Antioxidant activity of a selection of commonly occurring wild plants growing in Beni-Sueif governorate, Upper Egypt, has been tested. The plants selected are Tamarix nilotica, Ambrosia maritima, Zygophyllum coccenium, Conyza dioscoridis, Chenopodium ambrosioides, and Calotropis procera. The in vitro antioxidant assays used in this study were 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) radical scaven...

Background and objectives: Cancer is a public health problem all over the world. Herbal medicines have a vital role in the prevention and treatment of cancer and large numbers of plants and their isolated constituents have shown potential anticancer activity. Methods: Twenty seven medicinal plants from southern Iran provinces have been extracted with methanol and screened for their cytotoxic ac...

In the present study we have utilized the Allium cepa root tip meristem model to evaluate the cytotoxic and anti-mitotic activities of latex of Calotropis procera (DL) and podophyllotoxin. Standard cytotoxic drug cyclophosphamide and non-cytotoxic drugs cyprohcptadine and aspirin served as controls. Like cyclophosphamide, both DL and podophyllotoxin significantly inhibited the growth of roots a...

Procerain B, a novel cysteine protease (endopeptidase) isolated from Calotropis procera belongs to Asclepiadaceae family. Purification of the enzyme, biochemical characterization and potential applications are already published by our group. Here, we report cDNA cloning, complete amino acid sequencing and molecular modeling of procerain B. The derived amino acid sequence showed high sequence ho...

Phytochemical screening and antimicrobial activity of chloroform, acetone and methanolic extracts of Calotropis procera (Ait.) R. Br. (Asclepiadaceae) flowers were tested against various pathogens such as Salmonella paratyphi, S. paratyphi A, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus thuringiensis, Proteus mirabilis, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Phytoc...