Effect of interleukin-22 on immunogenicity of DNA vaccine encoding TSA gene of leishmania major in BALB/c mice

Background and purpose: Previous Research shows the use of plasmids containing genes TSA to be useful as vaccines for Leishmania major. Recently, the role of interleukin-22 (IL-22) in tissue repair has been demonstrated. In this research, the effect of IL-22 on encoding TSA gene of Leishmania major in BALB/c mice was assessed

Effect of IL-22 on DNA vaccine encoding LACK gene of Leishmania major in BALB/c mice

In the present study, the effect of IL-22 together with the plasmid encoding LACK (Leishmania homolog of receptors for activated C-kinase) gene of Leishmania major on the trend of leishmaniasis in BALB/c mice was evaluated.Evaluation of the cellular and humoral immunity was performed by measurement of IL-4 and IFN-γ, culture of splenocytes and MTT assay, and measurement of total IgG, IgG1, and IgG2a in the control and immunized groups. Clinical evaluations were also carried out by measurement of the lesion size, survival rate, and body weight of mice.Comparison of the mean size of lesions in the LACK and LACK. +. IL-22 groups demonstrated that the mean size of lesions of the two groups was significantly different from week four (p<. 0.05).The survival rate at day 170 after challenge for the PBS, pcDNA3 (empty plasmid), pcLACK (pcDNA3 containing LACK gene), and pcLACK. +. IL-22 groups were 20%, 40%, 60%, and 80%, respectively.According to the results of IFN-γ, IL-4, total IgG, IgG1, and IgG2a measurement and the MTT assay, IL-22 obviously caused an increase in IFN-γ production and a decrease in IL-4 production before and after the challenge (p<. 0.05). The results showed the effectiveness of IL-22 in DNA vaccine. It showed that IL-22 brought about Th1 cytokine responses and high survival rate of mice. © 2013 Elsevier Inc

Presence and diversity of Leishmania RNA virus in an old zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis focus, northeastern Iran: haplotype and phylogenetic based approach

Objective: Leishmania RNA virus (LRV) is a double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) virus that circulates within many species of the Leishmania parasite. In this study, we aimed to investigate the presence of LRV2 circulating in Leishmania isolates in an old focus of ZCL located in northeastern of Iran. Methods: Leishmania isolates were collected from 85 patients that confirmed to have cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) based on parasitological examination. To identify the Leishmania isolates, species-specific primer sets were applied for molecular identification. The presence of LRV2 was performed by RdRp-semi nested-PCR. The genetic diversity were calculated using MEGA and DnaSP. To assess haplotype diversity, 31 LRV2 strains in different regions were surveyed using analysis a 292-bp section of the RdRp sequences. Results: Out of 85 patients, 83 (97.6 ) were diagnosed with L. major and 2 (2.4 ) with L. tropica. LRV2 virus was detected in 59 (69.4) of the CL cases. For the first time, LRV2 was reported in one L. tropica strain in Iran. The current LRV2 sequences indicated the highest similarities to an Old World LRV2. Moreover, 10 unique haplotypes were identified based on the analyzed sequences of the RdRp gene. Conclusions: Our results indicated the highest occurrence of Leishmania/LRV2 co-circulation in this known ZCL focus from northeastern Iran. Phylogenetic analyses of LRV2 sequences confirmed that these isolates belong to the order of LRV2 from the Old World. This study offered an insight into LRV2 haplotype that the informative issue can be used for genetic research of LRV2 in other regions. © 2020 The Author(s

