No abstract

No abstract

Luminescence-based assays for toxicants such as Microtox®, ToxAlert™ and Biotox™ have been used extensively worldwide. However, the use of these assays in near real-time conditions is limited due to nonoptimal assay temperature for the tropical climate. An aerobic isolate that exhibits a high luminescence activity in a broad range of temperatures was successfully isolated from the mackerel, Rastrelliger kanagurta. This isolate was tentatively identified as Photobacterium sp. strain MIE, based on partial 16S rDNA molecular phylogeny. Optimum conditions that support high bioluminescence activity occurred between 24 and 30 oC, pH 5.5 and 7.5, 10 and 20 g/L of sodium chloride, 30 and 50 g/L of tryptone, and 4 g/L of glycerol as the carbon source. Assessment of near real-time capability of this bacterium for heavy metals in a contaminated river running through the Juru River Basin that fed a large agriculture area has shown near real-time capability with assaying time of less than 30 min per samples. Thus, this strain is suitable for near real-time monitoring of toxicants especially in the tropics

No abstract

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic endocrine disorder caused by decreased insulin concentration or poor insulin response. Muntingia calabura (MC) has been used traditionally to reduce blood glucose levels. This study aimed to support the traditional claim of MC as a functional food and blood-glucose-lowering regimen. The antidiabetic potential of MC has been tested on a streptozotocin–nicotinamide (STZ-NA) induced diabetic rat model by using the 1H-NMR-based metabolomic approach. Serum biochemical analyses revealed that treatment with 250 mg/kg body weight (bw) standardized freeze dried (FD) 50% ethanolic MC extract (MCE 250) showed favorable serum creatinine (37.77 ± 3.53 µM), urea (5.98 ± 0.84 mM) and glucose (7.36 ± 0.57 mM) lowering capacity, which was comparable to the standard drug, metformin. The clear separation between diabetic control (DC) and normal group in principal component analysis indicated the successful induction of diabetes in the STZ-NA-induced type 2 diabetic rat model. A total of nine biomarkers, including allantoin, glucose, methylnicotinamide, lactate, hippurate, creatine, dimethylamine, citrate and pyruvate were identified in rats’ urinary profile discriminating DC and normal groups through orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis. Induction of diabetes by STZ-NA was due to alteration in the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, gluconeogenesis pathway, pyruvate metabolism and nicotinate and nicotinamide metabolism. Oral treatment with MCE 250 in STZ-NA induced diabetic rats showed improvement in the altered carbohydrate metabolism, cofactor and vitamin metabolic pathway, as well as purine and homocysteine metabolism.