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Curcuma comosa Roxb. (C. comosa, Zingiberaceae) is a medicinal herb containing diarylheptanoids with anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory activities. The crude extract and its phenolic diarylheptanoid were shown to have hepatoprotection in vitro. The present study investigated the active principles and their underlying mechanisms that provided protection against thioacetamide (TA)-induced hepatotoxicity in vivo. Hepatic injury was induced in adult male mice by a single injection of TA (50 mg/kg BW, i.p.). C. comosa ethanol extract (5-500 mg/kg BW, p.o.), isolated diarylheptanoids: (3R)-1,7-diphenyl-(4E,6E)- 4,6-heptadien-3-ol, (D-049) or (3S)-1-(3,4-dihydroxy-phenyl)-7-phenyl-(6E)-6-hepten-3-ol, (D-092), (1-25 mg/kg BW, i.p.), was given prior to receiving TA. Changes in plasma activity of alanine transaminase (ALT), hepatic glutathione (GSH) content, the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT), and the expression levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) and cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP 2E1) were determined at 24 h after TA-treatment. C. comosa extract suppressed the elevation of plasma ALT level in the TA-induced acute hepatotoxicity with increases in hepatic SOD and CAT activities. The protective effect was observed at 1 and 6 h prior to receiving TA and the effective dose was at 25 mg/kg BW. For pretreatment with diarylheptanoids, only non-phenolic diarylheptanoid, D-049 (5-25 mg/kg BW), provided the protection, but not phenolic diarylheptanoid, D-092. Moreover, D-049 suppressed the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α and CYP 2E1. These findings suggest that D-049 is an active principle in C. comosa that contributes hepatoprotection against TA-induced oxidative damage. It may mediate through its increased intracellular antioxidant enzymatic detoxification, which subsequently decrease the formation of bioactive metabolites of TA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultra-fine gelatin (type A, porcine skin, [?]180 Bloom) fiber mats containing a methanolic crude extract of Centella asiatica (L.) Urban, a medicinal plant widely known for its traditional medical applications including its wound healing ability, were fabricated, for the first time, from the neat gelatin solution (22% w/v in 70 vol% acetic acid) containing the crude extract (mCA) in various amounts (i.e. 5-30 wt% based on the weight of gelatin powder) by electrospinning. Incorporation of mCA in the neat gelatin solution did not affect both the morphology and the size of the mCA-loaded gelatin fibers, as both of the neat and the mCA-loaded gelatin fibers were smooth and the average diameters of these fibers ranged between 226 and 232 nm. The cross-linked mCA-loaded e-spun gelatin fiber mat from the neat gelatin solution containing 30 wt% of mCA was further investigated for the release characteristic of asiaticoside, identified as the most active compound associated with the healing of wounds, in two different types of releasing medium, i.e. acetate buffer and the buffer containing 10 vol% of methanol, based on the thin-layer chromatography (TLC)-densitometry technique. Based on the unit weight of the actual amount of asiaticoside present in the specimens, the total amount of asiaticoside released from the fiber mat specimens was lower than that from the film counterparts while, based on the unit weight of the specimens, an opposite trend was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]