El-Shiekh, R. A., D. A. Al-Mahdy, M. S. Hifnawy, and E. Abdel-Sattar, Biological and Chemical Assessment of Ochrosia elliptica Labill Leaves, , vol. 46, issue 6, pp. 5247 - 5255, 2021. AbstractWebsite

Ochrosia elliptica Labill is a small tropical evergreen tree native to Oceania belonging to the Apocynaceae family. Eight alkaloids, two flavonoid glycosides and three phenolic acids were identified by LC/MS analysis. On the other hand, the quality and uniformity of the plant leaves were assessed through the determination of the total phenolic and flavonoid, in addition to total ash, acid-insoluble ash, water-soluble ash and moisture content. The total ethanolic and aqueous extracts of the leaves of O. elliptica as well as their fractions were investigated for their antinociceptive (analgesic) using tail-flick test and antimicrobial activities using agar well diffusion assay. Among the tested fractions, the results showed that the n-butanol fraction exhibited high potency as antinociceptive compared to indomethacin drug and as antifungal compared to amphotericin B.

Youssef, A., D. A. Al-Mahdy, R. H. Sayed, M. A. Choucry, and H. El-Askary, "A Comprehensive Review of Natural Alternatives for Treatment of Alopecia with an Overview of Market Products.", Journal of medicinal food, vol. 25, issue 9, pp. 869-881, 2022. Abstract

Alopecia or hair loss is a widespread issue that has significant effects on personal well-being for both genders nationally and internationally. In addition, alopecia causes extreme emotional stress and negatively impacts the psychological health and self-esteem of cancer patients suffering from chemotherapy-induced alopecia. Unfortunately, available synthetic medications are costly, invasive, or have extreme adverse effects. On the contrary, natural and herbal hair loss products are widely available in the local and international markets in variable pharmaceutical forms with different mechanisms of action, namely, androgen antagonists, nutritional supplements, vasodilators, and 5-reductase inhibitors or dihydrotestosterone blockers. Thus, it is of great importance to encourage researchers to investigate these natural alternatives that can act as potent therapeutic agents having diverse mechanisms of action as well as limited side effects. Currently, natural remedies are considered a fast-rising pharmaceutical segment with demand from a wide range of consumers. In this study, we present a review of reported herbal remedies and herb combinations recommended for hair loss and their mode of action, along with an overview of available market products and formulations, their composition, and declared effects. In addition, a general outline of the different forms of alopecia, its causes, and recommended treatments are mentioned as well. This was all done with the aim of assisting further studies with developing standardized natural formulations for alopecia as many were found to lack standardization of their bioactive ingredients and efficiency confirmation.

Yang, Y. - L., D. Adel Al-Mahdy, M. - L. Wu, X. - T. Zheng, X. - H. Piao, A. - L. Chen, S. - M. Wang, Q. Yang, and Y. - W. Ge, "LC-MS-based identification and antioxidant evaluation of small molecules from the cinnamon oil extraction waste.", Food chemistry, vol. 366, pp. 130576, 2022. Abstract

Cinnamon oil is obtained by steam distillation from cinnamon leaves and is usually considered highly cost-effective compared to bark oil, however, which results in tons of waste cinnamon leaves (WCL) discarded annually. By using MS/MS molecular networking (MN) assisted profiling, six main chemical diversities including flavonols and flavones, phenolic acids, lactones, terpenoids, phenylpropanoids and flavanols were rapid revealed from WCL aqueous extract. 101 compounds were tentatively identified by assigning their MS/MS fragments within typical pathways under ESI-MS/MS dissociation. The featured phenolic acids, terpenoids and their glycosides in cinnamon species were recognized as the main constituents of WCL. The hydrophilic lactones, lignans and flavanols were reported for the first time in cinnamon leaves. Furthermore, ABTS and FRAP assays integrated with MN analysis were conducted to uncover an antioxidant fraction, from which 40 potential antioxidant compounds were rapidly annotated. This fundamental information will help expand the utilization of WCL from cinnamon oil industry.

Osama, S., M. E. Sherei, D. Al-Mahdy, M. Bishr, and O. Salama, "Salicylic acid improving drought stress tolerance in Ammi visnaga L.", International Scientific Conference of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Egyptian Pharmaceutical Society), Cairo, Egypt, 23 December, 2017.
Osama, S., M. E. Sherei, D. Al-Mahdy, M. Bishr, and O. Salama, "Effect of Drought Stress and Salicylic Acid on Active Constituents and Biological Activity of Ammi visnaga L.", The 5th FUE International Conference of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cairo, Egypt, 28 January, 2019.
El-Shiekh, R. A., D. A. Al-Mahdy, M. S. Hifnawy, and E. A. Abdel-Sattar, "Pharmacognostical study of Ochrosia elliptica Labill.(Apocynaceae)", Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science, vol. 9, issue 05, pp. 049-057, 2019.
Osama, S., M. E. Sherei, D. A. Al-Mahdy, M. Bishr, and O. Salama, "Effect of Salicylic acid foliar spraying on growth parameters, γ-pyrones, phenolic content and radical scavenging activity of drought stressed Ammi visnaga L. plant", Industrial crops and products, vol. 134, pp. 1-10, 2019.
Khaled, S. E., F. A. - M. Hashem, M. H. Shabana, A. - M. M. Hammam, A. N. A. Madboli, D. A. Al-Mahdy, and M. A. Farag, "A biochemometric approach for the assessment of Phyllanthus emblica female fertility effects as determined via UPLC-ESI-qTOF-MS and GC-MS.", Food & function, vol. 10, issue 8, pp. 4620-4635, 2019. Abstract

