Intan Safinar Ismail
Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
Title: Application of metabolomics in exploring the therapeutic potential of a plant crude extract: A case study on Orthosiphon stamineus
Biography
Biography: Intan Safinar Ismail
Abstract
The strategies for the identification of bioactive constituents from a plant crude extract have been changing from time to time. Despite the fact that the reductionist - bioassay guided approaches are the most popular techniques currently in practice, at times these methods fail to deliver a holistic information about the therapeutic potential of various chemical constituents of a crude extract, specifically because of their inability to identify the effect of synergism or antagonism, which is considered as the most important attribute of a herbal preparation. Metabolomics being a global and comprehensive tool could overcome this disadvantage. Orthosiphon stamineus (OS) is widely used in traditional system medicine in Malaysia, Indonesia and other SEA countries as a diuretic, nephroprotective and in the cure of diabetes. Different solvent extracts of OS were studied to assess their protective efficacy in streptozotocin induced diabetes mellitus and cisplatin induced nephrotoxicity using appropriate rat models. Aqueous extract of OS has caused significant reduction of blood glucose level and other marker metabolites of diabetes by 14 days treatment with OS. The 50% aqueous ethanolic extract demonstrated optimum protection against cisplatin nephrotoxicity by ameliorating metabolites such as leucine, acetate, acetoacetate and 2-oxoglutarate, as identified by the multivariate analysis of 1H NMR spectra of rat urine samples. Several primary and secondary metabolites such as betulinic acid, rosmarinic acid, epicatechin, quercetin, indole 3 acetate, tryptophan and biotin were identified from the 1H NMR of OS crude extract. Metabolomic correlation between the bioactivity and 1H NMR of OS crude extract was carried out using a PLS regression model, whereby methoxy flavonoids were identified as the contributors of bioactivity. This research demonstrated the potential of metabolomics in natural product research by identifying the contribution of all possible phytoconstituents of a crude extract in exerting the bioactivity.