Antioxidant activity and production of secondary metabolites of adult plant and in vitro calli of Anodendron paniculatum

The members of the family Apocynaceae are the rich in alkaloids, terpinoids, flavonoids, phenolic compounds and hydrocarbons. Anodendron paniculatum Roxb. is an woody climber, the roots of which have been used to control vomiting and cough. In the present study, adult plant and tissue culture plant extracts of A. paniculatum collected from Eastern Ghats, Araku, Andhra Pradesh were used for the production of their secondary metabolites and antioxidant activity. Methanol extracts of calli showed high contents of total phenol and alkaloid with 25.53 and 25.98 mg/g respectively. Methanol extract of tissue culture plant at higher concentrations showed better antioxidant activity with reference to standard ascorbic acid.  For this study different concentrations (12.5, 25, 50, 100 and 200 µg/ml) of extracts were prepared by using four different solvents. Tissue culture extracts from methanol showed maximum scavenging activity with 231.9±1.39 % at 200 µg/ml of concentration, while that of adult plant extracts showed the scavenging activity of 189.1±0.74% only. These results on high antioxidant activity of the methanol extract of A. paniculatum calli can be attributed to the presence of high phenolic and alkaloid contents in calli when compared to that of adult plant extract

Identification of Potential Drug Targets Implicated in Parkinson's Disease from Human Genome: Insights of Using Fused Domains in Hypothetical Proteins as Probes

High-throughput genome sequencing has led to data explosion in sequence databanks, with an imbalance of sequence-structure-function relationships, resulting in a substantial fraction of proteins known as hypothetical proteins. Functions of such proteins can be assigned based on the analysis and characterization of the domains that they are made up of. Domains are basic evolutionary units of proteins and most proteins contain multiple domains. A subset of multidomain proteins is fused domains (overlapping domains), wherein sequence overlaps between two or more domains occur. These fused domains are a result of gene fusion events and their implication in diseases is well established. Hence, an attempt has been made in this paper to identify the fused domain containing hypothetical proteins from human genome homologous to parkinsonian targets present in KEGG database. The results of this research identified 18 hypothetical proteins, with domains fused with ubiquitin domains and having homology with targets present in parkinsonian pathway

Human prostatic Acid phosphatase: structure, function and regulation.

Human prostatic acid phosphatase (PAcP) is a 100 kDa glycoprotein composed of two subunits. Recent advances demonstrate that cellular PAcP (cPAcP) functions as a protein tyrosine phosphatase by dephosphorylating ErbB-2/Neu/HER-2 at the phosphotyrosine residues in prostate cancer (PCa) cells, which results in reduced tumorigenicity. Further, the interaction of cPAcP and ErbB-2 regulates androgen sensitivity of PCa cells. Knockdown of cPAcP expression allows androgen-sensitive PCa cells to develop the castration-resistant phenotype, where cells proliferate under an androgen-reduced condition. Thus, cPAcP has a significant influence on PCa cell growth. Interestingly, promoter analysis suggests that PAcP expression can be regulated by NF-κB, via a novel binding sequence in an androgen-independent manner. Further understanding of PAcP function and regulation of expression will have a significant impact on understanding PCa progression and therapy

Comparison of the efficacy of sitagliptin with pioglitazone on dexamethasone-induced hepatic steatosis, dyslipidemia, and hyperglycemia in albino rats

Background: Sitagliptin is a dipeptidyl peptidase type 4 inhibitor. This study was done to assess the insulin-sensitizing effect of sitagliptin on Wistar albino rats by means of surrogate measures.Methods: There were four groups of six rats each. First group received dexamethasone alone in a dose of 8 mg/kg intraperitoneally for 6 days to induce metabolic changes and considered as dexamethasone control. Second group received sitagliptin 100 mg/kg orally 6 days before dexamethasone and 6 days during dexamethasone administration. Third group received pioglitazone 45 mg/kg orally 6 days before dexamethasone and 6 days during dexamethasone administration. Fourth group did not receive any medication and was considered as normal control. Fasting blood sugar, lipid profile, blood sugar 2 hrs after glucose load (postprandial blood sugar), liver weight, liver volume, and histopathological analysis were done.Results: The effects of sitagliptin were compared with that of pioglitazone. Dexamethasone caused hepatomegaly, dyslipidemia, and hyperglycemia. Both pioglitazone and sitagliptin significantly reduced hepatomegaly, dyslipidemia, and hyperglycemia (p<0.01). Reduction of blood sugar levels after glucose load was significant with pioglitazone in comparison to sitagliptin (p<0.01).Conclusions: Sitagliptin has comparable efficacy to pioglitazone in dexamethasone-induced hepatomegaly, dyslipidemia, and fasting hyperglycemia

RADIOPROTECTIVE ACTIVITY OF FICUS RACEMOSA ETHANOL EXTRACT AGAINST ELECTRON BEAM INDUCED DNA DAMAGE IN VITRO, IN VIVO AND IN SILICO

Objective: To investigate the radioprotective effect of Ficus racemosa (Fr) ethanol stem bark extract against electron beam radiation (EBR) induced DNA damage using in vitro, in vivo and in silico models.Methods: The extract of Fr was tested against radiation induced DNA damage by exposing pBR322 plasmid to different EBR dose rates. Comet assay was conducted using mice which were exposed at 6Gy EBR. In silico study was performed by inhibiting p53 protein C-chain (1TUP C) using phyto chemicals of Fr.Results: The in vitro results revealed that, Fr at lower concentration (50µg) showed inhibitory effect on radiation induced DNA damage compared with control. Exposure of mice to 6Gy EBR increased comet parameters like TL (Tail length), OTM (Olive tail moment) and %T (percentage of DNA in the tail) of blood lymphocytes. Fr ethanol extract given orally prior to irradiation at a dose of 400 mg/kg body weight protected the DNA from the radiation damage. The phytochemicals of Fr showed clear interaction with p53 protein chain C, specifically binding to Arginine 248 (ARG248) and Arginine 273 (ARG273) amino acid residues thereby inhibiting the p53 protein-DNA interaction upon radiation.Conclusion: The present study indicates that Fr ethanol extract significantly reduced radiation induced DNA damage in vivo and in vitro. It also showed that the biologically active compounds of Fr have ability to inhibit wild p53 protein which is responsible for apoptosis; these compounds can be used as radioprotectors during chemotherapy to protect normal tissues surrounding cancerous tissue.Â

Infering Air Quality from Traffic Data using Transferable Neural Network Models

This work presents a neural network based model for inferring air quality from traffic measurements. It is important to obtain information on air quality in urban environments in order to meet legislative and policy requirements. Measurement equipment tends to be expensive to purchase and maintain. Therefore, a model based approach capable of accurate determination of pollution levels is highly beneficial. The objective of this study was to develop a neural network model to accurately infer pollution levels from existing data sources in Leicester, UK. Neural Networks are models made of several highly interconnected processing elements. These elements process information by their dynamic state response to inputs. Problems which were not solvable by traditional algorithmic approaches frequently can be solved using neural networks. This paper shows that using a simple neural network with traffic and meteorological data as inputs, the air quality can be estimated with a good level of generalisation and in near real-time. By applying these models to links rather than nodes, this methodology can directly be used to inform traffic engineers and direct traffic management decisions towards enhancing local air quality and traffic management simultaneously.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech