Antibacterial,Antifungal, Antiviral,and Antiparasitic Activities of Peganum harmala and Its Ingredients: A Review

Infectious diseases have always been the number one enemy threatening health and well-being. With increasing numbers of infectious diseases, growing resistance of pathogens, and declining roles of antibiotics in the treatment of infectious diseases, it is becoming increasingly difficult to treat new infectious diseases, and there is an urgent need to develop new antibiotics to change the situation. Natural products tend to exhibit many special biological properties. The genus Peganum (Zygophyllaceae) has been used, for a long time, to treat cough, asthma, lumbago, hypertension, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease. Over the past two decades, a growing number of studies have shown that components from Peganum harmala Linn and its derivatives can inhibit a variety of microorganisms by inducing the accumulation of ROS in microorganisms, damaging cell membranes, thickening cell walls, disturbing cytoplasm, and interfering with DNA synthesis. In this paper, we provide a review on the antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and antiparasitic activities of P. harmala, with a view to contribute to research on utilizing P. harmala for medicinal applicaitons and to provide a reference in the field of antimicrobial and a basis for the development of natural antimicrobial agents for the treatment of infectious diseases.     

Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Peganum harmala Extracts: An In Vitro and In Vivo Study

Peganum harmala (P. harmala) belongs to the family Zygophyllaceae, and is utilized in the traditional medicinal systems of Pakistan, China, Morocco, Algeria, and Spain to treat several chronic health disorders. The aim of the present study was to identify the chemical constituents and to evaluate the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and toxicity effects of P. harmala extracts both in vitro and in vivo. Sequential crude extracts including 100% dichloromethane, 100% methanol, and 70% aqueous methanol were obtained and their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects evaluated both in vitro and in vivo. The anti-inflammatory effect of the extract was investigated using the carrageenan-induced paw edema method in mice, whereas the toxicity of the most active extract was evaluated using an acute and subacute toxicity rat model. In addition, we have used the bioassay-guided approach to obtain potent fractions, using solvent–solvent partitioning and reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography from active crude extracts; identification and quantification of compounds from the active fractions was achieved using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and high performance liquid chromatography techniques. Results revealed that the 100% methanol extract of P. harmala exhibits significant in vitro antioxidant activity in DPPH assay with an IC₅₀ of 49 µg/mL as compared to the standard quercetin with an IC₅₀ of 25.4 µg/mL. The same extract exhibited 63.0% inhibition against serum albumin denaturation as compared to 97% inhibition by the standard diclofenac sodium in an in vitro anti-inflammatory assay, and in vivo anti-inflammatory against carrageenan-induced paw edema (75.14% inhibition) as compared to 86.1% inhibition caused by the standard indomethacin. Furthermore, this extract was not toxic during a 14 day trial of acute toxicity when given at a dose of 3 g/kg, indicating that the lethal dose (LD₅₀) of P. harmala methanol extract was greater than 3 g/kg. P. harmala methanolic fraction 2 obtained using bioassay-guided fractionation showed the presence of quinic acid, peganine, harmol, harmaline, and harmine, confirmed by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and quantified using external standards on high performance liquid chromatography. Taken all together, the current investigation further confirms the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and safety aspects of P. harmala, which justifies its use in folk medicine.     

Separation and purification of harmine and harmaline from Peganum harmala using pH-zone-refining counter-current chromatography

pH-zone-refining counter-current chromatography was successfully applied to the separation of alkaloids from a crude extract of Peganum harmala L. using a multilayer coil planet centrifuge. The experiment was performed with a two-phase solvent system composed of methyl tert-butyl ether/THF/water (2:2:3 by volume) where triethylamine (10 mM) was added to the upper organic stationary phase as a retainer and hydrochloric acid (5 mM) to the aqueous mobile phase as an eluter. From 1.2 g of the crude extract, 554 mg harmine and 325 mg harmaline were obtained each with a purity of over 96% as determined by HPLC. The structures of the isolated compounds were identified by electron ionization MS (EI-MS), (1)H NMR, and (13)C NMR.     

Chemical fingerprint and simultaneous determination of alkaloids and flavonoids in aerial parts of genus Peganum indigenous to China based on HPLC‐UV: application of analysis on secondary metabolites accumulation

The aerial parts of genus Peganum are officially used in traditional Chinese medicine. The paper aims to establish a high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for fingerprint analysis and simultaneous determination of three alkaloids and two flavonoids in aerial parts of genus Peganum, and to analyze accumulative difference of secondary metabolites in inter‐species, individuals of plants, inter‐/intra‐population and from different growing seasons. HPLC analysis was performed on a C₁₈ column with gradient elution using 0.1% trifloroacetic acid and acetonitrile as mobile phase and detected at 265 nm, by conventional methodology validation. For fingerprint analysis, the RSDs of relative retention time and relative peak area of the characteristic peaks were within 0.07–0.78 and 0.94–9.09%, respectively. For simultaneous determination of vasicine, harmaline, harmine, deacetylpeganetin and peganetin, all calibration curves showed good linearity (r > 0.9990) within the test range. The relative standard deviations of precision, repeatability and stability test did not exceed 2.37, 2.68 and 2.67%, respectively. The average recoveries for the five analytes were between 96.47 and 101.20%. HPLC fingerprints play a minor role in authenticating and differentiating the herbs of different species of genus Peganum. However, the secondary metabolites levels of alkaloids and flavonoids in aerial parts of genus Peganum rely on species‐, habitat‐, and growth season‐dependent accumulation. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

