Although propolis has been reported for having anti-inflammatory activities, its effects on complement system has not been much studied. This research was conducted to find out the effects of Indonesian propolis on the expression levels of C3, C1r/s, Bf, MBL, and C6 in zebrafish larvae which were induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Counting of macrophages migrating to yolk sac and liver histology were carried out. Larvae were divided into four groups: CON (cultured in E3 medium only), LPS (cultured in a medium containing 0.5 μg/L LPS), LPSIBU (cultured in a medium containing LPS, and then treated with 100 μg/L ibuprofen for 24 hours), and LPSPRO (cultured in a medium containing LPS, and then immersed in 14,000 μg/L propolis for 24 hours) groups. The results showed that complement gene expression in larvae from the LPSIBU and LPSPRO groups were generally lower than in larvae from the LPS group. The number of macrophage migrations to the yolk in the LPSPRO group was also lower than in the LPS group. Histological structure of liver in all groups were considered normal. This study shows that Indonesian propolis has the potential to be used as an alternative to the substitution of NSAIDs.

Obesity has been identified as a cause of various diseases. The main solution in dealing with this metabolic syndrome is a healthy lifestyle, with intake of fibrous and herbal extracts. Various studies have shown that gut microbiota involved in many metabolic syndromes. This study aims to determine the effect of brown rice and herbal extracts (Cuminum cyminum and Alpinia galanga) on the physiological profile of rat gut microbiota. The research was done by measuring changes in the physiological profile of the gut microbiota, analyzing metagenome of gut microbiota using Next Generation Sequencing technology, and also observing changes in blood glucose and cholesterol levels for three weeks in normal condition. Changes in the physiological level of significant microbiota were used as reference points at the later stage. The average blood glucose level of rats in the all treatment groups was decreased except for the group treated with the mixture of brown rice and Alpinia galanga. The rats fed with combination of brown rice and herbal extracts showed the highest Average Well Color Development (AWCD) index. Moreover, this treatment group had also the highest degradation activity in almost all types of substrates as observation proceeds. These results suggest that the combination of brown rice with bioactive compounds contained in those extracts provides a healthy gut microbiome. In conclusion, our results showed that the differences in type of food intake can affect the physiological conditions of the hosts' body and metabolic parameters of rat intestinal microbiota.

Di Indonesia, meskipun beberapa kultivar padi telah dibudidayakan secara tradisional, penelitiannya masih belum banyak dilakukan. Mengingat peningkatan diabetes yang mengkhawatirkan dengan tetap tingginya konsumsi beras, penelitian ini berupaya untuk mempelajari potensi glikemik dari beberapa kultivar padi berwarna di Indonesia yang diduga dapat memberikan manfaat kesehatan yang besar. Hasil penelitian dari 35 orang sampel yang diberi beban beras berwarna, adalah sebagai berikut: indeks glikemik (IG) beras putih yaitu sebesar 72.84%, indeks glikemik (IG) beras merah yaitu sebesar 70.17%, indeks glikemik (IG) beras coklat yaitu sebesar 51.09%, dan indeks glikemik (IG) beras hitam yaitu sebesar 83.83%. Varietas dengan indeks glikemik yang paling rendah adalah beras coklat. Dengan demikian, di antara beras-beras yang diuji, beras coklat memiliki potensi paling tinggi untuk menjadi alternatif diet untuk manajemen diabetes dan glukosa darah secara umum.