Utility of Somatostatin Receptors in Gastrointestinal Tract and Pancreas Neuroendocrine Tumors

Aim: Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are heterogenous group of tumors. Most of gastroenteropancreatic NETs (GEPNETs) are welldifferentiated low-grade tumors but a subset of them displays aggressive behavior. Somatostatin receptors (SSTR) play an im-portant role in the pathogenesis of GEPNETs, and they display targets for therapy. We aimed to evaluate SSTR2, SSTR3, SSTR5 by immunohistochemistry in GEPNETs and correlate with clinicopathological findings.Materials and Methods: Totally 61 cases were enrolled into this study and evaluated for SSTR2, 3, and 5 by im-munohistochemically.Results: Mostly the patients had low-grade neoplasms and 23% of them had metastatic disease. Total-ly, 73%, 47%, and 26% positivity were found by SSTR2, SSTR3, and SSTR5, respectively. The histopathological grade was increased relative to decreasing expression levels of SSTRs. Among metastatic neoplasms, SSTR2 positivity was found to be greater than a non-metastatic disease.Conclusion:In conclusion, SSTRs are useful to predict the clinical outcomes as well as target of therapy

The protective effects of carnosine in alcohol-induced hepatic injury in rats

Consumption of alcohol leads to oxidative stress in liver by inducing lipid peroxidation. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of carnosine CAR) in alcohol-induced liver injury by biochemical and histomorphological evaluations. The rats were divided into four groups, namely, control group, alcohol AL) group, CAR group and AL + CAR group. Three doses of ethanol 5 g/kg, 25% v/v) in distilled water) were given by nasogastric catheter for twice-a-day. CAR 100mg/kg) was given 1 h before the administration of ethanol using the same method. Levels of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, myeloperoxidase and malondialdehyde were significantly increased in the AL group compared with control, CAR and AL + CAR groups. Glutathione level was significantly decreased in the AL group, while it was increased in the AL + CAR group. Immunoreactivity of caspase-3 and bax increased in the hepatocytes of AL group when compared with control and AL + CAR groups. Expression of bcl-2 was decreased in AL group than AL + CAR group. Under electron microscopy, dense mitochondria, accumulation of lipid, sinusoidal dilatation, vacuolization and decrease in the number of microvilli were observed in AL group, while these findings were markedly less in the AL + CAR group. In conclusion, pretreatment of CAR is effective for recovering biochemical alterations and morphologic damage in the liver of rats treated with ethanol

Neuroprotective effects of selenium and ginkgo biloba extract (EGb761) against ischemia and reperfusion injury in rat brain

Objectives: To determine the neuroprotective effects of Ginkgo biloba extract (EGb761) and Selenium (Sc), and the combination of these agents on ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in a rat model of transient global cerebral I/R

Effects of Lipoic Acid in an Experimentally Induced Hypertensive and Diabetic Rat Model

In this study, experimental diabetes and nephrectomy have been applied separately and together in order to investigate the possible therapeutic effects of lipoic acid (LA) on hypertensive and diabetic rat kidneys. Wistar rats were divided into eight groups: control, diabetes mellitus (DM), 5/6 nephrectomy, DM + 5/6 nephrectomy, LA administration, DM + LA treated, 5/6 nephrectomy + LA treated, and DM + 5/6 nephrectomy + LA-treated groups, respectively. Renal damage was evaluated histomorphometrically, ultrastructurally, and biochemically. Our findings supported that diabetes and hypertension together increased the rate of renal injury, and LA had therapeutic effects on hypertensive and diabetic rat kidneys