Review on Ruellia tuberosa (Cracker plant)

Crude extract of Ruellia tuberosa L. flower induces intracellular ROS, promotes DNA damage and apoptosis in triple negative breast cancer cells

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Ruellia tuberosa L. (Acanthaceae) is a weed plant traditionally used in folklore medicine as a diuretic, anti-hypertensive, anti-pyretic, anti-cancerous, anti-diabetic, analgesic, and gastroprotective agent. It has been previously reported that R. tuberosa L. is enriched with various flavonoids, exhibiting significant cytotoxic potential in various cancer models but a detailed study concerning its molecular mechanism is yet to be explored.

AIM OF THE STUDY

Exploring and validating R. tuberosa L. flower methanolic extract (RTME) as an anti-cancerous agent as per traditional usage with special emphasis on multi-drug resistant human triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and investigating the possible signaling networks and regulatory pathways involved in it.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this study, RTME was prepared using methanol, and phytochemical analysis was performed through GC-MS. Then, the extract was tested for its anti-cancer potential through in-vitro cytotoxicity assay, clonogenic assay, wound healing assay, ROS generation assay, cell cycle arrest, apoptotic nuclear morphology study, cellular apoptosis study, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) alteration study, protein, and gene expressions alteration study. In addition, toxicological status was evaluated in female Balb/C mice, and to check the receptor-ligand interactions, in-silico molecular docking was also conducted.

RESULTS

Several phytochemicals were found within RTME through GC-MS, which have been already reported to act as ROS inductive, DNA damaging, cell cycle arresting, and apoptotic agents against cancer cells. Moreover, RTME was found to exhibit significant in-vitro cytotoxicity along with a reduction in colony formation, and inhibition of cell migratory potential. It also induced intracellular ROS, promoted G0/G1 cell cycle arrest, caused mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) alteration, and promoted cell death. The Western blot and qRT-PCR data revealed that RTME promoted the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis. Furthermore, blood parameters and organ histology on female Balb/C mice disclosed the non-toxic nature of RTME. Finally, an in-silico molecular docking study displayed that the three identified lead phytochemicals in RTME show strong receptor-ligand interactions with the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 and give a clue to the possible molecular mechanism of the RTME extract.

CONCLUSIONS

RTME is a potential source of several phytochemicals that have promising therapeutic potential against TNBC cells, and thus could further be utilized for anti-cancer drug development.

Histopathological Profiles of Rats (Rattus norvegicus) Induced with Streptozotocin and Treated with Aqueous Root Extracts of Ruellia tuberosa L

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a serious worldwide health threat since the number of people with DM is forecasted to grow annually. Thus, effective and affordable treatment is urgently needed. Our previous studies used n-hexane and hydroethanolic root extracts of Ruellia tuberosa L. which significantly affected diabetic rats. In this study, aqueous R. tuberosa L. root extracts were used as treatments for the diabetic rat model and their effects were evaluated. Diabetes was generated by the administration of streptozotocin (STZ) at 20 mg/kg within 5 sequential days. Male Wistar rats were orally treated with the extracts and standard drug (metformin 200 mg/kg) and vehicle every day for 4 weeks. Hypoglycemic effects were assessed for normal, diabetic control, standard, and extract-treated groups. Histopathology was also carried out for the pancreatic, hepatic, and kidney tissues. The progression of diabetes was considerably diminished after extract treatment. In treated rats, the highest dose of extract induced a decline in blood glucose and serum malondialdehyde (MDA) levels at 25% and 35%, respectively. Furthermore, aqueous extract of R. tuberosa L. treatment decreased MDA levels in the pancreas by 12%. Histologic examination of the organ tissues of diabetic rats showed deteriorating alterations. After treatment, histopathological damages to the tissues and cells were reversed. The results of the experiments recommend that aqueous extract of R. tuberosa L. has antidiabetic effects on STZ-induced diabetic rats; nevertheless, a higher dose of the aqueous extracts is needed to achieve more significant results.

