Home > Evaluation of Biological Potential, Elemental Profiling and Gcms Based Metabolomics of Some Selected Grasses of Bahawalpur, Punjab Province, Pakistan
Evaluation of Biological Potential, Elemental Profiling and Gcms Based Metabolomics of Some Selected Grasses of Bahawalpur, Punjab Province, Pakistan
Pakistan is enriched with natural flora comprising of unique wild and cultivated species utilized predominately by humans and animals. Bahawalpur region is in one of the nine divisions of the Punjab province in Pakistan established near the Sutlej River and comprises of many valuable species including grasses. Grasses possess remarkable economic and medicinal importance. All the cereal crops (maize, wheat, rice, barley) are also cultivated grasses. Many grasses are also used as a source of medicines as these are cheap, non-toxic and easily accessible. Hence, it is of keen interest to explore the native grasses of Bahawalpur region so that they can be used as a source of medicine and dietary fibre.In the present study, seventeen grasses were selected and their extracts were prepared in four solvents depending upon the polarity. Biological potential, elements and volatile compounds present in these extracts were evaluated. Initially, phytochemical tests were done to confirm the presence of different secondary metabolites. Total phenolic and flavonoid contents were determined spectrophotometrically which were detected in all extracts in varying concentrations. Highest phenolic contents were displayed in the methanol extracts of Ochthocloa compressa and Saccharum spontaneum (263.345 ± 16.35 mg GAE/g and 242.071 ± 20.63 mg GAE/g) while highest flavonoids contents were found in the ethanol extract of D. annulatum (47.023 mg QE/g) and the methanol extract of C. citratus (38.887 ± 2.19 mg QE/g). Antioxidant potential was determined via six different methods and the activity index was calculated. Results revealed that species which showed highest phenolic and flavonoid contents also exhibit highest antioxidant potential.Similarly, antimicrobial potential of all selected extracts was checked using disc diffusion assay which revealed somewhat weak to moderate antimicrobial potential against selected pathogens. So, cytotoxic potential was carried out to observe the toxicity potential of selected species. Among all species, O. compressa n-hexane extract showed highest cytotoxic potential with LC50 value of 2.80 µg/mL. All other species also displayed remarkable cytotoxic potential against brine shrimps. DNA damage protection assay was performed which revealed that ethanol and methanol extracts were more ix effective against DNA damage protection while acetone and n-hexane extracts did not show good activity. All inclusive, methanol extracts displayed significant biological potential as compared to the other extracts so they were further selected to examine antihemolytic potential of the plants. Methanol extracts of C. citratus (96.163 % inhibition), S. spontaneum (94.667 % inhibition), O. compressa (65.821 % inhibition) and D. annulatum (60.423 % inhibition) showed remarkable anti-hemolytic potential. Antihemolyticpotential of these species was found to be linked with the antioxidant potential and phenolic and flavonoid compounds. Strong anti-hemolytic and antioxidant activity of these plants suggests promising role in treating different diseases.Moreover, elemental profiling was done using ICP-MS and metabolomic studies were carried out using GC-MS. Results revealed the presence of seven essential and eighteen non-essential elements. Essential elements were found in decreasing order of potassium > magnesium > sodium > calcium > iron > manganese > zinc. Most of the non-essential elements were present within the permissible limit set by WHO which showed that the species are safe to use. GC-MS studies revealed the presence of more than 100 compounds in different concentrations. Decane (4.136 minutes) and m-cresol (5.46 minutes) were noted at minimum retention time in most of the species while Z-9hexadecenal (29.44 minutes) and 8, 11, 