Runglawan Sudmoon¹, Sanit Kaewdaungdee², Tawatchai Tanee³, Pornnarong Siripiyasing⁴, Arnold Ang⁵, LiTing Lee⁵, Xue Jing Wong⁵, Shiou Yih Lee⁵, Arunrat Chaveerach^2*

¹Faculty of Law, Khon Kaen University, Thailand

²Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Khon Kaen University, Thailand

³Faculty of Environment and Resource Studies, Mahasarakham University, Thailand

⁴Faculty of Science and Technology, Rajabhat Mahasarakham University, Thailand

⁵Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, INTI International University, Malaysia

Abstract

Morinda coreia, M. elliptica and M. tomentosa leaves were investigated. α-EG and pinoresinol were found by GC-MS and GC-FID. MTT and comet assays did not reveal toxicity in normal PBMCs and DHFa cells, but the ethanol and hexane M. coreia and M. tomentosa extracts were toxic to CHL-1 cancer cells. Biological activities were detected by gene expression through qRT-PCR. Ethanol M. tomentosa extract can stimulate collagen type I, II, III and elastin creation through expression of COL1A, COL1A2, COL2A1, COL-II, COLL2, COL3A and ELN genes; inhibit enzyme synthesis for collagen and elastin degradation through ELANE, MMP1, MMP13, TIMP1 genes; does not affect DHFa cells, but does affect CHL-1 cells through the NRF2 gene; can stimulate DHFa cell proliferation through the FGF1 and FGF7 genes; has anti-inflammatory effects on DHFa cells, and has no effects on CHL-1 cells through the TGF-β gene. Ethanol M. tomentosa extract can suppress melanin production through the α-MSH and TYR genes. In summary, M. tomentosa can be used in human health and skin care products, the research was accomplished with the aim of deducing how more plant species with high bioactivities can be utilized without toxicity, the leaves of M. tomentosa can be easier to use correctly than fruits depending on the season and smell.

Keywords: Collagen, Elastin, α-EG, Morinda species, Pinoresinol, qRT-PCR