Hypolipemic and weight reducing properties from Tamarindus indica L. pulp extract in diet-induced obese rats.

The global prevalence of overweight and obesity has reached epidemic proportions. Hyperlipemia couple with increased oxidative stress generates various degenerative diseases such as hypertension and cardiovascular problems. In the present study, a hypolipemic and weight reducing effects of crude Tamarindus indica L. pulp extract were examined in adult Sprague-Dawley rats fed a high-fat diet. Animals were fed on either normal chow or high-fat diet for 10 weeks for obesity induction and subsequently received either placebo or T. indica L. extract at 5, 25, 50 or 300 mg kg-1 chitosan via oral gavage for another 10 weeks. Treatment of obese rats with the T. indica pulp extract led to a decrease in the levels of plasma total cholesterol (TCHOL), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglyceride (TG) and increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) level with concomitant reduction of body weight. The extract improved the efficiency of the antioxidant defense system, as indicated by increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities and subsequently resulted in significantly lower lipid peroxidation indices; malondialdehyde (MDA) level. Together these results indicate the potential use of T. indica extracts as hypolipemic and antioxidative agent apart from its ability to reduce body weight in obese-induced rats

Biological Properties of Tinospora crispa (Akar Patawali) and Its Antiproliferative Activities on Selected Human Cancer Cell Lines

The antioxidant and anti-proliferative activity of the aqueous crude extract of Tinospora crispa stem was investigated. The proximate composition of its stem and leaves was determined. Proximate analysis revealed that T. crispa contains - protein: leaves = 4.7%, stem = 1.2%; fat: leaves = 1.5%, stem = 0.43%; carbohydrate: leaves = 11.8%, stem = 19.4%; ash: leaves = 2.7%, stem = 1.1%; moisture: leaves = 79.3%, stem = 77.9%; fibre: leaves = 1.59%, stem = 0.65%; and energy: leaves = 1.59%, stem = 0.65%. The antioxidant activity of the extract prepared at various temperatures and incubation time was evaluated to determine the optimum extraction procedure. Based on DPPH and TBA tests, the preparation of the extract at 60oC for 6 hours was established as the best possible method as it demonstrated the highest inhibition percentage. The extract was tested against brine shrimp to evaluate its toxicity and no significant toxicity was recorded since the IC50 value was more than 1000 μg/ml. The extract produced moderate anti-proliferative activity on selected human cancer cell lines (IC50 MCF-7: 107 μg/ml, HeLa: 165 μg/ml, Caov-3: 100 μg/ml, and HepG2: 165 μg/ml). The findings from this study suggest that T. crispa has the potential to be a source of natural antioxidants and nutrients, besides having a moderate anti-proliferative effect on selected human cancer cell lines

Potential of Tinospora crispa as a Hypocholesterolemic agent in rabbits

Introduction: Hypercholesterolemia is the major cause of cardiovascular disturbances. The influence of Tinospora crispa on atherosclerotic plaque formation in rabbits fed with high cholesterol diet was investigated. Methods: Thirty male New Zealand White rabbits were divided into 6 groups. The negative control (NC) and positive control (PC) groups were used as a negative and positive (0.5% cholesterol) control. The simvastatin control (SC) group was given a high cholesterol diet (HCD) with 5mg/kg simvastatin. Treatment groups T150 and T450 were given HCD with supplementation of 150,300 and 450mg/kg of T.crispa extract respectively for 10 weeks. Blood was collected from ear vein for plasma analysis while the aortas were excised and examined microscopically. Results: Comparison within groups showed that PC, T300 and T450 had a significant increase (p<0.05) in total cholesterol level throughout the study. The groups supplemented with T.crispa (T150, T300 and T450) were significantly higher (p<0.05) in high density lipoprotein (HDL) level by 10.7-fold, significantly higher (p<0.05) in total antioxidant activity and had a significantly lower (p<0.05) LDL level compared to PC at week 10. At week 10, T450 had significantly highest (p<0.05) glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase levels compared to PC. No foam cell formation was visible in the aorta of rabbits,in groups NC,SC and T450. However , there was visible foam cell formation in the aorta of groups PC, T150 and T300. Conclusion: This study suggest that supplementation of 450mg/kg of T.crispa extract would be able to reduce or retard the progression of atherosclerotic plaque development induced by dietary cholesterol

Fiber optic technique for determination of moisture content in honey

This thesis presents a critical study on the application of fiber optic technique as a fast and accurate method to determine moisture content in honey based on reflection, transmission and absorption properties in the wavelength between 300nm and 800nm. Measurements were conducted using an Ocean Optics USB4000 UV-VIS-NIR spectrometer. The honey samples used in this work were from various different honey producers. The actual moisture content was found from standard oven drying method. Moisture content of fresh honey was approximately 14.3%. All the fibre optic measurements suggest strong presence of NADH and Flavins at approximately 340 nm and 480 nm, respectively. However, reflection measurement was imprecise due to the translucency of diluted honey. In contrast absorption measurement results for all honey samples of various percentages of moisture content were distinctively unique. Maximum absorbance was found for samples with moisture content 47.5% at all wavelengths due to high concentration of sugar, crystallization. A finite element method (FEM) was also used to calculate the absorbance in fresh honey. The FEM modeling was implemented using COMSOL Multiphysics version 3.5 software. The electric field distribution trough out fiber and sample were visualized to study the electric field pattern at different wavelengths and a comparison of energy levels trough honey and air were studied. Good agreement between measured and calculated results was obtained for fresh honey. Hence, the accuracy of predicting moisture content using fiber optic technique of honey was obtained. Good linear relationship was found between absorbance and moisture content of honey within the range of 430nm until 495nm where the board band excitation of Flavin occurs. However, for all other wavelengths, only polynomial second order relationships were found to give good regression coefficients due to crystallization of honey. Calibration equations have been established to predict moisture content in honey based on absorption measurement. The most accurate calibration equation was found at 460nm where the mean relative error between the true and predicted moisture content was 0.08

Permittivity models for determination of moisture content in Hevea Rubber Latex

The commercial open-ended coaxial probe (Agilent 85070E) is the most commonly used sensor to determine the permittivity of wet materials. This paper extends the usability and applicability of the sensor to the estimation of moisture content in Hevea Rubber Latex. The dielectric constant and loss factor were measured using the commercial probe whilst the moisture contents were obtained using the standard oven drying method. Comparison results were obtained between the different dielectric models to predict moisture content in latex. Both the dielectric constant and the loss factor of rubber latex linearly increased with moisture content at all selected frequencies. Calibration equations were established to relate both the dielectric constant and the loss factor with moisture content. These equations were used to predict moisture content in Hevea latex from measured values of the dielectric constant and the loss factor. The lowest mean relative error between actual and predicted moisture contents was 0.02 at 1 GHz when using the Cole-Cole dielectric constant calibration equation