BACKGROUND Callistemon citrinus Curtis belongs to family Myrtaceae that has a great medicinal importance. In our previous work, fruits of Callistemon citrinus were reported to have relaxant (antispasmodic) activity. The current work describes the screening of fractions of the crude methanol extract for tracing spasmolytic constituents so that it shall help us for isolation of bioactive compound...

The expression patterns of homeotic genes in a crustacean-the brine shrimp Artemia franciscana-provide a new perspective on the evolution of arthropod body plans. The ancestral arthropod is thought to have had a body made up of a series of similar segments, each bearing an unspecialized limb. A major trend in arthropod evolution has been an ever-increasing specialization and regional-ization of...

A novel sesquiterpenoid dimer, named multistalide C (1), together with two known congeners, shizukaols C (2) and D (3), was isolated from the whole plant of Chloranthus japonicus Sieb. The structures of compounds 1-3 were elucidated by extensive HR-ESI-MS, 1D, and 2D NMR spectroscopic analysis. Compounds 1-3 exhibited significant toxic effects on brine shrimp larvae (Artemia salina). The absolu...

Preliminary biological investigation of a collection of Comorian soft corals resulted in the selection of two specimens, one of Sarcophyton and the other of Lobophytum, on the basis of their toxicity on larvae of the brine shrimp (Artemia salina) and inhibition of acetylcholinesterase, respectively. Bioassay-guided fractionations provided a known antitumor promoter cembrane diterpenoid, (+)-sar...

Bioassay-guided fractionation of a culture extract of Beauveria felina EN-135, an entomopathogenic fungus isolated from a marine bryozoan, led to the isolation of a new cyclodepsipeptide, iso-isariin D (1); two new O-containing heterocyclic compounds that we have named felinones A and B (2 and 3); and four known cyclodepsipeptides (4-7). The structures were elucidated via spectroscopic analysis...

Taylor et al. (1993) described a pollutant bioassay based upon a change in the rate at which Gammarus pulex (L.) consumes a novel food source (eggs of the brine shrimp Anemia salina) when the animals are stressed by exposure to a pollutant. The bioassay is rapid and non-destructive, and produces results with less variation than reported using conventional leaf-feeding bioassays. However, it is ...

Extracts from respective parts and cell cultures of some Turkish medicinal plants have been assessed for their antiviral and cytotoxic properties. None of the extracts tested showed notable activity against herpes simplex viruses (HSV-I and II), but a slight antiretroviral activity against HIV-I was determined in an extract from Hypericum capitatum cell cultures. On the other hand, according to...

INTRODUCTION In this study, we used dichloromethane (DCM) and methanol (MeOH) extracts of the Zingiber zerumbet rhizome to evaluate brine shrimp lethality and larvicidal activity on Aedes aegypti and Anopheles nuneztovari mosquitoes. METHODS Bioassays were performed by exposing third-instar larvae of each mosquito species to the DCM or MeOH extracts. RESULTS Probit analysis with DCM and MeO...

Recent studies concerning the isolation and purification of exopolysaccharides from suspension-cultured tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L. var. San Marzano) cells and the description of a simple, rapid and low environmental impact method with for obtaining polysaccharides from solid tomato-processing industry wastes are reported. Their chemical composition, rheological properties and partial pr...