Dysphania ambrosioides (L.) Mosyakin and Clemants is an annual or ephemeral perennial herb used traditionally in the Mediterranean region in folk medicine to treat various illnesses, including those related to the digestive system. This study aims to assess the antispasmodic, myorelaxant, and antioxidant effects of D. ambrosioides flower hydroethanolic extract and its chloroform and ethyl acetate fractions in a comparative study to evaluate the result of the extraction type on the potential activity of the extract. Both rat and rabbit jejunum were used to evaluate the antispasmodic and myorelaxant effect, while the antioxidant effect was evaluated using DPPH, a ferric reducing power assay, and a beta-carotene bleaching test. LC/MS-MS analysis was carried out to reveal the composition of the different types of extract. Following the results, the hydroethanolic extract showed a significant myorelaxant effect (IC₅₀ = 0.39 ± 0.01 mg/mL). Moreover, it was shown that the hydroethanolic extract demonstrated the best antispasmodic activity (IC₅₀ = 0.51 ± 0.05 mg/mL), followed by the ethyl acetate (IC₅₀ = 4.05 ± 0.32 mg/mL) and chloroform (IC₅₀ = 4.34 ± 0.45 mg/mL) fractions. The antioxidant tests showed that the hydroethanolic extract demonstrated high antioxidant activity, followed by the ethyl acetate and chloroform fractions. The LC/MS-MS analysis indicates that the plant extract was rich in flavonoids, to which the extract activity has been attributed. This study supports the traditional use of this plant to treat digestive problems, especially those with spasms.

Intestinal spasms are violent contractions that occur in the intestine, which cause discomfort to people who have them. Medicinal plants are widely used in traditional Moroccan medicine to treat these problems, among these being Artemisia campestris L. This study aims to evaluate the relaxant and antispasmodic effects of an aqueous extract of this plant (ACAE). It was performed in vitro on isolated segments of both isolated rat and rabbit jejunum mounted in an organ bath and tension recordings made via an isotonic transducer. ACAE caused a myorelaxant effect on baseline rabbit jejunum contractions in a dose-dependent and reversible manner with an IC50 of 1.52 ± 0.12 mg/ml. This extract would not act via adrenergic receptors pathway. On the other hand, the extract caused a dose-dependent relaxation of the jejunum tone in rat jejenum segments pre-contracted with either Carbachol (CCh; 10−6 M) or high K+ (KCl 75 mM) with an IC50 = 0.49 ± 0.02 mg/ml and 0.36 ± 0.02 mg/ml respectively. In the presence of different doses of the extract, the maximum response to CCh and CaCl2 was significantly reduced. This demonstrates that ACAE acts on both muscarinic receptors and voltage-dependent calcium channels. Thus, the plant extract acted on both muscarinic and nicotinic receptors and acts on the guanylate cyclase pathway, but not the nitric oxide pathway. These results indicate the mechanism by which Artemisia campestris L. acts as an effective antispasmodic agent in traditional Moroccan medicine.

