No abstract

Tinospora rumphii(T. rumphii) is a folkloric medicinal plant that is widely distributed in Asia and Africa. It has been widely used by locals to treat many diseases including jaundice, which is a manifestation of liver damage. We investigated the action ofT. rumphiicrude extract together with zinc sulphate, a known tumor modulator, on hepatic injuries induced by intraperitoneal (i.p) injections of quinoline on albino mice. The hepatotoxic effect was assessed by bilirubin concentration in the blood serum, while the genotoxic effect was determined by single-cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE). The mice orally fed with the crude extracts, following quinoline exposure, had reduced serum bilirubin concentration and DNA damage. Mice treated with Zinc sulphate, on the other hand, had remarkably reduced DNA damage on hepatocytes. Our findings showed that hepatoprotective potential ofT. rumphiiextract is dose-dependent and that utilization of the extract as medicinal remedy must be strictly monitored, while zinc was proven to reverse genotoxic effect of quinoline. This study unraveled the potential ofT. rumphiiextract and zinc as important hepatoprotective agents for future treatment of hepatic damage caused by chemotherapeutic agents used in cancer treatment.

Ipomoea pes-caprae (Linn.) Roth, or beach morning glory, is a mangrove associate medicinal plant species of Convolvulaceae family that favorably grows in tropical and subtropical countries. Previous phytochemical screening revealed the presence of pharmacologically active components which could differ according to environmental conditions. In the Philippines, evidences on extensive investigation of the plant are not yet available. This study aimed to conduct phytochemical screening, and antioxidative potential determination of the dried leaves aqueous ethanol extract of I. pes-caprae (Linn.) Roth. Exhaustive serial extraction apportioned the crude ethanol extract (CEE) into hexane extract (HE); ethyl acetate extract (EAE); methanol extract (ME) and aqueous extract (AE). Ferric thiocyanate (FTC) assay determined the antioxidative potentials of CEE and the four serial extracts. The positive controls used in FTC assay were Vitamin E and butylated hydroxyl toluene (BHT). Phytochemical screening of CEE showed the presence of alkaloids; flavonoids; steroids and triterpenes; and tannins and phenolic compounds. FTC assay on CEE showed antioxidative activity but of lower extent than vitamin E and BHT. For serial extracts, FTC assay revealed that ME and AE possessed antioxidative activity comparable to vitamin E and BHT. These results showed that the wildly grown I. pescaprae is a potential source of pharmacologically active phytochemicals specifically the antioxidants.

L-Tyrosine an aromatic amino acid can be a potential chemical agent in treating Parkinson's disease. In this study, the potential of L-Tyrosine and its metabolites to inhibit the genotoxicity of methyl methanesulfonate (MMS) was assessed using in vivo and in vitro assays. In vivo test peripheral blood and bone marrow micronucleus assays, the antimutagenic potential of LTyrosine and its metabolites, L-DOPA, dopamine and epinephrine, to combat the breaking chromosome potential of MMS were evaluated using albino mice, in which the test compounds were administered orally through gavage with a double dosage regimen while in vitro assay Ames test, Salmonella typhimurium standard tester strains TA98 and TA104 were utilized as its test microorganisms. Based on the results using One-way ANOVA with square root transformation of raw data and Duncan's Multiple Range Test, it shows that the difference in the treatment means between L-Tyrosine and its metabolites are much lower and significantly different (P value<0.05) from MMS which suggests that treatment samples lack the capacity of forming micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes (MPCEs). It is also evident that the occurrences of MPCEs were observed clearly in MMS and was the highest. Generally, results suggest that L-Tyrosine and its metabolites lower the genotoxic activity of MMS and hence, it can be considered to have an antimutagenic potential against chemically induced mutation. The number of revertants induced by MMS were significantly reduced, and epinephrine has the lowest activity in reducing and inhibiting the number of revertants induced by MMS while both L-Tyrosine and L-DOPA showed the highest activity.