• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• 제10권3호
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• pp.150-154
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• 2010

The immunosuppressive activity of the Methanol extract of bark of Madhuca longifolia (Koenig) consisting of a mixture of saponins, flavonoids, tannins, steroids, phenol and glycosides was studied on the immune responses in mice. Methanol extract of Madhuca longifolia (MLL) was administered orally at doses of 50, 100 and 150 mg/kg/day to healthy mice divided into four groups consisting of six animals each. The assessment of immunomodulatory activity was carried out by testing the humoral (antibody titre) and cellular (foot pad swelling) immune responses to the antigenic challenge by sheep RBCs. Furthermore, the effect on hematological parameters as well as relative organ weight was determined. On oral administration MML showed a significant decrease delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) response whereas the humoral response to sheep RBCs was unaffected. Thus MLL significantly suppressed the cellular immunity by decreasing the footpad thickness response to sheep RBCs in sensitized mice. With a dose of 100 and 150 mg/kg/day the DTH response was $7.66{\pm}2.75$ and $6.41{\pm}1.21$ respectively in comparison to corresponding value of $14.50{\pm}2.38$ for untreated control group. These differences in DTH response were statistically significant (P < 0.05). The study demonstrates that MLL shows preferential suppression of the components of cell-mediated immunity and shows no effect on the humoral immunity.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• 제41권3호
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• pp.177-183
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• 2016

Purpose: Mee (Madhuca longifolia) is an economically important tree growing throughout Sri Lanka. Its importance is mainly attributed to its oil with high nutritional and medicinal values. However, an inefficient extraction method limits its use. This study revealed the possibility of extracting oil from mee seeds by using a screw-type oil expeller. Methods: A popular screw-type oil expeller was used in the experiment. Extract bar clearance and speeds of the main spiral shaft were altered to increase the oil expelling efficiency of the machine. The quality of refined oil at the optimum oil yield was determined by measuring the refractive index, saponification value, iodine value, unsaponifiable matter, free fatty acid, and specific gravity. Results: An optimum yield of 35% oil was obtained when the machine capacity was 30 kg/h and energy consumption was 0.13 kWh/kg. This optimum machine condition was observed at an extract bar clearance of 0.5 mm and a main spiral shaft speed of 90 rpm. The refractive index, saponification value, iodine value, unsaponifiable matter, free fatty acid, and specific gravity of the oil were 1.4, 203, 59, 3.5%, 0.2%, and 0.907 g/cm3 respectively. Color of the mee oil was closer to yellow, which is revealed by the lightness value (L) of 24.93 and positive value (b) of 11.81. Conclusion: The screw-type oil expeller can be used for economically extracting mee oil on a commercial scale.