Common onion (
L.) is one of the oldest cultivated plants, utilized worldwide as both vegetable and flavouring. This species is known to contain sulphur amino acids together with many vitamins and ...minerals. A variety of secondary metabolites, including flavonoids, phytosterols and saponins, have also been identified. Despite the predominant use of this plant as food, a wide range of beneficial effects have also been proved. Different biological properties, such as antioxidant, antimicrobial and antidiabetic, have been reported. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the studies concerning the beneficial effects of this species against obesity and its related comorbidities, such as hyperlipidaemia, hypertension and diabetes. Both in vitro and in vivo results about onion dietary supplementation have been taken into account. Furthermore, this review examines the possible role of onion bioactive components in modulating or preventing weight-gain or related diseases, as well as the possible mechanisms behind their activity.
Obesity is one of the greatest public health problems. This complex condition has reached epidemic proportions in many parts of the world, and it constitutes a risk factor for several chronic ...disorders, such as hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes. In the last few decades, several studies dealt with the potential effects of natural products as new safe and effective tools for body weight control. Saponins are naturally-occurring surface-active glycosides, mainly produced by plants, whose structure consists of a sugar moiety linked to a hydrophobic aglycone (a steroid or a triterpene). Many pharmacological properties have been reported for these compounds, such as anti-inflammatory, immunostimulant, hypocholesterolemic, hypoglycemic, antifungal and cytotoxic activities. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of recent studies about the anti-obesity therapeutic potential of saponins isolated from medicinal plants. Results on the in vitro and in vivo activity of this class of phytochemicals are here presented and discussed. The most interesting findings about their possible mechanism of action and their potential health benefits in the treatment of obesity are reported, as well.
Wild foods constitute an essential component of people's diets around the world. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), over 100 million people in the EU consume wild foods, while ...65 million collect some form of wild food themselves. The Mediterranean basin is a biodiversity hotspot of wild edible species. Nowadays, due to the renewed interest in alimurgic plants and the recent findings on the beneficial role of their phytochemical constituents, these species have been defined as "new functional foods". Research on natural products has recently regained importance with the growing understanding of their biological significance. Botanical food supplements marketed for weight and fat loss in obese subjects will be one of the most important items in marketed nutraceuticals. The aim of this report was to review the phytochemical compounds of Mediterranean wild edible species and their therapeutic potential against obesity and its related disorders. Results on the in vitro and in vivo activity of the most interesting plant extracts and their bioactive components are presented and discussed. The most interesting discoveries on their mechanisms of action are reported as well. Overall, this contribution highlights the importance and beneficial health roles of wild edible species.
Plants from the genus Hypericum, one genus of the Hypericaceae family, have attracted a lot of attention for their potential pharmaceutical applications. Most of the studies in the literature focus ...on H. perforatum L. (common St. John's wort), whose complex spectrum of bioactive compounds makes this species one of the top herbal remedies and supplements in the world. It is also important to compare the studies on other Hypericum species, both from the phytochemical and biological point of view. The aim of this review was to provide an update of most recent studies about biological investigations of plants belonging to Hypericum genus. The metabolic profiles of Hypericum spp. were also discussed in order to present a spectrum of secondary metabolites not previously identified in this genus.
The genus Hypericum includes more than 450 species distributed in Europe, North America, North Africa and West Asia. These plants are widely used in folk medicine for the treatment of inflammation, ...bacterial and viral infections, burns and gastric disorders. The use for alleviating inflammation and promoting wound healing is well known for H. Perforatum L. (St. John's wort) and other species. Because of its pharmacological activity, H. perforatum L. is one of the most important species of this genus. This plant has been largely utilized for its efficacy in the treatment of mild to moderate depression. However, some other species have been utilized in traditional medicine and have been studied for their phytochemical composition and for their biological activities to date. Hypericum species contain biologically active secondary metabolites belonging to at least ten different classes, with prevalence of naphthodianthrones (hypericin and pseudohypericin), phloroglucinols (hyperforin), flavonoids (rutin, hyperoside, isoquercitrin, quercitrin, quercetin, amentoflavone) and phenylpropanoids (chlorogenic acid). However, great variations in contents have been reported for wild populations worldwide. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of most recent studies about potential pharmaceutical applications of plants belonging to Hypericum genus. The most interesting isolated active principles and both in vitro and in vivo effects of Hypericum extracts are presented and discussed.
The chemical composition and antioxidant activities of wild and cultivated Laurus nobilis leaves and Foeniculum vulgare subsp. piperitum seeds were determined. Differences were found in the total ...phenolic content of fennel. GC-MS analysis of the non polar fractions showed a different composition between wild and cultivated plants. Cultivated laurel had a high content of terpenes such as linool, α-terpinol, α-terpinyl acetate, thymol, caryophyllene, aromandrene, selinene, farnesene, and cadinene, while wild laurel had a high content of eugenol and methyl eugenol, vitamin E, and sterols. The antioxidant potential of the extracts was determined using three complementary methods. Wild plants showed greater radical scavenging activity than the cultivated plants. The extracts also exhibited a significant antioxidant capacity also in the β-carotene–linoleic acid test system. A high level of antioxidant activity was observed in wild laurel (IC50=1 μg/ml). Significant antioxidant activity measured in bovine brain was observed in wild laurel.
