Aqueous extracts of Ocimum basilicum L. (sweet basil) decrease platelet aggregation induced by ADP and thrombin in vitro and rats arterio--venous shunt thrombosis in vivo

Artificial Neural Network and Response Surface-Based Combined Approach to Optimize the Oil Content of Ocimum basilicum var. thyrsiflora (Thai Basil)

Ocimum basilicum var. thyrsiflora is valuable for its medicinal properties. The barriers to the commercialization of essential oil are the lack of requisite high oil-containing genotypes and variations in the quantity and quality of essential oils in different geographic areas. Thai basil's essential oil content is significantly influenced by soil and environmental factors. To optimize and predict the essential oil yield of Thai basil in various agroclimatic regions, the current study was conducted. The 93 datasets used to construct the model were collected from samples taken across 10 different agroclimatic regions of Odisha. Climate variables, soil parameters, and oil content were used to train the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model. The outcome showed that a multilayer feed-forward neural network with an R squared value of 0.95 was the most suitable model. To understand how the variables interact and to determine the optimum value of each variable for the greatest response, the response surface curves were plotted. Garson's algorithm was used to discover the influential predictors. Soil potassium content was found to have a very strong influence on responses, followed by maximum relative humidity and average rainfall, respectively. The study reveals that by adjusting the changeable parameters for high commercial significance, the ANN-based prediction model with the response surface methodology technique is a new and promising way to estimate the oil yield at a new site and maximize the essential oil yield at a particular region. To our knowledge, this is the first report on an ANN-based prediction model for Ocimum basilicum var. thyrsiflora.

Determination of Chemical Composition and Investigation of Biological Activities of Ocimum basilicum L

This study aimed to determine the chemical composition of the essential oils (EOs) of Ocimum basilicum L., as well as to evaluate the antibacterial, antidiabetic, dermatoprotective, and anti-inflammatory properties, and the EOs and aqueous extracts of O. basilicum. The antibacterial activity was evaluated against bacterial strains, Gram-positive and Gram-negative, using the well diffusion and microdilution methods, whereas the antidiabetic activity was assessed in vitro using two enzymes involved in carbohydrate digestion, α-amylase and α-glucosidase. On the other hand, the dermatoprotective and anti-inflammatory activities were studied by testing tyrosinase and lipoxygenase inhibition activity, respectively. The results showed that the chemical composition of O. basilicum EO (OBEO) is dominated by methyl chavicol (86%) and trans-anethol (8%). OBEO exhibited significant antibacterial effects against Gram-negative and Gram-positive strains, demonstrated by considerable diameters of the inhibition zones and lower MIC and MBC values. In addition, OBEO exhibited significant inhibition of α-amylase (IC50 = 50.51 ± 0.32 μg/mL) and α-glucosidase (IC50 = 39.84 ± 1.2 μg/mL). Concerning the anti-inflammatory activity, OBEO significantly inhibited lipoxygenase activity (IC50 = 18.28 ± 0.03 μg/mL) compared to the aqueous extract (IC50 = 24.8 ± 0.01 μg/mL). Moreover, tyrosinase was considerably inhibited by OBEO (IC50 = 68.58 ± 0.03 μg/mL) compared to the aqueous extract (IC50 = 118.37 ± 0.05 μg/mL). The toxicological investigations revealed the safety of O. basilicum in acute and chronic toxicity. The finding of in silico analysis showed that methyl chavicol and trans-anethole (main compounds of OBEO) validate the pharmacokinetics of these compounds and decipher some antibacterial targets.

In Vitro and In Silico Evaluation for the Inhibitory Action of O. basilicum Methanol Extract on α-Glucosidase and α-Amylase

