Catharanthus roseus is an important medicinal plant found in various parts of the world and the bioactive compound has been extracted and used as anticancer agent to treat the cancer over decades. However, the extraction of bioactive compound also results in the generation of large quantities of pollution with wasted solvents. Toxic pollution occurs when synthetic chemicals are discharged or natural chemicals accumulate to toxic levels in the environment, causing reductions in wildlife numbers, degrading ecosystem functions and threatening human health. This review covers the extraction and phytochemical obtained leading to chemical compounds related to anti-cancer property of C. roseus. Additionally, recent advances of using biological cell cultures were also addressed. Thus, this work can be used for further investigation of C. roseus to be undertaken in future for its anticancer property further development and efficient production in drug industry.

Phytochemical screening (saponins, tannins, steroids, alkaloids, flavonoids, phenols and glycosides) of four medicinal plant seeds (Jatropha curcas, Simmondsia chinensis (Jojoba), Moringa oleifera and Datura metel) extracted by aqueous, ethanol and Folch solvents, were examined for their antimicrobial activity against three types of plant pathogenic fungi namely; Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium oxysporum and Rhizoctonia solani, in addition to four types of bacteria, namely; Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Ralstonia solanacearum and Pesudomonas aeruginosa using disc diffusion paper. Results revealed that different concentrations of aqueous extracts were more effective against bacterial activity compared to fungal activity, except for D. metel aqueous extract which showed no antifungal effect and very weak effect on only two of the tested bacteria. B. cereus was more sensitive to J. curcas aqueous extract, while P. aeruginosa was more sensitive to S. chinensis and M. oleifera aqueous extracts. On the other hand, results showed that J. curcas and M. oleifera ethanol extracts were more effective on Staph. aureus growth, while S. chinensis and D. metel did not have any effect on any of the fungi or bacteria under study. The evaluation of the antifungal and antibacterial effect did not confirm the broad spectrum of S. chinensis Folch extract, while M. oleifera and D. metel were more effective on reducing R. solani growth. Also F. oxysporum was affected by J. curcas Folch extract only at high concentrations. These findings support that the traditional use of the plant extracts in the treatment of different infections caused by pathogenic microbes is valuable and should be taken in consideration.

In this research, the biological activities of five plant extracts from family Apiaceae; Italian Parsley (Petroselinum neapolitanum), Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), Celery (Apium graveolens), Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) and Dill (Anethum graveolens), were studied. Antiproliferative effect of eleven ethanol crude extracts was tested in Human Cervical (HeLa) cancer cells. Parsley leaves extract, cilantro leaves extract and cilantro stems extract showed no significant difference with the positive control (Actinomycin D). As for, fennel bulb extracts, fennel stalks extracts, celery stems gave better results than the positive control with no significant difference through the 24, 48 and 72h treatment. There were no significant difference between Fennel extracts and the positive control, which showed high effect on the cancer cells survival. There were no significant difference between both extracts of Cilantro leaves and stems through each time but the best result was after 72h of treatments. Regarding Dill leaves and stems, cell numbers recorded no significant difference between the both on time dependent manner. Further investigation for ethanolic extracts of parsley leaves, fennel bulb, fennel stalks, celery stems, cilantro leaves and cilantro stems which showed better results than using the commercial drug Actinomycin D (25L/mL) for 24h treatment or less depending on concentrations manner. Also, further investigation on different types of cancer cell lines to avoid the toxic effect of chemotherapy.

Curly Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) seeds were planted for the purpose of essential oil extraction from dried plants by hydro-distillation. GC-MS analysis of parsley essential oil (PEO) showed that Parsley-apiol (40.42%) and myristicin (34.77%) were the major components. PEO and its nanoemulsion (PEO-NE) were tested for their antifungal activities against Alternaria solani, the causal agent of tomato early blight, and Rhizoctonia solani, the causal agent of faba bean root rot. Isolated fungi were verified by ITS1and ITS4 primers. Their partial region was deposited in the GenBank (NCBI) under OL305707 and OL305708 accession numbers for A. solani and R. solani, respectively. In vitro treatments with PEO and PEO-NE showed a significant difference in the growth of both fungi under study when compared with their negative and positive controls. PEO highest effect was recorded at 3000 mg/L while PEO-NE was recorded at 1500mg/L without significant difference from the commercial fungicide (positive control). Pathogenicity test was confirmed by evaluating the antifungal activity by detached leaf assay on tomato and radical assay on faba bean for A. solani and R. solani, respectively. This study reflects the possibility of replacing harmful fungicides with natural products, such as PEO and its nanoemulsion, against A. solani and R. solani. Eco-friendly products, e.g., natural extracts, are a must now, to be used to decrease the negative impact towards general health and pollution from using commercial chemicals.

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