Abstract Book - 3rd International Symposium on Medicinal Plants ...

The 3 rd <strong>International</strong> <strong>Symposium</strong> on Medicinal Plants, their Cultivation and Aspects of Uses
Topic (2): The Ethno-Pharmacological Studies on Medicinal Plants
2.1 Traditional Medicine in Jordan and Newly Discovered Biological
Activities of Some Medicinal Plants
Afifi, Fatma U.
Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Jordan, Queen Rania AlAbdullah Street, Amman 11942, Jordan
<strong>Abstract</strong>: Obesity is a major risk factor for cardiovascular, metabolic and endocrine disorders.
The potential of developing successful lipid lowering phytochemicals from natural resources with
anti-pancreatic lipase activity is poorly investigated. Presently, we have screened the crude
aqueous extracts of a total of 12 medicinal plants, some of their aerial parts as well as isolated
pure compounds- belonging to 9 different families, for their in vitro pancreatic lipase inhibitory
propensities. Interestingly, none of these plants is used traditionally for their hypolipidemic activity.
A colorimetric methodology was employed to evaluate the release of p-nitrophenol from p-
nitrophenol butyrate substrate by pancreatic lipase catalytic activity. Enzyme activity was defined
as an increase of absorbance per minute. Orlistat, as a reference drug, demonstrated a
pronounced pancreatic lipase inhibition with an IC 50 of 1.13 ± 0.3 ng/ml. The most active plant
extracts showed an IC 50 range of 27.3 ±9.7 g/ml to 120±15.2 g/ml. Most notably, some
differences in potency were detected among the different parts of the same active plant. Moreover,
the isolated pure compounds, such as quercetin, rutin and β-sitosterol, exhibited much more
pronounced inhibitory effect on pancreatic lipase compared to their active crude plant extracts.
The screening and optimization of safe and effective phyochemicals as potential lipid lowering
agents would provide an excellent adjunctive therapy to the established pharmacological agents in
management of obesity and its complications. Phytochemicals can modulate different stages of
the adipocyte life cycle or adipogenesis. Novel phytochemical strategies may be formulated
thereby translating active plant inclusion in healthy diet to the clinical practice for
treatment/prevention of obesity
Key words: Biological activities, Jordan, medicinal plants, traditional medicin
2.2 The Effect of Topical Application of Extra Virgin Olive Oil on Alleviating
Knee Pain in Patients with knee Osteoarthritis
Almalty Abdul-Majeed, Hamed Saja, and AbuTariah Hashem
Physical and Occupational Therapy Department, Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan
<strong>Abstract</strong>: To investigate the effects of topical application of extra virgin olive oil on the pain of
osteoarthritic knee (s) and compare it with NSAID gel. Thirty patients with knee(s) osteoarthritis
(Mean±SD, age=60.1±6.6, weight=85.4±5.5Kgs, height=169.4±5.6cm and BMI=29.8±2.1, 16
females and 14 males) were divided into three groups; Group A (n=10) treated with topical
application of olive oil and exercise, group B (n=10) received topical non-steroidal antiinflammatory
drugs (Ketoprofen gel) over the knee(s) and exercise, and group (C) received
therapeutic exercise only. Topical olive oil (3ml) and ketoprofen gel (3 cm 2 ) were applied three
times a day followed by therapeutic exercise for groups A and B respectively. Group C only
received therapeutic exercise as the other two groups three times a day. VAS and WOMAC index
measurement were taken at baseline and after two weeks of treatment. All groups showed
significant improvement (p0.05), however, both groups significantly experienced less pain than
group C (p