Attenuating effects of Azanza garckeana fractions on glycemo-impaired-associated dyslipidemia, hepatopathy, and nephropathy.

OBJECTIVES: The use of medicinal plants for diabetes treatment is increasing owing to their effectiveness and safety compared to synthetic drugs. Thus, the ameliorative effects of Azanza garckeana (F. Hoffm.) fractions in diabetes-induced dyslipidemia, hepatopathy, and nephropathy in rats were evaluated in this study. METHODS: Rats with alloxan (120 mg/kg body weight (BW))-induced diabetes were randomized into different groups (n=5) and treated with the crude methanolic extract, and fractions (n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and aqueous fractions) of A. garckeana each at 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg BW. Glibenclamide (5 mg/kg BW) was used as a reference drug, and all treatments were administered orally daily for 6 weeks. RESULTS: Our data revealed that treatment with the crude extract caused a dose-dependent hypoglycemic effect of 61.32±3.45%, 76.05±3.05%, and 78.59±5.90% at 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg BW, respectively and improved the BW of the animals. The extract also ameliorated the elevated cholesterol, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and increased serum levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol compared with untreated control animals. The extract also reversed serum biochemical alterations in aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, creatinine, total and direct bilirubin, urea, and uric acid that were observed in untreated diabetic rats. Interestingly, the A. garckeana fraction also exhibited significant protection against diabetes-induced dyslipidemia, hepatopathy, and nephropathy in rats, with the ethyl acetate fraction exhibiting a remarkable protective effect. The LC-MS characterisation of the active fraction identified the presence of various phenolic and flavonoid compounds that could be responsible for the bioactivity of the fraction. CONCLUSION: Collectively, this study suggests the potential application of A. garckeana for effective treatment of diabetic nephropathy, with the ethyl acetate fraction of this plant representing a reserve of potential candidates for developing new drugs.

Toxicological evaluation of aqueous leaf extract of Terminalia catappa linn (combretaceae) in pregnant rats.

Introduction: Terminalia catappa (T. catappa) leaves are used in the treatment of hypertension, diabetes, cough, jaundice, indigestion etc, while the bark is used to treat diarrhea, dysentery, abscesses etc. Due to the acceptance and increased use of medicinal plants in pregnancy, there is a need to evaluate their toxicological profiles in pregnancy for safe use. This study aims to evaluate the toxicological effects of aqueous leaf extract of T. catappa in pregnant rats. Methods: acute toxicity study was carried out using Organization of Economic Corporation Development (OECD) 423 guidelines. Seventy-five rats (50 females and 25 males) were used at the age of 2 weeks just after weaning. The male rats were separated from the female rats in different cages and allowed to mature for 10 weeks. Then the rats were allowed to mate. After mating, 20 female rats with viable spermatozoa counts were selected and divided into 4 groups of 5 rats each (n=5). The control group received distilled water while the treatment groups II, III, and IV were administered with aqueous leaf extract of T. catappa orally at graded doses of 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg respectively for 21 consecutive days. The daily food and water intake, and weight were recorded. On the 22th day, the rats were anesthetized by chloroform inhalation, and blood samples were collected for haematological and biochemical analysis. The maternal livers, kidneys, and hearts were collected and weighed, and histological studies were carried out. The fetuses were removed and examined. An isolated tissue experiment was carried out on the myometrium of the pregnant rat uterus. The isometric reading of the uterine contractions was recorded. Results: the oral LD50 was found to be ≤2000-5000 mg/kg. There was a significant (p<0.05) increase in the mean food intake at the 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg doses of the extract used on the 14th and 21st days when compared to the 7th day. The renal function test showed a significant (p<0.05) increase for chloride. The liver function test revealed that the extract at 100 mg/kg dose, significantly (p<0.05) increased only Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) liver enzyme, while at 200 mg/kg dose, only AST liver enzyme was significantly (p<0.05) increased, while at 400 mg/kg dose, ALT, AST, ALP, and albumin increased significantly (p<0.05) when compared to the control group. There was a significant (p<0.05) decrease in the relative organ weight of the liver at 400 mg/kg dose of the extract. The liver histology showed moderate hepatic vacuolation and necrosis, while the histology of the kidney showed slight tubular necrosis. Conclusion: this study has shown that the aqueous leaf extract of T. catappa is relatively not safe in the pregnant rats. Although it is non-toxic to the fetus, it exhibited tocolytic effect by inhibiting uterine contractions, thus it should be used with caution during pregnancy, especially in the third trimester or during labor.

A critical review on microbial degradation of petroleum-based plastics: quantitatively effects of chemical addition in cultivation media on biodegradation efficiency.

Petroleum-based plastics (PBP) with different properties have been developed to suit various needs of modern lives. Nevertheless, these well-developed properties also present the double-edged sword effect that significantly threatens the sustainability of the environment. This work focuses on the impact of microbial cultivating conditions (the elementary compositions and temperature) to provide insightful information for the process optimization of microbial degradation. The major elementary compositions in cultivation media and temperature from the literature were radically reviewed and assessed using the constructed supervised machine learning algorithm. Fifty-two literatures were collected as a training dataset to investigate the impact of major chemical elements and cultivation temperature upon PBP biodegradation. Among six singular parameters (NH4+, K+, PO43-, Mg2+, Ca2+, and temperature) and thirty corresponding binary parameters, four singular (NH4+, K+, PO43-, and Mg2+) and six binary parameters (NH4+/K+, NH4+/PO43-, NH4+/Ca2+, K+/PO43-, PO43-/Mg2+, Mg2+/Temp) were identified as statistically significant towards microbial degradation through analysis of variance (ANOVA). The binary effect (PO43-/Mg2+) is found to be the most statistically significant towards the microbial degradation of PBP. The concentration range, which locates at 0.1-0.6 g/L for Mg2+ and 0-2.8 g/L for PO43-, was identified to contribute to the maximum PBP biodegradation. Among all the investigated elements, Mg2+ is the only element that is statistically and significantly associated with the variations of cultivation temperature. The optimal preparation conditions within ± 20% uncertainties based upon the range of collected literature reports are recommended. Five representative cultivation elementary compositions (NH4+, K+, PO43-, Mg2+, and Ca2+) and temperature were reviewed from fifty two different literature reports to investigate their impacts on the microbial degradation of PBP using supervised machine learning algorithm. The optimal cultivation conditions based upon collected literature reports to achieve biodegradation over 80% were identified.