Anti-atherogenic and cardio-protective properties of sweet melon (Cucumis melo. L. Inodorus) seed extract on high fat diet induced obesity in male wistar rats.

BACKGROUND: Cucumis melon is a medicinal plant with multiple pharmacological properties such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and diuretic effects. An increasing body of scientific evidence established the anti-diabetic/anti-obesity effects of Cucumis melo in humans, mice, and hamster models. However, there are no tangible reports on its ability to prevent cardiovascular complications following diet-induced obesity. The anti-atherogenic and cardioprotective effects of the Methanolic extract of Cucumis melo. L. Inodorus seeds on a high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese rats was assessed in this study.  METHODS: Forty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups, (n = 8/group); i.e., Normal (N), HFD, HFD + 50 mg/kg b.w. of MCMs (Methanolic extract of Cucumis melon seeds), HFD + 100 mg/Kg b.w. of MCMs and HFD + 200 mg/kg b.w. of MCMs. The experimental animals were anaesthetized and sacrificed after 10 weeks, and blood samples and heart tissue were collected for further analysis. Using the Graph Pad Prism version 5.0, the results expressed as Mean ± SD was tested using the one-way ANOVA to show intergroup differences, followed by Bonferonni 's post hoc test. The level of significance was determined at P ≤ 0.05. RESULTS: MCMs significantly (P < 0.05) reduced body weight, adiposity index, total fat mass, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), and total cholesterol (TC) compared with the HFD obese groups MCMs caused a significant reduction in the body weight, total fat mass, adiposity index, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), and total cholesterol (TC) when compared to the animals in HFD obese groups. Also, the Atherogenic index of plasma (AIP), Castelli index and, malondialdehyde (MDA) significantly (P < 0.05) decreased in MCMs treated groups compared to the HFD obese group. The catalase, protein, and HDL levels were significantly increased in MCMs treated groups compared to HFD-obese animals. Expression of nitric oxide in the form of nitrite in the heart tissue significantly increased in the MCMs treated compared to the HFD-obese rats, with the majority of the positive results recorded at 100 mg/Kg b.w. of MCMs. CONCLUSIONS: MCMs have anti-atherogenic and Cardio-protective properties on High Fat Diet-Induced Obesity in Male rats via an antioxidant and nitric oxide-dependent mechanism. Further study is recommended to evaluate the molecular mechanisms to which these anti-atherogenic and cardio-protective actions can be attributed and exploit the GCMS result in the development of drug candidates.

Aqueous extract of Solanum macrocarpon Linn leaves abates hyperglycaemia and expression of glucose transporters gene in alloxan-induced diabetic rats.

PURPOSE: In this study, antihyperglycaemic and level of gene expression of glucose transporters in alloxan-induced diabetic rats administered aqueous extract of S. macrocarpon leaves were assessed. METHOD AND RESULTS: Diabetes was induced by a single intraperitoneal (I.P) injection of freshly prepared alloxan. The animals were divided into six groups, euthanized on the fourteenth day of the experiment and different hyperglycaemic parameters were evaluated. Administration of different doses of the plant extract significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the fasting blood glucose level, glycated haemoglobin, serum lipid profiles, lipid peroxidation, and glucose-6-phosphatase. There was a significant (p < 0.05) increase in liver glycogen content, antioxidant enzyme activities, hexokinase activity, and expression of glucose transporter genes (GLUT-2 and GLUT-4) in diabetic rats administered different doses of S. macrocarpon. CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that the aqueous extract of S. macrocarpon leaves could be helpful in the management of diabetes mellitus and its metabolic complications.

Prevalence and Determinants of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Use among Diabetes Patients in Southwestern Nigeria.

