Pharmacological Assessment of the Antiprotozoal Activity, Cytotoxicity and Genotoxicity of Medicinal Plants Used in the Treatment of Malaria in the Greater Mpigi Region in Uganda

We investigated the potential antimalarial and toxicological effects of 16 medicinal plants frequently used by traditional healers to treat malaria, fever, and related disorders in the Greater Mpigi region in Uganda. Species studied were Albizia coriaria, Cassine buchananii, Combretum molle, Erythrina abyssinica, Ficus saussureana, Harungana madagascariensis, Leucas calostachys, Microgramma lycopodioides, Morella kandtiana, Plectranthus hadiensis, Securidaca longipedunculata, Sesamum calycinum subsp. angustifolium, Solanum aculeastrum, Toddalia asiatica, Warburgia ugandensis, and Zanthoxylum chalybeum. In addition, the traditional healers indicated that P. hadiensis is used as a ritual plant to boost fertility and prepare young women and teenagers for motherhood in some Ugandan communities where a high incidence of rapidly growing large breast masses in young female patients was observed (not necessarily breast cancer). We present results from various in vitro experiments performed with 56 different plant extracts, namely, 1) an initial assessment of the 16 species regarding their traditional use in the treatment of malaria by identifying promising plant extract candidates using a heme biocrystallization inhibition library screen; 2) follow-up investigations of antiprotozoal effects of the most bioactive crude extracts against chloroquine-resistant P. falciparum K1; 3) a cytotoxicity counterscreen against human MRC-5SV2 lung fibroblasts; 4) a genotoxicity evaluation of the extract library without and with metabolic bioactivation with human S9 liver fraction; and 5) an assessment of the mutagenicity of the ritual plant P. hadiensis. A total of seven extracts from five plant species were selected for antiplasmodial follow-up investigations based on their hemozoin formation inhibition activity in the heme biocrystallization assay. Among other extracts, an ethyl acetate extract of L. calostachys leaves exhibited antiplasmodial activity against P. falciparum K1 (IC50 value: 5.7 µg/ml), which was further characterized with a selectivity index of 2.6 (CC50 value: 14.7 µg/ml). The experiments for assessment of potential procarcinogenic properties of plant extracts via evaluation of in vitro mutagenicity and genotoxicity indicated that few extracts cause mutations. The species T. asiatica showed the most significant genotoxic effects on both bacterial test strains (without metabolic bioactivation at a concentration of 500 µg/plate). However, none of the mutagenic extracts from the experiments without metabolic bioactivation retained their genotoxic activity after metabolic bioactivation of the plant extract library through pre-incubation with human S9 liver fraction. While this study did not show that P. hadiensis has genotoxic properties, it did provide early stage support for the therapeutic use of the medicinal plants from the Greater Mpigi region.

Modeling the Dynamics of Human Liver Failure Post Liver Resection

Liver resection is an important clinical intervention to treat liver disease. Following liver resection, patients exhibit a wide range of outcomes including normal recovery, suppressed recovery, or liver failure, depending on the regenerative capacity of the remnant liver. The objective of this work is to study the distinct patient outcomes post hepatectomy and determine the processes that are accountable for liver failure. Our model based approach shows that cell death is one of the important processes but not the sole controlling process responsible for liver failure. Additionally, our simulations showed wide variation in the timescale of liver failure that is consistent with the clinically observed timescales of post hepatectomy liver failure scenarios. Liver failure can take place either instantaneously or after a certain delay. We analyzed a virtual patient cohort and concluded that remnant liver fraction is a key regulator of the timescale of liver failure, with higher remnant liver fraction leading to longer time delay prior to failure. Our results suggest that, for a given remnant liver fraction, modulating a combination of cell death controlling parameters and metabolic load may help shift the clinical outcome away from post hepatectomy liver failure towards normal recovery.

