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Received Oct 26, 2017; Revised Jan 19, 2018; Accepted Feb 20, 2018
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
1. Introduction
The number of menopausal women is continuously increasing accompanied with the rising of the aging population. During this period, the risks of stroke [1] and osteoporosis are increased [2]. It has been reported that the disturbance of oxidative stress regulation plays the crucial role in the pathophysiology of stroke and osteoporosis in menopausal women [3]. Therefore, antioxidant has been considered as one of the targets for both prophylactic and therapeutic intervention.
During the last decade, accumulative lines of evidence have demonstrated that substances possessing antioxidant effect are the promising therapeutic agent against stroke [4] and osteoporosis in ovariectomized (OVX) rat [5]. Based on these pieces of information, the preventive effect against stroke and osteoporosis of a medicinal plant possessing antioxidant activity has been considered.
The leaf of Morinda citrifolia L. (Noni) or Yor in Thai has been widely consumed in Thai cuisine such as curry and hor mok or steamed fish with curry paste in a banana leaf cup. It has been reported that M. citrifolia leaf is rich in numerous nutrients and minerals including calcium. In Thailand and many countries in both Southeast Asia and Polynesia, the leaf of M. citrifolia can be used not only as food but also as medicine. In addition, according to Thai traditional folklore, M. citrifolia leaf has been used for treating muscle pain, inflammation, and hypertension. The leaf extract also decreases triglyceride, cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and atherogenic index in an animal model of dyslipidemia induced by high-fat diet [6]. In addition, the previous study also demonstrated the antioxidant effect of M. citrifolia leaf [7]. Due to the biological effects of M. citrifolia mentioned earlier, we hypothesized that the extract of the leaves of M. citrifolia should decrease the risks of both stroke and osteoporosis in menopausal condition. Since no data are available, we aimed to determine the neuroprotective and antiosteoporotic effects of M. citrifolia leaf extract in ovariectomized rats, an animal model of menopausal condition.
2. Materials and Method
2.1. Plant Material...