Okra pods were widely consumed by Indonesians to maintain health. The aim of this study was at investigating the potential of crude polysaccharides from okra pods on immune response in mice infected with Staphylococcus aureus. Thirty male Balb/C mice were divided into six groups: normal control, negative control, and treatment groups (administration of crude polysaccharides at doses of 25, 50, 75, and 100 mg/kg). Crude polysaccharides were administrated for fourteen days. Furthermore, mice were exposed to S. aureus at the fifteenth day. Two weeks after the end of treatment, the parameters were measured. This study showed that crude polysaccharides at a dose of 75 and 100 mg/kg improved phagocytic activity, spleen index, and splenocytes proliferation. Rising of TNF-α levels was shown in groups treated with crude polysaccharides at doses of 25, 50, and 100 mg/kg. All treatment groups showed a decreasing level of IL-17. Crude okra polysaccharides also showed a slight increase in NK cells activity and IFN-γ level. Thus, crude okra polysaccharides could act as an effective material to enhance immune response including phagocytic activity, spleen index, splenocytes proliferation, and control immune responses through cytokine production.

In this study, we determine the curative effects of okra pods (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) extract against lead acetate toxicity in mice kidney. n-Hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol solvent were used for extracting okra pods. The role of the extract as an antioxidant was tested by DPPH and FRAP methods. The methanol extract was used for experiments in animals. A total of 30 male BALB/c mice were randomly divided into six equal groups: normal control, negative control (lead-induced), and treatment groups (lead-induced for 28 days and administration of methanol extract at doses of 50, 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg BW for the 28 days). The following were analyzed in all groups: activity of the antioxidant enzymes, namely, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT); oxidant level, namely, malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO); and markers of kidney injury, namely, blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine (Cre). Kidney histopathology was also evaluated. This study showed that the methanol extract showed the highest antioxidant activity (IC50 is 35.21 µg/mL, and FRAP is 57.58 µM Fe2+/g). The CAT and SOD activities increased significantly in okra-treated groups (P<0.05). The okra administration groups experienced a significant decrease in MDA, NO, BUN, and Cre levels (P<0.05). Thickness of the epithelial proximal tubule, diameter of the proximal tubule, and percentage of necrotic cells in proximal tubule decreased, but the diameter ratio of glomerular Bowman’s capsule in mice treated with okra was optimally improved and repaired like normal control (P<0.05). The results of this study reveal that methanol extract has a very strong antioxidant effect and can reduce the influence of toxicity induced by lead acetate in mice kidney.

Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) is reported to have various biological functions such as antioxidant, anticancer and anti-inflammation. However, only few studies have been reported immunomodulatory activities of okra to prevent disease caused by bacteria infection. In this study, the immunomodulatory activities of polysaccharides from okra pods were investigated further through the spleen weight and B-lymphocytes proliferation in mice infected by Staphylococcus aureus. Okra polysaccharides were obtained by water extraction and ethanol precipitation. Okra polysaccharides with doses of 25, 50, 75, and 100 mg/kg BW were orally administrated to mice with or without Staphylococcus aureus infection. Spleen weight was evaluated in both treatment group and control group. B-lymphocytes proliferation was evaluated by MTT assay using LPS induction. Results showed that okra polysaccharide at the doses of 50, 75, and 100 mg/kg increased spleen weight (p < 0.05) significantly. While at the dose of 75 and 100 mg/kg, it increased the B-lymphocytes proliferation (p < 0.05) significantly. There is positive correlation between the spleen weight and B-lymphocytes proliferation by 73.3%. These result reveal that okra polysaccharide could improve the immune response and be utilized as a novel candidate of neutraceutical.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic bacterium that causes infections in human. The wall cell of its bacteria contains lipopolysaccharide as virulency factors to protect it from human immunity. Lipopolysaccharide can inhibit phagocytosis in the body. Polysaccharide krestin (PSK) from Coriolus versicolor extract contains β-glucan that can increase phagocytic activity and capacity. This research aimed to identify the effect on polysaccharide krestin from C. versicolor extract on phagocytic activity and capacity of mice exposed by P. aeruginosa. The design of this research was experimental design. There were six treatment groups. The phagocytic activity and capacity were counted on slide smears of mice peritoneal fluid. The data was analyzed by using one way ANOVA. The results of the phagocytic activity and capacity showed that PSK was added before exposure (P1) or after exposure (P2) or before-after exposure (P3) had potential to increase phagocytic activity and capacity. The conclusion of the research was that adding polysaccharide krestin either before exposure or after exposure or both of them could increase phagocytic activity and capacity. The benefits of this research to development of science are expected to reduce human infection and to utilize natural ingredients as immunomodulator.