Inhibitory Effects of Some Bryophytes on Glutathione-S -Transferase

Background: Nine extracts from selected Bryophytes, A. californica, B. pomiformis B. stricta, C. conicum, F. antipyretica var. gracilis, G. lisae, L. sciuroides, M. polymorpha, T. barbuloides were investigated for their total phenolic content and glutathione S-transferase (GST) inhibitory activity. Methods: The flavonoid and phenolic content of nine extracts from Bryophytes were estimated by aluminium chloride and Folin-Ciocalteu method. The sheep liver fraction incubated with or without plant extracts and the activity GST was assayed using reduced glutathione (GSH) and 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB) secondary substrate. Results: These results indicate the potential use of A. californica, C. conicum, G. lisae, M. polymorpha, and T. barbuloides can be regarded as promising candidates for natural plant sources of GST inhibitory effects. Conclusion: These plants can be examined in order to isolate and identify the active ingredients, and this may serve as a foundation to find safer and more effective agents for therapeutic use.

Erythroid colony formation by fetal rat liver and spleen cells in vitro: inhibition by a low relative molecular mass component of fetal spleen

Liver and spleen hematopoietic cell suspensions from 20-day-old-fetal rats were fractionated on Percoll gradients. A granulocyte-rich splenic fraction inhibited CFUe production by cultures of a CFUe-enriched liver fraction, and by cultures of unfractionated liver and spleen hematopoietic cells. Conditioned medium from the spleen cell fraction contained an inhibitor of relative molecular mass, Mr, 25–35 × 10(3). The sensitivity of spleen cells to the inhibitor varied with the age of the fetus from which they were derived (20-day-old less than 18-and 19-day-old). No such age-dependence was found for liver cells. The inhibitor affects cycling CFUe, blocks the lethal effect of AraC, does not appear to be lineage-specific and its influence can be reversed by washing.

Two new methods for separating and quantifying bone and liver alkaline phosphatase isoenzymes in plasma.

We describe two new methods for the separation and quantification of the bone and liver isoenzymes of alkaline phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.1) in plasma. In the first, we use wheat-germ lectin to precipitate the bone isoenzyme. About 80% of this, but minimal liver isoenzyme, is precipitated. The activity of the bone isoenzyme is calculated from measuring the alkaline phosphatase activity in the precipitate, that of liver alkaline phosphatase by subtracting the activity of the bone isoenzyme from total alkaline phosphatase activity. The liver fraction will also contain biliary, intestinal, and placental alkaline phosphatase if these are present in the original plasma, but correction for such activity is readily made. In the second method, samples are separated on cellulose acetate membranes that, before electrophoresis, have been soaked in buffer containing wheat-germ lectin. The bone isoenzyme is retarded and clearly separated from the liver fraction, allowing these isoenzymes to be quantified by densitometry. Both methods are rapid, reproducible, and suitable for use in the diagnostic laboratory.

Effect of liver plasma membranes on G-actin. II. Fate of actin-bound nucleotide

G-actin incubated in presence of a liver fraction enriched in plasma membranes rapidly denatures, as evidenced by the biphasic loss of polymerizability and DNase inhibition. The inactivation is shown to result from the loss of actin-bound nucleotide induced by the rapid destruction of free nucleotides by membrane NPases. This is further supported by the observation that addition of either ATP or ADP to actin that has been exposed to membranes completely stops the denaturation process and partly restores polymerizing capacity. The biphasic aspect of inactivation is explained by the protective action of AMP and (or) adenosine formed in the course of the incubation.

Effect of liver plasma membranes on G-actin. I. Possible implication of membrane NPases in inactivation of G-actin

G-actin incubated in the presence of a liver fraction enriched in plasma membranes is rapidly inactivated, as indicated by the biphasic loss of polymerizability and DNase inhibition. The rates of inactivation as measured by viscosity are greatly influenced by temperature, but almost independent of membrane concentrations at least in the low range of concentrations tested (< 250 μg protein/mL). The loss of DNase inhibition capacity proceeds at rates two to three times slower than the loss of polimerizability. The inactivation of actin in the presence of membranes cannot be attributed to proteolysis nor to a phosphorylation of actin by membranes. However, it is shown that in the course of the incubation, medium ATP is rapidly converted into AMP and adenosine and that the destruction of ATP is almost complete at the start of the inactivation process. A mechanism is presented relating the destruction of ATP to actin inactivation.