Effects of cashew nut shell extract and monensin on in vitro ruminal fermentation, methane production, and ruminal bacterial community.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of cashew nut shell extract (CNSE) and monensin on ruminal in vitro fermentation, CH4 production, and ruminal bacterial community structure. Treatments were as follows: control (CON, basal diet without additives); 2.5 µM monensin (MON); 0.1 mg CNSE granule/g DM (CNSE100); and 0.2 mg CNSE granule/g DM (CNSE200). Each treatment was incubated with 52 mL of buffered ruminal content and 500 mg of total mixed ration for 24 h using serum vials. The experiment was performed as a complete randomized block design with 3 runs. Run was used as a blocking factor. Each treatment had 5 replicates, in which 2 were used to determine nutrient degradability, and 3 were used to determine pH, NH3-N, volatile fatty acids, lactate, total gas, CH4 production, and bacterial community composition. Treatment responses for all data, excluding bacterial abundance, were analyzed with the GLIMMIX procedure of SAS v9.4. Treatment responses for bacterial community structure were analyzed with a PERMANOVA test run with the R package vegan. Orthogonal contrasts were used to test the effects of (1) additive inclusion (ADD: CON vs. MON, CNSE100, and CNSE200); (2) additive type (MCN: MON vs. CNSE100 and CNSE200); and (3) CNSE dose (DOS: CNSE100 vs. CNSE200). We observed that pH, acetate, and acetate:propionate ratio in the CNSE100 treatment were lower compared with CNSE200, and propionate in the CNSE100 treatment was greater compared with CNSE200. Compared with MON, CNSE treatments tended to decrease total lactate concentration. Total gas production of CON was greater by 2.63% compared with all treatments, and total CH4 production was reduced by 10.64% in both CNSE treatments compared with MON. Also, compared with MON, in vitro dry matter degradabilities in CNSE treatments were lower. No effects were observed for NH3-N or in vitro neutral detergent fiber degradability. Finally, the relative abundances of Prevotella, Treponema, and Schwartzia were lower, whereas the relative abundances of Butyrivibrio and Succinivibrio were greater in all treatments compared with CON. Overall, the inclusion of CNSE decreased CH4 production compared with MON, making CNSE a possible CH4 mitigation additive in dairy cattle diets.

Application of medicinal plants in maternal healthcare and infertility: a South African perspective.

Plants have played significant roles as medicine during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum care in many rural areas of the world. In addition to this, plants have been used for centuries to treat infertility and related reproduction problems. The aim of this paper was to review the current status of plant species used in maternal healthcare, including infertility, in South Africa, in terms of scientific evaluation for efficacy and safety. In addition to this, the role of medicinal plants as a tool in achieving the MDG5 of reducing maternal mortality by 2015 was evaluated. A search was done with the aid of Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct, peer-reviewed papers, and books, using keywords such as child birth, labour pain, maternal health, maternal mortality, menstrual pains, and postpartum. The plants listed in the different research articles were classified according to their use and the target effect of a plant extract or compound on reproductive function. Eighty-four plant species were found to be used to treat infertility and related problems. Twenty plant species are used during pregnancy, while 26 plant species are used to ease childbirth. For postpartum healing and any problems after childbirth, nine plant species were recorded. Unhealthy pregnancy and birth complications are among the factors that contribute to the loss of cognitive potential in the developing world's children, condemning them to impoverished lives. The best way to keep a country poor is to rob its children of their full developmental potential. In this respect, medicinal plants play a significant role in reducing maternal mortality and ensuring the birth of healthy children.

Mutagenicity, antimutagenicity and cytotoxicity evaluation of South African Podocarpus species.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Four species of Podocarpus are used in traditional medicine both in human and animal healthcare in South Africa. In vitro pharmacological screening of leaf and stem extracts of these species exhibited potent antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-tyrosinase, anthelmintic, acetylcholinesterase inhibitory and antioxidant activities. AIM OF THE STUDY: To investigate the mutagenicity, antimutagenicity and cytotoxicity effects of leaf and stem extract of South African Podocarpus species. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The mutagenicity and cytotoxic effects of extracts from four species of Podocarpus were tested using the Salmonella/microsome assay with and without metabolic activation, based on the plate-incorporation method and neutral red uptake (NRU) assay respectively. Five Salmonella typhimurium tester strains; TA98, TA100, TA102, TA1535 and TA1537 were used for mutagenicity testing. The relative cytotoxicity of the extracts was assessed by determining their NI(50) values (50% inhibition of NRU). RESULTS: The extracts did not show any mutagenic effects against all the tester strains with or without metabolic activation. All extracts demonstrated a strong antimutagenic effect on the mutations induced by 4NQO, decreasing its mutagenic effect in a dose-dependent manner. Strong cytotoxic effects were exhibited by petroleum ether extracts as compared to 80% ethanol extracts. When HepG2 cells were in contact with plant extracts in an increasing concentration, slopes of NRU decreased (highest-lowest %) following a concentration-dependent pattern. For 80% ethanol extracts, the most toxic extract in terms of percentage viability was leaves of Podocarpus falcatus whereby at 0.2 mg/ml, the viability of the cells was 38.9%. Stem extract of Podocarpus latifolius was the most toxic among PE extracts, giving a percentage viability of 46.4 at 0.1 mg/ml. CONCLUSION: Absence of mutagenicity does not indicate lack of toxicity, as was observed from these extracts. These findings will help in assessing the safety measures to be considered in the use of these species and also the need to determine the cytotoxic potential of these species against various forms of human cancer cells.