An Investigation of Emitters Clogging Under Magnetic Field and Water Quality

Introduction: Water scarcity is one of the major problems for crop production. Using drip irrigation as an effective method in the efficient use of water is expanding in arid and semi-arid regions. One of the problems in under pressure irrigation during use of saline, unconventional and waste is emitters clogging. There are several ways to prevent particle deposits in pipes and clogging of emitters. Generally, conventional methods are divided into two categories: physical and chemical methods. In physical method, suspended solids and inorganic materials are removed using particles sediment sand and disc filters. In the chemical method the pH drops by adding acid to water resulting in the dissolution of carbonate sediments. With chlorine handling, organisms (i.e. algae, fungi and bacteria) that are the main causes of biological clogging are destroyed. However, the application of these methods is not successful in all cases. It has been observed that the emitters have gradually become obstructed. Magnetic water is obtained by passing water through permanent magnets or through the electromagnets installed in or on a feed pipeline. When a fluid passes through the magnetized field, its structure and some physical characteristic such as density, salt solution capacity, and deposition ratio of solid particles will be changed. An experimental study showed that a relatively weak magnetic influence increases the viscosity of water and consequently causes stronger hydrogen bonds under the magnetic field.There exist very few documented research projects related to the magnetization of water technology and its application to agricultural issues in general and emitter clogging in drip irrigation method, in particular. This technology is already used in some countries, especially in the Persian Gulf states. This research was designed and implemented aimed at increasing knowledge about the application of magnetic technology and its effects on emitters clogging in the drip irrigation system. Materials and Methods: A field experiment was carried out in 2011 in Gorgan Agricultural Research Station to study emitter clogging in drip irrigation using magnetic, non-magnetic and acidic water under salinity condition. The geographical location of the farm was 36° 55′ N, 54° 25′ E and 13.3 m above mean sea level with annual rainfall 400-450 mm. The experiment was laid out with a split plot in a complete randomized block design with three replications. The treatments included three treatments of the management of emitters clogging including, magnetized water (M), non-magnetized water (N) and acidic water (A) plus using three water quality levels namely, well water (S1), saline waters 7 (S2) and 14 (S3) dS m-1. Two methods were simultaneously used to magnetize water. In the first method, an electromagnet was installed around the sub-main pipe before the flow of water to the laterals. The amount of power required to magnetize the irrigation water was 0.03 kW-h of electricity per m3 of water. In the second method, the permanent magnets (ceramic magnets) were installed around the sub-main pipe before the laterals. In the second method the power requirement was 0.3 Tesla. To assess the emitter clogging, discharge and its variations as a function of time, emission uniformity, uniformity coefficient, and coefficient of variation were estimated and analyzed. Results and Discussion: The results of variance analysis showed that the effect of different irrigation management in irrigation system (N, M and A treatments) and different levels of water quality on all parameters were significant. Statistical comparison showed that in all cases there were no significant differences between magnetized water and non-magnetized water treatments. However, acidic water was statistically different from the two types of water mentioned. Both magnetic and conventional indices were examined in this study. However, no significant difference was observed. But in all cases, using magnetic water is advantageous compared with using non-magnetized water. The overall results have shown that the use of magnetized water in this study, in the non-saline water condition, does not offer a relatively higher advantage compared to the use of non-magnetized water. Conclusion: For saline water, insignificant differences were observed between magnetic and non-magnetic water treatments, however magnetic water was slightly preferable. Most of the indicators that were assessed showed that acid water treatment was significantly different from magnetic and non-magnetic water treatments. Thus, acid water treatment is not preferable. Emitter clogging with increase of time and the salinity level of irrigation water increased; the greatest difference between the treatments occurred in S3 and the last irrigation treatments. Magnetic water up to salinity level of 7 dS m-1, had no effect on the flow rate and thus on the emitter clogging. However, when using saline irrigation water and also with the increase of time, emitter clogging in magnetic water treatment was lower compared with non-magnetic treatment. Keywords: Emitters clogging, Magnetized water, Saline wate

Preparation and characterization of a nanoliposomal vaccine of pclack candidate against cutaneous leishmaniasis

