This study investigated the biotransformation of methylene blue (MB) by mixed fungal cultures of Gloeophyllum trabeum and Aspergillus oryzae. Equal volumes of A. oryzae and G. trabeum cultures were applied to Erlenmeyer containing MB and incubated at 30°C for 7 days. The change in absorbance of the MB control solution and the solution after application, measured with a UV-Visible spectrophotometer, was used to calculate the decolorization. The addition of A. oryzae to G. trabeum cultures showed MB biodecolorization reaching 69.34%, greater than single cultures of G. trabeum and A. oryzae, which were 31.50% and 36.82%, respectively. Metabolite identification from MB biodecolorization by mixed culture using LC-QTOF-MS found the following metabolites:

The nutritional content of mushrooms depends on the type of substrate in the growing medium. Lignocellulose is one of the substrates used for fungal growth media. In this study, the effect of adding dried reeds (Imperata cylindrical (L.) Beauv) on Sengon (Paraserianthes falcataria (L.) Nielsen) sawdust-based media was investigated for wood ear mushroom (Auricularia auricula-Judae) fruiting body. Reeds have been added to Sengon sawdust as wood ear mushroom cultivated medium with variations of S0, S1, S2, S3, and S4 (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of reeds, respectively). S0 was designed as the negative control and S4 as the positive control. The evaluation was carried out against the C/N ratio, yield, biological efficiency (BE), nutritional content, and antioxidant activity of fruiting body mushrooms after 10, 20, and 30 days planted. The highest C/N ratio and BE were obtained from the S1 medium. The lowest moisture content was obtained from the S0 medium. The lowest fat content was obtained from the S4 medium. The best result of nutritional analysis includes the following; the highest total carbohydrate, ash, crude fiber, and crude protein content was obtained from S3, S4, S3, and S0. Furthermore, the best result of antioxidant activity against ABTS and DPPH was obtained at methanol extract of fruiting body mushrooms from S1 medium, compared with ascorbic acid as the positive control. This study has shown that adding reeds to the cultivated medium influences the growth, nutritional content, and antioxidant activity of wood ear mushrooms.

Currently, no effective medication is available to treat diabetes despite this disease is a serious health problem. As part of our project to explore Indonesian medicinal plants for antidiabetic agents, this study aimed to investigate the total phenolic and flavonoid contents, antioxidant and antidiabetic properties of Melastoma malabathricum leaves extracts. Spectrophotometric methods were used to determine the total phenolic and flavonoid contents. Antioxidant activity was performed using DPPH, ABTS, and FRAP methods. The in vitro antidiabetic test was conducted through an inhibitory evaluation of α-glucosidase and α-amylase, while STZ-induced diabetic rats were used for in vivo study. The highest value of total phenolic (183.71 ± 0.11 mg GAE/g Extract) was recorded in the methanolic extract and flavonoid (24.10 ± 0.04 mg QE/g Extract) contents were recorded in the EtOAc extract. The methanolic extract has the highest DPPH and ABTS activities with IC50 values of 8.58 ± 0.03 and 4.59 ± 0.03 μg/mL, respectively. It also showed the highest FRAP activity with a 51.15 ± 0.10 µM Fe2+/g. In vitro antidiabetic testing of the methanolic extract of leaves against α-glucosidase and α-amylase was reported for the first time. This novel result showed that the methanolic extract inhibited α-glucosidase and α-amylase with IC50 values of 75.25±1.60 and 52.38±1.32 μg/mL, respectively. A dose of 200 mg/Kg body weight of the methanolic extract reduced rats’ blood glucose rate and serum blood glucose by 51.01% and 37.82%, respectively, after 15 days of treatments. These findings suggested that the methanolic extract of M. malabathricum leaves can be used as a potential source of antioxidant and antidiabetic agents.

Malaria caused by Plasmodium parasites is a significant public health issue, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions. There is also resistance to chloroquine-based therapy, which highlights the need for novel therapeutic agents. Therefore, our project in exploring antiplasmodial agents from Garcinia Indonesia continues. This study evaluates the phytochemical content of G. bancana by the total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) and its in vitro antioxidant and antiplasmodial activities. The TPC and TFC values were determined using a UV-VIS spectrophotometer, while the antioxidant activity was determined using the DPPH, ABTS, and FRAP assays. Antiplasmodial activity against a chloroquine-sensitive strain 3D7 was evaluated using the Giemsa staining method. The highest TPC value of 195.75 ± 1.24 mg GAE/g was obtained from methanolic extract, while a TFC value of 82.79 ± 0.34 mg QE/g extract was found from dichloromethane extract. The methanolic extract exhibited the most potent antioxidant activity in the DPPH and FRAP assays with IC50 values of 6.07 ± 0.06 μg/ml and 74.35 ± 3.77 μM Fe2+/g, respectively. The n-hexane extract was found to be the most potent on ABTS antioxidant and antiplasmodial assays with IC50 values of 1.22 ± 0.02 μg/ml and 0.23 ± 0.01 μg/ml, respectively. Furthermore, the DPPH antioxidant was negatively correlated with antiplasmodial significantly at 0.05. These findings suggest that the n-hexane extract of G. bancana has great potential as a source of antioxidant and antiplasmodial compounds. To the best of our knowledge, this study provides microscopic evidence in addition to the strongest antiplasmodial efficacy of Garcinia extract.