Pancreatic lipase, a key enzyme for lipid absorption, is one of the most important targets for the treatment of obesity, while natural compounds have recently attracted much interest as potential ...inhibitors of this enzyme. Here, in an attempt to find new effective agents, the methanolic extract from
(L.) DC. and its sub-extracts were investigated for their potential inhibitory activity. The ability to inhibit pancreatic lipase was verified through the in vitro evaluation of the prevention of
-nitrophenyl caprylate hydrolysis. The antioxidant activity was also verified by means of DPPH and β-carotene bleaching tests. Compositional profiling revealed that flavonoid glycosides were the main specialized metabolites present in the methanolic extract from the aerial parts of the plant with kaempferol and quercetin representing the two
-glycosylated aglycones. Kaempferol-3-
-β-(2″-
-glucosyl)-rutinoside and kaempferol-3-
-
arabinosyl-7-
-rhamnoside were the most abundant flavonols. The crude methanolic extract and the dichloromethane and ethyl acetate sub-extracts showed a strong lipase inhibitory activity, with IC
values of 2.06 ± 0.02, 1.52 ± 0.02 and 1.31 ± 0.02 mg/mL, respectively. The best capacity to scavenge DPPH radical was detected for the ethyl acetate sub-extract (IC
= 171.9 ± 1.0 µg/mL), which was also effective in protecting linoleic acid from peroxidation (IC
= 35.69 ± 2.30 µg/mL). Obtained results support the hypothesis that
can be a source of bioactive phytochemicals for the pharmacological inhibition of dietary lipids absorption.
The essential oils of four
Teucrium species were studied and 150 components, in all, were identified. All oils were rich in sesquiterpenes (50.1–55.8%). Spathulenol and δ-cadinene were the main ...compounds of
Teucrium brevifolium oil; caryophyllene and 4-vinyl guaiacol predominated in
Teucrium flavum. Carvacrol and caryophyllene oxide predominated in
Teucrium montbretii ssp.
heliotropiifolium, while carvacrol and caryophyllene were the most abundant components in
Teucrium polium ssp.
capitatum. The oil which most effectively inhibited LPS-induced NO production in macrophage cell line RAW 264.7 was that from
T. brevifolium (IC
50
=
7.1
μg/ml), followed by
T. montbretii ssp.
heliotropiifolium and
T. polium ssp.
capitatum (IC
50
=
16.5 and 29.4
μg/ml, respectively). The
in vitro cytotoxic assay on three human cancer cell lines showed that the most antiproliferative oils were those from
T. polium ssp.
capitatum and
T. montbretii ssp.
heliotropiifolium on CACO-2 cell lines (IC
50
=
52.7 and 92.2
μg/ml, respectively). The
T. brevifolium oil showed a selective cytotoxicity on COR-L23 while significant activity was exerted by
T. polium oil on C32.
Ornamental plants often gain relevance not only for their decorative use, but also as a source of phytochemicals with interesting healing properties. Herein, spontaneous
(L.) DC. and
L., mainly used ...as ornamental species but also traditionally consumed and used in popular medicine, were investigated. The aerial parts were extracted with methanol trough maceration, and resultant crude extracts were partitioned using solvents with increasing polarity. As previous studies mostly dealt with the phenolic content of these species, the phytochemical investigation mainly focused on nonpolar constituents, detected with GC-MS. The total phenolic and flavonoid content was also verified, and HPTLC analyses were performed. In order to explore the potential antiarthritic and anti-obesity properties, extracts and their fractions were evaluated for their anti-denaturation effects, with the use of the BSA assay, and for their ability to inhibit pancreatic lipase. The antioxidant properties and the inhibitory activity on the NO production were verified, as well. Almost all the extracts and fractions demonstrated good inhibitory effects on NO production. The
-hexane and dichloromethane fractions from
, as well as the
-hexane fraction from
, were effective in protecting the protein from heat-induced denaturation (IC
= 154.0 ± 1.9, 270.8 ± 2.3 and 450.1 ± 15.5 μg/mL, respectively). The dichloromethane fractions from both raw extracts were also effective in inhibiting pancreatic lipase, with IC
values equal to 2.23 ± 0.02 mg/mL (for
sample), and 2.05 ± 0.02 mg/mL (
. Obtained results support the traditional use of these species for their beneficial health properties and suggest that investigated plant species could be potential sources of novel antiarthritic and anti-obesity agents.
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