Abstract
Objectives
This study investigated the effect of Oriental melon (OM, Cucumis melo L. var Makuwa) on blood flow via the regulation of blood coagulation in an animal model injected with a collagen and epinephrine solution (C/E, 150 µg/rat and 3 µg/rat, respectively).
Methods
Sixty rats were randomly divided into five groups (n = 12/group) (NDC, non-disease control; CEC, C/E control; OMC, OM control; OMS, OM high in serine protease; and OME, OM enriched with serine protease) and fed with a standard chow diet for 4 weeks. Each test material (1500 mg/kg BW) or saline was provided by oral gavage daily. To investigate the effects of OM on rats induced with C/E, biochemical metabolite, blood coagulation, RT-PCR and histological analysis were performed.
Results
Among all groups, the OMS was found to be most effective in reducing the risk of atherothrombosis. P-selectin and COX-1 mRNA expression were moderately decreased (P > 0.05), furthermore lung histology showed lower occluded area in OMS-treated group compared with CEC (P > 0.05). Prothrombin time was blunted in all treatments and activated partial thromboplastin time was decreased with OMS (P > 0.05). The effect of OMS was more robust in terms of increasing fibrinogen degradation product (P < 0.05). Moreover, the impairment of vascular function was ameliorated with OMS (P < 0.05).
Conclusions
These results suggest the possibility that serine protease in OM can ameliorate blood flow by stimulating fibrinolysis pathway. However, when we enriched serine protease from OM by column extraction method, these effects were reduced, implicating additive/synergistic effect of serine protease with the other components in OM.
Funding Sources
This research was supported by the Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation [NRF] funded by the Ministry of Science & ICT and the BK21 PLUS program of the Ministry of Education.