Nuclear Abnormalities in Erythrocytes of Frogs From Wetlands and Croplands of Western Ghats Indicate Environmental Contaminations

Anuran amphibians are the biological models to assess the influence of environmental contamination. We conducted nuclear abnormality assessment and micronuclei test in erythrocytes of frogs to identify an early influence of environmental contaminations. In Western Ghats of India, farmers use different agrochemicals and obviously, the amphibian habitat is contaminated with combinations of many residues. Many frog species use these agro-ecosystem for breeding and to complete early life stage. In the present study, we used Indian skipper frog (Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis (Anura: Ranidae)), a common inhabitant of water bodies in agro-ecosystems of Western Ghats for the assay. We collected the adult frogs from three different habitats; a) the rice paddy fields contaminated with agro-chemicals, b) uncontaminated marsh and c) a shallow water pool. We recorded micronucleus, blebbed, lobed, kidney bean shaped nucleus and nucleus with notches in erythro-cytes of these frogs. These nuclear abnormalities in erythrocytes are quantified. The incidences of occurrence of micronucleus ranged from 0 to 8 in 1000 analyzed cells. More than 80% of the frogs living in agro-chemical contaminated site showed these abnormalities. The appearance of nuclear abnormalities indicates that the frogs are affected by agro-chemicals

Characterization of a Novel Proteinous Toxin from Sea Anemone Actineria villosa.

The sea anemone Actineria villosa expresses a lethal protein toxin. We isolated a novel 120-kDa protein, Avt120, from partially purified toxin and found it to possess extremely strong lethal activity. The 3,453-bp Avt120 gene translates to a 995-amino acid protein. The 50% lethal dose (LD(50)) of purified Avt120 in mice was 85.17 ng. Among several tested cell lines, Colo205 cells were most sensitive to Avt120: 50% of them were damaged by 38.4 ng/mL Avt120. Avt120 exerted ATP degradation activity (10 μmol ATP h(-1) mg(-1)), which was strongly inhibited by ganglioside GM1 to decrease the cytotoxicity of Avt120

THE STUDY OF POTENTIALITY OF PICRORHIZA KURROA ROOT PROTEINS TO INHIBIT FREE RADICALS AND Α-AMYLASE ENZYME

 Objective: To prevent oxidative damage to cells caused by free radicals that are responsible for many diseases, such as atherosclerosis, diabetesand cancer. Picrorhiza kurroa (Katuki) is an ayurvedic medicinal plant used in the current study to evaluate the effectiveness of its root proteinsprecipitated at 60% ammonium sulfate, and further dialyzed protein sample was investigated for scavenging free radicals and also inhibiting alphaamylasewhich helps to control postprandial hyperglycemia.Methods: The present study was done by Anti-oxidant methods 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method, hydroxyl scavenging method, nitricoxide (NO) method, total anti-oxidant method , α-amylase inhibition and its kinetic studies by DNS method.Results: The protein significantly inhibited DPPH radicals 66.19±6.08%, hydroxyl radicals 59.18±9.05%, nitric oxide radicals 45.38±19.52% andtotal antioxidants present is 82.91±2.81% compared with standard ascorbic acid 93.67±3.91%. The protein extract (60%) inhibited rat pancreaticα-amylase 41.62±22.3% compared with acarbose standard 91.09±1.8%. These results provide valuable information that P. kurroa proteins exhibitsgood antioxidant and anti-diabetic property.Conclusion: Picrorhiza kurroa root proteins (60%) posses potent antioxidant and antidiabetic effects. Kinetic studies showed it is a non competitiveinhibition. alpha-amylase inhibitor is a protein which inhibits rat pancreatic alpha-amylase specifically at a optimum temperature 37°c, pH 6.9, andtime 35'.Keywords: Picrorhiza kurroa, Free radicals, Anti-oxidant, Anti-diabetic, α-amylase