Journal of Coastal Life Medicine

375-378

Authors: Levent Bat , Sabri Bilgin, Ayşah Öztekin

Objective: To evaluate the suitability of Palaemon adspersus (P. adspersus) as a bio-indicator for 4 and 10 days of cadmium toxicity bioassays. Methods: Four and ten days experiments were designed. CdCl2·2½H2O was dissolved in distilled water and a stock solution was made. At 4-day bioassay, the larvae of Baltic prawns were exposed to nominal concentrations of 0, 0.02, 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0 and 5.0 mg/L of Cd for 4 days. The 4-day LC50 was calculated by the probit analysis. At 10-day bioassay, the concentrations of 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 5.0, 10.0 and 20.0 mg/L were introduced into each of the jars in triplicate treatments and 0 mg/L as control. Each tank containing 20 larvae was exposed to test solutions. Results: Results from probit analysis showed that the 96-h LC50 value was 0.14 mg/L for Cd. The 10 days bioassays were conducted with nominal concentrations of 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 5.0, 10.0 and 20.0 mg/L Cd. Mortality increased in parallel with the increase in concentrations of Cd on Zoea – I stage of P. adspersus and time of exposure. The toxicity rate of the organism is concentration-dependent. All organisms except the control group died at the end of 10 days. Less than 25% of the animals survived at the 5 days of the exposure to concentrations of 0.5 mg/kg Cd or more. Only 20% of the organisms survived at the 7 days of the exposure to concentrations of 0.1 mg/kg Cd or less in seawater with clean sediment. Conclusions: The results showed that Cd was highly toxic to P. adspersus. When the larvae were exposed to concentrations of Cd, they become slightly excited and swam erratically, probably due to stress. However, behavioural and swimming patterns in control groups were normal, and there was not any mortality during the course of the experiment.

383-388

Authors: Osasenaga Ighodaro, Abiola Adeosun, Basirat Adeoye, Oluwafemi Soetan

Objective: To determine the toxicity of Sapium ellipticum (S. ellipticum) ethanol leaf extract in animal model. Methods: Three groups (I, II and III, n = 10) of Wistar rats were respectively given 0.5 mL corn oil, 400 and 800 mg/kg BW of S. ellipticum extract, twice daily, for a period of 14 days. Lethal dose (LD50) was determined and morbidity was assessed via repeated dose administration of the extract. Results: S. ellipticum at the doses employed did not cause any significant changes in the serum concentrations of ALT, AST and ALP compared to the control group. The level of total serum cholesterol was significantly (P ˂ 0.05) and dose-dependently reduced in the extract- treated animals by 13.5% and 16.0% compared to the control animals. Total plasma protein concentration and body weight were respectively increased by 8.7% and 13.7% at 800 mg/ kg BW of the extract. The intraperitoneal (i.p.) and intramuscular (i.m.) LD50 values of S. ellipticum leaf extract were determined as 979.80 and 1 341.60 mg/kg BW respectively while the oral (p.o.) LD50 was estimated to be greater than 45 000 mg/kg BW. Conclusions: The observations noted in this study apparently validate the use of S. ellipticum ethanol leaf extract in folklore medicine in terms of herbal safety.

394-397

Authors: Anis Alam Lotfabadi, Ali Mohammadi Sani

Objective: To evaluate the antibacterial effect of Cyperus species as an important medicine plant in the study area. Methods: The agar disk diffusion method was used to study the antibacterial activity of Cyperus extracts against 2 Gram-positive and 4 Gram-negative bacteria at concentration 400 and 600 mg/mL of methanol and the aqueous extract. Then minimum inhibitory concentrations and minimum bactericidal concentrations were determined by micro-dilution method. Results: The results showed that the methanol extract of longus species presented the highest zone of inhibition against tested pathogens (15 mm inhibition zone). Other plants did not show significant inhibition zone. The methanol extracts of the plant against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PTTC 1707) strains showed the best activities, with the lowest minimal inhibitory concentration of 3.125 mg/mL and minimum bactericidal concentration was 166.50 and 83.25 mg/mL, respectively for Staphylococcus aureus (PTTC 1431) and Escherichia coli (PTTC 1399). Conclusions: The results showed that the methanol extract of the herb has antibacterial activity and therefore it could be used as a natural preservative ingredient in food and/or pharmaceutical industries.

403-408

Authors: Muyideen Lawal * , Ademola Aderolu, Adetola Oke

Objective: To examine antimicrobial and antioxidant potentials of Cissus populnea (C. populnea) root and Securidaca longipedunculata (S. longipedunculata) leaf and root extracts using aqueous, ethanol and petroleum-ether media. Methods: The free radical 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl was used to measure scavenging activities of extracts, while phenol and flavonoid contents were estimated by spectrophotometry and the antibacterial screening of extracts was done using disc diffusion method. The extracts were tested against five strains of Gram positive and negative bacteria. Minimum inhibitory concentration of extracts in the screening assay was according to micro-broth dilution, and minimum bactericidal concentration was carried out by agar diffusion method. Results: The ethanol extract of the S. longipedunculata leaf recorded the highest [(83.00 ± 2.97) μg/mL] radical scavenging potential while the least value [(48.50 ± 2.55) μg/mL] was recorded for C. populnea root ethanol extract. The highest phenol content was found in the ethanol extract of C. populnea [(145.60 ± 0.85) mg gallic acid equivalent/g], while the least value [(87.75 ± 3.46) mg gallic acid equivalent/g] was recorded in petroleum ether extract of S. longipedunculata. The highest and lowest values [(81.30 ± 0.99) and (46.60 ± 1.98) mg rutin equivalent/g] of flavonoid were recorded with ethanol extracts of S. longipedunculata leaf and root, respectively. The aqueous and ethanol leaf and root extracts of S. longipedunculata were active against the growth of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio cholerae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella typhi. Similar results were observed with ethanol and aqueous root extracts of C. populnea for the same bacteria. Conclusions: All the crude plant extracts possessed strong antioxidant and antimicrobial activities qualifying them as medicinal herbs that could be included in animal feed production.