Haematological and histopathological evaluation of dried kacangma (Leonurus sibiricus) in New Zealand White rabbits

Kacangma (Leonurus sibiricus L.) is a popular traditional herb that has been consumed for decades by the people of Sarawak as herbal medicine and culinary ingredient. This study was conducted to evaluate the toxicity of kacangma herb on New Zealand White male and female rabbits through subchronic studies. Effects of kacangma herb intake at the level of 0.5, 5.0 and 25.0 g/kg body weight was evaluated for 90 days with focus on hematological and histopathological studies. The haematological study revealed no significant changes in all parameters studied i.e. heamoglobin, red blood cell value, white blood cell value, packed cell volume, mean cell volume, mean cell haemoglobin and mean cell haemoglobin concentration. Vice versa, in the histophatological study, administration of dried kacangma herb at medium and high dose was found to cause adverse effects on histopathological structure in liver and kidney of both male and female rabbits. However, since low dose group showed no significant differences to the control group, therefore it is considered safe and less chance of developing toxicity if the herb is consumed at the low dose of 0.5 g/kg body weight as observed throughout the 90 days period of subchronic study

Processing of herbal-based natural products and functional foods: a review

The growing worldwide emphasis on health and wellness, leading to increased demand for natural plant-based ingredients in foods. This shift is driven by concerns over synthetic additives in processed foods, giving rise to the popularity of plant-based functional foods. The global functional food market is projected to reach $275.77 billion by 2025, with a surge in demand for plant-based immune-boosting products due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Malaysian herbs, with their rich history of culinary and traditional use, are gaining attention as functional ingredients. However, their incorporation into food products requires more advanced processing methods and research. Malaysia’s biodiversity offers untapped economic potential, and the country’s herbal industry is experiencing growth in exports and research investments. Herbal ingredients, containing active phytochemicals, are sometimes referred to as botanical substances and can be incorporated into formulations for functional foods. The review classifies herbal-based food products as herbal medicine, botanical food, or food-drug interphase (FDI). Herbal processing methods are crucial for ensuring the functionality of herbal-based products. Primary processing steps include sorting, cutting, drying, and grinding. Specific processing functions involve retaining active compound contents, enhancing effectiveness, reducing toxicity or side effects, and changing active compound properties or functions. The review also discusses the application of herb combinations in functional foods, highlighting the need for careful consideration of interactions between herbs and other components. Approaches to functional food development in Malaysia include refining existing products, creating new formulations, and integrating novel processing technologies. Future research directions include enhancing bioavailability and functionality of active compounds, exploring nanosystem technology, and incorporating nutrigenomics for disease prevention through dietary interventions

Phytochemical, cytotoxicity and antioxidant activities of the stem bark of Piper arborescens

Crude extract from stem bark of P. arborescens was fractionated by using column chromatography to isolate and purify its metabolite content. Six secondary metabolites were successfully isolated and their identification was performed by using Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectoscopy. The isolated metabolites were identified as caryophyllene oxide (1), α-bisabolol (2), benzamide 2-(methylamino) (3), 2-ethylpiperidine (4), piperine (5) and methyl eugenol (6). Toxicity test on the four crude extracts of P. arborescens shows high cytotoxicity against Artemia salina brine shrimp with LC50 values ranging from 13.12 to 58.70 µg/mL. Greater cytotoxicity of the crude extracts of P. arborescens indicated the presence of potent cytotoxic components in this Piper spp. Antioxidant assay of P. arborescens against 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) indicated moderate antioxidant activities of methanol, dichloromethane, chloroform and hexane crude extracts with EC50 values of 21.68, 23.82, 32.88 and 36.88 µg/mL, respectively. It is suggested that the six secondary metabolites identified in P. arborescens contribute as an active content for the cytotoxicity and antioxidant activities. This study showed that the crude extracts of P. arborescens is definitely having potential to be used as a source of natural product of various applicatio

Chemical constituents, antioxidant, and cytotoxicity of essential oils of Piper arborescens and Piper caninum

Essential oils of the stem bark of Sarawak's wild pepper species namely the Piper arborescens and Piper caninum were extracted by using Clevenger's water distillation method, and analysis using gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) have identified a total of 54 and 57 chemical components in the essential oils, respectively. Three major compounds have been identified in the essential oil of Piper arborescens namely the pentadecanal (18.88%), guaiol (11.19%), and β-guaiene (11.12%). In the essential oil of Piper caninum, four main compounds identified were isocaryophyllene (20.60%), (E)-α-bergamotene (13.74%), (E)-isoeugenol (13.46%), and (E,Z)-3,6-nonadien-1-ol (9.35%). Evaluation of antioxidant properties showed the EC50 values of essential oils of Piper arborescens and Piper caninum were 249.30 and 238.70 µg/mL, respectively, indicating low scavenging activity against DPPH as compared to ascorbic acid as standard with EC50 value of 2.72 µg/mL. Cytotoxicity assay showed that average death of Artemia salina brine shrimp in the essential oil of Piper arborescens was higher, with LC50 57.95 µg/mL, as compared to 249.74 µg/mL of essential oil of Piper caninum. The cytotoxic level does not always indicate its outright toxicity but may also indicate the presence of potential natural cytotoxic components, especially in essential oil of Piper arborescens as suggested by Elumba et al. (2013)

