Abstract
BackgroundIn the local Malaysian context, herbal plants such as Eurycoma longifolia (Tongkat Ali), Orthosiphon stamineus (MisaiKucing), Ficus deltoidea (Mas Cotek), Zingiber officinale (Halia Bara) and Barringtonia racemosa (Putat) are known and widely used for its therapeutic properties. The first part of this study aims to screen for the anti-protozoal activity of these herbal plant extracts against Blastocystis sp. isolate subtype (ST) 3. Herbal extract with the highest efficacy was further fractionized into water and ethyl acetate fractions and tested against ST1, ST3 and ST5 Blastocystis sp. isolates. These isolates were also exposed to allopathic drugs, Metronidazole (MTZ), Tinidazole, Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole(TMP-SMX), Ketoconazole and Nitazoxanide for comparison purpose.MethodsBlastocystis sp. isolates from human-derived stool samples were exposed to herbal extracts and allopathic drugs at a concentration of 0.1 mg/ml and 1.0 mg/ml and were incubated at 37 °C. Growth profile studies were carried out. After 72 h of treatment, the viability of Blastocystis sp. as a result of the effects of the drugs and herbal extracts were assessed.ResultsBased on the screening process, amongst all the extracts, Tongkat Ali exhibited the highest anti-protozoal activity at 1.0 mg/ml. Between the water and ethyl acetate fractions of Tongkat Ali, the ethyl acetate fraction exhibited a slightly higher percentage of anti-protozoal activity at 1.0 mg/ml across subtypes, ST1 (94.9 %), ST3 (95.1 %) and ST5 (94.3 %). When tested with allopathic drugs, at the same concentration, MTZ exhibited the highest anti-protozoal activity across subtypes, ST1 (95.8 %), ST3 (93.4 %) and ST5 (90.8 %).ConclusionThis study is the first to describe the anti-protozoal properties of Tongkat Ali against Blastocystis sp. isolates. Ethyl acetate fraction of Tongkat Ali demonstrated the highest anti-protozoal activity against Blastocystis sp. isolates and showed a sizeable reduction in the cell count which was comparable with MTZ. Tongkat Ali also demonstrated a more uniformed sensitivity across subtypes in comparison to the allopathic drugs.
Highlights
In the local Malaysian context, herbal plants such as Eurycoma longifolia (Tongkat Ali), Orthosiphon stamineus (MisaiKucing), Ficus deltoidea (Mas Cotek), Zingiber officinale (Halia Bara) and Barringtonia racemosa (Putat) are known and widely used for its therapeutic properties
Exposure to Misai Kucing, Putat and Mas Cotek at 0.1 mg/ml demonstrated no effect on the growth of Blastocystis sp. cells
When cultures were treated with an increased concentration of 1.0 mg/ml, Tongkat Ali showed the highest decline in viable cell count to 3.33 × 104 cells followed by MTZ (4.13 × 104 cells), Halia Bara (16.40 × 104 cells), Putat (39.60 × 104 cells) and Mas cotek (61.60 × 104 cells)
Summary
In the local Malaysian context, herbal plants such as Eurycoma longifolia (Tongkat Ali), Orthosiphon stamineus (MisaiKucing), Ficus deltoidea (Mas Cotek), Zingiber officinale (Halia Bara) and Barringtonia racemosa (Putat) are known and widely used for its therapeutic properties. The first part of this study aims to screen for the anti-protozoal activity of these herbal plant extracts against Blastocystis sp. ST3 is known to be the predominant ST found in most human epidemiological studies [5]. Since its first description as early as 1900’s [6], despite an increasing number of studies, there still exists uncertainty and debate on its prevalence, pathogenicity, and clinical significance. The present conflicting results in drug treatment forms the basis to explore alternative anti-protozoal agents and development of new therapeutic options focusing mainly on medicinal plants.
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