METHODS: Diabetes was induced by intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of streptozotocin (55 mg/kg) in to male Sprague-Dawley rats. Rats were divided into six different groups; normal control rats were not induced with STZ and served as reference, STZ diabetic control rats were given normal saline. Three groups were treated with OS aqueous extract at 0.2, 0.3 and 0.5 g/kg, orally twice daily continuously for 21 d. The fifth group was treated with glibenclamide (6 mg/kg) in aqueous solution orally continuously for 21 d. After completion of the treatment period, biochemical parameters and expression levels of glucose transporter 2 (Slc2a2), glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase) and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PCK1) were determined in liver by quantitative real time PCR.
RESULTS: Administration of OS at different doses to STZ induced diabetic rats, resulted in significant decrease (P<0.05) in blood glucose level in a dose dependent manner by 36%, 48%, and 64% at doses of 0.2, 0.3 and 0.5 g/kg, respectively, in comparison to the STZ control values. Treatment with OS elicited an increase in the expression level of Slc2a2 gene but reduced the expression of G6Pase and PCK1 genes. Morefore, OS treated rats, showed significantly lower levels of serum alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and urea levels compared to STZ untreated rats. The extract at different doses elicited signs of recovery in body weight gain when compared to STZ diabetic controls although food and water consumption were significantly lower in treated groups compared to STZ diabetic control group.
CONCLUSIONS: O. sumatrana aqueous extract is beneficial for improvement of hyperglycemia by increasing gene expression of liver Slc2a2 and reducing expression of G6Pase and PCK1 genes in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.
METHODS: A group of mice (n = 5) treated orally with a single dose (5000 mg/kg) of MEDL was first subjected to the acute toxicity study using the OECD 420 model. In the hepatoprotective study, six groups of rats (n = 6) were used and each received as follows: Group 1 (normal control; pretreated with 10% DMSO (extract's vehicle) followed by treatment with 10% DMSO (hepatotoxin's vehicle) (10% DMSO +10% DMSO)), Group 2 (hepatotoxic control; 10% DMSO +3 g/kg APAP (hepatotoxin)), Group 3 (positive control; 200 mg/kg silymarin +3 g/kg APAP), Group 4 (50 mg/kg MEDL +3 g/kg APAP), Group 5 (250 mg/kg MEDL +3 g/kg APAP) or Group 6 (500 mg/kg MEDL +3 g/kg APAP). The test solutions pre-treatment were made orally once daily for 7 consecutive days, and 1 h after the last test solutions administration (on Day 7th), the rats were treated with vehicle or APAP. Blood were collected from those treated rats for biochemical analyses, which were then euthanized to collect their liver for endogenous antioxidant enzymes determination and histopathological examination. The extract was also subjected to in vitro anti-inflammatory investigation and, HPLC and GCMS analyses.
RESULTS: Pre-treatment of rats (Group 2) with 10% DMSO failed to attenuate the toxic effect of APAP on the liver as seen under the microscopic examination. This observation was supported by the significant (p
METHODS AND RESULTS: The leaves of D. linearis were subjected to sonication-assisted extraction using hexane (HEX), dichloromethane, ethyl acetate and methanol (MeOH). It was found that only the MeOH fraction exhibited antimicrobial activity using broth microdilution assay; while all four fractions do not exhibit biofilm inhibition activity against S. aureusATCC 6538P, S. aureusATCC 43300, S. aureusATCC 33591 and S. aureusATCC 29213 using crystal violet assay. Among the four fractions tested, only the HEX fraction showed biofilm disrupting ability, with 60-90% disruption activity at 5 mg ml-1against all four S. aureus strains tested. Bioassay-guided purification of the active fraction has led to the isolation of α-tocopherol. α-Tocopherol does not affect the cells within the biofilms but instead affects the biofilm matrix in order to disrupt S. aureus biofilms.
CONCLUSIONS: α-Tocopherol was identified to be the bioactive component of D. linearis with disruption activity against S. aureus biofilm matrix.
SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The use of α-tocopherol as a biofilm disruptive agent might potentially be useful to treat biofilm-associated infections in the future.
