No abstract

Moringa oleifera (Family- Moringaceae) is a well-known vegetable for its health benefits for thousands of years having diverse nutritional bioactive constituents. Phytochemical analysis of ethanolic extract of this plant indicated the presence of carbohydrate, reducing sugar, combined reducing sugar, glycosides, tannins (absent in seeds), alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins and steroids. In diuretic activity test, the extract showed a significant (p<0.001) effect at the dose of 200 & 400 mg/kg body weight in production of total urine volume in comparison with standard drug furosemide (5 mg/kg). Upon electrolyte analysis of excreted urine, the extract was found to increase Na+, K+, Clexcretion and may act as loop diuretics. The pods and seeds extract showed significant (p<0.01) laxative effects in mice in terms of stool production with soft consistency at the dose of 200 & 400 mg/kg in comparison with standard drug bisacodyl (10 mg/kg). The most edible part of this plant is pods which showed better diuretic and laxative effects than seeds. So, the pods may be a good source of bioactive constituents which may be used as parent compound(s) for discovering better diuretic or laxative drugs.

No abstract

Background. Avicennia officinalis is a medicinal plant that has traditionally been used as a diuretic, anti-infective, and antiasthmatic. Our investigation was designed to explore the diuretic and laxative potentials of different fractions of this plant’s bark extract as well as the identification of possible drug candidates for the activity. Methods. Collected bark was extracted in ethanol and fractionated in different polar and nonpolar solvents, i.e., water, chloroform, ethyl acetate, and n-hexane. Phytoconstituents were identified following the published protocols and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In the diuretic test, Na+ and K+ ions were measured using a flame photometer whereas the Cl− ion content was measured by titrimetric method against AgNO3. In the laxative test, feces amount and consistency were also measured. Molecular docking analysis was conducted using the “Vina Wizard” program in PyRx-Python Prescription 0.8. Results. Phytochemical analysis indicated that alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids, saponins, glycosides, and terpenoids were detected in the most bioactive crude extracts, whereas alkaloids, terpenoids, saponins, and gums were found in bioactive n-hexane fraction and steroids, glycosides, and terpenoids were found positive in chloroform fraction. Almost all the fractions demonstrated a dose-dependent increment of stool production with a soft consistency; however, the chloroform fraction was found to be the most active ( p  < 0.001). The crude extract and n-hexane fractions significantly increased ( p  < 0.01) the urinary output at the dose of 200 and 400 mg/kg. The concentrations of Na+, K+, and Cl− in collected urine were found to be more compared with the control group. The GC-MS analysis identified seven compounds in bioactive n-hexane fraction (phenolic and ester-type mainly) whereas seven other compounds (acidic and ester-type mainly) were identified in chloroform fraction. In molecular docking, two drug candidates of this extract (2,4-bis(2-phenylpropan-2-yl)phenol and 2-[4-[2-(dimethylamino)-2-oxo-1,1-diphenylethyl]phenyl]-2-phenylacetic acid) showed excellent binding affinity with the receptor compared with furosemide. Conclusion. A. officinalis bark might be a potential source of bioactive compounds for treating hypertension, edema, and constipation.

To observe the effect of different concentrations of citric acid, sugar and water on the postharvest performance i.e. vase life, neck bending and number of open florets of tuberose and gladiolus, freshly harvested cut flowers were collected and pretreated for 24 hours with the preservative solutions prepared with different concentrations of citric acid and different levels of sugar. The pretreated flowers were kept in distilled water. Water from different sources (tap water, natural water and distilled water) was used to preserve untreated sticks of tuberose and gladiolus. Flowers pretreated with 2 g L-1 citric acid and 40 g L-1 sugar performed better. Water sources had no significant effect on postharvest performances of the cut flowers.