Mahkota dewa (Phaleria macrocarpa [Scheff.] Boerl.) is a poisonous plant, but almost all parts of the plants can be used as a traditional medicine. Consuming the plant directly can cause swollen, sprue, numb at tongue, fever, even unconscious. Although the plant can conquere various diseases, from diabetes mellitus, hemorrhoid, impotency to cancer, but research on the plant is still limited. A research was conducted to find out antioxidant activities at a parts of mahkota dewa plant by free radical scavenging method (DPPH). The highest activities of the parts of plant are young fruits and old fruits in the ethanol and methanol solvents. Then after partitioned based on the polarity (ethylacetate, n-buthanol and water) showed that n-buthanol extract of young fruits gave inhibition value IC 50 = 41,07 ppm.

The utilization of mangrove plants as traditional medicinal ingredients has long been utilized by the community for treatment of various diseases in favour of bioactive components from its secondary metabolites. Secondary metabolites from mangroves could act as an antioxidant to prevent oxidative stress. Mangrove may contain endophytic microbes in its tissues that are capable of producing secondary metabolites. In theory, endophytic microbes isolated from a plant can produce secondary metabolites similar to those of the original plants or even in relatively high numbers. In this research, two mangrove species Avicennia marina and Xylocarpus granatum from Serang, Banten province, samples have been taken to investigate the antioxidant activities of its extracts. Furthermore, isolation of endophytic microbes from both mangroves had been done. This research succeeded to isolate six fungi and three bacteria as endophytic microbes. Meanwhile, the highest extraction yield was obtained by the leaves of A. marina that is approximately 3% (w/w), whereas mangroves’ endophytic microbe highest extract yield was obtained by bacteria from fruits of A. marina 18 mg/100 mL media. For antioxidant activities, the highest activities were obtained by fungi within the stems and the roots of A. marina, also additionally fungi in the leaves of X. granatum.

Article Info AbstractAn increase in blood glucose levels in people with diabetes can cause an increase in free radicals, which can worsen the disease. Thus, drugs that have antidiabetic and antioxidant activities are needed. The cinnamon plant is high in antioxidants and has long been used as a source for a diabetes drug. The utilization of endophytic fungi isolated from cinnamon plants as antidiabetic and antioxidant has never been reported. This study aims to investigate the antidiabetic as well as antioxidant activity from the extract of endophytic fungi from the cinnamon plant. The antidiabetic activity was tested using the -glucosidase enzyme inhibition method , while antioxidant activity was tested using the DPPH free radical scavenging method. Total phenol content was measured based on the Follin-Ciocalteu reagent reaction. All endophytic fungal extracts from the cinnamon leaves, twigs, flowers, and fruit have antidiabetic and antioxidant activity as well as high total phenol content. The three parameters measured showed a positive correlation. Endophytic fungal extract of Cb.D6 isolate derived from the leaf had the highest antidiabetic and antioxidant activity among the other isolates amounting to 92.41 % and 90.28 %, respectively. In addition, the total phenol content of Cb.D6 isolates was also the highest with 357 -83 mg equivalent to gallic acid / g extract. Therefore, the endophytic fungal extract of Cb.D6 isolate has the potential to be developed as a source of the antidiabetic and antioxidant ingredients.

With the uncontrolled spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), development and distribution of antiviral drugs and vaccines have gained tremendous importance. This study focused on two viral proteases namely main protease (Mpro) and papain-like protease (PLpro) and human angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE-2) to identify which of these are essential for viral replication. We screened 102 secondary metabolites against SARS-CoV-2 isolated from 36 terrestrial plants and 36 marine organisms from Indonesian biodiversity. These organisms are typically presumed to have antiviral effects, and some of them have been used as an immunomodulatory activity in traditional medicine. For the molecular docking procedure to obtain Gibbs free energy value (∆G), toxicity, ADME and Lipinski, AutoDock Vina was used. In this study, five secondary metabolites, namely corilagin, dieckol, phlorofucofuroeckol A, proanthocyanidins, and isovitexin, were found to inhibit ACE-2, Mpro, and PLpro receptors in SARS-CoV-2, with a high affinity to the same sites of ptilidepsin, remdesivir, and chloroquine as the control molecules. This study was delimited to molecular docking without any validation by simulations concerned with molecular dynamics. The interactions with two viral proteases and human ACE-2 may play a key role in developing antiviral drugs for five active compounds. In future, we intend to investigate antiviral drugs and the mechanisms of action by in vitro study.