The essential oil of the leaves of Lippia citriodora H.B.K. (Verbenaceae) cultivated in Iran was analyzed by capillary GC, GC/MS and co-injection techniques. The major constituents were geraniol, 1-octen-3- ol,nerol, neral and limonene + 1,8- cineole.

Background: Lippia citriodora Kunth is one of the Iranian traditional medicines for the treatment of convulsive disorders. The goal of this study is to investigate the anticonvulsant activity of the plant’s leave ethanolic extract against electro‑ and chemoconvulsant‑induced seizures in mice.Methods: The anticonvulsant activity of the extract (200, 400, 800 mg/kg, per os, p.o.) was investigated in pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) and maximal electroshock (MES) ‑induced seizures in mice. Diazepam (1 mg/kg) and phenytoin (25 mg/kg) intraperitoneally (i.p.) were used as reference drugs. In addition, for investigating the role of GABAergic system, flumazenil (2 mg/kg, i.p.) was also injected before L. citriodora.Results: The extract had not any toxicity and significantly decreased the duration and increased the latency of the seizures induced by PTZ (90 mg/kg). In the MES test, L. citriodora displayed statistically significant reduction in hind limb tonic extension duration in a nondose‑dependent manner. Flumazenil reversed the anticonvulsant activity of the plant’s extract in the PTZ model.Conclusions: The results propose that L. citriodora leave ethanolic extract has anticonvulsant activity against convulsive disorders. It seems that this plant’s extract generates its antiseizure effect through GABAergic system potentiation. Further studies will be needed in order to investigate the exact mechanisms of it. Moreover, one may conclude that the present results are in accordance with the positive effect of L. citriodora extract to treat convulsion mentioned in old Iranian literature.

The family Verbenaceae, currently consists of Verbena and Phyla genera in different parts of Iran, especially northern provinces. The frame of this family has undergone significant changes in comparison with the previous references. For example, Vitex and Clerodendrum have been defined as the genera of this family in previous references. Accordingly, in this study, the relationship among these four genera has been evaluated using morphological and leaf anatomical characters of 20 samples. For this purpose, 67 qualitative and quantitative morphological and anatomical traits were used. The analysis of data was performed using R software ver. 4.3.1. For simultaneous analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, Factor Analysis of Mixed Data (FAMD) method was applied. The results of this study indicate the high value of some quantitative traits such as main vein xylem length, seed width, style length and blade width and some qualitative traits such as blade epidermal cells shape, stomata position, two arms of blade position in relation to each other, indumentum type, main vein epidermal cells shape, petal color, blade vascular bundles number, density of indumentum, leaf margin shape and stem branches length in the clustering of the genera. Totally, Analysis of data led to the separation of these genera. In accordance with the phylogenetic studies, Vitex and Clerodendrum show more affinity to each other and are separated from the currently native members of Verbenaceae in Iran, i.e. Verbena and Phyla.

Introduction: Genetic mutations have a significant role in causing cancers, and plants are effective on cancer recovery by producing metabolites. In this regard, the present study aimed to evaluate the Lantana camera anti-mutation effects applying Salmonella typhimurium in the Ames test. Methods: To this end, the plant was prepared from the Iran National Botanical Garden in 2018 (Tehran, Iran), and the methanolic extracts of its leaves and flowers were obtained by the percolation method. Then, anti-mutagenic activities were studied by the Ames method and the assessment of the rate of reverse mutations in mutant Salmonella typhimurium. Mutant strains cannot grow on minimal mineral media thus only those bacteria that have acquired a wild genotype after reverse mutation in the presence of the mutagen are able to grow on this medium. The plant extract, along with a mutagen substance was used to evaluate its anti-mutagenic effects by counting grown colonies and calculating the mean mutation inhibitory index according to the “ Ong” formula. Finally, anti-mutagenic activities were retested by adding the sterile extract of the mouse liver (S9 ), and the data were analyzed by SPSS statistical software, version 22. Results: In general, the results showed that the mean number of grown colonies decreased significantly despite the plant material in comparison with the standard. According to the “ Ong” formula, the percentage of inhibition was [1-T/M]×100. Based on the results, T grew a number of colonies on each petri dish despite the mutagen and extract, and M grew a number of colonies in positive control plates. Eventually, mutation inhibition percentages in leaf extracts were significantly higher than those of flower extracts, which were 75. 59 ± 0. 73 (+S9 ) and 84. 79 ± 0. 17 (-S9 ), as well as 49. 57 ± 0. 55 (+S9 ) and 62. 32 ± 0. 23 (-S9 ), respectively (P < 0. 05). Conclusion: In general, the leaves and flowers of L. camara demonstrated anti-mutagenic activities with higher activities in the leaves compared to flowers.

The volatile constituents of the aerial parts of vervain (Verbena officinalis L.) cultivated locally were investigated. Analysis of the volatile fraction by GC and GC-MS is described. Compounds were identified by various methods, the major compounds being 3-hexen-1-ol (7.28%), 1-octen-3-ol (32.76%), linalool (4.66%), verbenone (20.49%) and geranial (7.22%).

Introduction: Lemon herbena (Lippia citriodora) is a member of Verbenaceae family. This plant is endemic to South America and can growth in other areas, such as Iran. The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the chemical composition of the two production plants in the greenhouse and field of a lemon.Materials and Methods: Plants were cultivated in a Sarayan Ferdowsi area (south of Khorasan). Fourth kg of leaves was collected. Then, essential oil was extracted from fresh leaves using water and steam distillation. Finally, we treated PC12 cells with the essential oil that obtained from Lippia citriodora. The cell viability was evaluated by the MTT (3-[4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay.Results: Our results from GC-MS (Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry) method showed that greenhouse and field samples contained 0.68% and 0.62% (w/w), respectively. In addition, the data showed that the essential oil decreased oxidative stress-induced PC12 cell death.Conclusion: The results suggest that Lippia citriodora could be a potential candidate for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

In this study, aerial parts of Lippia citriodora Kunth were harvested at three phenological stages (i.e. vegetative, full flowering and fruit set). The essential oil isolated by hydro distillation for 3 h using a Clevenger-type apparatus and the oil was analyzed by GC and GC-MS. The yields of oils (w/w%) in different stages was in the order of: full flowering (0.9%), vegetative (0.48%) and fruit set (0.25%). In total, 13, 12 and 11 compounds of essential oil were identified in vegetative, full flowering and fruit set, respectively. The main compounds in three stages were geranial and neral. Geranial was highest at vegetative (33.7%) and lowest at full flowering (32.7%) stages. The highest and lowest neral content was observed at vegetative (26.1%) and fruit set (25.06%) stages, respectively.