Despite advances in molecular biology and biology of tumors, in techniques for cancer detection or in the development of target directed compounds, the treatment of cancer is still a challenge. Thus, although some leukemias are now often curable and breast cancer became a chronic illness after treatment, the prognostic for other neoplasias remain poor. These tumors initially respond to chemothe...

Synergism between water, ethanol and ethyl acetate extract of Melissa officinalis and five commonly used antibiotics (streptomycin, chloramphenicol, tetracycline, amoxicillin, rifamycine) were investigated by disc diffusion method in relation to antibiotic-susceptible and antibiotic resistant human-pathogenic bacteria. The total phenol content in the extracts were determined by Folin-Ciocalteau...

objective: the aim of the present study was to investigate the neuroprotective effects of melissa officinalis, a major antioxidant plant, against neuron toxicity in hippocampal primary culture induced by 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (mdma) or ecstasy, one of the most abused drugs, which causes neurotoxicity. materials and methods: 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2 thiazoyl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromid...

  Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that was characterized with deposit of beta amyloid (Aβ) aggregate in senile plaque. Oxidative damage to neurons and loss of cholinergic neurons in forebrain region are observed in this disease. Melissa officinalis is a medicinal plant from Lamiaceae family, used traditionally in the treatment of cognitive disorders. It has cholinomimeti...

Erva cidreira (Melissa officinalis) is a plant with sedative properties and in Brazil it has been used for insomnia and anxiety. It is also employed to stimulate liver functions and normalize menstruation and for intestinal constipation. The aim of this work was to evaluate the genotoxic and mutagenic effects of erva cidreira. Results indicate the presence of genotoxic activity in the lyophiliz...

The antifungal properties of some commercial plant waters obtained as side products in producing distilled oils were investigated. Paper disc samples were impregnated with various plant waters and exposed to wood decay fungi for 3 months in Petri dishes. Ten types of plant water (Laurus nobilis, Calluna vulgaris, Lavandula stoechas, Thymus vulgaris, Myrtus communis, Eucalyptus globulus, Mentha ...

Traditional hydrodistillation (HD), steam distillation extraction (SD), organic solvent extraction (SE), and microwave assisted hydrodistillation (MWHD) techniques were compared and evaluated for their effectiveness in the isolation of essential oil of Melissa officinalis from Algeria. The microwave assisted hydrodistillation technique was optimized in terms of both delivered power and time dur...