Comparison of apoptotic responses in Blastocystis sp. upon treatment with Tongkat Ali and Metronidazole

Girish, Sonal and Kumar, Suresh and Aminudin, Norhaniza and Hashim, Najihah Mohd (2021) Comparison of apoptotic responses in Blastocystis sp. upon treatment with Tongkat Ali and Metronidazole. Scientific Reports, 11 (1). ISSN 2045-2322, DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-81418-x.

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Abstract

Blastocystis sp. infection, although many remain asymptomatic, there is growing data in recent studies that suggests it is a frequent cause of gastrointestinal symptoms in children and adults. This proposes that treatment against this infection is necessary however metronidazole (MTZ), which is the current choice of treatment, has expressed non-uniformity in its efficacy in combating this infection which has led to the study of alternative treatment. In our previous study, it was established that Tongkat Ali fractions exhibited promising anti-protozoal properties which leads to the current aim of the study, to further narrow down the purification process in order to identify the specific active compound promoting the anti-protozoal effect through HPLC analysis. Based on the data analysis and in-vitro susceptibility assay, the collected Tongkat Ali fraction that demonstrated anti-blastocystis property was shown to contain eurycomanone. Previous studies have suggested that there is a mechanism in Blastocystis sp. that regulates the apoptotic process to produce higher number of viable cells when treated. In reference to this, our current study also aims to investigate the apoptotic response of Tongkat Ali extract and eurycomanone across different subtype groups with comparison to MTZ. Based on our investigation, both Tongkat Ali extract and eurycomanone induced the high apoptotic rate however exhibited a reduction in viable cell count (p < 0.05) when compared to MTZ. This study suggests that there is potential in developing a standardized treatment regardless of subtype variations which makes Tongkat Ali extract a promising anti-protozoal treatment against all Blastocystis sp. subtype groups.

Item Type: Article
Funders: UNSPECIFIED
Uncontrolled Keywords: Blastocystis sp. infection; Tongkat Ali; Metronidazole
Subjects: Q Science > Q Science (General)
R Medicine > R Medicine (General)
Divisions: Faculty of Medicine
Depositing User: Ms. Juhaida Abd Rahim
Date Deposited: 24 Feb 2022 08:15
Last Modified: 24 Feb 2022 08:15
URI: http://eprints.um.edu.my/id/eprint/26382

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