The leaves of globe artichoke, Cynara scolymus Family Asteraceae/ compositea have long – used in traditional medicine and now included in British and European Pharmacopeia, the British Harbal Pharmacopeia and complete German Commission E monographs.The plant originally comes from Mediterranean region and North Africa and cultivated around the world. The flowers are used worldwide for nutrition purposes and the leaves for medical purposes including hepatic affections. The plant wildly distributed in Iraq in the watery lines and boundary of the field.The plant contains many phytochemicals such as the bitter phenolic acids whose choleretic and hypocholestremic as these compounds are antioxidant. Other materials to h

Background: Cataract is a major cause of visual impairment and blindness around the world. This study evaluated the in vitro antioxidant and anti-cataract activities of Cnidoscolus aconitifolius leaves extract and fractions. Antioxidant activities were evaluated by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2-azinobis (3-ethylbenzothiozoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS), total reducing power, and hydrogen peroxide scavenging assays. Anti-cataract potential was evaluated in vitro using goat lenses divided into eight groups of different treatments and incubated in artificial aqueous humor at 37 °C for 72 hours. Glucose-induced opacity in the lenses was observed and biochemical indices quantified (cata

Spinach, Spinacia oleracea L is a popular vegetable belonging to the family Chenopodiaceae. This study was concerned with extraction of compounds in Iraqi spinach leaves, preliminary phytochemical evaluation, identification of two biological important flavonols, quercetin and kaempferol in spinach leaves and evaluation of the protective effect of aqueous spinach extract on methotrexate (MTX) induced hepatotoxicity in rats. The percentage yield of extraction procedure, identification of spinach by chemical tests and identification of flavonols by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were fully described in this study. The results indicate that the percentage of quarce

Fourteen morphologically varied Ricinus communis L. seeds were collected from different localities in Egypt, El-Sudan and Saudi Arabia. Seed morphology and ITS barcoding analysis were performed to assess their diversity and phylogenetic relationship. Sequence’s alignment of nrITS region from different accessions display high levels of genetic similarities. Cluster analysis could not group different accessions according to their geographical distribution. Nevertheless, the genetic barcodes are interestingly matched with the morphological features of the Ricinus seeds. In conclusion, seed morphology proved to be a valuable tool in evaluating biodiversity and phylogenetic relationship in plant species with different loca

This study investigated the role of sunflower (Helianthus annuns L.) seed extracts as a cytotoxic agent against two cell lines (RD and L20B) using different concentrations of sunflower seeds oil 1.3 , 2.6 , 5.2, 10.4 , 20.8, 41.6 , 83.2 and 166.4 μg / ml for different exposure time (24 ,48 and 72 hrs). The results revealed a clear cytotxoic activity of sunflower seeds oil on growth of RD cancer cell line, and the effect was concentration-dependent.
The signification inhibition (P<0.05) was obtained at a concentration of 83.5 and 166.4 μg / ml as compared to control. In addition, the growth of RD cell line was more sensitive to sunflower seeds oil in comparison with the growth of L20B transform cell line. In conclusion, the extrac

The  study  was  aims  to  evaluate  the  antimicrobial  acttvtty  of petroleum  ether extracts from  leaves , seeds and root of Zygophyllum fabago   , against   several   microorganisms  including   gram   negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa  & Escherichia coli), gram positive bacteria  (Staphylluwccus aureus  & Bacillus  subtilis),  in addition  to yeast (Candida  albicans).

While the results of sensitivity of the microorganisms to words petroleum  ether extracts  showed different activity , petrolewn  ether extract of seeds showed  more antimicrobial

Bacopa monnieri L. (Scrophulariaceae), synoname is Herpestis monniera that provides bioactive compounds, especially triterpenoid saponins (Bacosides) which exhibits an important biological activities, like hypothyroidism, anticonvulsant, memory enhancing and antistress. Because there are no researches about B. monnieri L. plant that grow in Iraq, and there active compounds especially triterpenoid saponin (TS), and there effects. This study was detected the presence of (TS) in, and examined the cytotoxic and the antioxidant activity of these compounds in vitro. The study was included the extraction and identification of TS from the whole parts of B. monnieri L. by using three methods, and the best yield was analyzed by High Performance Liqui