Abstract Current study compares the Therapeutic/nutra-pharmaceuticals potential and phenolics profile of Pakistani grown Pakistani and Chinese varieties of ginger. Crude yield of bioactive components from the varieties tested, using different extraction solvents including chloroform, ethyl acetate, ether, methanol, ethanol and distilled water. The crude bioactives varied from 14.1-82.5%. The highest extraction yield was noted for Pakistani species. The HPLC analysis revalued significant amounts of phenolics including vanillin, protocatechuic, vanillic, ferulic, sinapinic and cinnamic acids. The highest anti-inflammatory activity was shown by ethanolic extract of Pakistani variety (IC50: 26.5±1.8) whereas Chinese variety exhibited potent anticancer potential against MCF-7 cell line (Inhibition: 91.38 %). The Chinese variety in general showed higher phenolics and anticancer, while the Pakistani exhibited higher anti-inflammatory activity. Pakistani grown ginger and ethanolic extract of Chinese ginger showed highest antimicrobial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa 18.0±0.02 & 15.00±0.02 mm respectively. Minimum results obtained with water for both varieties of ginger with range of 7.2±0.22 and 6±0.07 respectively. Moreover, the phenolics composition, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and anticancer activities of both tested varieties of ginger were notably affected as a function of extraction solvents. Our findings advocate selection of appropriate solvent for recovery of effective phenolic bioactive compounds from ginger verities to support the Nutra-pharmaceutical formulation.

Major objective of this study was to appraise the variation of antioxidant activity, total phenols, total flavonoids and individual phenolic acids among fruit peels from five species of Citrus namely C. sinensis 'Valancia' (Mausami), C. sinensis 'Maltaise Sanguine' (Red blood), C. reticulata (Kinnow), C. reticulata Blanco 'Merisol' (Fruiter), and C. paradisi 'Macfadyen' (Grapefruit) as function of extraction solvents. The extract yield from the fruit peels of the selected Citrus species by using four solvents varied significantly (p<0.05) 17.56-49.13 g/100g in relation to the extraction media and type of peel. The highest extraction yield was obtained with 100% methanol from Red blood (C. sinensis 'Maltaise Sanguine') peel while the least with 100% ethanol from Fruiter (C. reticulata Blanco 'Merisol') peel. The total phenolic contents (TPC), total flavonoid contents (TFC), DPPH radical scavenging activity (IC50) and reducing power [FRAP (EC50)] for peel extracts ranged from 13.69 to 66.10 GAE mg/g of dry weight (DW), 9.34 to 28.99 CE mg/g DW, 0.33 to 2.32 mg/mL and 2.05 to 6.76 mg/mL, respectively. According to HPLC analysis of peel extracts, gallic acid and protocatechuic acid with contribution 11.96-96.08 and 109.18-578.59mg/kg of extract, respectively, were detected to be the main phenolic acids among others. Total amount of individual phenolic acids (TPAs) in the tested peels varied over 18.37 to 1015.99 mg/kg of extract. The highest amount of TPAs was extracted in Red blood (C. sinensis 'Maltaise Sanguine') with 80% methanol while the least in Grapefruit (C. paradisi 'Macfadyen') with 100% methanol. It can be concluded from the present data that both the species and extraction solvents have notable effect on the antioxidant attributes and phenolics of citrus peels. Overall, the results of this study showed that extracts from peel of Red blood (C. sinensis 'Maltaise Sanguine'), among others, possessed superior antioxidant activity and greater amount of phenolic acids.

Aqueous and acidified methanol extracts from C. limonum fruit residues (CLFR) were evaluated for their total phenolic contents, antioxidant and antimutagenic activities. Total phenolic contents (TPC) of aqueous (30% and 70%) and acidified (0.5 N and 1.0 N) methanol extracts from CLFR were estimated by Folin-Ciocalteu reagent method whereas in-vitro antioxidant activity was assessed calorimetrically by measuring DPPH* scavenging capacity and inhibition of linoleic acid peroxidation. Anti-mutagenic potential of the extracts was appraised by Ames bacterial reverse mutation test. TPC, DPPH° scavenging capacity and inhibition of linoleic acid peroxidation were varied from 27.75-126.35 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g DW, 46-91%, and 34-83%, respectively. All the tested extracts of CLFR noticeably hunted mutagens (16.47-55.69 %) whereas none of these caused mutagenesis. Overall, acidified methanol extracts from CLFR exhibited higher extraction yields, TPC, inhibition of peroxidation and DPPH radical scavenging activity among others indicating a significant (p<0.05) variation of these attributes in relation to residue samples and extraction media. The results support that CLFR (peel and pulp biomass) being a rich source of phenolic antimutagens, can be explored as a potential candidate for the development of natural chemo-preventive drugs and nutracueticals.

The GC-MS analyses of Origanum majorana L. (OME) and Origanum vulgare L. (OVE), Lamiaceae, essential oils helped identification of 39 (96.4% of the total oils) and 43 (92.9% of the total oils) components, respectively. The major constituents of OME were terpinene-4-ol (20.9%), linalool (15.7%), linalyl-acetate (13.9%), limonene (13.4%) and α-terpineol (8.57%), whereas, thymol (21.6%), carvacrol (18.8%), o-cymene (13.5%) and α-terpineol (8.57%) were the main components of OVE. In the disc diffusion and the resazurin microtitre assays, OME showed better antibacterial activity than OVE with larger zones of inhibition (16.5-27.0 mm) and smaller MIC (40.9-1250.3 μg/mL) against the tested bacterial strains. Only OVE displayed anti-heme biocrystallization activity with an IC50 at 0.04 mg/mL. In the DPPH assay, OVE showed better radical-scavenging activity than OME (IC50=65.5 versus 89.2 μg/mL) and both OME and OVE inhibited lionleic acid oxidation. However, in the bleaching β-carotene assay, OVE exhibited better antioxidant activity than OME. In the MTT assay, OME was more cytotoxic than OVE against different cancer cell types, such as MCF-7, LNCaP and NIH-3T3, with IC50s of 70.0, 85.3 and 300.5 μg/mL, respectively. Overall, some components of OME and OVE may have antiparasitic and chemotherapeutic activity.

The aim of this work was to investigate and compare the antiproliferative, antioxidant and antibacterial activities of Rosmarinus officinalis essential oil, native to Pakistan. The essential oil content from the leaves of R. officinalis was 0.93 g 100g-1. The GC and GC-MS analysis revealed that the major components determined in R. officinalis essential oil were 1,8-cineol (38.5%), camphor (17.1%), α-pinene (12.3%), limonene (6.23%), camphene (6.00%) and linalool (5.70%). The antiproliferative activity was tested against two cancer (MCF-7 and LNCaP) and one fibroblast cell line (NIH-3T3) using the MTT assay, while, the antioxidant activity was evaluated by the reduction of 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) and measuring percent inhibition of peroxidation in linoleic acid system. The disc diffusion and modified resazurin microtitre-plate assays were used to evaluate the inhibition zones (IZ) and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of R. officinalis essential oil, respectively. It is concluded from the results that Rosmarinus officinalis essential oil exhibited antiproliferative, antioxidant and antibacterial activities.