Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Pharmacy - Department of Pharmacognosy

Cymbopogon is one of the largest genera in family poaceae. It is indigenous to tropical and sub-tropical regions of Asia, Africa and America. Cymbopogon citratus is one of the most important essential oil-bearing species of the genus. A botanical study of C. citratus leaves, culm, rhizome and roots was carried out. Phytochemical study of the leaves was performed including preliminary phytochemical screening, proximate analysis, UPLC-HRMS profiling of the secondary metabolites, quantitative estimation of the total phenolic and flavonoid contents, as well as investigation of the lipoidal composition. A biologically guided study of the leaf extracts revealed the prevalence of the ethanolic extract over the aqueous as neuroprotective in-vivo against AlCl3-induced alzheimer's disease through regression of the hallmark proteins, as well as oxidative stress and inflammatory mediators. Moreover, the Diaion 50% methanol fraction of the ethanolic extract was found the most active in-vitro both as antioxidant and acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. Chemical investigation of this fraction led, for the first time, to the isolation of luteolin-7-O-neohesperidoside and isoschaftoside from genus Cymbopogon, besides isoorientin and luteolin-7-O-glucoside. HPLC standardization of the active fraction was performed using the major detected phenolic acids and flavones as chemical markers

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