Pharmacological Potential and Chemical Composition of Crocus sativus Leaf Extracts

Crocus sativus L. (saffron) has been traditionally used as a food coloring or flavoring agent, but recent research has shown its potent pharmacological activity to tackle several health-related conditions. Crocus sp. leaves, and petals are the by-products of saffron production and are not usually used in the medicine or food industries. The present study was designed to determine the chemical composition of the water and ethanolic extracts of C. sativus leaves and test their cytotoxic activity against melanoma (IGR39) and triple-negative breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) cell lines by MTT assay. We also determined their anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-viral activities. HPLC fingerprint analysis showed the presence of 16 compounds, including hydroxycinnamic acids, xanthones, flavonoids, and isoflavonoids, which could contribute to the extracts’ biological activities. For the first time, compounds such as tectoridin, iristectorigenin B, nigricin, and irigenin were identified in Crocus leaf extracts. The results showed that mangiferin (up to 2 mg/g dry weight) and isoorientin (8.5 mg/g dry weight) were the major active ingredients in the leaf extracts. The ethanolic extract reduced the viability of IGR39 and MDA-MB-231 cancer cells with EC₅₀ = 410 ± 100 and 330 ± 40 µg/mL, respectively. It was more active than the aqueous extract. Kaempferol and quercetin were identified as the most active compounds. Our results showed that Crocus leaves contain secondary metabolites with potent cytotoxic and antioxidant activities.     

Effective Isolation of Picrocrocin and Crocins from Saffron: From HPTLC to Working Standard Obtaining

Saffron is widely cultivated and used as a spice. Recently published data on the chemical composition and pharmacological potential of saffron determine its use in pharmacy and medicine. The proposed high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) method allows good separation of 11 analytes. The saffron quality (Iran, Ukraine, Spain, Morocco samples) assessment was based on the European Pharmacopoeia monograph and ISO 3632. The HPTLC method for the safranal, crocin, and picrocrocin quantification was proposed and validated. The crocins content in Ukrainian saffron was from 17.80% to 33.25%. Based on qualitative and quantitative assessment results, the saffron sample from Zaporizhzhia (Ukraine) had the highest compounds content and was chosen to obtain the working standards of picrocrocin and crocins (trans-4GG, trans-2G, trans-3Gg) by preparative chromatography. The compounds were isolated from lyophilized extract of saffron using a Symmetry Prep C₁₈ column (300 × 19 mm × 7 µm), and identified by spectroscopic techniques (HPLC-DAD, UPLC-ESI-MS/MS). The purity of crocins and picrocrocin was more than 97%. A novel method proposed to obtain working standards is simple and reproducible for the routine analysis of saffron quality control.     

Estimation of the memory parameter by fitting fractionally differenced autoregressive models

Estimation of the memory parameter, d, by fitting a fractionally differenced autoregression of order p, where p approaches infinity simultaneously with the observed series length, n, is examined. Under some conditions on growth of p with respect to n and on the short-memory component, which admits an infinite autoregressive representation with coefficients a_j, the estimator is shown to be consistent and asymptotically normal, where p may be taken to be proportional to logn. The joint asymptotic distribution of the estimators of d and of the a_j is also derived.     

On the Power of R/S-Type Tests under Contiguous and Semi-Long Memory Alternatives

The paper deals with the power and robustness of the R/S type tests under contiguous alternatives. We briefly review some long memory models in levels and volatility, and describe the R/S-type tests used to test for the presence of long memory. The empirical power of the tests is investigated when replacing the fractional difference operator (1–L) ^d by the operator (1–rL) ^d , with r<1 close to 1, in the FARIMA, LARCH and ARCH time series models. We also investigate the Gegenbauer process with a pole of the spectral density at frequency close to zero.     

Central limit theorem for polynomial forms. I

Institute of Mathematics and Cybernetics, Academy of Sciences of the Lithuanian SSR. Translated from Litovskii Matematicheskii Sbornik (Lietuvos Matematikos Rinkinys), Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 266–289, April–June, 1989.     

CLT and other limit theorems for functionals of Gaussian processes

Summary Conditions for the CLT for non-linear functionals of stationary Gaussian sequences are discussed, with special references to the borderline between the CLT and the non-CLT. Examples of the non-CLT for such functionals with the norming factor are given.     

Functional Non-Central and Central Limit Theorems for Bivariate Appell Polynomials

We consider quadratic forms in bivariate Appell polynomials involving strongly dependent time series. Both the spectral density of these time series and the Fourier transform of the kernel of the quadratic forms are regularly varying at the origin and hence may diverge, for example, like a power function. We obtain functional limit theorems for these quadratic forms by extending the recent results on the convergence of their finite-dimensional distributions. Some of these are functional central limit theorems where the limiting process is Brownian motion. Others are functional non-central limit theorems where the limiting processes are typically not Gaussian or, if they are Gaussian, then they are not Brownian motion.     

Effect of the Amount of Polysorbate 80 and Oregano Essential Oil on the Emulsion Stability and Characterization Properties of Sodium Alginate Microcapsules

Essential oils have a high volatility that leads to evaporation and loss of their pharmacological effect when exposed to the environment. The objectives of the present work were to prepare microcapsules with oregano essential oil by extrusion using sodium alginate as a shell material and non-ionic surfactant polysorbate 80 as an emulsifier to stabilize the emulsion. The present study was aimed to evaluate the physical parameters of microcapsules and to compare the influence of the amount of emulsifier and the essential oil-to-emulsifier ratio on the capsules’ physical parameters and encapsulation efficiency; to our knowledge, the existing research had not yet revealed whether unstable emulsion affects the encapsulation efficiency of oregano essential oil. This study showed that increasing the emulsifier amount in the formulation significantly influenced encapsulation efficiency and particle size. Moreover, increasing the emulsion stability positively influenced the encapsulation efficiency. The emulsion creaming index depended on the emulsifier amount in the formulation: the highest creaming index (%) was obtained with the highest amount of polysorbate 80. However, the essential oil-to-polysorbate 80 ratio and essential oil amount did not affect the hardness of the microcapsules (p > 0.05). In conclusion, the obtained results could be promising information for production of microcapsules. Despite the fact that microencapsulation of essential oils is a promising and extremely attractive application area for the pharmaceutical industry, further basic research needs to be carried out.