14-docosatrienoic acid, methyl ester (29.421 minutes) were identified at maximum retention time in most of the species. Total seventeen fatty acids and almost eighty-one different hydrocarbons were identified. Besides these, some monoterpenoids and diterpenoids were also detected in some species. Some of these compounds are known to possess cytotoxic potential while some of these compounds exhibit antimicrobial and antioxidant potential. Hence, these compounds are considerably involved in biological activities.In the end, individual organs of three species (S. halepense, D. annulatum and I. cylindrica) were investigated for further cell wall analysis. Acid-digestion of cell wall fractions revealed that xylose, arabinose, glucose and some traces of galactans are present more strongly in the aerial parts of selected species than the underground parts. Lichenase digestion confirmed that cellotrisoses exceeds cellotetroses and cellobioses in the cell wall of grasses. Dot-blot assay was done using eight commercial antibodies and comparison was made among dialysed and non-dialysed samples. Results revealed that x MLG, xylans, xyloglucans, arabinoxylan and glucoronoxylan were abundantly present in the sodium hydroxide extracts of non-dialysed samples while pachyman and mannan were not detected in significant concentrations. Some galactans were noted in the imidazole extracts of all fractions which showed the presence of pectins. Dialysed samples were not found effective to isolate hemi-celluloses from the fractions. Altogether, aerial parts possess more hemi-celluloses than the underground parts of plants.It is concluded that among all selected grass species, C. citratus, S. spontaneum, O. compressa and D. annulatum possess significant antioxidant, anti-hemolytic and cytotoxic potential. Overall, all species exhibited a variety of elements and compounds which are responsible for their biological activities. Moreover, these species can also be used as a biological marker. Cell wall analysis confirmed the presence of glycans in the aerial parts of plants which can be used as a dietary fibre and in different fibre industries. In future, in vivo studies should be carried out to confirm the medicinal value of these plants and compound isolation and microarray based profiling should be done to confirm the presence of non-volatile compounds and cell wall glycans.
عبدالرحمان ناصر اصلاحی افسوس، مدرسۃ الاصلاح اور جامعہ ملیہ اسلامیہ کے تعلق کی ایک اہم یادگارنہ رہی، مولانا عبدالرحمان ناصر اصلاحی جامعی کی قریب ایک صدی کی حیات مستعار پوری ہوئی، اناﷲ، ان کی شخصیت کی طرح ان کا قلم بڑا شگفتہ تھا، پروفیسر عبداللطیف اعظمی کے ہم درس تھے اور ڈاکٹر ذاکر حسین اور پروفیسر مجیب جیسے نامور اساتذہ سے اکتساب فیض کیا تھا، پروفیسر خلیل الرحمان اعظمی کے ہم وطن بھی تھے اور ہمدم وہم ساز بھی، جب تک صحت نے ساتھ دیا، دارالمصنفین آتے جاتے رہے، اب وہ اﷲ تعالیٰ کے جوار رحمت میں ہیں، قارئین سے بھی مغفرت کی دعاؤں کی درخواست ہے۔ (عبد السلام قدوائی، جنوری ۲۰۰۹ء)
Every year heads of different states make their speeches in the general debate of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). They address national and international issues and suggest measures to resolve them with the help of international community and the United Nations. Muhammad Nawaz Sharif also made speeches in the UNGA. In 2013, he was newly elected prime minister and was enthusiastic to resolve issues with India. There was no internal political pressure on him at that time and the government in India was hostile towards Pakistan. But one year in power and embattled with domestic issues and international pressure, the prime minster approached the issues differently in his 2014 speech. The aim of this paper is to compare his two speeches and see what changes occurred in his stance towards India. The main focus of the analysis is: Who is the addressee of these speeches? How confident did Nawaz feel about the solution of the issues that he raised. The Corpus tool Wmatrix has been used to analyze the data. The results show significant differences in his two speeches with regard to his stance towards India.
