Antiangiogenic Property of Alugbati (Basella rubra) Methanolic Leaf Extract on the Duck (Anas platyrhynchus) Chorioallantoic Membrane

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Angiogenesis, the production of new blood vessels from existing blood vessels, is associated with the process of tumor growth and metastasis of tumor cells. Phytochemicals, on the other hand, has promising potentiality in various applications especially in targeting cancer-related pathways such as angiogenesis. Alugbati have been used in many folkloric applications, usually to treat illnesses and diseases. The different parts of Alugbati such as the stem and fruits showed an antiangiogenic property. No studies have been published utilizing the leaf in inhibiting angiogenesis using the duck CAM assay.

METHODS

Alugbati methanolic leaf extract was tested for toxicity to determine the considerable amount to be used followed by the CAM assay on the duck. The eggs were randomly chosen for treatment using online software. The eggs were treated with methotrexate as a positive control, DMSO as a negative control, and with the three different concentrations of the extract: 1 Âμg/ml, 10 Âμg/ml, and 100 Âμg/ml, respectively. Each of the treatments had four replicates. The CAMs were photographed and vascular density was determined by counting the branching points.

RESULTS

Results showed that the treatments had a mean vascularization of 15.250±2.262 for the positive control, 82.500±20.347 for the negative control, while the different concentrations of the alugbati methanolic leaf extract 1 Âμg/ml had 21.833±7.885, 10 Âμg/ml had 21.083±2.488 and 100 Âμg/ml had 19.667±3.784 respectively. The One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) showed that there were significant differences in the mean vascularization of the treatments with the alpha level at 0.5. A multiple comparison test was utilized using Tukey-HSD.

DISCUSSIONS

The multiple comparisons among the treatments showed significant differences between the means of the negative control and the different concentrations of the alugbati methanolic leaf extract. It also showed that there were no significant differences between the means of the positive control and the different concentrations of the alugbati methanolic leaf extract. These findings indicate that the alugbati methanolic leaf extract has an antiangiogenic property and can be a potential source of the antiangiogenic drug.