Rescue of Photoreceptor Degeneration by Curcumin in Transgenic Rats with P23H Rhodopsin Mutation

The P23H mutation in the rhodopsin gene causes rhodopsin misfolding, altered trafficking and formation of insoluble aggregates leading to photoreceptor degeneration and autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (RP). There are no effective therapies to treat this condition. Compounds that enhance dissociation of protein aggregates may be of value in developing new treatments for such diseases. Anti-protein aggregating activity of curcumin has been reported earlier. In this study we present that treatment of COS-7 cells expressing mutant rhodopsin with curcumin results in dissociation of mutant protein aggregates and decreases endoplasmic reticulum stress. Furthermore we demonstrate that administration of curcumin to P23H-rhodopsin transgenic rats improves retinal morphology, physiology, gene expression and localization of rhodopsin. Our findings indicate that supplementation of curcumin improves retinal structure and function in P23H-rhodopsin transgenic rats. This data also suggest that curcumin may serve as a potential therapeutic agent in treating RP due to the P23H rhodopsin mutation and perhaps other degenerative diseases caused by protein trafficking defects

Effect of Varying Degree of Debittered and Non-debittered Kinnow Serum Clarified by Different Methods on Quality of Concentrate

945-950Effect of varying degree of debittered and non-debittered kinnow serum clarified by different methods on quality of concentrate reveals that concentration up to 72 oB is obtained successfully. The reconstituted juice from concentrate, prepared from enzymatically clarified serum, is better in quality than the reconstituted juice prepared from serum clarified by centrifugation . Concentrate prepared from debittered serum is found to be superior in quality than that prepared from nondebittered serum which obviously results in better quality juice

Canning of Peach-halves in Fruit Juice

823-827Lye peeled peach halves of July Elberta canned in A2½ size tin cans in a covering medium of 40°B in different proportions (10-40 per cent, peach pulp and enzymatically extracted peach juice with or without ascorbic acid at 500 ppm) were evaluated for Storability, nutritional value and sensory attributes. Cut-out analysis of canned fruits after 6 mo revealed that all the treatments met FPO specifications for drained weight and showed improvement over the conventional canned peaches. As expected the vitamin C fortified treatments retained higher amounts of ascorbic acid. Addition of pulp or juice in covering media prevented the non-enzymatic browning to a greater extent. Rased on the sensory evaluation the addition of juice or pulp in covering syrup significantly improved the sugar/acid blend of the canned halves. Treatment containing 40 per cent peach pulp was rated as the best treatment followed by 30 per cent peach pulp in a covering medium of 40°B on the basis of physico-chemical, sensory and microbiological evaluation. The additional advantage of canning of fruits in natural fruit juice or pulp occurred due to the use of covering syrup in the preparation of the ready-to-serve-beverage (RTS) of 15°B prepared from the leftover covering medium containing 40 percent peach pulp and was rated best on the basis of sensory quality. Overall it can be concluded that sucrose syrup being used in canning of peach halves at present can success fully be replaced with the covering medium containing 30-40 per cent of peach pulp. Addition of pulp or juice not only improve the quality of canned product but, enhance its nutrition along with the economic utilization of the left over covering media in the form of RTS beverage. </span