Phyllanthus emblica L. fruits have long been used in Ayurvedic medicine for their many health benefits. In this study, we present P. emblica fruit crude extract and fractions' effects on the female reproductive system by assessing its estrogenic and gonadotropic activities. Results revealed that the non-polar petroleum ether and chloroform fractions exhibited the strongest estrogenic and follicle-stimulating hormone-like [FSH] activity, while the n-butanol fraction exhibited a significant luteinizing hormone-like [LH] activity. The ethyl acetate fraction showed neither estrogenic nor gonadotropic activities and in contrast it may impair female fertility suggesting that different metabolite classes contribute to the plant's overall effect on female fertility. To pinpoint active agents in these fractions, UPLC/ESI-qTOF-MS- was employed for secondary metabolite profiling with 100 metabolites annotated including ellagitannins, gallic acid derivatives, terpeneoids, sterols, phthalates and fatty acids. Correlation between extracts/fraction bioassays and UPLC/MS data was attempted using orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) revealing that guaiane-type sesquiterpenes, phthalates, diterpenes and oxygenated fatty acids showed positive correlation with estrogenic and gonadotropic activities. In contrast, mucic acid gallates, gallic acid derivatives and ellagitannins correlated negatively. GC/MS analysis of the non-polar bioactive fractions viz. petroleum ether and chloroform was also attempted which revealed its enrichment in fatty acids/fatty acyl esters (34%) and phenolic compounds (19.6%). This study provides the first report on the estrogenic and gonadotropic activities of P. emblica fruits in relation to their metabolite fingerprint.

El-Shiekh, R. A., D. A. Al-Mahdy, S. M. Mouneir, M. S. Hifnawy, and E. A. Abdel-Sattar, "Anti-obesity effect of argel (Solenostemma argel) on obese rats fed a high fat diet.", Journal of ethnopharmacology, vol. 238, pp. 111893, 2019. Abstract

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Solenostemma argel (Argel) is a desert plant commonly used in Egyptian and Sudanese traditional medicine to suppress appetite, for treatment of diabetes, and as an antispasmodic and anti-inflammatory agent. Previously the anti-diabetic, hypolipidemic and lipase inhibitory activities of Argel were reported in animal studies and in-vitro assays. However, its specific mechanism of action as an anti-obesity agent has not been studied before.

AIM OF THE STUDY: Assessment of the possible anti-obesity effect of Solenostemma argel on diet-induced obesity and elucidation of its mechanism of action, as well as, standardization of the active plant extract.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The ethanolic extract (EtOH-E) and its fractions (CHCl-F: methylene chloride and BuOH-F: n-butanol) were prepared from the aerial parts of S. argel and studied at two dose levels; 200 and 400 mg kg in a model of high fat diet (HFD) fed rats. The animals (72 Male Wister rats) were assigned into 9 groups: group (i) fed with normal diet and groups (ii-iv) fed with high fat diet (HFD) for 16 weeks and treated with orlistat, EtOH-E, CHCl-F and BuOH-F in the beginning of the 8th week. At the end of the experiment, blood samples were analysed for lipid and liver biomarkers, glucose and insulin levels, as well as, adipokines and inflammatory markers. Liver and adipose tissues were examined histopathologically and their homogenates were used to determine levels of oxidative stress markers and lipogenesis-related genes. Body weight was monitored weekly during the experiment.

RESULTS: Our data showed that consumption of S. argel significantly controlled weight gain, attenuated liver steatosis, improved the lipid profile, modulated adipokines activities, increased β-oxidation gene expression, as well as, decreased the expression of lipogenesis-related genes and ameliorated inflammatory and lipid peroxidation derangement. The ethanolic extract was also standardized using LC-MS analysis for its content of stemmoside C.

CONCLUSIONS: The current study revealed that S. argel is a promising Egyptian natural drug, rich in pregnane glycosides, and could be considered a new therapeutic candidate targeting obesity.

Farag, M. A., D. A. Al-Mahdy, A. Meyer, H. Westphal, and L. A. Wessjohann, "Metabolomics reveals biotic and abiotic elicitor effects on the soft coral Sarcophyton ehrenbergi terpenoid content", Scientific Reports, vol. 7, issue 1: Nature Publishing Group, pp. 648, 2017. Abstract

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