Background: Leishmaniasis is a public health problem and endemic in countries of the tropics and subtropics. An ongoing project with naked LACK (Leishmania homolog of receptors for activated C-kinase) demonstrated that this case of the gene is entirely susceptible to immune response and it does enter the cells effectively. This study aimed at developing a procedure to pre-pare a type of lipid nanoparticles overloaded with plasmid LACK (pcLACK) for usage as Leishmania major (L. major) nanoliposomal vaccine. Materials and Methods: The single-gene expression plasmid of pcLACK was encoded in the LACK antigen. Nanoparticles were set up by thin film procedure using cationic lipids 1, 2-Di-oleoyl-3-Trimethylammonium propane (DOTAP), 1, 2-Dioleoyl-snGlycero-3-Phosphoethano-lamine (DOPE), and cholesterol in a molar proportion of 2:1:1 molar ratio. Using dynamic light scattering, the particle diameters of empty and loaded lipoplexes were measured in triplicate. The zeta-potential (ζ) was measured with the same instrument using the zeta potential mode as the aver-age of 20 measurements by diluting the particles into a low salt buffer. Results: The results of the sustainability studies of Liposome-pcLACK formulation showed that there were no significant physical changes up to the 30th day of stability study at the storage condi-tion of 4°C. However, there were significant changes in the formulation content during storage at 25°C for 30 days (204.2±0.90 at Day 30 compared with 207.2±0.26 nm at Day 0). It was observed that the prepared nanoliposomal formulation had more stability under refrigeration. Conclusion: Immunostimulatory cationic lipids bearing a pcLACK encapsulation could serve as an effective delivery system. © 2021 Bentham Science Publishers

LACK gene’s immune response induced by Cocktail DNA vaccine with IL-12 gene against cutaneous leishmaniasis in BALB/c mice

Background: Leishmaniasis is caused by parasitic protozoa of the genus Leishmania which is an obligate intracellular parasite in the infected host. Individuals who have been recovered from clinical leishmaniasis develop strong immunity against reinfec-tion. DNA vaccines are the new type of vaccines that induce expression of protein eukaryotic cells. DNA vaccines can be stimulated by the cellular and humoral immune responses using one or several genes. Methods: A DNA vaccine containing plasmids encoding the pcLACK+pcTSA genes of Leishmania major (L. major) (MHRO/IR/75/ER) in the vicinity of IL-12 gene expression was made and then its protective efficacy in comparison with single-gene of LACK was evaluated. Also, BALB/c mice were immunized intramuscularly three times. The humoral and cellular immune responses were evaluated after immunization with pcLACK, pcLACK+pcTSA+pCAGGS-IL12, and then challenged with L. major. Results: Humoral response and IFN-γ values were significantly higher than control groups after immunization with pcLACK, pcLACK+pcTSA+pCAGGS-IL12 and challenge with L. major (p≤0.05). IL-4 values were increased in the control groups in such a way that they were remarkably higher than the pcLACK, pcLACK+pcTSA+ pCAGGS-IL12 groups (p≤0.05) after immunization and challenge with L. major. Conclusion: The survival time of the immunized mice with pcLACK, pcLACK+pcTSA+ pCAGGS-IL12 groups was higher than the control groups. Then, DNA vaccine of pcLACK appeared to be likely able to induce more protection against infection with L. major in mice. Therefore, cocktail DNA is effective to enhance specific immunity. © 2018, Avicenna Journal of Medical Biotechnology. All rights reserved

Dicrocoelium dentriticum infection among domestic animals in iran: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background and purpose: Dicroceliasis is a common disease in ruminants caused by various species of Dicrocoelium. This parasite is seen communally in bile ducts and gallbladder of ruminants and sometimes accidentally in humans. The parasite is considered to be important from both economic and veterinary aspects since it has a direct impact on liver damage and results in significant loss of protein in human diet because infected livers are removed in slaughterhouses. This parasite is prevalent in Iran, so, this study was performed to determine the rate of dicrocoeliasis infection in Iran. Materials and methods: We sought to conduct a systematic review of articles published on some databases such as Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct, IranMedex, Scopus, SID, IranDoc and Magiran, between 2000-2015. Results: Our search resulted in a total of 15 reports published about the prevalence of dicrocoeliasis infection. The random effect model was used for this meta-analysis. The relative prevalence rate of dicrocoelium was 3.1 (2.2-4.2) in sheeps, 1.3 (0.9-1.9) in goats, and 2.1 (1.1-3.5) in cows. Conclusion: This study revealed high prevalence of dicrocoelium dentriticum infection among domestic animal in Iran, therefore, it is necessary to follow hygiene procedures in washing vegetables and adequate monitoring are also needed in Iranian abattoirs to ensure the infected livers are removed. © 2016, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved