The potential of neural stem cell as vehicle to deliver Quercus infectoria extract to glioma cell in vitro

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most malignant subtype of brain cancer. However, current clinical treatments for GBM are limited in effectiveness and often impose additional side effects on patients. Here, we developed targeted anti-cancer therapy (TAT) using neural stem cells (NSC) as delivery agent to transport anti-cancer compounds directly to GBM in vitro. Anti-cancer active compounds: Tannic acid (TA) and gallic acid (GA) were extracted from local medicinal plant - Quercus infectoria (QI) using soxhlet technique with 100% methanol (QI-100%) or 70% methanol (QI-70%) solvent. Concentration of TA and GA measured using HPLC were 72.56 and 43.66 μg/mL in QI-100%, while in QI-70%, the concentrations were 72.41 and 43.31 μg/mL, respectively. Cytotoxicity effects of QI-100% and QI-70% on human GBM cell line (DBTRG-05MG), human NSC line (H9-hNSC) and human normal brain glial cell line (SVG-p12) (as negative control) were determined using MTT assay. Both QI-100% and QI-70% showed anti-proliferative properties against DBTRG-05MG at IC50, but not on H9-hNSC and SVG-p12. Taken together, data indicated that both QI extracts contained TA and GA which exhibit anti-proliferative effect specifically on cancerous cells only. Next, QI-treated H9-hNSC was seeded in a modified Boyden chamber for 12 h to investigate its migration capacity towards DBTRG-05MG. The result showed that H9-hNSC migrated towards DBTRG-05MG with 4-folds higher capacity compared to control. In addition, the migration of QI-100% treated H9-hNSC successfully reduced the number of DBTRG-05MG, indicating the anti-GBM potential of these cells after migration. In conclusion, NSC could be a specific anti-cancer compound delivery agent for GBM, reducing unwanted side effects on patients

Leaf anatomy and micromorphology of potential medicinal weed ruellia repens L. (Acanthaceae) from Tasik Chini, Pahang

Weeds are commonly known as unwanted plants that grow in wild and human�controlled areas such as farms, gardens, and fields. However, these undesirable plants might benefit humans, especially as a traditional medicine in some rural areas. Ruellia repens belongs to the family Acanthaceae, one of the common weeds in Peninsular Malaysia. This species is believed to become a potential medicinal weed due to its several potent chemical constituents that might be useful in the pharmaceutical industry. But, a lack of research attempts is reported in the taxonomic study of this species. By keeping this point, the present study was carried out to provide the leaf anatomical and micromorphological characteristics of R. repens obtained from Tasik Chini, Pahang. This detailed information will be helpful for the botanist and pharmacologist to avoid misidentification of the species. Several methods were involved such as cross-sectioning on petiole, midrib, lamina and marginal parts, leaf epidermal peeling, leaf clearing, observation under a light microscope and observation under a scanning electron microscope. Results revealed some important leaf anatomical and micromorphological structures such as petiole, midrib and marginal outlines, presence and type of cystoliths, presence and type of trichomes, type of stomata, and presence and types of waxes. The leaf anatomical and micromorphological structures in R. repens are taxonomic significance and might be used as additional data to identify and classify the species. Also, the present study might be a good starting point that leads to extensive future works on the medicinal weeds, especially from Tasik Chini, Pahang

Comparative leaf anatomy and micromorphology of thunbergia erecta (benth.) t. anderson and thunbergia laurifolia lindl. in peninsular Malaysia

Comparative leaf anatomy and micromorphology study was carried out on two selected species from the genus Thunbergia Retz. of Acanthaceae subfamily Thunbergioideae. These two investigated species were T. erecta and T. laurifolia from Peninsular Malaysia. The leaf anatomical study involve several methods such as cross- section using sliding microtome on the petioles, midribs, lamina and marginal, leaf epidermal peeling, leaf clearing and observation under a light microscope. The leaf micromorphology method involve the observation under a scanning electron microscope (SEM). This study aimed to investigate the taxonomic value of leaf anatomy and micromorphology characteristics of genus Thunbergia. The results have shown that there were five common characteristics present in both species studied and several variable characters that might be useful for species differentiation of T. erecta and T. laurifolia. The five common characteristics recorded were the presence of raphide, sinuous anticlinal walls, diacytic stomata, majority opened and minority closed venation in lamina and the presence of peltate glandular (unicellular terminal) trichome. The variable characteristics included were petiole, and marginal outlines, types of vascular bundles, the presence of druse, marginal venation, stomata occurrence, types of wax, cuticular sculpturing and types of trichomes. In conclusion, findings in this study showed that leaf anatomical micromorphological characteristics possessed taxonomic value that can be used in the species identification for the genus Thunbergia specifically for T. erecta and T. laurifolia

Growth kinetics study and process optimization of lactic acid fermentation in laboratory scale fermenter

The purpose of this research was to study the growth kinetics of Lactobacillus rhamnosus in laboratory scale fermenter and to optimize the production of lactic acid with varying certain operating conditions of fermenter. The experiment was designed by Taguchi Method using STATISTICA software to improve the process quality and to increase the lactic acid production. Three parameters have been chosen to be main parameters that effect significantly to L. rhamnosus growth that were agitation speed of the impeller, dissolve oxygen level (pO2) and pH. From comparison between the four runs, the best production of lactic acid has been achieved at lower agitation rate (cascade control, 1-500 rpm), slightly lower pO2 level (10%), and lower pH level (pH 6) with lactic acid concentration of 14.55 g/L. The maximum growth rate and productivity have been obtained at 0.5 h-1 and 0.1282 g/g.h., respectively

The influence of process parameters on lactic acid fermentation in laboratory scale fermenter

The purpose of this study was to study the influence of process parameters on the Lactic Acid Fermentation by Lactobacillus rhamnosus in laboratory scale ferrnenter. The experiment was designed by Taguchi Method using STATISTICA software. Three parameters have been chosen as the main parameters that affect significantly to the growth of L. rhamnosus; the agitation speed of the impeller, dissolve oxygen level (p02) and pH. The most influence and important parameter for the fermentation process is pH at acidic value of 6, followed by stirrer speed (rpm) and p02 even p02 supplied and rpm played similar fWlction in maintaining suitable dissolved oxygen to the cells