Abushattal Mahmoud Ali Khalaf, Sale Sani, Subramaniam Sreeramanan, Mohamad Taib Mohamad Nurul Azmi, Rajamanikam Arutchelvan, Termizi Farah Haziqa Meor, Hassan Nor Hasnida, Mad' Atari Mohamad Fadhli
School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Georgetown, 11800, Penang, Malaysia.
Department of Botany, Gombe State University, Gombe P.M.B 127, Gombe, Nigeria.
Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 26;15(1):14662. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-99906-9.
Eurycoma longifolia (also known as Tongkat Ali) is one of the valuable medicinal plants frequently used as traditional medicine in Malaysia. Its alkaloids and quassinoids reportedly confers antiparasitic activities. The effect of different Light Emitting Diode (LED) spectra treatments on E. longifolia hairy root cultures (ELHRCs) on alkaloid synthesis remains unexplored and its consequent antiparasitic effect on Blastocystis sp., a common intestinal protozoan parasite, is still unknown. In this study, the ELHRCs were irradiated to white, blue, red, blue plus red (1:1) and mint green LED illumination in vitro. The variation of alkaloids was assessed by using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and employed to quantify 9-hydroxycanthin-6-one and 9-methoxycanthin-6-one. Subsequently, antiparasitic effect on Blastocystis sp. was assessed in in vitro parasite culture and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was measured. Results showed the yields of high-value 9-hydroxycanthin-6-one in hairy roots increased by 1.17-fold, 2.74-fold, and 1.91-fold after 8, 10, and 12 weeks of culture under white, mint green, and blue lights relative to dark (control), respectively. In addition, 9-methoxycanthin-6-one yield in hairy roots increase by 1.07-fold and 1.34-fold after 8 and 12 weeks of culture under white light than in dark. Moreover, the ELHRCs crude extraction exhibited the highest anti-protozoal activity at 0.1 mg/ml against Blastocystis sp, ST3 compared to Metronidazole (MTZ). These results indicate that LED treatments alters alkaloid composition and are promising for obtaining higher yields of antiparasitic agents from the ELHRCs and thus can be considered a potential complementary and alternative antimicrobial agent.
长叶刺蒺藜草（也称为东革阿里）是马来西亚常用作传统药物的珍贵药用植物之一。据报道，其生物碱和苦木素具有抗寄生虫活性。不同发光二极管（LED）光谱处理对长叶刺蒺藜草毛状根培养物（ELHRCs）生物碱合成的影响尚未得到探索，其对常见肠道原生动物寄生虫芽囊原虫的后续抗寄生虫作用仍然未知。在本研究中，ELHRCs在体外接受白色、蓝色、红色、蓝色加红色（1:1）和薄荷绿LED光照。使用高效液相色谱（HPLC）评估生物碱的变化，并用于定量9-羟基-6-酮和9-甲氧基-6-酮。随后，在体外寄生虫培养中评估对芽囊原虫的抗寄生虫作用，并测量最低抑菌浓度（MIC）。结果表明，与黑暗（对照）相比，在白色、薄荷绿和蓝色光下培养8、10和12周后，毛状根中高价值的9-羟基-6-酮产量分别增加了1.17倍、2.74倍和1.91倍。此外，在白色光下培养8周和12周后，毛状根中9-甲氧基-6-酮的产量比黑暗中增加了1.07倍和1.34倍。此外，与甲硝唑（MTZ）相比，ELHRCs粗提物在0.1mg/ml时对芽囊原虫ST3表现出最高的抗原虫活性。这些结果表明，LED处理改变了生物碱组成，有望从ELHRCs中获得更高产量的抗寄生虫剂，因此可被视为一种潜在的补充和替代抗菌剂。
