BACKGROUND The Astragalus gummifer (F. Fabaceae), herb and roots were studied for anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective activities. MATERIALS AND METHOD The alcoholic extracts of Astragalus gummifer (F. Fabaceae), herb (AGHE), and roots (AGRE), were used for anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective activities in Wister rats. The effects of AGHE and AGRE were compared with the standard drugs Ph...

Cycloastragenol (CAG) is a secondary metabolite isolated from Radix Astragali. Present in all known Astragalus spp., CAG (Fig. 1) is both a triterpene aglycone and the most common genuine aglycone in the bioactive triterpenoid saponins called astragalosides (ASTs) (Rios and Waterman, 1997). Although CAG and the ASTs are found in all tissues of the Astragalus shrubs, the highest concentrations a...

PREMISE OF THE STUDY Are there dimensions of symbiotic root interactions that are overlooked because plant mineral nutrition is the foundation and, perhaps too often, the sole explanation through which we view these relationships? In this paper we investigate how the root nodule symbiosis in selenium (Se) hyperaccumulator and nonaccumulator Astragalus species influences plant selenium (Se) accu...

The taxonomic and phylogenetic status of several taxa previously recognized as subspecies inAstragalus sect. Anthylloidei is re-assessed based on DNA sequences and morphologicalfeatures. We focused on Astragalus ebenoides (subsp. ebenoides and subsp. naghadehensis),Astragalus murinus (subsp. murins and subsp. bornmuelleri), Astragalus remotiflorus (subsp.remotiflorus and subsp. melanogramma), A...

The anklebone (astragalus) of dinosaurs presents a characteristic upward projection, the 'ascending process' (ASC). The ASC is present in modern birds, but develops a separate ossification centre, and projects from the calcaneum in most species. These differences have been argued to make it non-comparable to dinosaurs. We studied ASC development in six different orders of birds using traditiona...

Protein fractions from three selenium-tolerant and three selenium-sensitive Astragalus species, grown in the presence of [(75)Se]selenate, were analyzed for their selenium content. Though tolerant species are known to accumulate considerably more selenium than do sensitive plants, protein fractions from the three selenium accumulators were found to contain significantly less selenium (0.46 to 0...