IN VIVO ORAL TOXICOLOGICAL STUDIES OF NUFERA® VIRGIN COCONUT OIL
AHMAD H. IBRAHIM1, KHAIRUL ANNUAR ZIT2, SAWSAN S. AL-RAWI3, MOHAMED B KHADEER AHAMED1 AND AMIN MALIK SHAH ABDUL MAJID1
1Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences,
Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
2Genomelife Sdn. Bhd. (709881-A), E-2 Blok E, Excella Business Park, Jalan Ampang Putra, Taman Ampang Hilir, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
3Department of Environmental Technology, School of Industrial Technology,
Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Justification: Nufera is a trade mark for commercially available edible coconut oil supplied by Genomelife Sdn. Bhd., which is being utilised by a large population of people in Malaysia. It is extracted through fermentation process. Primarily, it is extracted from the kernel of matured coconut. Coconut oil has various applications in food, medicine, and industry.
Objectives: The present study aims to determine the safety of Nufera® virgin coconut oil by determining its possible harmful or noxious effects after acute and subchronic administration in Sprague-Dawley rats.
Materials and Methods: Acute and subchronic tests were the principle experiment conducted at EMAN test laboratory, USM, following the OECD guidelines. In acute toxicity test, up and down method (limit dose) was conducted. A single dose of 5000 mg/kg of the Nufera® virgin coconut oil (VCO) was given orally to 5 healthy female adult rats. The rats were observed for mortality and clinical signs for 3 h and then periodically for 14 days. While in the subchronic toxicity study, a daily dose (175, 550 and 2000 mg/kg) of Nufera® VCO was administered orally to 3 different groups of female and male rats, respectively for 28 days. At the end of experiment, all animals were euthanised, followed by gross necropsy, histopathology of vital organs and hematology.
Results: The results showed that, in acute toxicity study, Nufera® VCO at a dose of 5000 mg/kg caused neither visible signs of toxicity nor mortality. All five rats were healthy throughout the experiment and survived until the end of observation period. In subchronic toxicity, administration of the Nufera® VCO at 175, 550 and 2000 mg/kg for 28 days did not produce any mortality and there were no significant differences in the general condition, growth, organ weights, hematological parameters, clinical chemistry values, or gross and microscopic appearance of the organs from the treatment groups as compared to the control group. The LD50 for the Nufera® VCO is found to be more than 5000 mg/kg body weight whereas, the observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) was found to be 2000 mg/kg per day for 28 days.
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Implication: It can be concluded that, Nufera® VCO did not cause any mortality nor did it cause abnormalities in necropsy and histopathology findings. There were no acute or subchronic toxicity observed and the Nufera® VCO is devoid of any adverse risk. Hematological and histological observations reveal some considerable enhancement of general health of the animals with respect to their growth and food intake. Nufera® VCO possessed bioenhancement effect that requires further in depth study to investigate the action of its mechanism.
PHARMACOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF NARDOSTACHYS JATAMANSI FOR ITS SPASMOLYTIC, BRONCHODILATOR, VASODILATOR AND PLATELET AGGREGATION INHIBITORY ACTIVITIES
ASHFAQ AHMAD1, KHALID HUSSAIN JANBAZ2, ANWARUL HASSAN GILANIA3, MALIK HASSAN MEHMOOD3, MUNNAVVAR ZUBAID ABDUL SATTAR1 AND HASSAAN A. RATHORE1
1School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
2Faculty of Pharmacy, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan
3Natural Product Research Division, Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences,
The Aga Khan University Medical College, Karachi 74800, Pakistan
Introduction: The dried roots and rhizomes of Nardostachys jatamansi DC, commonly known as maskroot, have been found to have many traditional uses. The infusion of the roots has been used to help treat mental disorders, insomnia, and disorder of the blood and circulatory systems. In the native systems, the medicinal plant has been mentioned as having hepatotonic, cardiotonic, diuretic and analgesic properties. Scientific investigations on N. jatamansi revealed its antibacterial and antifungal activities. It is also found to be effective in the prevention of cognitive impairment and neuro-degeneration. Plants roots were reported as possessing antioxidant, analgesic and antimalarial activities. Although not supported by scientific data, this plant is traditionally believed to be effective in treating gastrointestinal tract ailments, asthma, blood pressure and platelet aggregation inhibition.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the traditional use of N. jatamansi for its spasmolytic, bronchodilator, vasodilator and platelet aggregation inhibition activities.
