Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Crude extracts of Momordica cochinchinensis (Lour.) Spreng exerts antioxidant and anti-neuroinflammatory properties in LPS-stimulated BV2 microglia

Nootchanat Mairuae¹ , Benjaporn Buranrat¹ Poonlarp Cheepsunthorn²

¹Faculty of Medicine, Mahasarakham University, 296 Nakhornsawan Road, Talad Sub-district Muang District, Mahasarakham 44000, Thailand; ²Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, 1873 Rama 4 Rd. Patumwan Bangkok 10300, Thailand.

For correspondence:- Nootchanat Mairuae Email: nootchanat.m@msu.ac.th

Accepted: 2 January 2024 Published: 30 January 2024

Citation: Mairuae N, Buranrat B.Cheepsunthorn P. Crude extracts of Momordica cochinchinensis (Lour.) Spreng exerts antioxidant and anti-neuroinflammatory properties in LPS-stimulated BV2 microglia. Trop J Pharm Res 2024; 23(1):91-97 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v23i1.12

© 2024 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the antioxidant and anti-neuroinflammatory properties of the leaves, seeds and pulp of Momordica cochinchinensis Spreng (commonly known as Gac) in vitro and in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated BV2 microglial cells.

Methods: Lipopolysaccharide was applied to BV2 cells for 24 h in the presence or absence of Gac extracts. Then, levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were assayed using CM-H₂DCFDA method, while nitric oxide (NO) level was determined with Griess reagent. The levels of TNF-α and IL-6 were determined using ELISA. Three different assays were used for determination of in vitro antioxidant activities of the extracts, namely, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging; 2,2’-azinobis-3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) scavenging, and ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP). Total flavonoids content (TFC) and total phenolic content (TPC) were also determined.

Results: There were significantly higher levels of ROS, NO, TNF and IL-6 in LPS-treated BV2 cells than in control cells (p < 0.05). However, exposure of LPS treated BV2 cells to the leaf, seed and pulp extracts of Gac led to marked decreases in levels of ROS and inflammatory mediators, when compared with untreated cells, with the seed extract producing significantly larger decreases in levels of ROS and inflammatory mediators than the leaf and pulp extracts (p < 0.05). The DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities and total reducing power activities of the seed extract were superior to those of the leaf and pulp extracts. Moreover, the seed extract showed higher contents of TFC and TPC than the other two extracts.

Conclusion: Gac extracts exert antioxidant and anti-neuroinflammatory effects on LPS-activated BV2 cells and in an in vitro model. Therefore, Gac extracts, especially seed extract, may be beneficial in the preparation of innovative antioxidative and anti-neuroinflammatory herbal remedies, as well as dietary supplements.

Keywords: Antioxidant, Anti-neuroinflammation, Microglia, Momordica cochinchinensis (Lour.) Spreng, Neuroinflammation