as well as the promising cytotoxicity.

Sideritis scardica Griseb., Lamiaceae (ironwort, mountain tea), an endemic plant of the Balkan Peninsula, has been used in traditional medicine in the treatment of antimicrobial infections, gastrointestinal complaints, inflammation and rheumatic disorders. This study reports a comparison between conventional (hydrodistillation HD and solvent extraction SE) and alternative (supercritical carbon dioxide SC CO 2 ) extraction methods regarding the qualitative and quantitative composition of the obtained extracts as analyzed by GC and GC-MS techniques and their anitimicrobial activity. Different types of extracts were tested, the essential oil EO obtained by HD, EO-CO 2 and AO-CO 2 obtained by SC CO 2 at different preasures 10 and 30 MPa, at 40 °C, respectively, and the fractions A, B, C and D obtained by successive solvent extraction (SE) A: ethanol, B: diethyl ether, C: ethyl acetate and D: n-butanol). While EO was characterized by the presence of the OPEN ACCESSMolecules 2012, 17 2684 high percentage of oxygenated monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes (30.01 and 25.54%, respectively), the rest of the investigated samples were the most abundant in fatty acids and their esters and diterpenes (from 16.72 to 71.07% for fatty acids and their esters, and from 23.30 to 72.76%, for diterpenes). Microbial susceptibility tests revealed the strong to moderate activity of all investigated extracts against the tested microorganisms (MIC from 40 to 2,560 μg/mL). Although differences in the chemical compositions determined by GC and GC-MS analysis were established, the displayed antimicrobial activity was similar for the all investigated extracts.

Local factors, like wearing of panty liners or use of tampons during menstruation, may promote recurrence of vulvovaginal candidiasis, especially in patients who practice self-medication with antimycotics.

From a botanical perspective, the large number of species of the genus Sideritis coupled with the tendency to hybridise between the different species has prompted an accurate study designed to clarify all the controversial points in the botanical classification of this genus. The past phytochemical studies of the Sideritis species have been performed with different extracts from the aerial parts, essential oils and isolated compounds such as diterpenoids, flavonoids or phenylpropanoid glycosides. These investigations have justified the traditional uses for these plants and provided direction for new pharmacological research. In recent years, other compounds such as iridoids, coumarins, lignans and phenylpropanoid glycosides have also been isolated and identified. The results have shown that essential oils act as good antimicrobial agents against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and against the Candida albicans fungus. Diterpenoids have shown antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and antifeedant activity, and flavonoids are active as anti-ulcerous, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant agents. Future research should focus on the pharmacological activity of these isolated compounds to find new active principles and identify their mechanisms of action. In addition, it would be interesting to investigate new pharmacological activities apart from those used in traditional medicine; recent studies have shown that diterpenes and some diterpene derivatives act as effective anti-HIV and antiproliferative agents.

The main purpose of this study was an investigation of the chemical composition of essential oils obtained from Satureja cuneifolia Ten. and S. montana L. collected at the National park Lovćen, Montenegro. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of the essential oils, performed by GC/MS and GC/FID, indicated that the most abundant compound in S. cuneifolia essential oil was oxygenated monoterpene linalool (20.3%). Within the sesquiterpene compounds, trans-(E)-caryophyllene (6.1%), germacrene D (5.8%), nerolidol (5.2%) and spathulenol (5.0%) were present in relatively high quantities. Conversely, S. montana essential oil was abundant in monoterpenes, with p-cymene being the main constituent (16.6%). Besides, limonene (10.8%), thymol (6.5%), α-pinene (6.1%) and borneol (5.5%) were present in a high percentage. The results indicated that investigated Satureja species essential oils possessed different chemical composition, but both might represent an interesting resource of pharmacologically active compounds.