Background: Berberis vulgarisis a well known plant with traditional herbal medical history. The aims of this study was to bioscreen and compare thein vitrobiological activity (antioxidant, cholinergic, antidaibetic and the anticancer) of barberry crude extract and berberine active compound.Methods: The effect ofB. vulgarisextract and berberine chloride on cellular thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS) formation, diphenyle–α-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) oxidation, cellular nitric oxide (NO) radical scavenging capability, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and α-gulcosidase activities were spectrophotometrically determined. On the other hand, the effect of extract and berberine as anticancer was estimated on three different cell lines which were MCF-7, HepG-2, and Caco-2 cells by using neutral red uptake assay which compared with control normal cells (PBMC).Results: Our results showed that barberry crude extract contains 0.6 mg berberine/mg crude extract. Barberry extract showed potent antioxidative capacity through decreasing TBARS, NO and the oxidation of DPPH that associated with GPx and SOD hyperactivation. Inhibitory effect ofberberiscrude extract on α-glucosidase was more potent than that of berberine chloride, while both had the same AChE inhibitory effect. Besides, different concentrations of both berberine chloride and barberry ethanolic extract showed to have no growth inhibitory effect on normal blood cells (PBMC). Otherwise, both berberine chloride and barberry ethanolic extract showed to have inhibitory effect on the growth of breast, liver and colon cancer cell lines (MCF7, HepG2 and CACO-2, respectively) at different incubation times starting from 24 hrs up to 72 hrs and the inhibitory effect increased with time in a dose dependant manner.Conclusion: This work demonstrates the potential of the barberry crude extract and its active alkaloid, berberine, on suppressing lipid peroxidation, suggesting a promising use in the treatment of hepatic oxidative stress, Alzheimer and idiopathic male factor infertility. Beside, berberis vulgarisethanolic extract is safe non-toxic extract as it was not inhibit the growth of PBMC that can induce cancer cell death that could return to its powerful antioxidant activity.

The black cumin (Nigella sativa) “NS” or the black seeds have many pharmacological activities such as antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, antihypertensive, and antidiabetic properties. In this work, streptozotocin‐induced diabetic rats fed with a high‐fat diet were treated daily with NS oil (NSO) in order to study the effect on the blood glucose, lipid profile, oxidative stress parameters, and the gene expression of some insulin receptor‐induced signaling molecules. This treatment was combined also with some drugs (metformin and glimepiride) and the insulin receptor inhibitor I‐OMe‐AG538. The administration of NSO significantly induced the gene expression of insulin receptor compared to rats that did not receive NSO. Also, it upregulated the expression of insulin‐like growth factor‐1 and phosphoinositide‐3 kinase, whereas the expression of ADAM‐17 was downregulated. The expression of ADAM‐17 is corroborated by the analysis of TIMP‐3 content. In addition, the NSO significantly reduced blood glucose level, components of the lipid profile, oxidative stress parameters, serum insulin/insulin receptor ratio, and the tumor necrosis factor‐α, confirming that NSO has an antidiabetic activity. Thus, the daily NSO treatment in our rat model indicates that NSO has a potential in the management of diabetes as well as improvement of insulin‐induced signaling.