Protective effect of Cardiospermum halicacabum leaf extract on glycoprotein components on STZ–induced hyperglycemic rats

AbstractObjectiveTo investigate the protective role of Cardiospermum halicacabum (C. halicacabum) leaf extract on glycoprotein metabolism in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats.MethodsDiabetes was induced in male albino Wistar rats by intraperitonial administration of STZ. The C. halicacabum leaf extract (CHE) was administered orally to normal and STZ–diabetic rats for 45 days. The effects of C. halicacabum leaf extract (CHE) on plasma and tissue glycoproteins (hexose, hexosamine, fucose and sialic acid) were determined.ResultsThe levels of plasma and tissues glycoproteins containing hexose, hexosamine and fucose were significantly increased in STZ–induced diabetic rats. In addition, the level of sialic acid significantly increased in plasma and liver while decreased in kidney of STZ–induced diabetic rats. After administration of CHE to diabetic rats, the metabolic alteration of glycoprotein reverted towards normal levels.ConclusionsThe present study indicates that the CHE possesses a protective effect on abnormal glycoprotein metabolism in addition to its antihyperglycemic activity

Omega-3 Fatty Acid Consumption and Food Sources Differ among Elderly Men Living in Coastal and Internal Regions of Saudi Arabia

Research suggests that omega-3 fatty acids (n-3 FAs) play an important role in reducing the risk of heart diseases. The objectives of the current study were to investigate the consumption and the food sources of n-3 FAs in two samples of elderly men living in different geographic locations (coastal and internal regions) of Saudi Arabia. Sixty men from each of the coastal and the internal regions provided a 24-hour recall and 2-day food record and a food frequency questionnaire. Food Processor Plus computer program software (ESHA Version 0.7; Salem, Oregon, 2002) was used to analyze the dietary intake. The intake of total n-3 FAs, alpha-lenolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) were higher among the coastal region residents than among the internal residents (P \u3c 0.05). English walnuts, salmon, canola oil, malabar cavalla and king mackerel were the top five foods contributing to the n-3 FA intakes in the coastal region. The top five foods contributing to the n-3 FA intakes in the internal region were English walnuts, lamb, whole milk, baked beans and chicken. The food contributing the most to the intake of n-3 FAs in both regions were English walnuts. In conclusion, the food consumption pattern for food providing n-3 FAs differs by location and coastal residents consume more than twice as much n-3 FAs as internal residents. Nutrition education intervention among internal residents is needed for increasing the consumption of n-3 FAs

Influence of Cardiospermum halicacabum leaf extract on membrane-bound ATPases in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

Background: Cardiospermum halicacabum L. proved to have anti-inflammatory, antihyperglycemic, antioxidant, antiglycation, analgesic and antipyretic activities. It also has been used in Ayurveda and folk medicine for the treatment of rheumatism, fever and earache.Objective: The present study was aimed to evaluate the effect of Cardiospermum halicacabum leaf extract (CHE) on membrane-bound ATPases in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats.Methods: Diabetes was induced in male albino Wistar rats by intraperitonial administration of STZ (40 mg/kg BW). CHE (200 mg/kg BW) or glibenclamide (600 μg/kg BW) was administered orally once daily for 45 days to normal and STZ-induced diabetic rats.Results: The activities of membrane-bound ATPases such as total ATPase, Na+/K+-ATPase, Mg2+-ATPase and Ca2+-ATPase were significantly decreased in erythrocytes and tissues of STZ-induced diabetic rats. Oral administration of CHE to diabetic rats significantly increased the activities of these enzymes towards near normalcy.Conclusions: Thus, the present study indicates that the beneficial role of membrane-bound ATPases in STZ-induced diabetic rats. The antihyperglycemic, antioxidant and antihyperlipidemic properties of CHE could be helpful to maintain the activities of membrane-bound ATPases in STZ-induced diabetic rats showing the membrane stabilizing property of extract.Keywords: Streptozotocin, blood glucose, diabetes, membrane-bound ATPases, Cardiospermum halicacabu

Morin, A Flavonoid, On Lipid Peroxidation And Antioxidant Status In Experimental Myocardial Ischemic Rats

