Pollen micro-morphological features have proven to be helpful for the plant taxonomists in the identification and classification of plants. The utilization of this plantmayhelpfulin the areas of lignocellulosic conversion to biofuels and diversify application toward biomass. The current study was planned with the aim to evaluate the pollen features of complex Ranunculaceous flora of District Chitral, Northern Pakistan using both scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Light Microscope (LM) for their taxonomic importance. Pollens of 18 Ranunculaceous species belonging to 6 genera were collected from different localities of the research area. SEM and LM were used to examine both qualitative and quantitative micro-morphological features. Sculptring of the sexine include; Scabrate, psilate, echinate, verrucate, perforate gemmate, and reticulate and so forth. Shape of the pollens was sub-spheroidal, spheroidal, prolate, subprolate and oblate and so forth. Type of pollen was ranged from mono to tricolpate and tricolporate. Quantitative characters include length/width of the pollen, colpus, exine thickness, and P/E ratio. Based on these micro-morphological features a taxonomic key was prepared for the fast and correct identification. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT: Study of the pollen micro-morphological features of Ranunculaceous species by SEM and LM. Analysing both qualitative and quantitative characters of the pollens. Preparation of taxonomic key based on micro-morphological features for the correct and fast identification.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in both the developed and developing world. Rhizoma coptidis (RC), known as Huang Lian in China, is the dried rhizome of medicinal plants from the family Ranunculaceae, such as Coptis chinensis Franch, C. deltoidea C.Y. Cheng et Hsiao, and C. teeta Wall which has been used by Chinese medicinal physicians for more than 2000 years. In China, RC is a common component in traditional medicines used to treat CVD associated problems including obesity, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia and disorders of lipid metabolism. In recent years, numerous scientific studies have sought to investigate the biological properties of RC to provide scientific evidence for its traditional medical uses. RC has been found to exert significant beneficial effects on major risk factors for CVDs including anti-atherosclerotic effect, lipid-lowering effect, anti-obesity effect and anti-hepatic steatosis effect. It also has myocardioprotective effect as it provides protection from myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. These properties have been attributed to the presence of bioactive compounds contained in RC such as berberine, coptisine, palmatine, epiberberine, jatrorrhizine, and magnoflorine; all of which have been demonstrated to have cardioprotective effects on the various parameters contributing to the occurrence of CVD through a variety of pathways. The evidence available in the published literature indicates that RC is a herb with tremendous potential to reduce the risks of CVDs, and this review aims to summarize the cardioprotective properties of RC with reference to the published literature which overall indicates that RC is a herb with remarkable potential to reduce the risks and damage caused by CVDs.
The antioxidant activities of crude extract fractions using Hexane, Chloroform, Ethyl Acetate, Butanol and Water of Clematis orientalis and Clematis ispahanica were investigated. 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) assay and the ferric reducing/antioxidant potential (FRAP) were used to evaluate the antioxidant capacity. The total phenolics were found to be 4.37-9.38 and 1.32-11.37 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g in different fractions for C. orientalis and C. ispahanica, respectively. The ethyl acetate fraction of C. orientalis and chloroform fraction of C. ispahanica showed the highest DPPH and FRAP activities at a concentration of 300 μg/mL. The predominant phenolic compounds identified by HPLC in C. orientalis were Resorcinol (603.5 μg/g DW) in chloroform fraction and Ellagic acid (811.7 μg/g DW) in chloroform fraction of C. ispahanica.