METHODS: Water extract of B. orientale was used. Excision wound healing activity was examined on Sprague-Dawley rats, dressed with 1% and 2% of the water extract. Control groups were dressed with the base cream (vehicle group, negative control) and 10% povidone-iodine (positive control) respectively. Healing was assessed based on contraction of wound size, mean epithelisation time, hydroxyproline content and histopathological examinations. Statistical analyses were performed using one way ANOVA followed by Tukey HSD test.
RESULTS: Wound healing study revealed significant reduction in wound size and mean epithelisation time, and higher collagen synthesis in the 2% extract-treated group compared to the vehicle group. These findings were supported by histolopathological examinations of healed wound sections which showed greater tissue regeneration, more fibroblasts and angiogenesis in the 2% extract-treated group.
CONCLUSIONS: The ethnotherapeutic use of this fern is validated. The water extract of B. orientale is a potential candidate for the treatment of dermal wounds. Synergistic effects of both strong antioxidant and antibacterial activities in the extract are deduced to have accelerated the wound repair at the proliferative phase of the healing process.
Methods: Faeces were collected under the roost ofE. spelaeaonce a week from December 2015 to March 2016. Plant DNA was extracted from the faeces, Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplified atITS2andrbcLregions and mass sequenced. The resultant plant operational taxonomic units were searched against NCBI GenBank for identification.
Results: A total of 55 species of plants were detected from faeces ofE. spelaeaincludingArtocarpus heterophyllus, Duabanga grandifloraandMusaspp. which are likely to be important food resources for the cave nectar bat.
Discussion: Many native plant species that had not been reported in previous dietary studies ofE. spelaeawere detected in this study includingBauhinia strychnoideaandUrophyllum leucophlaeum, suggesting thatE. spelaearemains a crucial pollinator for these plants even in highly disturbed habitats. The detection of many introduced plant species in the bat faeces indicates thatE. spelaeaare exploiting them, particularlyXanthostemon chrysanthus,as food resources in urban area. Commercial food crops were detected from all of the faecal samples, suggesting thatE. spelaeafeed predominantly on the crops particularly jackfruit and banana and play a significant role in pollination of economically important plants. Ferns and figs were also detected in the faeces ofE. spelaeasuggesting future research avenues to determine whether the 'specialised nectarivorous'E. spelaeafeed opportunistically on other parts of plants.
AIM OF THE STUDY: To investigate the wound healing ability of a concentrated extract of B. orientale in a hydrogel formulation in healing diabetic ulcer wounds.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: The water extract from the leaves of B. orientale was separated from the crude methanolic extract and subjected to flash column chromatography techniques to produce concentrated fractions. These fractions were tested for phytochemical composition, tannin content, antioxidative and antibacterial activity. The bioactive fraction was formulated into a sodium carboxymethylcellulose hydrogel. The extract-loaded hydrogels were then characterized and tested on excision ulcer wounds of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Wound size was measured for 14 days. Histopathological studies were conducted on the healed wound tissues to observe for epithelisation, fibroblast proliferation and angiogenesis. All possible mean values were subjected to statistical analysis using One-way ANOVA and post-hoc with Tukey's T-test (P<0.05).
RESULTS: One fraction exhibited strong antioxidative and antibacterial activity. The fraction was also highly saturated with tannins, particularly condensed tannins. Fraction W5-1 exhibited stronger antioxidant activity compared to three standards (α-Tocopherol, BHT and Trolox-C). Antibacterial activity was also present, and notably bactericidal towards Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) at 0.25mg/ml. The extract-loaded hydrogels exhibited shear-thinning properties, with high moisture retention ability. The bioactive fraction at 4% w/w was shown to be able to close diabetic wounds by Day 12 on average. Other groups, including controls, only exhibited wound closure by Day 14 (or not at all). Histopathological studies had also shown that extract-treated wounds exhibited re-epithelisation, higher fibroblast proliferation, collagen synthesis, and angiogenesis.
CONCLUSION: The ethnopharmacological effects of using B. orientale as a topical treatment for external wounds was validated and was also significantly effective in treating diabetic ulcer wounds. Thus, B. orientale extract hydrogel may be presented as a potential treatment for diabetic ulcer wounds.