The plant Conyza canadensis, which belongs to Asteraceae (Compositae) family and known as Canadian horseweed. It was used as traditional medicine in China, Pakistan, India, and Africa for the treatment of various diseases causing by bacteria, fungi, or viruses. The plant has antimicrobial, antioxidant, anticoagulant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer pharmacological activity. This study provides the first phytochemical investigation of the plant in Iraq and is concerned with extraction, fractionation, isolation, and purification of some of the important phytochemicals detected in the plant-like phenolic acids, flavonoids, and alkaloids. Also, the literature survey has revealed that the plant has a substantial antimicrobial activity, so it was deemed desirable to make a study for the antimicrobial activity of the plant. The whole plant was collected from Baghdad city / College of Pharmacy/ University of Baghdad farm during July (2020). The aerial parts and roots were washed thoroughly, dried in shade, chopped, pulverized into a coarse powder, and then weighed. The shade-dried crushed plant materials were first defatted by maceration in hexane for 24 h. Then extracted by two extraction methods (hot method using soxhlet apparatus and cold method by maceration in solvent), using 85% aqueous ethanol as solvent extraction, and fractionated by petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol. The phytochemical screening of the ethanolic extract from both extraction methods revealed alkaloids, saponin glycosides, coumarins, flavonoids, steroids, phenolic compounds, proteins, anthraquinones, terpenoids, and cardiac glycosides. However, depending on the percentage yields, the hot method yield was better than the cold method, so the extraction method by soxhlet was preferred upon maceration as it gives a higher percentage yield. The petroleum ether, chloroform, and ethyl acetate fractions were analyzed by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for their steroids, alkaloids, and polyphenolic (phenolic acids and flavonoids) contents, respectively. The different chromatographic results revealed the presence of stigmasterol and β- sitosterol in petroleum ether fraction, harmine alkaloid in chloroform fraction, quercetin, quercitrin, apigenin, p-coumaric acid, and caffeic acid in ethyl acetate fraction of the Iraqi C. canadensis plant. Three polyphenolics compounds (p-coumaric acid, caffeic acid, apigenin) were isolated from ethyl acetate fraction by preparative thin-layer chromatography plates (PLC), and Harmine alkaloid was isolated from chloroform fraction by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using a fraction collector. The isolated compounds were subjected to various chromatographic and spectral analytical techniques for their identification, such as TLC, FTIR, HPLC, and high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC). Petroleum ether fraction was analyzed for the detection of coumarins by TLC. One compound was isolated, purified by PLC, symbolized as MS compound, and identified by FTIR and 1H -NMR since there is no standard available for this compound. The isolated MS compound could be pyranocoumarin glycoside. To investigate the essential oil composition of Iraqi C. canadensis, hydrodistillation of fresh aerial part of the plant was done using Clevenger-type apparatus for 3hr. The essential oils components and the hexane fraction obtained by maceration of the plant material in hexane solvent were identified using GC/MS analysis. The results of GC/MS analysis of the essential oil were abundant by hydrocarbon compounds, particularly by sesquiterpene hydrocarbon. This study also involves a preliminary determination of the antimicrobial activity of ethyl acetate fraction of the plant against two Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis), two Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli and Klebsiella sp.) and one fungi species (Candida albicans) by measuring the inhibition zone diameter around the hole in mm, compared with streptomycin and fluconazole standard drugs for antibacterial and antifungal activity, respectively. The antimicrobial results showed significant antibacterial activity against S.aureus (gram-positive bacteria) and important antifungal activity against Candida albicans. In contrast, no antibacterial activity was demonstrated against the tested gram-negative bacteria. Furthermore, the antibacterial activity exerted against S. epidermidis (gram-positive bacteria) was affected by dilution dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO).
