Antioxidant and Anticancer Potentials and Metabolic Profiling of Benjakul, A Thai Herbal Preparation

Abstract

A traditional Chinese multi-herbal extract was discovered to produce antioxidant and anti-aging effects. 2 Benjakul (BJK), a Thai herbal remedy, is a common treatment for inflammation and cancer in Thai traditional medicine and it is included on the National Lists of Essential Medicines. BJK comprises five medicinal plants including Piper retrofractum Vahl. (Pr), Piper sarmentosum Roxb. (Ps), Piper interuptum Opiz. (Pi), Plumbago indica L. (Pn), and Zingiber officinale Rosc. (Zo). BJK has been reported to be used as anticancer remedies in Thai traditional medicine. It has been used as the initial medication to reduce pain and manage patients' symptoms prior to the administration of other treatments. 4,5 Previous reports have indicated that the herbal remedy and its individual plant components exhibit cytotoxic effects against cancer cells 6 antiallergic 7 and anti-inflammatory effects. [7][8][9][10] In addition, isolated compounds from BJK have shown cytotoxic activity on breast cancer cells, 11 and large and small cell lung cancer cells. 12,13 It has been demonstrated that plant extracts and plant-derived compounds exhibit anticancer properties by activating the apoptotic pathway. [14][15][16][17] Some specific plant components in the BJK formulation caused cell death by apoptotic signalling. [18][19][20][21] At present, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is increasingly being used in the fields of food science, [22][23][24] medicine and health, [25][26][27][28][29] and natural products. 30 Recently, NMR was used to analyze the Chinese herbal medicine, Sophora flavescens, and two novel chemical compounds were identified. 31 In addition, a previous study used NMR-based metabolomics to identify changes in the metabolic profile of a local cultivar of Andrographis paniculata during its growth period. 32