In a laboratory olfactometer, 12% of female Aedes aegypti with a marker gene for red eye (re), 0.7% of females with a marker gene for white eye (we), and 54.1% of females with normal (norm) eye color were attracted to odor from a human hand. When a synthetic attractant blend was used in place of the hand, the attraction rate was 7%, 0.3%, and 35.4%, respectively. On average, re females required...

Previous research on the repeat exposure to a novel flavour combined with monosodium glutamate (MSG) has shown an increase in liking and consumption for the particular flavour. The aim of the current work was to investigate whether this could also be observed in the case of older people, since they are most affected by undernutrition in the developed world and ways to increase consumption of fo...

Cymbopogon citratus, commonly known as lemongrass, is a tropical herb used in worldwide traditional medicine for centuries. Studies previously conducted by our team demonstrated its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, and recently, the antiinflammatory potential was also observed in vivo. However, little is known about its pharmacokinetics. The current study aimed at obtaining, for the f...

Lemongrass oil (LGO) is a volatile oil extracted from the leaves of Cymbopogon citratus that has become one of the most important natural oils in the pharmaceutical industry because of its diverse pharmacologic and clinical effects. However, LGO suffers from low aqueous solubility, which could lead to a reduced effect. Moreover, the instability of its major active constituent, citral, could lea...

BACKGROUND The incidence of fungal infections, especially those caused by Candida yeasts, has increased over the last two decades. However, the indicated therapy for fungal control has limitations. Hence, medicinal plants have emerged as an alternative in the search for new antifungal agents as they present compounds, such as essential oils, with important biological effects. Published data dem...

Cancer cells are reported to have elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and are highly dependent on cellular defense mechanisms against oxidative stress. Numerous nutraceuticals and natural polyphenolic compounds have a wide range of abilities to alter cellular redox states with potential implications in various diseases. Furthermore, therapeutic options for cancers are mostly nonsel...

Evidence that plants differ in their ability to take up both organic (ON) and inorganic (IN) forms of nitrogen (N) has increased ecologists' interest on resource-based plant competition. However, whether plant uptake of IN and ON responds to differences in soil microbial community composition and/or functioning has not yet been explored, despite soil microbes playing a key role in N cycling. He...

Lemongrass (Cymbopogon flexuosus) essential oil (LEO), which has citral as its main component, has exhibited anti-inflammatory effect in both animal and human cells. In this study, we evaluated the anti-inflammatory activity of a commercially available LEO in pre-inflamed human dermal fibroblasts. We first studied the impact of LEO on 17 protein biomarkers that are critically associated with in...

Cymbopogon citratus, commonly known as lemongrass, has been shown to have antioxidant, antimicrobial and chemo-protective properties. Citral, a monoterpenoid, is the major constituent of C. citratus that gives off a lemony scent and is postulated to be responsible for most of its actions. In addition, C. citratus has been traditionally used to treat gastrointestinal discomforts, however, the sc...

BACKGROUND Volatile oils obtained from lemon grass [Cymbopogon citratus (DC.) Stapf, Poaceae family] are used in traditional medicine as remedies for the treatment of various diseases. AIMS In the present study, lemon grass essential oil (LGEO) was evaluated for its in vivo topical and oral anti-inflammatory effects, and for its in vitro antifungal activity using both liquid and vapor phases....