P-61

EVALUATION OF SURINAMESE MEDICINAL PLANTS FOR THEIR POTENTIAL WOUND

HEALING PROPERTIES IN EMBRYOS OF THE ZEBRAFISH DANIO RERIO
R.

1
Bipat ,

R. Soekhoe

1,2,

P. Magali

1,2,

P.

2
Pinas ,

J.A.

2
Hasrat ,

J.R.

1
Toelsie ,

D.R.A.

2
Mans

Departments of Physiology1 and Pharmacology2, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Anton de Kom University of Suriname, Paramaribo, Suriname

BACKGROUND
Angiogenesis - the formation of new blood vessels from a preexisting network - plays a critical role during wound healing and
embryonic development.
During wound healing, new vessels provide nutrients to support
the active cells, promote granulation tissue formation, and
facilitate the clearance of debris.
And during the development of a fetus, the circulatory organs
provide oxygen and nutrients from early embryonic stages
onwards.
Many traditional practitioners across the world hold valuable
information on plants with wound healing properties.
As a result, a great number of research efforts are focused on
ethnopharmacological approaches for treating wounds.
In this study, a number of Surinamese plants with presumed
wound healing properties are evaluated for such an activity in
zebrafish embryos.
Zebrafish embryos are very suitable to study the physiological
effects of angiogenesis-interfering substances because they are
sufficiently small to directly extract oxygen from the
environment and to survive with a perturbed circulation.

Figure 1. Zebrafish
embryo at 96 hpf

AIMS
To evaluate six Surinamese medicinal plants:
for their ability to accelerate the regeneration of the
amputated caudal tail fin of zebrafish embryos;
for their effects on the formation of subintestinal vessels in,
and the growth of zebrafish embryos.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Table 1. Relevant data about the plants evaluated in this in
study
Plant species
(vernacular name)
Momordica charantia L.
(bitter melon)
Lantana camara L.
(wild sage)
Aloe vera (L.) Burm.f.
(true aloe)
Psidium guajava L.
(guava)
Cinnamomum cassia
(Nees & T. Nees) J.Presl.
(Chinese cinnamon)
Solanum melongena L.
(eggplant)

Family
Cucurbitaceae

Plant part(s)
evaluated
Aerial parts

Verbenaceae

Aerial parts

RESULTS
None of the plant extracts affected the regeneration rate of
the amputated caudal tail fin of AB zebrafish embryos.
The plant extracts were also not able to increase the body
length of, and/or the total subintestinal vessel length of
Tg(fli1a:EGFP)y1/+ zebrafish embryos.
However, the L. camara extract led at 10-5 and 10-4 g/mL to a
decrease of the total subintestinal vessel length to 36 28
and 2 3 %, respectively, when compared to that of untreated
controls (Figure 2).

Xanthorrhoeaceae Aerial parts

A

Myrtaceae
Lauraceae

Solanaceae

Bark and
young leaves
Leaves

Roots

Wildtype (AB) zebrafish embryos were removed from the

chorion at 24 hours post-fertilization (hpf).
At 48 hpf, their caudal tail fin was amputated at the border
of the notochord, after which the embryos were exposed to
serial dilutions of aqueous extracts of the plants (10-7 10-4
g/mL; Table 1) in Hanks solution containing 0.1% (v/v)
DMSO.
The longitudinal distance of the fin growth was determined
48 h later from the notochord on under a stereomicroscope,
and expressed relatively to that of sham-operated embryos.
Eggs from Tg(fli1a:EGFP)y1/+ zebrafish were exposed at 8
hpf to serial dilutions of the plant extracts (10-7 10-4 g/mL;
Table 1) in Hanks solution containing 0.1% (v/v) DMSO.
At 30 hpf, the embryos were removed from the chorion and
allowed to swim freely in plant extract-containing medium.
At 96 hpf, the total subintestinal vessel length and the body
length of the embryos were visualized with a fluorescence
microscope, photographed, quantified using the Axiovision
4.8.1 software, and expressed relatively to values found
with untreated controls.

Figure 2. A: untreated
zebrafish embryo with
normal formation of
subintestinal vessels
(red framework); B:
zebrafish embryo
without subintestinal
vessels after exposure
to the L. camara
extract at 10-4 g/mL

CONCLUSIONS
The extract from L. camara seemed to inhibit the formation of
subintestinal blood vessels, suggesting that this preparation
may possess anti-angiogenic properties.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The VLIR/ADEKUS-partner program and the Suriname
Conservation Foundation are acknowledged for sponsoring part
of this work.