The carotenoids of the fruit pulp of palmyrah (Borassus flabellifer) fromHambantota

The Hambantota district has relatively new plantations of palmyrah {Borassus flabellifer) andappear to be the future for industrial products from this tree. The tree with morphological typeIIB fruit dominates plantations (>90%). Specimens of this type were selected for carotenoidanalysis. Total carotenoid content was relatively low; 15.5 to 35.4 mg 100g-1 on the basis of dryweight (DW). Carotenoids were dominated by those of the hydrocarbon type. No oxygenatedcarotenoids were detected in the petroleum ether and diethyl ether extracts. Highest contentsof carotenoids were phytofluene; from 2.8 to 4.8 mg100g-1 DW, phytoene from 5.7 to 10.3mg100g-1'DW and unidentified carotenoids I, II, III and IV from 0.7 to 1.9 mg100g-1 DW, 0.7to 3.4mg100g-1 DW, 4.7 to I6.4mg100g-1 DW and 0.6 to 1.1 mg100g-1 DW respectively. ß-Carotene and ?-Carotene were present in traces. Retinol equivalent (RE) was negligible. As isusual for palmyrah, lycopene and the right fork of carotenoid biosynthesis pathway were absent.Key words: Palmyrah, Fruit Pulp, Borassus flabellifer, Carotenoid

Effects of Gymnema lactiferum leaf on serum glucose and cholesterol levels ofnormo-glycaemic Wistar rats

Gymnema lactiferum var. lactiferum is a twining plant which belongs to the family Asclepiadaceae(milk weed family). This plant is distributed in many South Asian countries including, Assam,Malay Peninsula, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. It is reported that G. lactiferum leaf powder is usedpopularly by the people in Jaffna, as a treatment for diabetes. The present study indicates that theleaf powder does not result in a significant reduction of FBS (p=0.64) or serum total cholesterollevels (p=0.49) when tested with normo-glycaemic Wistar rats following feeding for 4 weeks.Further the leaf extract did not produce any significant effect on blood glucose levels on theglucose challenge (p=0.26) in the normo-glycaemic Wistar rats.Keywords: Gymnema lactiferum var. lactiferum, normo-glycaemic rats, blood glucose, cholestero

Hypercarotenaemia in Wistar rats and ICR mice and correlation to humans

Hypercarotenaemia can occur at any age but it is more commonly seen in infants and young childrendue to the excessive intake of carotenoid bearing food. The objective of this study was to inducehypercarotenaemia and trace the fate of excess carotenoids in Wistar rats and ICR mice. Wistarrats (n=20) and ICR mice (n=28) were used. Rats and mice were divided into two groups (Test andControl). The controls were fed with standard rat/mice pellets while test group was fed with freeze-dried carrot incorporated standard rat/mice feed with boiled carrot. After a month and 2.5 months,blood was drawn for analyses of carotenoids and metabolites and after 2.5 months liver, adiposeand digesta of rats were collected. Faeces were freeze dried and then analyzed for carotenoids ofmetabolites (RP-HPLC). Serum, adipose, liver and bile of test and control mice were also analyzedas above.Wistar rats and ICR mice fed on excess carrot and papaw did not show outward signs ofhypercarotenaemia. Their serum, adipose tissue, liver, digesta (in the case of rats) and bile (in thecase of mice) did not show detectable amounts of carotenoids or their metabolites. However thefaeces of both rat and mice had high levels of α and β carotenes. This indicates that one method ofcontrol of hypercarotenaemia may be at the level of absorption.Key words: hypercarotenaemia, Induction of, Wistar rats and ICR mice, papaw, carrot die

Aspects of the binding of acyclic carotenoids to flabelliferins from palmyrah fruit pulp

The fruit pulp of palmyrah (Borassus flabellifer) contains flabelliferins which are glycosides of β-sitosterol. Naturally bound to flabelliferins is an UV active compound, phvtofluene, which affectsbiological activity. This UV active compound shows intense blue fluorescence and can be dissociatedfrom flabelliferins.The objectives of this study were to determine the main carotenoid binder to flabelliferin-II (F-II, atetraglycoside) in a sample of PFP from Kalpitiya, Sri Lanka by HPLC and some of the chemical featuresof this complex (F-II+ carotenoid binder).HPLC studies showed that the major binder to F-II in a sample of PFP from Kalpitiya was phytofluene.No correlation was found between the stoichiometry of binding of phytofluene and F-II (r2=0.406) as wellas for Fb (r2=0.007) indicating that the binding ratios of phytofluene with F-II or Fb are not constant indifferent PFP samples tested.Computational calculations(-ΔΔHf /KJ mol-1) suggest that binding is less stable between F-II andphytofluene compared to the other flabelliferins tested. This was probably due to phytofluene distortingthe conformation of the carbohydrate moiety of F-II. Computer modeling provided confirmatory evidencefor this assumption.Key Words : Palmyrah, Borassus flabelifer, Flabelliferin