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease that predominates, nowadays. It causes hyperglycemia and consequently major health complications. Type II diabetes is the most common form and is a result of insulin resistance in the target tissues. To treat this disease, several mechanisms have been proposed. The most direct route is via inhibiting the intestinal enzymes, e.g., α-glucosidase and α-amylase, responsible for intestinal polysaccharide digestion that therefore would reduce the absorption of monosugars through the intestinal walls. In this study, we shed the light on this route by testing the inhibitory effect of Ocimum basilicum extract on the enzymes α-glucosidase and α-amylase in vitro and in silico. Experimental procedures were performed to test the effect of the O. basilicum methanol extract from aerial parts followed by the in silico docking. 500 μg/mL of the extract led to 70.2% ± 8.6 and 25.4% ± 3.3 inhibition on α-glucosidase and α-amylase activity, respectively. Similarly, the effect of caffeic acid, a major extract ingredient, was also tested, and it caused 42.7% ± 3.0 and 47.1% ± 4.0 inhibition for α-amylase and α-glucosidase, respectively. Docking experiments were performed to predict the phytochemicals responsible for this robust inhibitory activity in the O. basilicum extracts. Several compounds have shown variable levels of inhibition, e.g., caffeic acid, pyroglutamic acid, and uvasol. The results indicated that O. basilicum can be a potent antidiabetic drug.

Evaluation of Anti-Inflammatory Properties of Herbal Aqueous Extracts and Their Chemical Characterization

Plant extracts are gaining more attention as therapeutic agents against inflammation. In this study, four different widely used herbals were selected, such as holy basil leaf, sesame seed, long pepper, and cubeb pepper. We have evaluated the anti-inflammatory action of an aqueous extract from these herbs and tested their effects on monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs). MDMs were pre-treated with these extracts individually for 2 h, followed by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation for 24 h and pro-inflammatory gene expression was analyzed. Also, we studied the effect of these extracts on the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) by enzymatic (Myeloperoxidase) and non-enzymatic (copper) reactions. All extracts attenuated LPS-induced inflammation and also were able to inhibit the oxidation of LDL. These beneficial actions of extracts led us to identify molecules present in the extracts. A liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometric analysis was performed to identify the chemical composition of extracts. Wide range of molecules were identified across all the extracts, short-chain organic acids, phenolic acids and derivatives, piperine and its structural homologues, eugenol, rosmarinic acid, flavonoids and their glucosides, and others. This study opens a door for future studies on non-pharmacological natural therapeutics that will be useful for consumers and producers, as well as industries utilizing bioactive compounds.

Acute and sub-acute toxicity of the aqueous extract from the stem bark of Tetrapleura tetrapteura Taub. (Fabaceae) in mice and rats

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Tetrapleura tetrapteura Taub. is a leguminous multipurpose tree (Fabaceae) indigenous to tropical Africa. Fruits, seeds and stem bark infusions or decoctions of Tetrapleura tetrapteura Taub. are used to treat many diseases, such as gastric ulcer, rheumatism, malaria, hypertension and hyperlipidemia.

AIM OF THE STUDY

This work was conducted to evaluate the acute and sub-acute toxicity of the aqueous extract of Tetrapleura tetrapteura Taub. (AETT) stem barks.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

For the study of acute toxicity, single oral doses of 2000 mg/kg and 5000 mg/kg of AETT were administrated to male and female Balb/c mice, followed by observation of mice for 14 days. In the study of sub-acute toxicity, 48 albino wistar rats of both genders were randomly divided into six groups of 8 animals and they were daily and orally administrated for twenty eight days. The animal's test groups and satellite test group were administrated with the extract (AETT) at the doses of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg respectively. On the 29th day, the satellite group (control 2 and satellite 400 mg/kg) were observed during two more weeks. General behavior changes, mortality, body weight of animal, water and food intake were recorded during the study period. At the end of each treatment period, biochemical and hematological parameters were measured and histological examinations of liver and kidneys sections performed.

RESULTS

Up to 5000 mg/kg single dose administration of AETT for fourteen days registered no death animal. In sub-acute study, no mortality was recorded in various experimental groups. Significant reductions in body weight, water and food intake were recorded in all treated animals. Relative weights of liver, kidneys, stomach, spleen, lungs, and heart of treated animals remained unchanged. Significant increases in the number of platelets as well as in serum ALAT level were recorded in rats, treated with 400 mg/kg of AETT. Female rat liver histology showed, at a higher dose of AETT, a slight congestion of portal vein.

CONCLUSION

AETT is safe after therapeutic (200 mg/kg) or acute administration. Higher dose (400 mg/kg) administered for longer period showed signs of liver toxicity.

