The antibacterial activities of the chloroform and water extracts of Ferula persica var. persica (Apiaceae)roots were studied by the disk diffusion method. While the chloroform extract of F. persica roots showed antibacterial activity, the water extract of the roots at the concentrations that tested did not show any activity. By bioassay-guided fractionation of the chloroform extract of the roots by preparative thin layer chromatography (PTLC) a compound was found which was active against some bacteria. By conventional spectroscopy methods the active fraction was identified as umbelliprenin. This coumarin was mostly active against B. subtillis, B. cereus, E. coli, K. ponumoniae, S. typhi, S. aureus, and S. epidermilis.

Objective: The genus of Ferula belongs to the tribe Peucedaneae, subfamily of Apioideae and family of Umbelliferae with 133 species distributed throughout the Mediterranean area and central Asia, especially in the former USSR and neighboring countries such as Iran. The popular Persian name of the most of these species is “Koma”. In this research we tried to isolate and elucidate the structure of new sesquiterpene in the root ofFerula latisecta (F. latisecta(.Materials and Methods: Dried and powdered roots of F. latisecta were extracted with CH2Cl2 using a Soxhlet apparatus. The extract was concentratedin vacuo to give a red extract. The extract was subjected to column chromatography on silica gel. 1H NMR, 13C NMR, DEPT, 1H-1H COSY, HMBC, HSQC, and NOESY spectra were the methods we used to elucidate the structure of new sesquiterpene in this plant.Results: One new sesquieterpene coumarin, namely Latisectin and IUPAC name [1- (2-Hydroxy-4- methoxy-phenyl) -3, 4, 8, 12-tetramethyl-trideca-4, 7, 11-trien-1-one], together with one known compound, Kopetdaghin C, were isolated from the root of F. latisecta.Conclusion: In this research the structure of one new and one known sesquiterpene in the root of F.latisectawas elucidated.

Objective: In the present study, the antigenotoxic effect of disulfide compounds from Ferula persica on DNA damage in healthy rat lymphocytes induced by H2O2 was evaluated using single-cell electrophoresis (Comet assay). Sulfur containing compounds previously reported from F. persica, were persica sulfide A (PSA) and persica sulfide B (PSB). In our study two sulfur containing compounds were extracted and characterized by NMR.These two compounds were then identified as PSA and a new compound that after characterization was named persica sulfide C (PSC). Since the amount of extracted PSC was insufficient for comet assay, the antioxidant/ antigenotoxic effects of PSA were investigated alone.Materials and Methods: Effect of solutions containing 1, 10, 50, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 mM of PSA, these concentration and 250, 500, 750, 1000 mM of ascorbic acid in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) 25mM and 25, 50, 100 and 200 mM of H2O2 was tested on lymphocytes derived from the blood of healthy male Wistar rats (250-300 g), were measured by comet assay. The degree of damage to DNA after exposure to different solutions at 4° for 15 minutes was calculated based the amount of DNA present in the tail compared to the total amounts of lymphocyte DNA.Results: The results indicated that PSA did not have genetoxicity. And also it made a 50% reduction in DNA damage caused by H2O2 (EC 50) at the concentration 476.47 (360.28-630.13) μM. According to the calculated EC 50 for ascorbic acid [1399.23 (1054.27-1857.07)], it can be deduced that PSA is more potent than ascorbic acid in reduction of oxidative DNA damages Conclusion: It is concluted that PSA did not have genetoxicityeffect and prevented the oxidative DNA damage to rat lymphocytes.