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In this research, plant morphology and pollen micromorphology of 14 populations of 3 species belonging to two sections Plethiosphace and Hemisphace of Salvia genus in Iran were studied. In the morphological study 25 quantitative and qualitative characters were investigated and the results clearly separated the species into two groups. The pollen grains from the herbarium specimens were prepared by acetolysis method and then 4 quantitative characters were examined by light microscopy. Data was processed by principal component analysis method. Results indicated that although the pollen grains in the section were comparatively homogenous and all of them were 6-colpate with reticulate ornamentation, a considerable variation in the quantitative characters studied turned out to exist. However among the characters studied, equatorial and polar diameters of pollen grains were the most significant and based on these characters the members of these sections can be divided into two groups.

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Trigonella L. is one of the important genera of the family Fabaceae, many species of which have nutritional and medicinal properties. In this investigation, morphological characters related to habit and pollen grain of three Trigonella species i.e., T. disperma, T. subenervis and T. aphanoneura were studied. Oils from the aerial parts of two species were investigated by GC and GC/MS methods and compared with T. disperma, which had been studied in advance. T. subenervis represented oils rich in spathulenol (15.1%). It also contained a small amount of germacrene D (0.6%). T. aphanoneura also represented oils rich in spathulenol (10.4%). The amount of four compounds in this species was ≤1%, and n-octyl acetate was the lowest component in quantity. According what we found out, phytochemical and morphological data could clarify the relationships among the Trigonellaspecies better than pollen morphological data

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In this study the morphological and micromorphologcal characters of Ranunculus Sect. Batrachium species in Iran have been investigated. The characters describe leaf, petal and fruit, in addition to pollen grains in four species of the genus including, R. sphaerospermus Boiss. & Blanche, R. trichophyllum Chaix ex. Vill., R. rionii Lagger and R. peltatus Schrank. Pollen grains were tricolpate and had species-specific shapes. The sculpture of the exine was echinnate in all of the species studied. Seven morphological characters have been studied using statistical methods and SPSS software has been used in order to group the species. These analyses indicated that R. sphaerospermus was a valid species and very similar to R. peltatus. Also, intraspecific diversity in R. trichophyllum was confirmed by statistical methods

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The cosmopolitan genus salvia L. (Lamiaceae) consists of nearly 1000 species distributed throughout the Old and New Worlds. America and South- West of Asia are the two most important distribution centers. Of the 70 species reported in the flora Iranica area nearly 56 species belong to Iran. This investigation deals with the morphology of Salvia. The morphological studies were performed on 36 populations of 11 species which grow in Central Alborz Mo-untains. In this analysis 42 quality and quantity characters were used. The results of this analysis have been used for the preparation of the identification key. Clustering, cladistics and PCA ordination reveals the relationships of the species in this genus.

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In order to investigate the differences in the shape of the big-head and two morphotypes of Phytophagous fish by geometric morphometric technique, 30 samples of each group, with a mean standard length of 25 ± 3 cm, were prepared. After fish were anesthetized by 1% Clove powder extract and stabilized in formalin buffer 4%, 6-megapixel digital images of the left profile of the specimens were prepared. A total of 17 morphological landmarks were digitized by tpsDig2 software and the tps files were prepared. All non-shaped data were removed from landmark coordinates by generalized procrustes analysis. After the approval of regression between shape space and tangent space, data were analyzed using Principal Component (PCA), Canonical Variation (CVA) and Cluster Analyzes (CA) methods in PAST and TPS series. According to the results, the head length and height, the size of dorsal fin, the length of pre ventral distance, the height of caudal peduncle and the degree of posterior position of the pectoral fin in bighead carp, are some of the distinctive morphological features among species, mainly related to their ecological niche (specially feeding strategies). In the case of silver carp variants, the posterior position of pectoral fin base in silver carp-R that is close to bighead carp, may be due to hybridization between bighead carp and silver carps.
 

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Pterocephalus (Caprifoliaceae) consists of 30 species worldwide, mainly distributed in the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, of which 14 species were reported from Iran, including five endemic ones. In this study, 35 leaf-related traits and 30 peduncle-related traits were investigated by light microscopy of 15 samples from 11 Iranian species of Ptreocephalus. Our results showed that there were two types of midrib, six types of leaf indumentum and five types of peduncle indumentum. Crystalized calcium oxalate was observed in the leaves and peduncles of most species except in P. plumosus and P. brevis. The profiles of the peduncles were hexagonal, circular or elliptical. The vascular cylinder shape varied from circular to sinuate form. P. wendelboi, with a very different morphology as compared with other species, also exhibited different anatomical characters. The hexagonal sections of peduncle in P. ghahremanii and P. kurdicus and two samples of P. szovitsii were found to be very similar. However, the mentioned characters were found to be less informative or charachterisation of other species. In conclusion, the results showed that the anatomical characters of the leaves and peduncles might have some taxonomic importance in the identification of some species of the genus Pterocephalus.
 
 
 

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Cisplatin, as a chemotherapy drug, causes serious side effects in the advanced stages of the cancer. Recently, Artemisia has been considered for its bioactive compounds, anti-proliferative and anti-inflammatory effects. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-cancer and anti-metastatic effects of the methanolic extract of aerial organs of Artemisia and cisplatin, either alone or in combination, in human ovarian cancer cell line A2780. The viability of A2780 cells after treatment with Artemisia extract, cisplatin and their combination was evaluated by MTT assay and the alterations in the morphology of the cell nuclei were examined by DAPI staining. The induction of apoptosis was assessed by Annexin V test, cell migration and changes in expression levels of apoptotic genes (Bax and P53) and metastasis (MMP2 and MMP9) using real-time PCR. MTT test data showed that Artemisia extract, cisplatin and their combination decreased the viability of ovarian cancer cells. DAPI and Annexin V indicated the DNA fragmentation and increased percentage of cellular apoptosis in comparison with the control group. The migration and real-time PCR data showed a decline in thr cell invasion and expression of genes involved in metastasis (MMP2 and MMP9) in cancer cells while the expression of apoptotic genes (Bax and P53) was increased in the treated groups. The results of this study showed that while both Artemisia extract and cisplatin posses anti-proliferative effect, apoptotic and suitable anti-metastatic effects on their own in A2780 cell line, their combination have synergic effects and posses those desired properties in lower concentration of cisplatin, which can reduce the side effects of cisplatin in cancer treatment.