News from Tartary: an ethnopharmacological approach to drug and therapeutic discovery

Ethnopharmacology aims to identify new therapeutic agents based on their traditional use. It begins by the identification of disease states, and of the traditional therapies for these, most commonly herbals. Herbals of interest are selected from ethnopharmacological surveys, and tested on experimental models of the diseases of interest. Once the activity of the traditional remedy is demonstrated, including dose-dependence, if possible comparatively to reference medications, the active ingredients can be explored, if possible using bioguided extraction. Identified molecules can then be further developed as medicinal products or pharmaceutical medicines (e.g., artemisine), or the herbal product can be developed as such (e.g. St John's wort). We provide examples of various study programmes, concerning the antiplatelet and antithrombotic effects of Armagnac extracts from Southwest France; antithrombotic and antihypertensive effects of extracts of Ocimum basilicum L; antithrombotic, antihypertensive and antihyperlipidemic effects of Cydonia oblonga; Antiproliferative and antithrombotic effects of Abnorma Savda Munziq of traditional Uyghur medicine; and the antidiabetic and hepatoprotective effects of Centaurium erythraea Rafn, Artemisia herba-alba Asso and Trigonella foenum-graecum L., all in collaboration between University of Bordeaux, France, Xinjiang Medical University in Urumqi, China and University Mentouri in Constantine, Algeria.

Effect of traditional Uyghur medicine abnormal Savda Munziq extract on rabbit platelet aggregation in vitro and rat arteriovenous shunt thrombosis in vivo

OBJECTIVE

Abnormal Savda Munziq (ASMq) is a standard herbal preparation used in Uyghur traditional medicine to fight chronic diseases including cardiovascular, but its specific effects on thrombosis and platelet aggregation are unknown.

METHODS

Rabbit platelets were incubated with ASMq extract (10, 20, 40 µg/ml) for 15, 30, or 60 min, and aggregation was induced with ADP and collagen. In vivo, ASMq extract 2.97 g/kg, 5.94g/kg, 11.88 g/kg per os daily for 15 days were tested on thrombus wet weight in a rat model of arterio-venous bypass thrombosis. Plasma thromboxane B2 (TXB2) and 6-keto-PGF1a (6PG) were measured by radioimmunoassay. Aspirin (12 µg/ml and 5mg/kg) and saline were used as control in both experiments.

RESULTS

ASMq inhibited ADP and collagen-induced aggregation in vitro in a dose-dependent manner that increased over time, to a maximum of 6.4 ± 1.3% and 21.6 ± 4.0% for ADP and collagen, respectively, at one hour׳s incubation with the highest concentration, whereas the effects of aspirin (34.5 ± 2.2% and 41.9 ± 2.5%, respectively) were stable over time. In vivo, ASMq inhibited thrombus formation dose-dependently, by 70% at the highest dose, compared to 67% with aspirin. ASMq essentially did not change prostaglandin production, compared to the clear inhibition by aspirin.

CONCLUSION

Abnormal Savda Munziq extract inhibits dose-dependent platelet aggregation with ADP or collagen in vitro and thrombosis in vivo to values similar to those of aspirin, though unlike aspirin this effect does not seem mediated by an inhibition of cyclo-oxygenase.

Effects of Cydonia oblonga Miller extracts on blood hemostasis, coagulation and fibrinolysis in mice, and experimental thrombosis in rats

INTRODUCTION

Cydonia oblonga Miller (COM) is traditionally used in Uyghur medicine for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. The present study is designed to explore the effects of COM extracts on models and markers of thrombosis and related biomarkers.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

20, 40, 80 mg/kg/day COM aqueous extracts and 5mg/kg/day aspirin, orally for 14 days were compared to untreated controls in mice on bleeding and clotting times, using the tail cutting and glass slide methods and for death rates in collagen-epinephrine pulmonary thrombosis, thrombolysis in vitro and euglobulin lysis time (ELT). In rats, common carotid artery FeCl3-induced thrombus and inferior vena cava thrombosis occlusion time, plasma concentrations of thromboxane B2 (TXB2) and 6-keto-prostaglandine F1α (6-keto-PGF1α) were measured.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

