Gentiana, a cosmopolitan and important genus of the Gentianaceae family, comprises 400 species distributed among the world. Based on the studies of Iranian traditional medicine texts, there are some promising bioactivities for this genus that is unknown in modern medicine and some of them are still the basis of new remedies. In traditional medicine texts, Gentiana's different exclusive forms of preparations are effective for treatment of some disorders such as menstrual over-bleeding, conjunctivitis, vitiligo, animals venom poisoning, injuries, infected wounds, pain and swelling of liver, spleen, stomach and sprains of muscles. There are some activities that are the same in traditional and modern medicine such as anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective and diuretic effects. Phytochemical investigations on the title genus have led to characterization many secondary metabolites. Secoiridoidal and iridoid glycosides such as gentiopicroside, xanthones, monoterpene alkaloid; polyphenol and flavones are the constituents that have been shown the pharmacological activities in different gentian species. This article studies the Gentiana according to the Iranian traditional and modern medicine.

Plants are used worldwide for the treatment of diseases, and novel drugs continue to be developed through research from plants. There are more than 20,000 species of plants used in traditional medicines, and these are all potential reservoirs for new drugs. Cucurbita pepo has been used in traditional folk medicine to treat cold and alleviate ache. Previous pharmacological tests have shown that it possesses antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic effects. Also, Solanum nigrum has been used as a diuretic and an antipyretic agent and it has also been used to cure inflammation, edema, mastitis and hepatic cancer. In this investigation, cytotoxicity of specific concentrations of hydro-alcoholic extracts of C. pepo and S. nigrum was studied on normal [Chinese hamster ovarian cells (CHO) and rat fibroblast] and cancer (HepG2 and CT26) cell lines. The cytotoxic effects and IC ₅₀ of the extracts on the selected cell lines were studied followed by colonogenic assay method. The results showed that IC ₅₀ of S. nigrum extract was significantly lower than that of the C. pepo extract on all four cell lines (P < 0.05). On the other hand, IC ₅₀ of S. nigrum extract was significantly higher than the extract of Taxus baccata and Cisplatin, herbal and chemical control positive anticancer compounds, respectively, on all four cell lines (P < 0.05). As a result, it is concluded that the extract of S. nigrum has almost similar cytotoxicity to the extract of T. baccata on cancer cells.

The radioprotective effect of hawthorn (Crataegus microphylla) fruit extract against genotoxicity induced by gamma irradiation has been investigated

Cantharellus cibarius, an edible mushroom, has been reported to display a wide variety of biological properties, including iron-chelation activity. In the current study we evaluated the chelating capacity of ethyl acetate and methanolic extracts of Cantharellus cibarius on iron-overloaded mice. Extracts and defroxamine were injected for a frequency of 5 times a week for 4 weeks. Total iron and Fe³⁺ content of plasma was determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy and kit respectively. Liver sections were stained by haematoxylin and eosin and Perls' stain. Iron-overloaded animals treated with the extract, showed a dramatic decrease in plasma iron content when compared with the control group. The highest activity was observed in the methanolic extract. High-performance liquid chromatography was performed to simultaneously separate 5 phenolic acids and 2 flavonoids in extracts. p-Coumaric acid and ferulic acid were discovered to be major phenolic acids in ethyl acetate extract and methanol extract, respectively. Both methanolic and ethyl acetate derived extracts of mushroom Cantharellus cibarius exhibit satisfactory potency to chelate excessive iron in mice.