Hexane fraction of Costus afer ker Gawl leaves inhibited mitochondrial membrane permeability transition, F1 F0 adenosine triphosphatase and scavenged nitric oxide and hydrogen peroxide

Abstract

Godswill Nduka Anyasor, Funmilayo D. Onajobi, Odutola Osilesi, Olugbenga Adebawo

Introduction: Costus afer ker Gawl. is an indigenous medicinal plant used as therapy in the treatment of inflammatory disease like rheumatoid arthritis. Objective: This study was designed to investigate the chemoprotective potentials of the hexane fraction of C. afer leaves (CAHLF) on some biochemical biomarkers such as mitochondrial membrane permeability transition (MPT), F1 F0 adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase), nitric oxide (NO•) and hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ) activities using spectrophotometric methods. Results: Results showed that isolated mitochondria fractions from normal rats preloaded with 10-60 μg/ml CAHLF significantly (P < 0.05) inhibited Ca2+-induced MPT by 85.66-90.47% respectively in vitro. Furthermore, in vivo study showed that mitochondria fractions isolated from formaldehyde-induced arthritic rats, orally treated with 50-250 mg/kg body weight CAHLF for 7 days significantly (P < 0.05) inhibited mitochondrial MPT by 52.22-65.0% respectively. Furthermore, there was a significant reduction (P < 0.05) in mitochondrial F1 F0 ATPase activity (3.93 ± 0.01 mg/ml inorganic phosphate [Pi]) at pH 7.4 by 10 μg/ml CAHLF compared with F1 F0 ATPase activity (6.60 ± 0.03 mg/ml Pi) by 10 μg/ml 2,4-dinitrophenol. In another study, varied concentrations of CAHLF scavenged NO• and H2 O2 in a concentration dependent manner with a 50% inhibitory concentration of 1.77 mg/ml and 0.33 mg/ml respectively. Conclusion: These data indicated that CAHLF possesses the capacity to inhibit mitochondrial MPT, F1 F0 ATPase, NO•and H2 O2 activities. This could further explain the medicinal potentials of CAHLF, thereby indicating that CAHLF could be a choice candidate in the drug discovery process.