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The development of new natural drugs for Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) management has recently received significant attention. Iris confusa (I. confusa) was long used for the treatment of bacterial infections and gastritis. This study aimed at evaluating its effect on management of H. pylori infection and exploring its bioactive metabolites. The inhibitory potential of the polar (PF), non-polar (NPF) fractions and the isolated compounds against H. pylori using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay in addition to their cyclooxygenases (COX-1 and COX-2), and nitric oxide (NO) inhibitory activities were assessed. The most biologically active compound was tested for its selective H. pylori inosine-5′-monophosphate dehydrogenase (HpIMPDH) inhibitory potential. Chromatographic purification of PF and NPF allowed isolation of tectoridin, orientin, irigenin, tectorigenin, isoarborinol and stigmasterol. The PF exhibited significant anti-H. pylori (MIC 62.50 µg/mL), COX-1, COX-2 (IC50 of 112.08 ± 0.60 and 47.90 ± 1.50 µg/mL respectively, selectivity index SI of 2.34), and NO (IC50 47.80 ± 0.89 µg/mL) inhibitory activities, while irigenin was the most potent isolated compound. Irigenin was found to have a promising activity against HpIMPDH enzyme (IC50 of 2.07 ± 1.90 μM) with low activity against human hIMPDH2 (IC50 > 10 μM) than clarithromycin, assuring its selectivity. Overall, I. confusa and its isolated compounds may serve as a potential source of plant-based drugs for H. pylori control. This study scientifically validated the claimed anti-bacterial activity of I. confusa and revealed irigenin potential as a novel lead exhibiting anti H. pylori activity in a first record.

Introduction Irises have been medicinally used in Ancient Egyptians, Anatolian, Chinese, British and Irish folk medicine. They are also well‐known ornamental plants that have economic value in the perfume industry. The main obvious diagnostic difference between the different species is based on the morphology of the flowers. The flowering cycle is very short as well as the persistence of the fully opened flowers extends for a few days only. Moreover, the climatic conditions significantly causes fluctuation in their blooming time from year to year. This makes the morphological discrimination very difficult. The discrimination of different iris species is of a great importance, as each species is reported to possess different folk medicinal activities. Objectives Finding genetic and metabolic markers for differentiation between Iris confusa Sealy (Subgen. Limniris Sect. Lophiris), I. pseudacorus L. (Subgen. Limniris Sect. Limniris) and I. germanica L. (Subgen. Iris Sect. Iris) on levels other than traditional taxonomic features. Material and Methods Inter‐simple sequence repeat (ISSR) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analyses were performed. Results The highest similarity was found between I. pseudacorus L. and I. germanica L. and the least similarity was between I. confusa Sealy and I. pseudacorus L. The metabolic profiling of the leaves confirmed genetic profiling discriminating I. confusa from the other two species. The primary metabolites of the underground parts showed clear discrimination between the three species. Conclusions This study represents the sole complete map for distinguishing the three Iris species on genetic and metabolic bases.

The current study reports for the first time the nutritional, fruit volatiles, phytochemical, and biological characteristics of Ferocactus herrerae J. G. Ortega fruits. The nutritional analysis revealed that carbohydrate (20.6%) was the most abundant nutrient followed by dietary fibers (11.8%), lipids (0.9%), and proteins (0.8%). It was rich in vitamins, minerals, essential, and non-essential amino acids. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of the headspace-extracted volatiles showed that 3-methyl octadecane (35.72 ± 2.38%) was the major constituent detected. Spectrophotometric determination of total phenolic and flavonoid contents of the fruit methanolic extract (ME) showed high total phenolic [9.17 ± 0.87 mg/g gallic acid equivalent (GAE)] and flavonoid [4.99 ± 0.23 mg/g quercetin equivalent (QE)] contents. The ME was analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet (HPLC-UV), which allowed for both qualitative and quantitative estimation of 16 phenolic compounds. Caffeic acid was the major phenolic acid identified [45.03 ± 0.45 mg/100 g dried powdered fruits (DW)] while quercitrin (52.65 ± 0.31 mg/100 g DW), was the major flavonoid detected. In-vitro assessment of the antioxidant capacities of the ME revealed pronounced activity using three comparative methods; 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) (132.06 ± 2.1 μM Trolox equivalent (TE) /g), 2,2′-azino-di(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS), (241.1 ± 5.03 uM TE/g), and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) (258.9 ± 1.75 uM TE/g). Besides, remarkable anti-inflammatory [COX-1 (IC50 = 20.2 ± 1.1 μg/mL) and COX-2 (IC50 = 9.8 ± 0.64 μg/mL)] and acetylcholinesterase inhibitory (IC50 = 1.01 ± 0.39 mg/mL) activities were observed. Finally, our results revealed that these fruits could be used effectively as functional foods and nutraceuticals suggesting an increase in their propagation.