INTRODUCTION: The epidemic of diabetes mellitus (DM) in African countries demands a critical assessment and review of patients' management protocols and their self-care habits. The objective of this research was to evaluate the pattern of usage of CAM, its role in the management of diabetes and possible determinants of its use in patients with diabetes. METHODS: Subjects were recruited from six selected hospitals from four of the six States in South western, Nigeria. Participants were consecutively recruited from the diabetes clinics of the selected hospitals. Participants completed a multicomponent questionnaire which comprised three sections. RESULTS: The majority of the subjects were females (57.7%) and of Yoruba extraction (89.7%). Their mean age was 62.58±11.80 years and their mean duration of diabetes was 7.95±6.41 years (range 1-36 years). Two hundred and forty one (62.1%) of the subjects reported the use of at least one type of CAM of which 213(88.4%) indicated using CAM as complementary to regular conventional anti-diabetic medications, while in the remaining 28 (11.6%) CAM users, it served as alternative medicine. The predictors of CAM use included male gender, and patients with at least secondary level education . CONCLUSION: The prevalence of the use of CAM therapies is high in this study among people living with diabetes in Southwest, Nigeria. CAM is used mainly as complementary rather than as an alternative therapy. The most commonly used CAM therapy was biological therapy-Vernonia amygdalina (bitter leaf), garlic and Moringa oleifera. Orientation about CAM should be included in diabetes education at diagnosis and regularly re-enforced at subsequent clinic visits.

Prophylactic effect of aqueous extract of Sesamum indicum seeds on ethanol-induced toxicity in male rats.

The liver is vulnerable to alcohol-related injury because it is the primary site of alcohol metabolism. Additionally, a number of potentially dangerous by-products are generated as alcohol is broken down in the liver. However, dietary supplements may prevent or relieve some of alcohol's deleterious effects. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the prophylactic effect of aqueous extract of Sesamum indicum (SI) on ethanol induced toxicity in rats. Male Wistar albino rats were divided into control, ethanol, pre-treatment, simultaneous and post-treatment groups. In the prophylactic experiment, Sesamum indicum, (200 mg/kg body weight) was administered by oral gavage for 28 days; two hours before, simultaneously with or two hours after ethanol exposure. Toxicity was induced by administering 45% ethanol (4.8 g/kg bw) by oral gavage. Lipid peroxidation (TBARS) and reduced glutathione (GSH) levels and catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and gluthathione-S-transferase (GST) activities were then determined in the liver, serum triglyceride (TG) levels, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activities were monitored and histological examination was carried out. The results revealed that ethanol administration led to significant elevation of TBARS level while depleting in the level of GSH as well as CAT, GPx, SOD and GST activities. Similarly, TG level and ALT and AST activities were elevated. The SI pre-treated group significantly inhibited TBARS, restored GSH level, enhanced CAT, GPx, SOD and GST activities and significantly decreased the elevated level of serum TG, ALT and AST activities. SI treatment (simultaneously with ethanol) exhibited similar effects to those of the SI pre-treated groups, while the SI post-treated group did not show the same protection as the Pre-treated group. S. indicum possesses antioxidant and hepatoprotective properties, that eliminate the deleterious effects of toxic metabolites of ethanol.

The antimicrobial activities of processed Nigerian and South African black tea.

The antibacterial activity of processed Nigerian Lipton Tea and South African 5 Roses Tea, extracted using distilled water, chloroform and 70% ethanol were determined against nine (9) enteropathogenic bacteria which includes; Bacillus subtilis, Proteus sp, Enterobacter sp., Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Salmonella paratyphi A, Salmonella arizona and Staphylococcus aureus. The 2 tea bags, Nigerian Lipton tea bag and the South African 5 Roses tea bag were extracted through Solvent extraction method using 3 extraction solvents; Distilled water, Chloroform and 70% Ethanol and then inoculated onto the Mueller-Hinton agar plates containing the standard isolates at 6 different points on each plate. The zones of inhibition of the bacterial isolates produced by each of these tea - extracts were determined while meaningful antibacterial activities against five (5) of the standard isolates; Enterobacter sp., K. pneumoniae, S. paratyphi A, B. subtilis and S. aureus were observed. Lipton tea water-extract was a more effective antibacterial agent than water-extract of 5 Roses tea. While the 70% ethanol-extract of 5 Roses tea had the greatest antibacterial activity of all the different tea-extract used for the study, the chloroform-extracts of the tea bags had no antimicrobial effect on all the test organisms used.