The perennial aromatic plant Ruta tuberculata Forssk (Rutaceae) has been traditionally used by Mediterranean peoples as folk medicine against several types of disease to treat diverse illness. The objective of this work is to evaluate the in vitro and in vivo pharmacological activities of the aqueous (RAE) and methanolic (MeOH) 80% (RME) extracts of Algerian R. tuberculata aerial parts. Antioxidant potential, neuro-protective and anti-arthritic activities were investigated in vitro using six antioxidant approaches and by determining acetyl-cholinesterase and bovine albumin denaturation inhibitory capacities, respectively. Furthermore, in vivo anti-ulcer and anti-inflammatory activities were evaluated on EtOH-induced gastric mucosal damage and carrageenan-induced paw edema models in mice. Moreover, bio-compounds’ contents were also quantified using spectrophotometric and cLC-DAD methods. Both in vivo and in vitro investigations showed remarkable antioxidant activity of Ruta tuberculata Forssk, while methanolic extract (RME) of Ruta tuberculata Forssk exhibited more significant neuro-protective and anti-inflammatory effects. However, the antiulcer activity was more pronounced with RAE of R. tuberculata, which suggests that this plant can be considered as a natural resource of potent bioactive compounds that may act as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents, which underlines the importance of incorporating them in therapies in order to treat various diseases linked to oxidative stress, and they may also provide crucial data for the development of new anticholinesterase drugs to improve neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s.

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a serious complex multifactorial disorder that imposes huge health and economic burden on societies. Because the currently available medications have many drawbacks, it's important to look for alternative therapies. Medicinal plants utilized in folk medicine are ideal candidates. Therefore, this work assessed the antidiabetic action of n-butanol extract from the whole plant Atractylis flava Desf (BEAF). These ethnomedicinal properties of BEAF were scientifically validated using in vitro and in vivo assays. In vitro antidiabetic effect of the BEAF was conducted using α-Glucosidase and α-Amylase assays. While the antihyperglycemic activity was assessed using two rat models: Alloxan-induced diabetic rats and oral glucose challenged rats. Experimental diabetes was induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of alloxan at a dose of 150 mg/kg and animals with fasting blood glucose levels (BGL) > 200 mg/dL were considered diabetic. Glibenclamide (5 mg/kg) was used as a typical drug. Results: The BEAF at all tested dose levels (100, 250, and 500 mg/kg) showed a significant decrease in blood glucose level in all the two animal models. Besides, the plant extract exhibited a potent inhibitory effect on α-Amylase and α-Glucosidase activity at a concentration of 1000 µg/mL with 76.17% and 89.37%, respectively. Conclusion: BEAF exerts in vitro and in vivo antidiabetic effects, these results suggest that the plant extract can be a therapeutic resource in the treatment of diabetes and hyperlipidemia.

Bioinformatics as a newly emerging discipline is considered nowadays a reference to characterize the physicochemical and pharmacological properties of the actual biocompounds contained in plants, which has helped the pharmaceutical industry a lot in the drug development process. In this study, a bioinformatics approach known as in silico was performed to predict, for the first time, the physicochemical properties, ADMET profile, pharmacological capacities, cytotoxicity, and nervous system macromolecular targets, as well as the gene expression profiles, of four compounds recently identified from Centaurea tougourensis via the gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) approach. Thus, four compounds were tested from the n-butanol (n-BuOH) extract of this plant, named, respectively, Acridin-9-amine, 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-5,7-dimethyl- (compound 1), 3-[2,3-Dihydro-2,2-dimethylbenzofuran-7-yl]-5-methoxy-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2(3H)-one (compound 2), 9,9-Dimethoxybicyclo[3.3.1]nona-2,4-dione (compound 3), and 3-[3-Bromophenyl]-7-chloro-3,4-dihydro-10-hydroxy-1,9(2H,10H)-acridinedione (compound 4). The insilico investigation revealed that the four tested compounds could be a good candidate to regulate the expression of key genes and may also exert significant cytotoxic effects against several tumor celllines. In addition, these compounds could also be effective in the treatment of some diseases related to diabetes, skin pathologies, cardiovascular, and central nervous system disorders. The bioactive compounds of plant remain the best alternative in the context of the drug discovery and development process.

Atractylis flava Desf. (AF) is common plant that is widely used for its anti- inflammatory and antioxidant properties. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to evaluate the cytotoxic effect and the molecular basis of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of the ethyl acetate extract (AFEAE) obtained from the whole plant A. flava. This was accomplished through the use of NR8383 alveolar rat macrophage cells. Cultures of alveolar rat macrophage cells were treated with AFEAE (25–800 μg/mL), and cell viability was determined via WST-1 and LDH tests. In turn, the gene expression levels of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα), interleukin 1 beta (IL1-β), interleukin 6 (IL-6), mitochondrial dynamin like GTPase (OPA1), Succinate dehydrogenase complex subunit A (SDHA) and neutrophil cytosolic factor 1 (NCF1) were assessed by applying RT-qPCR. The results show that ethyl acetate extracts of A. flava have non-cytotoxic effects, and the gene expression analysis demonstrates that AFEAF extracts generate significant downregulation of NF-κB, TNFα, IL-1 β, IL-6, NCF1, OPA1 and SDHA, compared to untreated cells. This study reveals that Atractylis flava ethyl acetate extract administration may be considered as a potential therapeutic strategy for inflammatory related diseases.

This study conducted a comparative analysis of the germination strategies of Moringa peregrina and Moringa stenopetala under varying salinity stress levels (0%, 4%, 8%, 12%, and 16% NaCl) to evaluate their potential for agroforestry in arid regions of Algeria. Salinity significantly affected all germination parameters, including germination rate, speed, mean germination time, vigor index, and stress tolerance index (p < 0.001). M. peregrina demonstrated higher tolerance, maintaining viable germination up to 8% NaCl, whereas M. stenopetala experienced complete inhibition beyond 4% NaCl. Germination kinetics exhibited a sigmoidal pattern, characterized by a delayed onset and reduced final percentages under stress conditions. Principal component analysis indicated that M. peregrina displayed enhanced resilience, whereas M. stenopetala showed increased sensitivity to high salinity. These findings suggest that M. peregrina is more suitable for cultivation in saline-prone arid regions, whereas M. stenopetala requires additional strategies to mitigate salinity stress.

Chronic wounds require topical formulations that combine favorable physicochemical properties with measurable biological activity. In this study, a bio-based, oil-in-water cream containing Teucrium polium methanolic extract was developed and optimized using a D-optimal design and a radial basis function (RBF) modeling approach. Three formulation variables, extract content (X1), cetyl alcohol (X2), and shea butter (X3), were evaluated in relation to two responses: spreadability (Y1) and wound closure on Day 7 (Y2). Predictive modeling was performed using an RBF network with leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV), which provided an internal estimate of predictive performance (R2 training = 0.98-0.99; R2 test = 0.95-0.96). Multi-response optimization identified an optimal formulation containing 8.0% extract, 1.5% cetyl alcohol, and 1.0% shea butter. Experimental confirmation yielded a spreadability of 54.8±0.9 cm2 and 84.1±1.2% wound closure on Day 7. In the confirmatory in vivo comparison, a vehicle control, a positive control (Madecassol 1%), and selected formulations were followed through Day 14. F6, F11, and F18 showed the most favorable macroscopic woundclosure profiles, whereas F2 displayed a more moderate effect. These findings support the use of a multivariate optimization strategy for the rational development of bio-based topical creams, while the biological interpretation remains limited to wound closure under the tested conditions.