VOLUME 69 : 2021

Abelmoschus esculentus (okra), Curcuma longa (turmeric) and Moringa oleifera (malunggay) are common and widely available sources of medicinal phytoconstituents. In this paper, we examined the feasibility of using Danio rerio (zebrafish) embryos in investigating the effect of the aqueous extracts from these three plant sources on the development and expression of genes associated with three metabolic conditions: osteoarthritis, diabetes and auto-immune diseases. Zebrafish embryos at different developmental stages: 48, 72, 96 and 168 hours post fertilization (hpf) were exposed to various concentrations of the aqueous extracts of okra, turmeric or malunggay and the effect on morphology, survival and gene expression was examined. Total RNA from the embryos was isolated and the gene expression was determined by SBYR green quantitative-real time PCR.