Phytochemical and Anti-inflammatory Studies of Some Asteraceae Plants

The objective of this study is concerned to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity, as well as the toxicological effects of plants used in Egyptian traditional medicine as remedies for inflammation and belonging to family Asteraceae, aiming to produce safe and biologically active natural products. The selected plants are dried flowers of Matricaria recutita L., fresh leaves and flowers of Ageratum conyzoides L., fresh leaves and dried seeds of Lactuca sativa L., and dried aerial parts of Taraxacum officinale Web. This study also includes:Phytochemical study,Proximate analysis of the plants under investigation, Preliminary phytochemical screening to find out the different chemical constituents,Preparation of the volatile oil of the investigated plants,Preparation of successive extracts of the investigated plants and determination of the physical and chemical characters of each plant,phytochemical study of the most active extracts and/or fractions,isolation, identification and structure elucidation of the main components of the most bioactive fractions.