Chemopreventive Efficacy of Ginger Extract (Zingiber officinale)

The liver cells were cultured in the presence of ginger extract at various concentrations (0-1 mg /ml) for 24 h and the cells viability and proliferation rate were evaluated by MTS and BrdU assays, while apoptosis was evaluated by colorimetric determination of caspase 8 and 3 activities. Ginger extract exhibited a dose dependent inhibition of viability and proliferation of WRL-68, HLE and HepG2 cells with IC50 of 569.69 ± 7.99 µg/ml, 389.71 ± 26.56 µg/ml and 358.71 ± 17.12 µg/ml respectively. Ginger extract induced apoptosis through activation of caspase-8 and 3 in a dose dependent pattern for all cells at concentration ranging from 0-500 mg/ml.  We found that antiproliferative effect of ginger extract could be associated with induction of apoptosis as shown by increased activities of caspase 8 and 3.The results from this study suggest that ginger extract has chemopreventive properties against hepatoma cells HepG2 and HLE by inhibiting cellular proliferation and inducing apoptosis.Keywords : antiproliferation, apoptosis, caspases, Zingiber officinal

Prevalence of intestinal protozoa in an aborigine community in Pahang, Malaysia

The objective was to estimate the prevalence of intestinal protozoa among the aborigines and to determine the problems regarding the infection. The study was carried out in January 2006 in Pos Senderut, Pahang, Malaysia. Samples of faeces were collected from children and adults and these were fixed in PVA and trichrome staining was carried out. From the 130 individuals studied, 94 (72.3) were positive with at least one intestinal protozoa. Nine intestinal protozoa namely Blastocystis hominis, Giardia lamblia, Entamoeba histolytica, Entamoeba coli, Endolimax nana, Entamoeba hartmani, Entamoeba polecki, Iodamoeba butschlii and Chilomastix mesnili were detected. The prevalent species were B. hominis (52.3), followed by G. lamblia (29.2), E. coli (26.2) and E. histolytica (18.5). The other species ranged from 1.5 to 10.8. Among the positive samples, mixed infection with E. histolytica and G. lamblia was 3.8, E. histolytica and B. hominis was 15.4, G. lamblia and B. hominis was 17.7. Triple infection of E. histolytica, G. lamblia and B. hominis was 3.1. The infection was more prevalent in children below 10 years age group (45.4) and lowest in the age above 60 years (3.8). The high prevalence was attributable to poor environmental management, poor personal hygiene and lack of health education