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Silybum marianum or milk thistle (MT) is the most well‐researched plant in the treatment of liver disease. The active complex of MT is a lipophilic extract from the seeds of the plant and is composed of three isomer flavonolignans (silybin, silydianin, and silychristin) collectively known as silymarin. Silybin is a component with the greatest degree of biological activity and makes up 50% to 70% of silymarin. Silymarin is found in the entire plant but it is concentrated in the fruit and seeds. Silymarin acts as an antioxidant by reducing free radical production and lipid peroxidation, has antifibrotic activity and may act as a toxin blockade agent by inhibiting binding of toxins to the hepatocyte cell membrane receptors. In animals, silymarin reduces liver injury caused by acetaminophen, carbon tetrachloride, radiation, iron overload, phenylhydrazine, alcohol, cold ischaemia and Amanita phalloides. Silymarin has been used to treat alcoholic liver disease, acute and chronic viral hepatitis and toxin‐induced liver diseases. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Essential oils extracted by hydrodistillation from fruits of Cuminum cyminum L. and Carum carvi L. were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and GC-mass spectrometry (MS). The main components of C. cyminum oil were p-mentha-1,4-dien-7-al, cumin aldehyde, gamma-terpinene, and beta-pinene, while those of the C. carvi oil were carvone, limonene, germacrene D, and trans-dihydrocarvone. Antibacterial activity, determined with the agar diffusion method, was observed against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial species in this study. The activity was particularly high against the genera Clavibacter, Curtobacterium, Rhodococcus, Erwinia, Xanthomonas, Ralstonia, and Agrobacterium, which are responsible for plant or cultivated mushroom diseases worldwide. In general, a lower activity was observed against bacteria belonging to the genus Pseudomonas. These results suggest the potential use of the above essential oils for the control of bacterial diseases.

1 We have studied the eect of cannabinoid agonists (CP 55,940 and cannabinol) on intestinal motility in a model of intestinal in¯ammation (induced by oral croton oil in mice) and measured cannabinoid receptor expression, endocannabinoids (anandamide and 2-arachidonylglycerol) and anandamide amidohydrolase activity both in physiological and pathophysiological states. 2 CP 55,940 (0.03 ± 10 nmol mouse 71) and cannabinol (10 ± 3000 nmol mouse 71 ) were more active in delaying intestinal motility in croton oil-treated mice than in control mice. These inhibitory eects were counteracted by the selective cannabinoid CB 1 receptor antagonist SR141716A (16 nmol mouse 71). SR141716A (1 ± 300 nmol mouse 71 ), administered alone, increased intestinal motility to the same extent in both control and croton oil-treated mice 3 Croton oil-induced intestinal in¯ammation was associated with an increased expression of CB 1 receptor, an unprecedented example of up-regulation of cannabinoid receptors during in¯ammation. 4 High levels of anandamide and 2-arachidonylglycerol were detected in the small intestine, although no dierences were observed between control and croton oil-treated mice; by contrast anandamide amidohydrolase activity increased 2 fold in the in¯amed small intestine. 5 It is concluded that in¯ammation of the gut increases the potency of cannabinoid agonists possibly by`up-regulating' CB 1 receptor expression; in addition, endocannabinoids, whose turnover is increased in in¯amed gut, might tonically inhibit intestinal motility.