Materials and Methods: The spasmolytic activity of N. jatamansi was investigated on isolated tissues of rabbit jejunum and guinea pig ileum. Spasmolytic activities were confirmed both by in vitro and in vivo methods. Bronchodilator activity was validated by using isolated tissue rings of the rabbit trachea. Vasorelaxant effect was confirmed by using aorta of rats and rabbits while platelet aggregation inhibition was confirmed by using the human blood sample.
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Results: The phytochemical investigations on methanolic extract of dried rhizomes of N. jatamansi exhibited saponins, flavonoides, terpines, sterols, tannins and anthraqinones, among the detected constituents of plant. The investigations on isolated tissue preparations revealed that crude methanolic extract of N. jatamansi exerted non-specific relaxant effect against high K+ (rabbit jejunum, rabbit aorta, rat aorta and rabbit trachea); phenylephrine (rabbit aorta and rat aorta); and carbachol (rabbit trachea)-induced contractions possibly mediated through Ca+2-channel blocking mechanisms. The crude methanolic extract of the plant was also found to exert gastrointestinal muscle relaxant activity since it was shown to have demonstrated antidiarrhoeal effect against castor oil-induced diarrhoea in mice. These findings validate the vernacular use of the rhizomes of N. jatamansi DC in gastrointestinal, cardiovascular and respiratory ailments channel blocking mechanism. ADP induced platelet aggregation was inhibited by Nj. Cr.
Conclusion: The present investigation can be concluded that N. jatamansi exhibited relaxant effect on gastrointestinal and bronchiolar smooth muscles possibly mediated through multiple modes of action but mainly blockade of Ca+2 channels is presumably involved. The relaxant activity on gastrointestinal muscle was reflected as crude plant extract caused inhibition of castor oil-induced diarrhoea in mice. The crude plant extract caused inhibition of ADP-induced platelets aggregation.
SYNERGISTIC HYPOGLYCEMIC AND ANTIHYPERGLYCEMIC ACTIVITY OF VERNONIA AMYGDALINA AND AZADIRACHTA INDICA
ITEM J. ATANGWHO1, 2, PATRICK E. EBONG1, MOHD ZAINI ASMAWI2 AND MARIAM AHMAD2
1Department of Biochemistry, College of Medical Sciences, University of Calabar,
P.M.B. 1115, Calabar, Nigeria
2School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
The synergistic hypoglycemic and antihyperglycemic activity of Vernonia amygdalina (VA) and Azadirachta indica (AI) was evaluated in this study, with a view to scientifically validate the practice of combining these herbs as a management for diabetes in traditional medicine. We therefore, monitored daily changes in blood glucose and body weight of streptozotocin-induced diabetic (SDR) and non diabetic (NDR) rats treated with the combined extracts (100 mg/kg b.w. each of VA and AI, p.o) and insulin (Humulin, 5 units/kg b.w., s.c) for 28 days. Glucose levels in whole blood, serum and liver-whole-homogenate (LWH) were assayed, along with serum α-amylase activity in SDR and NDR at the end of the 28 days. Results showed significant decrease (p<0.05) in blood glucose of both SDR and NDR. However, both decreases were prompt with the combined extracts and insulin compared to extracts of VA and AI alone, which only began 7 days after commencement of administration. Moreover, the time-course variation in blood glucose of rats treated with combined extracts was similar and almost paralleled that of insulin- treated rats, but more steady with extracts treatment than insulin. This trend in blood
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glucose regulation was also replicated in body weight regulation. Of the four treatments, VA significantly increased (p<0.05) LWH glucose of NDR, whereas AI significantly decreased (p<0.05) LWH glucose in SDR. However, these opposing effects were modulated in the group administered with a combination of the two extracts. Although α-amylase activity was non significantly decreased (p>0.05) in NDR by the respective extracts and their combination, it was significantly decreased (p<0.05) by insulin treatment. In the SDR, the activity of the enzyme which was decreased in the diabetic control relative to the NDR control, became increased significantly (p<0.05) upon treatment with individual extracts and their combination; but not with insulin treatment. Combined extracts of VA and AI have exhibited positive synergistic action on glucose control in both diabetic and non diabetic rats compared to the single extracts, which may justify their combination in traditional settings.
IN VIVO STUDY OF ANTITUMOUR ACTIVITY OF THE STANDARDIZED 50% ETHANOLIC EXTRACT OF ORTHOSIPHON STAMINEUS AGAINST COLORECTAL CARCINOMA INDUCED ORTHOTOPICALLY IN NUDE MICE
FOUAD SALEIH RESQ AL-SUEDE1, MOHAMMED KHADEER AHAMED
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