Lignosus rhinocerotis mushroom is widely used as traditional medicine and as soup ingredient in Malaysia and Hong Kong. Its sclerotium is the part of edibility and is traditionally used for the treatment of fever, cough, asthma and cancer. In view of its safety profile, very little information is found in scientific literature.
In this study, freeze-dried water extract from the leaves of Myristica fragrans (Houtt.) was tested for mutagenic and antimutagenic potentials using the Allium cepa assay. Freeze-dried water extract alone and its combination with cyclophosphamide (CP) (50 mg/kg) were separately dissolved in tap water at 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 mg/kg. Onions (A. cepa) were suspended in the solutions and controls for 48 h in the dark. Root tips were prepared for microscopic evaluation. 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radicals' scavenging power of the extract was tested using butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) as standards. Water extract of Myristica fragrans scavenged free radicals better than BHA, but worse than BHT. The extract alone, as well as in combination with CP suppressed cell division, and induced chromosomal aberrations that were insignificantly different from the negative control (P ≤ 0.05). However, cytotoxic and mutagenic actions of CP were considerably suppressed. The observed effects on cell division and chromosomes of A. cepa may be principally connected to the antioxidant properties of the extract. The obtained results suggest mitodepressive and antimutagenic potentials of water extract of the leaves of M. fragrans as desirable properties of a promising anticancer agent.
The aim of this study was to evaluate Tualang honey as a supplement to fetal bovine serum in cell cultures using MTT assay, chromosome aberration test and gene expression analyses. The MTT assay showed the highest percentage of cell proliferation (105.3% increment than control) of human osteoblast cell line (CRL 1543) in 0.0195% honey in Dulbecco's modified eagle medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and 1% penicillin/streptomycin. There was enhanced cell proliferation corresponding to the decrease in concentrations of honey as indicated by the mitotic index values when the osteoblast cell line was incubated at 37 degrees C for 48 hours. There were no chromosome aberrations both in the honey treated as well as distilled water treated (negative control) cell lines. In the case of gene expression analyses, fibroblast cell lines (CCL 171) were treated with honey (0.0195%) for 24 and 48 hours separately. Though there was over expression for the bcl-xl gene at both 24 and 48 hours, under expression for bcl-xs gene at 24 hours and over expression at 48 hours and under expression for both c-myc and p53 genes at both 24 and 48 hours, none of them were statistically significant in altering the expression of mRNA.
The role of diets in causing cancers necessitates the ongoing search for natural antimutagens of promising anticancer therapeutics. This study determined the potential anticancer efficacy of the leaf extract of Myristica fragrans (Houtt.). Methanol leaf extract of M. fragrans (Houtt.) alone was screened for mutagenicity in the bacterial reverse mutation (Ames) test, using the Salmonella typhimurium TA100 strain, the Allium cepa, and the mouse in vivo bone marrow micronucleus tests. The antimutagenicity of this extract against benzo[a]pyrene- and cyclophosphamide-induced mutations was evaluated. An antioxidant test on the extract was performed with 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, using butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) as the standards, whereas its phytochemicals were elucidated by following the gas chromatography/mass spectrometry protocol. In S. typhimurium (TA100), the mutagenicity ratio at 200,500 and 1,000 µg/well was >2. Cell division in the A. cepa root tips and mouse bone marrow was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) inhibited at 2,000 and 4,000 mg/kg, whereas the observed chromosomal aberrations and micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes were non-dose-related and were insignificantly (P ≥ 0.05) different from the negative control. Inhibition of benzo[a]pyrene- and cyclophosphamide-induced mutagenicity by this extract was above 40%. Half-maximal inhibitory concentration of the extract in the antioxidant test was lower than that of BHA and BHT. Phytochemical compounds, possessing antioxidant activity, may be responsible for the observed effects, suggesting a strong antimutagenic activity of the MeOH leaf extract of M. fragrans, a necessary characteristic of a promising anticancer agent.