Background: Myocardial infarction affects a large population in the world. Lipid peroxide metabolism plays an important role in the pathology of myocardial infarction. Objective: The present study was designed to investigate the antioxidant potential of morin, a flavonoid in isoproterenol (ISO)-induced myocardial infarction (MI), in rats.Materials and Methods: Male albino Wistar rats were pre-treated with morin (40 mg/kg), daily for a period of 30 days. After the treatment period, ISO (85 mg/kg), was subcutaneously injected in rats at an interval of 24 h for 2days.Re s u l t s : ISO-administered rats showed elevated levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and lipid hydro-peroxide (LOOH), in plasma and heart. Pretreatment with morin, the above changes were significantly reduced to near normal level. ISOadministered rats showed decrease in the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) in heart. In addition, decrease the levels non enzymatic antioxidants such as reduced glutathione (GSH), vitamin C and vitamin E in plasma and heart while ceruloplasmin in plasma.Conclusion: Pretreatment with morin, reversed these above biochemical changes towards normalcy. These findings revealed that, the morin possess antioxidant activity in experimentally induced cardiac toxicity.Key words: Morin, Isoproterenol, Myocardial infarction, Lipid peroxidation, Antioxidant

The structural effects of mutations can aid in differential phenotype prediction of beta-myosin heavy chain (Myosin-7) missense variants

MOTIVATION: High-throughput sequencing platforms are increasingly used to screen patients with genetic disease for pathogenic mutations, but prediction of the effects of mutations remains challenging. Previously we developed SAAPdap (Single Amino Acid Polymorphism Data Analysis Pipeline) and SAAPpred (Single Amino Acid Polymorphism Predictor) that use a combination of rule-based structural measures to predict whether a missense genetic variant is pathogenic. Here we investigate whether the same methodology can be used to develop a differential phenotype predictor, which, once a mutation has been predicted as pathogenic, is able to distinguish between phenotypes-in this case the two major clinical phenotypes (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, HCM, and dilated cardiomyopathy, DCM) associated with mutations in the beta-myosin heavy chain (MYH7) gene product (Myosin-7). RESULTS: A random forest predictor trained on rule-based structural analyses together with structural clustering data gave a Matthews' correlation coefficient (MCC) of 0.53 (accuracy, 75%). A post hoc removal of machine learning models that performed particularly badly, increased the performance (MCC = 0.61, Acc = 79%). This proof of concept suggests that methods used for pathogenicity prediction can be extended for use in differential phenotype prediction

INFLUENCE OF CARDIOSPERMUM HALICACABUM LEAF EXTRACT ON MEMBRANE BOUND ENZYMES IN STREPTOZOTOCIN-INDUCED DIABETIC RATS

Background: Cardiospermum halicacabum L. has been proven scientifically to possess anti-inflammatory, antihyperglycemic, antioxidant, antiglycation, analgesic and antipyretic activities. It also has been used in Ayurveda and folk medicine for the treatment of rheumatism, fever and earache. Objective: In the present study, we investigated whether the Cardiospermum halicacabum leaf extract (CHE) can improve the membrane bound enzymes activity by streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Methods: Diabetes was induced in male albino Wistar rats by intraperitonial administration of STZ. The CHE was administered orally to normal and STZ-diabetic rats for 45 days. Results: There were a marked decrease in the activities of membrane bound phosphatases such as total ATPases, Na+/K+-ATPases, Mg2+-ATPases and Ca2+-ATPases in the erythrocytes and tissues of STZ-induced diabetic rats. Oral administration of CHE to diabetic rats significantly increased the activities of these enzymes towards near normalcy. Conclusions: Thus, the present study indicates that the beneficial role of membrane bound enzymes in STZ-induced diabetic rats. The antihyperglycemic, antioxidant and antihyperlipidemic properties of CHE (Veeramani et al., 2008; Veeramani et al., 2010) could be helpful to maintain the levels of membrane bound enzymes in STZ-induced diabetic rats showing the membrane stabilizing property of extract

MORIN, A FLAVONOID, ON LIPID PEROXIDATION AND ANTIOXIDANT STATUS IN EXPERIMENTAL MYOCARDIAL ISCHEMIC RATS

Background: Myocardial infarction affects a large population in the world. Lipid peroxide metabolism plays an important role in the pathology of myocardial infarction. Objective: The present study was designed to investigate the antioxidant potential of morin, a flavonoid in isoproterenol (ISO)-induced myocardial infarction (MI), in rats. Materials and Methods: Male albino Wistar rats were pre-treated with morin (40 mg/kg), daily for a period of 30 days. After the treatment period, ISO (85 mg/kg), was subcutaneously injected in rats at an interval of 24 h for 2 days. Results: ISO-administered rats showed elevated levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and lipid hydro-peroxide (LOOH), in plasma and heart. Pretreatment with morin, the above changes were significantly reduced to near normal level. ISO-administered rats showed decrease in the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) in heart. In addition, decrease the levels non enzymatic antioxidants such as reduced glutathione (GSH), vitamin C and vitamin E in plasma and heart while ceruloplasmin in plasma. Conclusion: Pretreatment with morin, reversed these above biochemical changes towards normalcy. These findings revealed that, the morin possess antioxidant activity in experimentally induced cardiac toxicity

Anatomy of protein disorder, flexibility and disease-related mutations.