Tujuan dari kegiatan pengabdian kepada masyarakat ini adalah untuk meningkatkan Keterampilan Proses Sains praktikum biologi bagi siswa SMA di Kabupaten Jember. Metode yang dilakukan selama menjalankan kegiatan pengabdian kepada masyarakat adalah Participatory Action Research (PAR) dengan tahapan umum berupa Planning (Perencanaan), Action (kegiatan), Reflection (Refleksi), Evaluation (Evaluasi). Kegiatan pertama yaitu perencanaan yang berisi persiapan dan sosialisasi kegiatan pengabdian, kegiatan kedua yaitu aksi/kegiatan yang dilakukan dengan pemberian materi dan pelatihan pembuatan preparat, kegiata ketiga adalah refleksi yang dilakukan dengan cara melakukan pendampingan kepada siswa dan guru dalam membuat preparat apusan darah dan terakhir adalah evaluasi yang dilakukan dengan cara membahas bagaimana keberlanjutan program bersama sekolah mitra. Keterampilan Proses Sains siswa sebelum pelatihan dilakukan memiliki nilai rata-rata kelas 53 dan setelah pelatihan menjadi 94, dengan demikian ada kenaikan sebesar 77,3%. Hasil dari kegiatan pengabdian ini adalah meningkatnya Keterampilan Proses Sains melalui kegiatan praktikum yang dilakukan oleh siswa SMA. Praktikum tersebut berupa kegiatan pembuatan preparat apusan darah.

Canna edulis K. <em>is a tuberous crop containing starch that is frequently consumed as food. Due to the phytochemical content of canna tubers, several studies have demonstrated the use of canna tuber as an antioxidant, anticancer, antibacterial, and hepatoprotective agent. This study aims to quantitatively determine the phytochemical content of distilled water extract and ethanol extract of canna tuber, as previous research has only provided qualitative results. Old-red canna tubers were extracted using maceration and freeze-drying techniques. Using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), the extraction results with two different solvent types were analyzed. According to the GC-MS results, the ethanol extract represented 32 phytochemical compounds, more abundant than the distilled water extract (16 compounds). The terpenoid compound tetradecamethylcycloheptasiloxane can be extracted with both ethanol and distilled water solvents, whereas the polysaccharide compounds D-Mannitol, 2-Deoxy-D-ribose, and d-Mannose can only be extracted with ethanol solvent. The results of the phytochemical analysis of canna tuber extract are expected to be utilized as pharmaceuticals or alternative food ingredients.</em>

The fortification of cassava leaves by adding nutrition is a recent technique in the ericulture study. Glycine is one of the amino acids necessary for the growth of silkworms. This study aimed to analyse the effect of glycine fortification of cassava leaves on the growth and development of eri silkworms. The parameters of this study were cocoon parameters, the wingspan of imago, development time and mortality, and egg parameters of Samia cynthia ricini D. This study had four treatments: control group, P1 group (adding glycine 0.5% on cassava leaves), P2 group (adding glycine 1% on cassava leaves), and P3 (adding glycine 1.5% on cassava leaves). The early instar of Eri silkworm larvae was fed on castor leaves, and glycine fortification was fed on the late instar of Eri silkworm larvae (fourth and fifth instars). Based on the results, all parameters showed significant differences from the control group. Glycine fortification increased cocoon weight (2.03 ± 0.62 g), extended the wingspan of the imago (12.15 ± 1.12 cm), shortened the development time (44.03 ± 0.84 days), had no mortality, and increased the fecundity of eggs (134.80 ± 28.78 eggs). The most effective concentration of glycine fortification on cassava leaves was 1.5%. Conclusively, cassava leaves with glycine fortification affect the growth and development of eri silkworm.