This dissertation study aims to the investigation of new biosorbent from locally available low cost agriculture material, rice husk, for scavenging of heavy metals especially precious and rare earth metals. Rice husk was treated with NaOH solution to check the effect of modification on metal ions adsorption. Rice husks treated and virgin were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometry, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy dispersive X- Ray (EDX) and Brunner EmmetTeller (BET) techniques. The rice husk (RH) & NaOH treated rice husk (TRH) were characterized by various physico-chemical methods like porosity, bulk density, ash, volatile and moisture contents, pHPZC, pH and methylene blue surface area measurements. The determined surface area of RH was 47.91 and TRH was 272.06 m2 g−1 by methylene blue method whereas BET surface area was 1.03 for RH and 2.53 m2g−1 for TRH. From the comparison of FTIR spectra of RH and TRH and metals loaded adsorbent, it was found that metals ions mostly attached with the oxygen and silicon containing functional groupsThus OH, −COOH, O CH3 and Si−O−Si, functional groups play vital role in the adsorptive removal of heavy metals ions from aqueous solutions. SEM analysis showed that RH and TRH possess rough and porous structures and the morphological difference between them revealed that the NaOH treatment created large and wide pores making TRH more rough and porous material. The pore size for untreated rice husk was 100-108 nm and for treated rice husk was 355.57 to 1220 nm confirming macro porous structure of the adsorbent. SEM exhibited the morphological changes on the adsorbent surface after metal ions adsorption and were confirmed by EDX analysis by the presences of these metal ions on the adsorbent surface. Various physico-chemical parameters such as pH, mineral acid concentrations (HNO3, HCl, H2SO4 and HClO4), amount of adsorbent, contact time, initial metal ions concentration and temperature have been optimized for maximum removal of metal ions from aqueous media by rice husk employing batch mode. The removal of metal ions were quantitative within a short contact time of 10 - 25 minutes for all metal ions (Ag, Cs, Cu, Co, Ni, Th, La and Ce). Maximum adsorption of silver and cerium was observed in 1 × 10-2 mol L-1 of nitric acid solution whereas maximum adsorption in case of thorium, nickel, lanthanum and caesium was found in 1 × 10-2 mol L-1 nitric acid solution. The adsorption data obtained by the variation of equilibrium time was applied to various kinetic models. Pseudo second order was the best fitted kinetic model for the adsorption of precious and rare earth metal ions. Mechanism of metal ions uptake was verified by applying intra-particle, liquid film and Elovich models. The adsorption data of metal ions on rice husk obeyed the Freundlich, Langmuir and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm equations. Adsorption capacities of rice husk for all these metal ions were calculated form their linear and nonlinear forms. Regression coefficient ‗R2‘ and Chi square test ‗χ2‘ were used as the criteria for the best fit of adsorption isotherm models. The adsorption capacities of the rice husk obtained by the Freundlich isotherm were compared with the reported adsorption capacities of various adsorbents and rice husk was found better adsorbent for the removal of these metal ions from aqueous media. The sorption free energies determined by D-R isotherm confirmed chemisorption type of adsorption of metal ions on rice husk having numerical values in a range of 10.16 – 22.43 kJ mol−1 for the metal ions in this study. The adsorption processes were found to be endothermic in nature with positive values of ∆H in a range of 3 839 – 31.016 kJ mol−1 and ∆S values (16 839 – 115.764 J mol−1 K−1) confirmed increase in randomness at the solid-solution interface by the fixation of metal ions on the rice husk. The increased numerical values of ∆G with rise in temperature indicates that the adsorption process of metal ions ( Cu, Co, Ag, Ni, Cs, Th, La and Ce) on rice husk becomes more favourable at higher temperatures. Sticking probabilities and activation energies of all metal ions system favour the chemisorption nature of interactions with rice husk. The adsorption of metal ions occurs in the presence of a variety of anions and cations. Regeneration of adsorbent and recovery of metal ions were performed by using different concentrations of nitric acid. The developed procedures were successfully applied to the spiked tap water samples by removing the metal ions under optimized conditions. The maximum metal ions removal was obtained in two steps under optimized conditions. On the basis of this study it was concluded that abundantly and locally available inexpensive rice husk has great potential to be utilized for the removal of precious and rare earth metal ions from bulk aqueous solutions for the safe disposal of industrial as well as radioactive effluents and will provide an alternative solution to minimize environmental damages caused by these metal ions.