Background: Carbohydrate digestive enzymes play a major role in the management of the postprandial hyperglycemia. A chronic hyperglycemia can lead to serious health problems due to excessive production of several reactive oxygen species. Therefore, the inhibition of carbohydrate digestive enzyme and the use of antioxidant natural product can be an important strategy to control the glycaemia level and prevent against the complication of diabetes. Aim: The study aims to perform a phytochemical analysis, antioxidant activity, inhibitory effect on α -amylase, α -glucosidase (in vitro and in vivo) and the intestinal glucose absorption in Wistar rats of Artemisia campestris aqueous extract (AcAE) and hydro-ethanolic extract (AcEE). Results: The test of total phenolic content, show that the AcAE has the highest quantity of polyphenol (44.65 ± 0.54 μ g GAE/mg extract) compared to the AcEE (31.7 ± 0.53 μ g GAE/mg extract) significantly. The amount of flavonoid and condensed tannins content in AcAE is 24.41 ± 3.57 μ g QrE/mg extract, 14.31 ± 5.26 μ g CE/mg respectively. The AcAE has also exhibit a great antioxidant activity in DPPH-scavenging and Ferric reducing antioxidant power assay (FRAP) compared to AcEE with an IC 50 = 0.355 ± 0.057 mg/mL and IC 50 = 0.269 ± 0.025 mg/mL. However, in a β -carotene bleaching assay the AcEE has the highest effect with an IC 50 = 0.319 ± 0.097 mg/mL. The both extract of Artemisia campestris L. (250 mg/kg) decreased postprandial hyperglycemia in the normal and alloxane diabetic rats in a very significant manner after starch or sucrose administration as an α -amylase and α -glucosidase substrate respectively. This result is confirmed in vitro by a remarkable inhibitory effect on α -amylase digestive enzymes by an IC 50 = 1.259 ± 0.128 mg/mL and IC 50 = 0.602 ± 0.072 mg/mL receptively for AcAE and AcEE. For the α -glucosidase enzyme, the both extracts significantly inhibit α -glucosidase activity compared to the control and they are almost similar to each other. Using a jejunum perfusion technique (in situ), Artemisia campestris L. decrease the intestinal D-glucose absorption activity significantly compared to the control and comparable to the Phlorizin used as a positive control by an amount of glucose absorbed equal a 6.53 ± 0.57, 5.34 ± 0.64 and 4.71 ± 0.24 mg/10 cm/h, for AcAE, AcEE and Phlorizin respectively. Conclusions: These results showed that the Artemisia campestris L. has highest phenolic content, antioxidant activity and demonstrated a postprandial anti-hyperglycemic effect via the inhibiting of the carbohydrate digestive enzyme ( α -amylase and α -glucosidase) and the intestinal glucose absorption.

The valorization of Crocus sativus focuses mainly on the plant’s stigma because it is one of the most expensive and valuable spices in the world and has great value in the food, cosmetics, and pharmacological industries. Due to this high stigma value, the other parts of the plant are considered as by-products; our study aimed to evaluate the myorelaxant and antispasmodic activities of the byproducts (tepals and leaves) to compare them with the stigma of the plant. To investigate the myorelaxant and antispasmodic activities of the Crocus sativus on isolated rabbit and rat jejunum, we used an in vitro technic with an organ bath and an isotonic transducer. Our results showed that the STG (hydroethanolic extract of stigmas) and LV (hydroethanolic extract of leaves) had a moderate myorelaxant effect with IC₅₀ = 6.61 ± 1.5 and 5.08 ± 0.45 mg/ml, respectively. TPL (hydroethanolic extract of tepals) had a significant () inhibitory effect on the amplitude of the rabbit jejunum basic contractions with an IC₅₀ = 1.36 ± 0.15 mg/ml. TPL also caused a significant () antispasmodic activity depending on the dose of the contraction induced by CCh (10⁻⁶ M) and KCl (25 mM). The antispasmodic effect of the TPL is slightly altered in the presence of nifedipine by a percentage of 26.8%. This difference is statistically significant (). Therefore, the extract could induce the inhibitory effect on L-type voltage-dependent Ca²⁺ channels, but not on the guanylate cyclase and nitric oxide pathways. That confirmed that the TPL has a comparable effect to the verapamil. The HPLC-DAD analysis of various parts of C. sativus shows that the three extracts contain the kaempferol flavanol compound, the STG also was revealed to be rich in carotenoids crocin, and these isomers are trans and cis-crocin, safranal, and picrocrocin. In contrast, the TPL revealed the presence of isorhamnetin and quercetin, but the LV was rich in hesperidin and mangiferin. In conclusion, this study supports the traditional use of this plant to treat digestive problems and will allow us to explore future possibilities for treating bowel spasms using natural molecules derived from saffron.