Rajashekara Somashekara, Konyak Manyao Khampei, Sarala Ramakrishnappa, Poojashree Kurubarahalli Siddamadegowda, Bai Pavithra, Nagabhushana Jampanna
Centre for Applied Genetics, Department of Studies in Zoology, Bangalore University, Jnana Bharathi Campus, Off Mysuru Road, Bengaluru, 560 056, India.
BMC Complement Med Ther. 2025 Aug 1;25(1):295. doi: 10.1186/s12906-025-05039-x.
As well as the aesthetic and sacred value, the (Asian Elephant) animal is known to have several medicinal properties due to its components and a wide range of therapeutic properties present in their products.
For the first time, we aimed to determine the methanolic extracts obtained from the undigested food (dung) or feaces samples of for the evaluation of biomedical applications with the qualitative estimation of their phytochemicals, and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis.
The presence of important phytochemicals indicates the clear existence of secondary metabolites in the methanolic extracts obtained from the undigested food (dung) samples of the Asian Elephants. From the GC-MS analysis, the total peaks revealed 26 main peak areas with various percentages of identified compounds. Furthermore, the methanol extracts showed moderate to highest inhibitory activity against the experimental microorganisms, utilizing the antimicrobial susceptibility studies. Further, the methanolic extracts showed a cytotoxic effect against the human colon cancer HCT-116 cell line. The highest half maximal inhibitory concentration activity (IC value) was recorded at a concentration of 320 µg/mL of concentration with 82% inhibition of HCT-116 cells. The treatment of HCT-116 cells with the samples at the concentrations of 80 µg/ml and 160 µg/mL showed Gap 2 phase or Growth 2 phase (GM) arrest from 0.95% (control) to 1.52% and 1.44%, respectively. Similarly, the methanolic extracts treated at 80 µg/ml and 160 µg/ml have induced early and late apoptosis in HCT-116 cells with 1.72% and 5.09% of early apoptosis; 9.63% and 17.37% of late apoptosis, respectively.
The results obtained from the above-mentioned studies related to antimicrobial, cytotoxic, cell cycle, and apoptotic activities of the dung samples of the Asian Elephants indicate that these undigested food (dung) samples are a “rich and promising organic source” that can be used as repository drugs or medicines in the field of biomedical applications, and pharmacological industries.
亚洲象除了具有美学和神圣价值外，因其组成成分及其制品中存在的多种治疗特性，这种动物还具有多种药用特性。
我们首次旨在测定从亚洲象未消化食物（粪便）样本中获得的甲醇提取物，通过对其植物化学成分进行定性评估以及气相色谱 - 质谱联用（GC - MS）分析来评估其生物医学应用。
重要植物化学成分的存在表明从亚洲象未消化食物（粪便）样本中获得的甲醇提取物中明显存在次生代谢产物。通过GC - MS分析，总峰显示出26个主要峰面积，其中鉴定出的化合物具有不同百分比。此外，利用抗菌药敏研究，甲醇提取物对实验微生物显示出中度至高度的抑制活性。此外，甲醇提取物对人结肠癌HCT - 116细胞系显示出细胞毒性作用。在浓度为320μg/mL时记录到最高的半数最大抑制浓度活性（IC值），对HCT - 116细胞的抑制率为82%。用浓度为80μg/ml和160μg/mL的样品处理HCT - 116细胞，分别显示G2期或生长2期（GM）阻滞从0.95%（对照）增加到1.52%和1.44%。同样，以80μg/ml和160μg/ml处理的甲醇提取物在HCT - 116细胞中诱导了早期和晚期凋亡，早期凋亡分别为1.72%和5.09%；晚期凋亡分别为9.63%和17.37%。
上述关于亚洲象粪便样本的抗菌、细胞毒性、细胞周期和凋亡活性的研究结果表明，这些未消化食物（粪便）样本是一种“丰富且有前景的有机来源”，可在生物医学应用领域和制药行业用作储备药物。
