الفهرس 
Chapter 1 Literature ReviewOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Since ancient times, plants have been used in folk medicine as pharmaceuticals and thought to provide nutritional powers for people. The restorative plants in Egypt considered to be promising source of new medications for the treatment of many human infections. Many studies have illustrated that restorative plants are sources for different bioactive compounds that have antimicrobial properties and can protect the human body from oxidative stress caused by free radicals This study was carried out to investigate the various constituents of the air-dried aerial parts of Pulicaria incisa plant belonging to family Asteraceae and consumed in the Egyptian folk medicine. It was recorded in South Sinai at Saint Catherine protectorate in Egypt. This plant species was used in traditional medicine by natives of upper Egypt and by Bedouins as a decoction, tea substitute and for treatment of heart diseases, neurodegenerative diseases and as hypoglycemic agent. This study presented primary metabolites composition of the plant (fats, proteins, carbohydrates, ash), secondary phytochemicals present in the different prepared extracts including total phenolics, total flavonoids, saponins, alkaloids and terpenoids, antioxidant activity of the extracts using diphenyl picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) assay, antimicrobial activity using Disc diffusion method, minimal inhibitory concentration and minimal bactericidal and fungicidal concentrations, the essential oils and fatty content in this plant material in addition to its allelopathic activity. The plant contained reasonable content of crude lipids, crude proteins and relatively high content of total carbohydrates. The obtained results showed that the aerial parts of P. incisa contain appreciable levels of nutritive content considering that the nutritional value of P. incisa leaves is within appreciable limit to be used in feeding stuffs (275.44 kcal/100 g dry weight). Fourteen solvents (cold water, 70o C water, 100o C water, methanol, 80% methanol, 40% methanol, absolute ethanol, 80% ethanol, 40% ethanol, acetone, ethyl acetate, diethyl ether, petroleum ether and hexane) with different degrees of polarity were used for extraction of the active ingredients present in the tested plant material. There were variable differences in the extraction yield between the different extraction solvents. The highest extraction yield was with ethanol, methanol and water extracts while the lowest yield was in hexane and petroleum ether extracts.