In the current study, three types of algae namely Tetradesmus nygaardi (MZ801740), Scenedesmus quadricauda (MZ801741) and Coelastrella sp (MZ801742) were extracted by 95% ethanol and hexane against two types of gram positive and two types of gram negative bacteria by wells diffusion methods. Eleven concentrations from the extract of algae (2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50 mg/ml) were utilized. It was noticed that ethanolic extraction was more effective than hexane in Scenedesmus quadricauda than the two other mentioned algal species against all pathogenic bacteria, Acintobacter baumanii (ATCC: 19606), Klebsiella pneumonia (ATCC: 13883) Enterococcus faecalis (ATCC: 29212) and Staphylococc
... Show MoreIn folk medicine there are various medicinal amalgamation possessing hepatoprotective activity. This activity is of significance because several toxins cause liver injury. Hence, many pharmaceutical companies are targeting herbal medicines for the treatment of liver abnormalities and towards evolving a safe and effective formulation with desired route of administration. In current review we have focused on the studies showing hepatoprotective effect using marine compounds and plant derived compounds. Liver disorder, a global health problem, usually include acute or chronic hepatitis, heptoses, and cirrhosis. It may be due to toxic chemicals and certain antibiotics. Uncontrolled consumption of alcohol also affects liver in an unhealthy wa
... Show MoreThe study showed that there are (28) plant families present in Al-Razzaza Lake. The families are (Amaranthaceae, Amaryllidaceae, Aizoaceae, Apiaceae, Apocynaceae, Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Boraginaceae, Capparaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Cistaceae, Colchicaceae, Convolvulaceae, Cynomoriaceae, Fabaceae, Frankeniaceae, Lamiaceae, Liliaceae, Malvaceae, Orobanchaceae, Plantaginaceae, Poaceae, Polygonaceae, Ranunculaceae, Solanaceae, Tamaricaceae,Typhaceae, Zygophyllaceae). Asteraceae family is the largest number of species found in abundance in this lake, followed by the Fabaceae family.
Bacteriocin is an important antimicrobial peptide that can be used in industrial and medical fields due to its characteristics of antibacterial, food preservation and anticancer activities. Fifty isolates of Bacillus sp were collected from different soil samples which were already recognized via morphological and biochemical identification process. The isolates were screened for bacteriocin production effective against Staphylococcus spp in order to select the highest producing isolate. The isolate NK16 showed the maximum bacteriocin production (80 AU/ml) which was further characterized as Bacillus subtilis NK 16 through using API identification system (API 20E and API 50CHB). Then, next step was to detect the optimal conditions for maximum
... Show MoreABSTRACT
The study aimed to evaluate the information label of some local pickle products and estimate sodium benzoate therein. 85 samples of locally made pickles were collected from Baghdad city markets and randomly from five different areas in Baghdad it included (Al-Shula, Al-Bayaa, Al-Nahrawan, Al-Taji, and Abu Ghraib), which were divided into groups P1, P2, P3, P4 and P5, respectively, according to those areas, samples information label was scanned and compared with the Iraqi standard specification for the information card of packaged and canned food IQS 230, the results showed that 25.9% of the samples were devoid of the indication card informa
... Show MoreActive Learning And Creative Thinking
This study aims to evaluate the performance of the sewage treatment plant in Al-Diwaniya, one of cities in the southern part in Iraq. This evaluation could be used to facilitate effluent quality assessment or optimal process control of the plant. The influent reaching the plant is considered a medium to strong in strength with BOD5/COD ratio in the range 0.23 and 0.69 which can be considered an easily degradable sewage by the biological processes performed by the activated sludge unit. The quality of the effluent was found to be higher than the Iraqi standards for disposal to water bodies. The BOD5/COD ratios of the treated sewage varied over a wide range as low of 0.13 to 1.48 indicating operational problems in the plant. Regression ana
... Show MoreDiyala River is a tributary of Tigris River, it is one of the important rivers in Iraq. It covers a total distance of 445 km (275 miles). 32600 km2is the area that drains by Diyala River between Iraqi-Iranian borders. This research aims to evaluate the water quality index WQI of Diyala River, where three stations were chosen along the river. These stations are D12 at Jalawlaa City at the beginning of Diyala River, the second station is D15 at Baaquba City at the mid distance of the river, and the third station is D17 which is the last station before the confluence of Diyala River with Tigris River at Baghdad city. Bhargava method was used in order to evaluate the water quality index for both irrigation and drink
... Show More