Fatty acid composition of selected street foods commonly available in Malaysia

Despite growing evidence of increased saturated and trans fat contents in street foods, little is known about their fatty acid (FA) compositions. This study aimed to analyse the saturated fatty acids (SFAs), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), and trans fatty acids (TFAs) content of 70 selected and most commonly available street foods in Malaysia. The street foods were categorised into main meals, snacks, and desserts. TFAs were not detected in any of the street foods. Descriptively, all three categories mainly contained SFAs, followed by MUFAs, and PUFAs. However, the one-way ANOVA testing showed that the differences between each category were insignificant (p > 0.05), and each FA was not significantly different (p > 0.05) from one to another. Nearly half of the deep-fried street foods contained medium to high SFAs content (1.7 g/100 g-24.3 g/100 g), while the MUFAs were also high (32.0-44.4%). The Chi-square test of association showed that the type of preparation methods (low or high fat) used was significantly associated (p < 0.05) with the number of SFAs. These findings provide valuable information about fat composition in local street foods for the Malaysian Food Composition Database and highlight the urgency to improve nutritional composition

Penentuan aktiviti antimikrob herba kacangma leonurus sibiricus

Kajian keberkesanan sifat antimikrob ekstrak kacangma dijalankan menggunakan ujian resapan cakera dan ujian perencatan langsung. Hasil menunjukkan ekstrak etanol dengan kepekatan 50 dan 100 mg/mL merencat Staphylococcus aureus. Bagi ekstrak air, kepekatan 10, 25, 50 dan 100 mg/mL merencat Aspergillus niger, 25, 50 dan 100 mg/mL dapat merencat Saccharomyces cerevisae dan kepekatan 100 mg/mL dapat merencat Staphylococcus aureus. Perlakuan suhu yang berbeza ke atas ekstrak dalam ujian perencatan langsung tidak menunjukkan sebarang perbezaan ke atas perencatan mikroorganisma yang dikaji

Determination of antioxidation activities of Sarawak’s traditional herb kacangma leonurus sibiricus

Antioxidant activities of ethanolic and aqueous extract from kacangma (Leonurus sibiricus) were determined by using three model systems. Based on the antioxidant activity range, ethanolic extract of dried kacangma was high in oxidation of linoleic acid lipid system (LP) 71.6%, moderate in xanthine oxidase superoxide scavenging activity (XOD) 69.7% and low in 1,2-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity (DPPH) 48.8%. On the other hand, aqueous extract of dried kacangma was high in antioxidant activities for all three bioassays with mean percentages of 72.7, 76.3 and 78.2%, respectively. Extraction in water was more efficient than ethanol in extracting the antioxidants present in dried kacangma

Formulation optimization and processing parameter establishment of canned chicken in kacangma herbal soup

The formulation of chicken in kacangma herbal soup, a traditional delicacy of Sarawak was developed. Processing parameters for the canned product was established. The product was canned and retorted at 121°C in an overpressure retort to achieve commercial sterility. A three-component constrained mixture according to a symmetrical-simplex interior design was used to determine the optimum formulation. Result showed that a mixture with 82% blended ginger, 17% dried kacangma and 1% cornstarch would give a mean sensory score of more than 6.6 for taste, colour, texture, consistency and overall acceptability. Meanwhile, a score above 5.5 was given for aroma. The study showed that the thermal process applied with Fo value of 8.36 is sufficient to produce commercially sterile products

Toxicological evaluation of dried Kacangma Herb (Leonurussibiricus)in rats

Kacangma (Leonurus sibiricus L.) is a popular traditional herb that has been consumed for decades by the people of Sarawak as a herbal medicine or culinary ingredient. The toxicity of dried kacangma herb on Sprague Dawley male and female rats was evaluated through 90-day sub-chronic studies. The rats were fed kacangma at the rate of 0.5 (low dose), 5 (medium dose) and 25 (high dose) g/kg body weight. The control groups of rats received only the commercial rat pellet. Minor treatment-related effects were observed for body weights, organ weights and the lipid profile parameters and these did not appear to be of toxicological significance. In the sub-chronic toxicity studies, some indications of renal and liver toxicity were evident in the medium and high dose groups when plasma creatinine and liver enzymes were found to be higher when compared with the control and the low dose groups. The hematology study reveals statistically significant mild anemia in rats from the medium and high dose groups as indicated by decreases in hemoglobin, red blood cell count and packed cell volume (hematocrit value). Administration of kacangma herb at medium and high dose was also found to cause adverse effects in histopathological structure of the liver and kidney of both male and female rats. However, low dose group showed no significant differences compared to the control. Therefore, it is considered safe and less chance of developing toxicity if the herb is consumed at the dose of 0.5 g/kg body weight as observed throughout the 90 days period of sub-chronic study

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field