Integration of protein structural information with human genetic variation and pathogenic mutations is essential to understand molecular mechanisms associated with the effects of polymorphisms on protein interactions and cellular processes. We investigate occurrences of non-synonymous SNPs in ordered and disordered protein regions by systematic mapping of common variants and disease-related SNPs onto these regions. We show that common variants accumulate in disordered regions; conversely pathogenic variants are significantly depleted in disordered regions. These different occurrences of pathogenic and common SNPs can be attributed to a negative selection on random mutations in structurally highly constrained regions. New approaches in the study of quantitative effects of pathogenic-related mutations should effectively account for all the possible contexts and relative functional constraints in which the sequence variation occurs.This research was supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/H018409/1 to FF), the British Heart Foundation (FS/12/41/29724 to AF and FF) and the Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research (to FF). SSC is funded by a Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research Gordon Piller PhD Studentship

Hookah (Shisha, Narghile) Smoking and Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS). A Critical Review of the Relevant Literature and the Public Health Consequences

Hookah (narghile, shisha, “water-pipe”) smoking is now seen by public health officials as a global tobacco epidemic. Cigarette Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) is classically understood as a combination of Side-Stream Smoke (SSS) and Exhaled Main-Stream Smoke (EMSS), both diluted and aged. Some of the corresponding cigarette studies have served as the scientific basis for stringent legislation on indoor smoking across the world. Interestingly, one of the distinctive traits of the hookah device is that it generates almost no SSS. Indeed, its ETS is made up almost exclusively by the smoke exhaled by the smoker (EMSS), i.e. which has been filtered by the hookah at the level of the bowl, inside the water, along the hose and then by the smoker’s respiratory tract itself. The present paper reviews the sparse and scattered scientific evidence available about hookah EMSS and the corresponding inferences that can be drawn from the composition of cigarette EMSS. The reviewed literature shows that most of hookah ETS is made up of EMSS and that the latter qualitatively differs from MSS. Keeping in mind that the first victim of passive smoking is the active smoker her/himself, the toxicity of hookah ETS for non-smokers should not be overestimated and hyped in an unscientific way

Chemopreventive potential of β-Sitosterol in experimental colon cancer model - an In vitro and In vivo study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Asclepias curassavica </it>Linn. is a traditional medicinal plant used by tribal people in the western ghats, India, to treat piles, gonorrhoea, roundworm infestation and abdominal tumours. We have determined the protective effect of β-sitosterol isolated from <it>A. curassavica </it>in colon cancer, using <it>in vitro </it>and <it>in vivo </it>models.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The active molecule was isolated, based upon bioassay guided fractionation, and identified as β-sitosterol on spectral evidence. The ability to induce apoptosis was determined by its <it>in vitro </it>antiradical activity, cytotoxic studies using human colon adenocarcinoma and normal monkey kidney cell lines, and the expression of β-catenin and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in human colon cancer cell lines (COLO 320 DM). The chemopreventive potential of β-sitosterol in colon carcinogenesis was assessed by injecting 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH, 20 mg/kg b.w.) into male Wistar rats and supplementing this with β-sitosterol throughout the experimental period of 16 weeks at 5, 10, and 20 mg/kg b.w.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>β-sitosterol induced significant dose-dependent growth inhibition of COLO 320 DM cells (IC₅₀266.2 μM), induced apoptosis by scavenging reactive oxygen species, and suppressed the expression of β-catenin and PCNA antigens in human colon cancer cells. β-sitosterol supplementation reduced the number of aberrant crypt and crypt multiplicity in DMH-initiated rats in a dose-dependent manner with no toxic effects.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We found doses of 10-20 mg/kg b.w. β-sitosterol to be effective for future <it>in vivo </it>studies. β-sitosterol had chemopreventive potential by virtue of its radical quenching ability <it>in vitro</it>, with minimal toxicity to normal cells. It also attenuated β-catenin and PCNA expression, making it a potential anticancer drug for colon carcinogenesis.</p