形态分布计算软件的设计及在大学化学教学中的应用

介绍了一种简单的配位平衡体系形态分布计算程序的设计方法,给出了程序中拟牛顿法解方程组的算法,并以铁（Ⅲ）-草酸盐配合物体系作为实际例子,给出了该程序计算所得的铁（Ⅲ）-草酸盐主要配离子形态的分布系数曲线。该软件设计有利于学习“大学化学”课程中复杂的配位平衡计算原理与方法,也为涉及到配合物平衡体系的化学研究提供帮助。     

聚合氯化铝形态分布、分析和控制研究进展

Al^3 发生水解和聚合反应,形成多种形态。关于其形态分布与结构,目前存在两种观点,即六元环连续分布模式和聚十三铝模式。形态分析的方法,主要有NMR法、吸光光度法等。影响形态分布的因素,主要有反应物浓度、碱化度、碱液加入速度、加碱方式、混合状况等。     

High-performance thin-layer chromatography densitometric method for the quantification of harmine, harmaline, vasicine, and vasicinone in Peganum harmala

Peganum harmala Linn. seed is a reputed drug of the Indian systems of medicine. We report a simple high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) densitometric method for the quantification of 4 alkaloids, viz., harmine, harmaline, vasicine, and vasicinone from P. harmala seed. The 4 compounds were resolved in ethyl acetate-methanol-ammonia (7 + 1 + 0.3, v/v/v) mobile phase. The method was validated for precision, repeatability, and accuracy. Instrumental precision was 0.27, 1.53, 0.39, and 1.15% [relative standard deviation (RSD)] and repeatability of the method was 1.01, 0.79, 0.13, and 1.62% RSD for harmine, harmaline, vasicine, and vasicinone, respectively. Accuracy of the method was checked by a recovery study conducted at 3 different levels, and the average recovery was 97.88% for harmine, 97.69% for harmaline, 98.38% for vasicine, and 98.28% for vasicinone. The 4 compounds were quantified in P. harmala seed using the method, and it was found to contain 0.44, 0.096, 0.25, and 0.0007% (w/w) of each, respectively. The proposed HPTLC densitometric method for the quantification of the 4 compounds was found to be simple, precise, specific, sensitive, and accurate. It can be used for routine quality control of P. harmala seed and has the ability to quantify the 4 marker compounds in the formulations containing P. harmala. It also can be used to quantify any of these marker compounds in other herbal drugs.     

The Study on the Stability Constant and Species Distribution of Eu (III) and Tb (III) Complexes with BDBPH

Biomimetic hydrolysis of DNA or RNA is of increasing importance in biotechnology and medicine. The ability to cleave nucleic acids efficiently, in a non-degradative manner, and with high levels of selectivity for site or structure will be required by many applications for the manipulation of genes, the design of structural probes and the development of novel therapeutics1. There has been much interest in the development of lanthanide complexes as nucleic acid cleavage agents. It has been fou…     

Distribution of Arsenic Species in Different Leaf Fractions – An Evaluation of the Biochemical Deposition of Arsenic in Plant Cells

This paper describes an approach to the determination of arsenic species bonding with proteins or low-molecular peptides by separation of leaf proteins and protein precursors into three fractions and analysis of arsenic species associated to these fractions. Plants irrigated with arsenite contained not only arsenite but also arsenate and dimethylarsinate. In plants treated with arsenate, the major component was arsenite in the water-soluble fraction containing soluble protein and non-protein (F II) and in the acid-soluble non-protein fraction (F IV). Concentrations of 43 mg kg⁻¹ (As(V)-treatment) and 18 mg kg⁻¹ (As(III)-treatment) could be analyzed in the water-insoluble structure protein fraction F I (56 ± 15% of the total mass). Based on the concentration of arsenic species in all fractions, conclusions are drawn over the fixation of arsenic in the fraction of insoluble structure proteins, in the fraction of soluble cytosolic proteins as well as the fraction of amino acids.     

用从头算法研究高氯酸钠溶液中存在的离子缔合物种及缔合过程

采用量子化学计算方法在HF/6-31+G*水平下对高氯酸钠溶液中可能存在的离子缔合物种及浓度升高时溶液中发生的离子缔合过程进行了研究. 高氯酸根与水合钠离子可形成溶剂共享离子对、接触离子对、三离子及多离子团簇等离子缔合物种, 当体系中水比较充足时, 钠离子可以保持较规整的六配位八面体构型, 而当水分子比较少时, 则生成不规则的五配位构型. 以上水合离子缔合物种中的ν₁-ClO₄^-频率与水合硝酸根中的参比值相比, 分别发生4.7, 8.5及14~17 cm^-1的蓝移, 除以影响因子后, 其与实验结果符合得很好. 通过将计算结果与实验结果进行对比, 高氯酸钠溶液在浓度升高时发生离子缔合的过程可简略表示为“自由水合离子→溶剂共享型离子对→单齿接触离子对→阳-阴-阳型三离子团簇→链状多离子团簇→网状多离子团簇→无定形晶体”. 这个过程与硫酸镁相似, 而与硝酸镁、高氯酸镁和硝酸钠不同.