Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Aqueous Extract of Cynodon dactylon

Hydroalcoholic Extract from Rhizomes of Cynodon dactylon Improve Hemodynamic and Electrocardiogram Parameters in Myocardial Infarction in Rats

Background: Cynodon dactylon is a herbal medicine of interest in Iranian traditional medicine, which is used in cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis and heart failure. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of total extract of C. dactylon rhizomes on myocardial infarction and on post myocardial infarction (MI) heart tissue injuries. Methods: Isoproterenol (100 mg/kg) was injected subcutaneously for two consecutive days for induction of MI in rats and C. dactylon extract was administered orally twice daily started before isoproterenol injection for 4 consecutive days. Results: Histopathological analysis showed a marked increase in myocardial necrosis in rats with MI (p<0.001). Treatment with C. dactylon (200 mg/kg) significantly (P<0.05) decreased myocardial necrosis. Hemodynamic variables were significantly suppressed in MI group and treatment with C. dactylon improved the hemodynamic parameters (P<0.05). Our electrocardiogram analysis demonstrated that C. dactylon with all doses increased R-Amplitude and R-R Interval (p<0.05, p<0.01) which were suppressed in MI group. Furthermore in treated groups with 100 and 200 mg/kg, P-R interval was also significantly increased in compared to MI group. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that C. dactylon can improve hemodynamic and electrocardiogram parameters in isoproterenol-induced myocardial infarction and thereby suggest that it can be used as a cardioprotective agent in myocardial infarction.

Ethnobotanical research of medicinal plants in Mihalgazi (Eskişehir, Turkey)

CONTEXT

Human beings have long utilized plants for medicinal purposes. Investigation of these plants has led to the discovery of several modern drugs.

OBJECTIVE

This paper documents and evaluates traditional knowledge on medicinal plants used by the local people of Mihalgazi district of Eskişehir, Turkey.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Six villages of the study area were visited between February 2014 and April 2015 to collect the data. One hundred and eighty-nine informants were interviewed by the survey method and face to face semi-structured interviews. Taxonomic identification, the most commonly used plant parts, preparation and administration methods were evaluated. Ethnomedicinal data were analyzed quantitatively with relative importance (RI) and the informant consensus factor (FIC).

RESULTS

This paper reported a total of 52 medicinal plants (37 wild, 15 cultivated) belonging to 34 families. Some uses of 22 plants were not found in the literature and are reported for the first time in this study. Furthermore, one of the plants, Calamagrostis arundinacea (L.) Roth (Poaceae), was reported for the first time as being used within the scope of traditional therapies.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

This study recorded traditional knowledge on medicinal plants used in Mihalgazi, Turkey. This paper provides a basis for further investigations to discover efficient pharmaceuticals.

Angiogenic effect of the aqueous extract of Cynodon dactylon on human umbilical vein endothelial cells and granulation tissue in rat

Background

Cynodon dactylon, a valuable medicinal plant, is widely used in Iranian folk medicine for the treatment of various cardiovascular diseases such as heart failure and atherosclerosis. Moreover, its anti-diabetic, anti-cancer and anti-microbial properties have been also reported. Concerning the critical role of angiogenesis in the incidence and progression of tumors and also its protective role in cardiovascular diseases, we investigated the effects of the aqueous extract prepared from the rhizomes of C. dactylon on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expressions in Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVECs) and also on angiogenesis in carrageenan induced air-pouch model in rats.

Methods

In the air-pouch model, carrageenan was injected into an air-pouch on the back of the rats and following an IV injection of carmine red dye on day 6, granulation tissue was processed for the assessment of the dye content. Furthermore, in an in vitro study, angiogenic property of the extract was assessed through its effect on VEGF expression in HUVECs.

Results

Oral administration of 400 mg/kg/day of the extract significantly increased angiogenesis (p < 0.05) and markedly decreased neutrophil (p < 0.05) and total leukocyte infiltration (p < 0.001) into the granulation tissues. Moreover, the extract increased the expression of total VEGF in HUVECs at a concentration of (100 μl/ml).

Conclusion

The present study showed that the aqueous extract of C. dactylon promotes angiogenesis probably through stimulating VEGF expression.

Medicinal plants used by the Tamang community in the Makawanpur district of central Nepal

BACKGROUND

We can conserve cultural heritage and gain extensive knowledge of plant species with pharmacological potential to cure simple to life-threatening diseases by studying the use of plants in indigenous communities. Therefore, it is important to conduct ethnobotanical studies in indigenous communities and to validate the reported uses of plants by comparing ethnobotanical studies with phytochemical and pharmacological studies.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study was conducted in a Tamang community dwelling in the Makawanpur district of central Nepal. We used semi-structured and structured questionnaires during interviews to collect information. We compared use reports with available phytochemical and pharmacological studies for validation.

RESULTS

A total of 161 plant species belonging to 86 families and 144 genera to cure 89 human ailments were documented. Although 68 plant species were cited as medicinal in previous studies, 55 different uses described by the Tamang people were not found in any of the compared studies. Traditional uses for 60 plant species were consistent with pharmacological and phytochemical studies.

CONCLUSIONS

The Tamang people in Makawanpur are rich in ethnopharmacological understanding. The present study highlights important medicinal plant species by validating their traditional uses. Different plant species can improve local economies through proper harvesting, adequate management and development of modern techniques to maximize their use.

BP-ANN for fitting the temperature-germination model and its application in predicting sowing time and region for Bermudagrass

Temperature is one of the most significant environmental factors that affects germination of grass seeds. Reliable prediction of the optimal temperature for seed germination is crucial for determining the suitable regions and favorable sowing timing for turf grass cultivation. In this study, a back-propagation-artificial-neural-network-aided dual quintic equation (BP-ANN-QE) model was developed to improve the prediction of the optimal temperature for seed germination. This BP-ANN-QE model was used to determine optimal sowing times and suitable regions for three Cynodon dactylon cultivars (C. dactylon, 'Savannah' and 'Princess VII'). Prediction of the optimal temperature for these seeds was based on comprehensive germination tests using 36 day/night (high/low) temperature regimes (both ranging from 5/5 to 40/40°C with 5°C increments). Seed germination data from these temperature regimes were used to construct temperature-germination correlation models for estimating germination percentage with confidence intervals. Our tests revealed that the optimal high/low temperature regimes required for all the three bermudagrass cultivars are 30/5, 30/10, 35/5, 35/10, 35/15, 35/20, 40/15 and 40/20°C; constant temperatures ranging from 5 to 40°C inhibited the germination of all three cultivars. While comparing different simulating methods, including DQEM, Bisquare ANN-QE, and BP-ANN-QE in establishing temperature based germination percentage rules, we found that the R(2) values of germination prediction function could be significantly improved from about 0.6940-0.8177 (DQEM approach) to 0.9439-0.9813 (BP-ANN-QE). These results indicated that our BP-ANN-QE model has better performance than the rests of the compared models. Furthermore, data of the national temperature grids generated from monthly-average temperature for 25 years were fit into these functions and we were able to map the germination percentage of these C. dactylon cultivars in the national scale of China, and suggested the optimum sowing regions and times for them.