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Clinacanthus nutans is a valuable plant that is harvested for medicinal purposes in Southeast Asia. However, the production of herbal medicines needs raw, uncontaminated materials with a consistent quantity of bioactive compounds. Therefore, in vitro culture is of interest for the production of secondary metabolites. The present study applied plant growth regulators to stimulate bioactive compounds from multiple shoots of Clinacanthus nutans. Nodal explants were studied for multiple shoot induction using different types of plant growth regulators: thidiazuron (TDZ) alone or in combination with 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA). The obtained calli or multiple shoots were examined for bioactive compounds (total phenolic, flavonols/flavones, phytosterols and antioxidant activity). The results showed that TDZ at concentrations of 0.5-1.0 mg/l either alone or in combination with NAA at concentrations of 0.01-0.1 mg/l stimulated a higher total phenolic content (including antioxidant activity) than the control. At such concentrations, TDZ and NAA were more likely to stimulate lupeol production in the tissue and its content was higher than in the leaves from the pot-grown plants. The present result revealed suitable growth regulator factors for stimulating the production of bioactive compounds, such as total phenolic compounds, antioxidants and phytosterols and especially lupeol, which were found in the tissues of C. nutans at a level 98.25-folds higher than in the leaves from the pot-grown plants. This technique could support the production of raw materials containing known quantities of various bioactive compounds at the laboratory level and be used for further research on the creation of quantitative bioactive compounds in C. nutans herbs for commercial production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinacanthus nutans is widely used as a traditional medicine in Thailand and other countries in Southeast Asia. Although its effectiveness is well documented, its therapeutic use is limited to the treatment of only a few diseases; mostly it is used as an anti-viral agent against varicella-zoster and herpes simplex virus infections. Herein, we demonstrate the therapeutic activity of C. nutans extracts in lowering inflammation in a model of bovine mastitis caused by bacterial infection. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a gram-negative bacterial component, caused inflammation activation in bovine endothelial cells (CPAE) through the upregulation of proinflammatory cytokines (IL6 and IL1β) and chemokines (CXCL3 and CXCL8) gene expression, partially leading to cell death. Treatment with C. nutans crude extract significantly diminished these responses in a dose-dependent manner. The solvent fractionation of C. nutans extract revealed that the ethyl acetate (C4H8O2) fractions had a high potential to protect against cell death and diminished IL1β, IL6, CXCL3, and CXCL8 levels to less than 0.45 folds relative to the LPS-treated control. Glyceryl 1,3-distearate (C39H76O5) was identified as a bioactive compound responsible for the anti-inflammation activity but not the anti-cell death activity of C. nutans extract. This study highlighted the efficiency of C. nutans extracts as an alternative therapeutic option for the natural-product sustainable development of bovine mastitis treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Clinacanthus nutans (Burm. f.) Lindau, a shrub found in South East Asia, particularly in Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia has many potential medicinal uses. It is used as a traditional herbal medicine for treating many diseases including skin rashes. Skin rash often appear in an allergic reaction. Recently, we have shown that C. nutans aqueous extract has the ability to alleviate ovalbumin-induced active systemic anaphylaxis rats from anaphylaxis – the acute form of allergy. This present study is aimed at comparing the ability of ethanolic and aqueous extracts of C. nutans to suppress IgE-mast cell degranulation. Materials and Methods: IgE-presensitized rat basophilic leukemic (RBL-2H3) cells pretreated with C. nutans ethanolic (100% ethanolic, 70% and 50% aqueous ethanolic) or 100% aqueous extracts were challenged with dinitrophenyl-bovine serum albumin to analyze the release of early and late-phase pro-inflammatory mediators. Results: We found that at concentrations of 5 mg/ml and above, C. nutans aqueous extract was able to suppress the levels of β-hexosaminidase and histamine while suppression was not seen in ethanolic extracts pretreated RBL-2H3 cells.Conclusion: Hence, we proposed that C. nutans aqueous extract is more active compared to the ethanolic extracts in suppressing the mediators of IgE-mast cell degranulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]