Quassia borneensis has been traditionally used as antihypertensive agent without any scientific literature on its mechanism
of action. The objective of this study was to evaluate the antiinflammatory, antioxidant and antiproliferation properties of
Q. borneensis extracts. The hexane, chloroform and aqueous extracts of root and bark of Q. borneensis were subjected to
nitric oxide (NO) inhibition assay in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Expression of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) protein
level was analyzed by Western blot. The antioxidant and antiproliferative activities of the extracts on HL-60 cells were
determined using Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) and MTT assays, respectively. The chloroform extract of
Q. borneensis root obtained by soxhlet method (CSR) significantly inhibited 97.64 ± 0.96% of NO production (p < 0.001)
and suppressed iNOS expression (p < 0.05) at the highest concentration of 1.0 µg/ml. The chloroform extract of bark
obtained by maceration (CMB) exhibited the highest antioxidant capacity in the absence and presence of HL-60 cells,
where the FRAP value were 125.45 ± 9.10 µM FeSO4
.7H2
O and 181.55 ± 3.45 µM FeSO4
.7H2
O, respectively. The greatest
inhibition of HL-60 cell proliferation was exhibited by the chloroform extract of bark obtained by soxhlet method (CSB)
with the IC50 of 5.0 µg/ml. The findings suggested that the chloroform extracts of Q. borneensis possess antiinflammatory,
antioxidant and antiproliferative activities.
Salted fish is a locally processed raw food which is used in everyday cooking among Malaysians. Previous studies suggested that salted fish intake was a risk of nasopharyngeal cancer. Hence, this study was carried out to evaluate gene mutation effects through the induction of mutagenic effect of aqueous and methanol extracts of salted fish from Balik Pulau, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. Balik Pulau was chosen for sampling purpose due to its popularity as a commercial centre for local raw fisheries in Malaysia. Evaluation of mutagenic effect was carried out by hprt Gene Mutation Assay towards V79 lung fibroblast cells. It was found that the aqueous and methanol extracts of salted fish were not cytotoxic towards V79 lung fibroblast cells. It was also found that the extracts of salted fish from Balik Pulau were not mutagenic towards hprt gene of V79 lung fibroblast cells as the mutation frequency of the extracts did not exceed 3 times of the value for negative control mutation frequency. In conclusion, both aqueous and methanol extracts of salted fish from Balik Pulau did not have gene mutation effect towards hprt gene in vitro. However, other toxicological profile could be assessed to determine the mechanism of toxicity of salted fish.