Ruellia tuberosa L. Extract Improves Histopathology and Lowers Malondialdehyde Levels and TNF Alpha Expression in the Kidney of Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats

Ruellia tuberosa L. is a therapeutic plant that is generally consumed in Indonesian traditional medicine to prevent or cure various illnesses, i.e., diabetes. The current study was conducted to investigate the effects of hydroethanolic root extracts of Ruellia tuberosa L. on the kidney of streptozotocin-induced diabetic Wistar rats. In this study, male Wistar rats were divided into 5 groups: healthy rats (group 1), diabetic rats (group 2), and treated rats which received extract at dosages of 250 (group 3), 375 (group 4), and 500 (group 5) mg/kg body weight for 21 days. Diabetes mellitus was experimentally induced by the administration of five doses of streptozotocin 20 mg/kg body weight within five consecutive days. Significant increases in the value of TNF alpha expression and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were observed in streptozotocin-induced diabetes rats. Furthermore, severe histological alterations of kidney tissues occurred in the diabetic rats group. After treatment was applied, the value of TNF alpha expression and MDA levels on the kidney decreased considerably (p < 0.05) in groups 3, 4, and 5. The optimum dosage was obtained at a dose of 250 mg/kg body weight (group 3), which had 42.24% and 52.70% decrease in TNF alpha expression and MDA levels, respectively. The histopathological profiles of the kidney also showed significant improvements in treated groups. The most prominent recoveries were also shown in group 3. The treatments induced repairment in the glomerular and renal tubular damages in the kidney tissues. To conclude, these results emphasize potentially health valuable properties of hydroethanolic root extracts of R. tuberosa L. in rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes.

Alleviative effect of Ruellia tuberosa L. on NAFLD and hepatic lipid accumulation via modulating hepatic de novo lipogenesis in high-fat diet plus streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

Ruellia tuberosa L. (RTL) exhibits phytochemical activities and has been used as a folk medicine for curing diabetes mellitus in East Asia for decades. This study investigated the effect of RTL aqueous and ethanolic extracts on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and hepatic lipid accumulation in high-fat diet (HFD) and streptozotocin (STZ)-induced type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) rats. Administration of RTL aqueous extract (RTLW) or ethanolic extract (RTLE) at dosage of 100 or 400 mg/kg body weight for 4 weeks was carried out in HFD/STZ-induced T2DM rats. Liver weight, adipose (epididymal and perirenal adipose tissues) weight, hepatic triglyceride level, and de novo lipogenesis (DNL)-associated protein expression were monitored after scarification. The results revealed that RTLW and RTLE reduced relative liver weight and relative fat weights in HFD/STZ-induced T2DM rats. RTLW and RTLE also ameliorated NAFLD and hepatic triglyceride (TG) accumulation in diabetic rats. Moreover, hepatic DNL-regulated enzymes such as sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1 (SREBP1) and fatty acid synthase (FAS) expression were significantly suppressed by RTLE (100 and 400 mg/kg body weight) in diabetic rats. The evidences of this study suggest that RTL possesses potential on alleviating NAFLD and lipid accumulation via regulating DNL in the liver of HFD/STZ-induced T2DM rats.

Effect of Ruellia tuberosa L. on aorta endothelial damage-associated factors in high-fat diet and streptozotocin-induced type 2 diabetic rats

Hyperglycemia plays crucial roles in vascular disease development, including macrovascular and microvascular diseases from diabetes mellitus (DM). Our previous study demonstrated that Ruellia tuberosa L. (RTL) aqueous and ethanol extracts alleviate hyperglycemia and inhibit insulin resistance in diabetic rats. This study investigated the protective effect of RTL ethanol extract against aorta dysfunction in high-fat diet (HFD) and streptozotocin (STZ)-induced type 2 DM (T2DM) rats. Results showed that RTL ethanol extract (100 and 400 mg/kg BW/day) ameliorated serum lipid profiles, including triglyceride, free fatty acid, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. It also significantly reduced the level of serum cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 in T2DM rats. Additionally, RTL extract decreased endothelin-1 and endothelial nitric oxide contents, reduced the level of cell adhesion factors, including monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 and cell adhesion factor vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, while decreasing content of damage factors, namely tissue factor and von Willebrand factor in aortic tissues of diabetic rats. Equally noteworthy is that RTL extract enhanced the activity of aorta antioxidative enzymes, including superoxidase dismutase and catalase in diabetic rats, suggesting that RTL ethanol extract may ameliorate aorta dysfunction via enhancing aortic antioxidative enzyme activity, which subsequently suppresses aorta endothelial damage-associated factors in HFD with STZ-induced T2DM rats.

