Momordica charantia Linn., commonly known as bitter gourd, has many protective roles due to its medicinal value as it contains bioactive components. However, this extract showed possible toxicity effect on zebrafish embryo. Thus this study was designed to differentiate the toxicity activities in two types of M. charantia sample which are Indian and Chinese M. charantia, as well as to compare between two different aqueous extraction methods, hot and cold aqueous method, using zebrafish embryo assay assessment. It was observed that the survival rate of zebrafish embryo decreased as the concentration of test extract increased for all samples of M. charantia. The LC50 values of hot aqueous Chinese M. charantia, hot aqueous Indian M. charantia, and cold aqueous Chinese M. charantia were 144.54 μg/ml, 199.53 μg/ml, and 251.19 μg/ml, respectively. However, cold aqueous Indian M. charantia has a higher LC50 which was not in the range of the tested concentration. Hatchability of Danio rerio embryo reduced as the concentration of M. charantia extract increased while no hatching was observed in the highest concentration (1000 μg/ml). Scoliosis of zebrafish larvae was only seen in higher concentrations (125-1000 μg/ml) of extract. The heartbeat of zebrafish larvae treated with M. charantia extract was within the normal range, 120-180 bpm, but at higher concentrations (125-1000 μg/ml) the heartbeat differed for all samples of test extract. Hence, although this plant extract was safe to be consumed due to its pharmaceutical effect, it still exhibited mild toxicity effect at higher concentration when it was evaluated on zebrafish embryo.

This study aimed to investigate the preventive role of Elateriospermum tapos seed extract against obese Sprague Dawley rats through assessment of bodyweight, caloric intake, organs weight, biological assays and histopathology. Thirty-six male Sprague Dawley rats were assigned into six groups of normal control (G1) group fed with standard chow diet, negative control (G2), positive control (G3) and treatment groups (G4, G5 and G6) were on high-fat and cafeteria diet for 9 weeks. G3 group was given 10 mg kg−1 of Orlistat while treatment groups were supplemented with E. tapos seed extract of 5 mg kg−1, 25 mg kg−1 and 125 mg kg−1 orally daily for another 10 weeks. Bodyweight and food intake were monitored weekly. At the end, liver, retroperitoneal white adipose tissue (rpWAT) and blood were collected for analysis of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density (LDL-C) and high density lipoprotein (HDL-C). The E. tapos seed treated groups showed significant (p < 0.05) reduction in bodyweight, caloric intake, liver and rpWAT weight as compared to the G2 group. G6 group showed tremendous improvement of liver histopathology and biological assay. There was a significant decrease (p < 0.05) of TC, TG, and LDL-C level and significant increase (p < 0.05) of HDL-C in the E. tapos seed treated group as compared to G2 group. Based on the findings, E. tapos seed extract exhibited a great potential as an anti-obesity. The extract promoted the fat oxidation by removing the uptake and storage of fat by the adipose cells and also decrease the fatty acid synthesis.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer related deaths worldwide with about 40% occurring in developing countries. The two varieties of Momordica charantia, which are Chinese and Indian bitter melon, have been subjected to antiproliferative activity in human non-small cell lung cells A549. The A549 cells were treated with hot and cold aqueous extraction for both the bitter melon varieties, and the antiproliferative activity was evaluated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The apoptotic mechanism of action on A549 human lung cancer cells was evaluated first morphologically using Hoechst 33358, and cytoskeleton staining using Filamentous-actin (F-actin) cytoskeleton FICT and DAPI followed by caspase-3/7, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and p53 activity. Chinese hot aqueous extraction (CHA) exhibited potent antiproliferative activity against A549 human lung cancer cells. The morphological analysis of mitochondria destruction and the derangement of cytoskeleton showed apoptosis-inducing activity. CHA increased the caspase-3/7 activity by 1.6-fold and the ROS activity by 5-fold. Flow cytometric analysis revealed 34.5% of apoptotic cells significantly (p<0.05) compared to cisplatin-treated A549 human cancer cells. CHA is suggested to induce apoptosis due to their rich bioactive chemical constituents. These findings suggest that the antiproliferative effect of CHA was due to apoptosis via ROS-mediated mitochondria injury.

BackgroundPrevalence data is essential for planning of healthcare services. The prevalence of faecal incontinence (FI) varies worldwide, and in Malaysia is not known. We sought to estimate its prevalence among patients with various conditions in a Malaysian academic setting.MethodA questionnaire-based survey was conducted among a convenience sample of adult patients and relatives who visited the Obstetrics and Gynaecology and General Surgery Clinics of University of Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) from June 2009 to February 2010. Data collected included patient demographics and pre-existing medical conditions known to be FI risk factors. Severity of FI was assessed using the Wexner Continence Scale (WCS).ResultsAmong the 1000 subjects recruited into the study, 760 (76%) were female and the median age was 38 years with an inter-quartile range of 24 years. The prevalence of FI among the study subjects was found to be 8.3%. Among them, 63 subjects (75.9%) were determined to have mild FI as measured by the WCS. The proportions of patients with moderate and severe FI were 18.3% and 6.0%, respectively. FI was found to be significantly associated with older age, presence of diabetes mellitus and increased duration of defaecation. There was no statistically significant association between FI and sex, defaecation frequency, or history of surgery.ConclusionFI in our setting is prevalent enough to warrant targeted healthcare interventions, including the need to improve general public awareness of the condition in order to counter social stigma and embarrassment that may be faced by patients.

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