Compared to controls, COM extracts dose-dependently prolonged bleeding by 2.17, 2.78 and 3.63 times, vs. aspirin 2.58, and the clotting time by 1.44, 2.47 and 2.48 times, vs. aspirin 1.91. COM reduced pulmonary embolus mortality by 27, 40 and 53%, vs. 47% for aspirin. COM dose-dependently increased thrombolysis by 45, 55 and 63%, vs. 56% for aspirin, and shortened ELT to 71, 61 and 43%, vs. 43% for aspirin. In rats, venous occlusion time was prolonged. Arterial and venous thrombus weights were dose-dependently reduced in COM groups. TXB2 decreased and 6-keto-PGF1α increased with COM and aspirin, with an association between 6-keto-PGF1α/TXB2 and arterial or venous thrombus weight for all products, and for occlusion time with COM but not for aspirin.

CONCLUSION

We confirm the experimental effects of COM on hemostasis and thrombosis. Further exploration of putative clinical effects appear justified.

Effect of Ocimum basilicum L. on cyclo-oxygenase isoforms and prostaglandins involved in thrombosis

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Ocimum basilicum L. (OBL) is a plant used in traditional Uyghur medicine for the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease. In previous studies we had found an antihypertensive and antithrombotic effect suggestive of an effect on prostaglandins, which we attempt to document here.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

6-keto-PGF1α, the metabolite of prostacyclin, and PGE2 were measured in the supernatant of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and basal or LPS-stimulated mouse coeliac macrophage cultures exposed to OBL ethanol (OBL-E) extracts and petroleum ether, chloroform, ethylacetate and butanol (PE, C, EA, B) fractions. In addition, 6-keto-PGF1α and thromboxane B2 (TXB2) were measured in a rat model of thromboangiitis obliterans exposed or not to OBL.

RESULTS

Short-term exposure to OBL-E dose-dependently increased 6-keto-PGF1α from HUVEC, and long-term (24h) exposure decreased it. OBL-C and OBL-B increased 6-keto-PGF1α, whereas the other fractions tended to decrease it after 24h exposure. The extract and all fractions decreased basal and stimulated PGE2 production, but only OBL-EA and OBL-B reduced PGE2 in stimulated cultures to concentrations below the unstimulated values (P<0.05). In vivo OBL increased 6-keto-PGF1α and decreased TXB2.

CONCLUSION

OBL and its extracts increased 6-keto-PGF1α and reduced PGE2 and TXB2 production in a dose and time-related manner. This could indicate simultaneous inhibition of COX-2 and stimulation of endothelial COX-1. The butanol fraction seemed most promising in this respect.

Vasorelaxant and anti-platelet aggregation effects of aqueous Ocimum basilicum extract

AIM OF THE STUDY

In this work the endothelium-dependant vasorelaxant and anti-platelet aggregation activities of an aqueous extract from Ocimum basilicum were studied.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The vasorelaxant effect was undertaken in thoracic aorta from three experimental groups of rats: one of them (NCG) fed with standard diet, the second (HCG) with hypercholesterolemic diet (HCD) and the third (BTG) with hypercholesterolemic diet together with an intragastric administration of Ocimum basilicum extract at a dose of 0.5 g/kg body weight for a period of 10 weeks. The in vitro anti-platelet aggregation of Ocimum basilicum extract was studied using thrombin (0.5 U/ml) and ADP (5 microM) as agonists.

RESULTS

The results show that the HCD statistically decreases vascular relaxation in HCG compared to NCG (p<0.001) and increases the vascular responses to phenylephrine (p<0.02). Ocimum basilicum extract exerts a significant vasorelaxant effect at 10(-5) M (p<0.01) and 10(-4) M carbachol (p=0.001). The plant extract also tends to suppress the elevated contractions induced by HCD (p=0.05). The extract inhibits ADP-induced platelet aggregation by 13%, 28.2%, 30.5%, 44.7% and 53% at a dose of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 g/l, respectively. Thrombin-induced platelet activation was also reduced by 15%, 23%, 40%, 38.4%, and 42% at the same doses of extract described above.

CONCLUSION

The use of Ocimum basilicum as medicinal plant could be beneficial for cardiovascular system.