Ameliorative effect of Ruellia tuberosa L. on hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes mellitus and glucose uptake in mouse C2C12 myoblasts

Ruellia tuberosa L. (RTL) exhibits a wide range of phytochemical activities, for example, on treatment of diabetes mellitus (DM), in Orient. There is, however, few study regarding the effect of RTL on glycemic-related homeostasis in type 2 DM (T2DM). We investigated the effect of RTL aqueous and ethanolic extracts on hypoglycemia in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed plus streptozotocin (STZ)-induced T2DM rats, and examined the effect of RTL on glucose uptake in tumor necrosis factor-α-induced insulin-resistant mouse C2C12 myoblasts, a mouse skeletal muscle cell line. The administration of 100 or 400 mg kg BW-1 day-1 of RTL aqueous or ethanolic extracts once a day for 4 weeks significantly ameliorated hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, and the insulin resistance (IR) index in diabetic rats. RTL either aqueous or ethanolic extract at a concentration of 25-800 μg/ml significantly improved glucose uptake in insulin-resistant mouse C2C12 myoblasts, indicating inhibiting the IR in skeletal muscles. These evidences suggest that RTL ameliorates hyperglycemia in HFD/STZ-induced T2DM rats may be attributed to the alleviation of IR in skeletal muscles.

Surface active gold nanoparticles biosynthesis by new approach for bionanocatalytic activity

In the present day, nanotechnology is one of the most promising leading scientific and potentials areas in modern key technology development toward to the humankind. The synthesis of noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) is an expanding research area due to the possible applications for the development of bio-medical applications. Eco-friendly approach for the biosynthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) using the aqueous extract from Ruellia tuberosa and Phyllanthus acidus (leaf and twig) for the first time. Surface active AuNPs were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectroscopy, DSC (differential scanning colorimetry), DLS (dynamic light scattering) and environmental SEM (scanning electron microscope) analysis at room temperature (RT). Enhanced surface plasmon resonance (SPR) absorbance UV visible optical spectra were detected in the range of 552, 548, 558 and 536 nm. SEM and DLS (transmission mode) analysis confirmed the morphology of the nanoparticles to be spherical with the average size in the range of 88.37, 94.31, 82.23 and 81.36 nm. Further they have enhanced the enzyme activity on α-amylase, cellulase, and xylanase. The results suggest that the phyto-fabricated AuNPs from R. tuberosa and P. acidus is simple, less expensive, eco-friendly, green synthesis and also can be exploited for the potential future industrial and bio-medical applications.

Protective effect of Ruellia tuberosa L. extracts against abnormal expression of hepatic detoxification enzymes in diabetic rats

Ruellia tuberosa L. (RTL) has been used as a folk medicine for curing diabetes mellitus in East Asia decades. This study investigated the effect of RTL on hepatic detoxification enzyme expression in diabetic rats. Male Wistar rats were fed a high fat diet (HFD) and intraperitoneally injected with streptozotocin (STZ) to induce diabetes. Subsequently, rats received oral administrations of 100 or 400 mg kg⁻¹ body weight RTL extract, in either water (RTLW) or ethanol (RTLE), once a day for 4 weeks. The real-time PCR analyses showed that abnormality of hepatic phase I and II detoxification enzyme expression was observed in diabetic rats. However, both RTLW and RTLE significantly normalized the expression of hepatic phase I detoxification enzymes such as CYP 2E1, and expression of phase II detoxification enzymes such as UGT 1A7 and GST M1 in diabetic rats. Furthermore, we found that fasting serum glucose, hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) and the area under the curve of oral glucose tolerance test (AUC_OGTT) levels were significantly reduced in both RTLW and RTLE treated diabetic rats. Moreover, both RTLW and RTLE significantly increased the activity of hepatic anti-oxidative enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD) in diabetic rats. The present study suggests that RTL may ameliorate abnormal hepatic detoxification function via alleviating hyperglycemia and enhancing hepatic antioxidant capacity in HFD/STZ-induced diabetic rats.

Ruellia tuberosa L. (RTL) has been used as a folk medicine for curing diabetes mellitus in East Asia decades.