Hydrogen peroxide mediates pro-inflammatory cell-to-cell signaling: a new therapeutic target for inflammation?

Nitric oxide is now universally recognized as an extracellular signaling molecule. Nitric oxide, produced in one cell, diffuses across the extracellular space and acts with targets in an adjoining cell. In this study, we present proof that hydrogen peroxide – like nitric oxide – acts as a true first (intercellular) messenger for a multitude of pro-inflammatory ligands. RAW 264.7 macrophages were activated with three different ligands, lipopolysaccharide, interferon-gamma or advanced glycation end products in the presence of increasing concentrations of (hydrogen peroxide scavenging) catalase. As inflammatory readouts, nitric oxide and tumor necrosis factor were determined. We hypothesize that hydrogen peroxide travels between cells propagating the signal, then a certain percentage of the readout should be inhibited by catalase in a concentration-dependent manner. The experiment showed concentration-dependent inhibition of nitric oxide and tumor necrosis factor-α production in response to all three ligands/ligand combinations (interferon-gamma, lipopolysaccharide, and chicken egg albumin-derived advanced glycation end product) in the presence of increasing concentration of catalase. For example, catalase inhibited 100% of nitric oxide and 40% of tumor necrosis factor-α production at its highest concentration. Our results suggest that hydrogen peroxide travels through cell membranes into the extracellular space and enters and activates adjacent cells. Like nitric oxide, we suggest that it is a ubiquitous first messenger, able to transmit cell-to-cell pro-inflammatory signals such as nitric oxide and tumor necrosis factor-α. In a therapeutic setting, our data suggest that compounds acting as hydrogen peroxide scavengers might not even need to enter the cell to act as anti-inflammatory drugs

Sanitary measures for better management practices in live feed culture

The production of marine finfish and shellfish larvae in hatchery requires different types of phytoplankton and zooplankton. The quality of these live feeds directly affects the production cycle of finfish and shellfish larvae since these life feeds are used either directly or indirectly in larval rearing system. Thus proper sanitary measures for better management need to be taken at each level of culture operation of live feeds to maintain the quality and quantity of these live feeds, right from stock culture to mass culture

Standard Operating Procedure: Nursery rearing of Indian pompano in RAS

A technological intervention has been the major impetus for the rapid development of recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) for nurery rearing of marine fishes across the world. In spite of the various technologies available for the fulfilment of high production and proper installation of the RAS, it is necessary to optimise many factors periodically and to customize the RAS according to the species, area and scope of application. In this context, developing standard operating protocols for the nursery rearing of Indian pompano in customised RAS is utmost necessary to promote good growth of fishes and to obtain optimal production in a sustainable manner from RAS. A standard operating protocol for nursery rearing of Indian pompano, Trachinotus mookalee is provided below. The present SOP was developed on the basis of various experiments in Visakhapatnam Regional Centre of ICARCMFRI, Visakhapatnam

Myrtinols A-F : new anti-inflammatory peltogynoid flavonoid derivatives from the leaves of Australian Indigenous plant Backhousia myrtifolia

Our in-house ethnopharmacological knowledge directed our anti-inflammatory investigation into the leaves of Backhousia mytifolia. Bioassay guided isolation of the Australian indigenous plant Backhousia myrtifolia led to the isolation of six new rare peltogynoid derivatives named myrtinols A–F (1–6) along with three known compounds 4-O-methylcedrusin (7), 7-O-methylcedrusin (8) and 8-demethylsideroxylin (9). The chemical structures of all the compounds were elucidated by detailed spectroscopic data analysis, and absolute configuration was established using X-ray crystallography analysis. All compounds were evaluated for their anti-inflammatory activity by assessing the inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) production and tumor necrosis factor- α (TNF-α) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and interferon (IFN)-γ activated RAW 264.7 macrophages. A structure activity relationship was also established between compounds (1–6), noting promising anti-inflammatory potential by compounds 5 and 9 with an IC50 value of 8.51 ± 0.47 and 8.30 ± 0.96 µg/mL for NO inhibition and 17.21 ± 0.22 and 46.79 ± 5.87 µg/mL for TNF-α inhibition, respectively

Medicinal Plants of the Australian Aboriginal Dharawal People Exhibiting Anti-Inflammatory Activity

Chronic inflammation contributes to multiple ageing-related musculoskeletal and neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease. More recently, chronic neuroinflammation has been attributed to Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease and autism-spectrum and obsessive-compulsive disorders. To date, pharmacotherapy of inflammatory conditions is based mainly on nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs which in contrast to cytokine-suppressive anti-inflammatory drugs do not influence the production of cytokines such as tumour necrosis factoror nitric oxide. However, their prolonged use can cause gastrointestinal toxicity and promote adverse events such as high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, and thrombosis. Hence, there is a critical need to develop novel and safer nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs possessing alternate mechanism of action. In this study, plants used by the Dharawal Aboriginal people in Australia for the treatment of inflammatory conditions, for example, asthma, arthritis, rheumatism, fever, oedema, eye inflammation, and inflammation of bladder and related inflammatory diseases, were evaluated for their anti-inflammatory activity in vitro. Ethanolic extracts from 17 Eucalyptus spp. (Myrtaceae) were assessed for their capacity to inhibit nitric oxide and tumor necrosis factor-production in RAW 264.7 macrophages. Eucalyptus benthamii showed the most potent nitric oxide inhibitory effect (IC 50 5.57 ± 1.4 g/mL), whilst E. bosistoana, E. botryoides, E. saligna, E. smithii, E. umbra, and E. viminali

Recirculating Aquaculture System engineering: Design, components and construction

Most fish and crustacean aquaculture is undertaken in earthen ponds or large tanks with flowing water. Pond culture requires large areas of flat land and significant quantities of clean groundwater. Flow-through tank aquaculture requires less land but needs more water per kg of fish produced to maintain good growing conditions within the tank. Recirculating aquaculture systems re-use water over and over, cleaning the waste from the water and providing oxygen to the fish. Because water is reused, recirculating fish production systems utilize only a fraction of the water required by traditional fish production techniques. A small domestic well producing three to five gallons per minute, when coupled with the proper recirculating technology, can be used in the production of thousands of kilo of fish annually. There is no doubt that fish can be reared in large quantities and at high densities in recirculating systems. However, the economic viability of growing fish in recirculating systems is not ascertained. Before initiating the fish culture using recirculating technology, essential googleprinciples involved in the technology being used must be understood. In almost every successful application, highly technological solutions that have been evaluated are incorporated into the aquaculture systems

Tristaenone A : a new anti-inflammatory compound isolated from the Australian Indigenous plant Tristaniopsis laurina

Inspired by ethnopharmacological knowledge, we conducted a bioassay-guided fractionation of the leaves of Tristaniopsis laurina which led to the discovery of a new anti-inflammatory compound, tristaenone A (1). The structure was elucidated by detailed spectroscopic data analysis, and the absolute configuration was established using X-ray crystallography analysis. Tristaenone A (1) suppressed LPS and IFN-γ-induced NO, TNF-α and IL-6 production in RAW 264.7 cells with IC50 values of 37.58 ± 2.45 μM, 80.6 ± 5.82 μM and 125.65 ± 0.34 μM, respectively. It also inhibited NF-κB nuclear translocation by 52.93 ± 14.14% at a concentration of 31.85 μM

From the bush to the brain : preclinical stages of ethnobotanical anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective drug discovery : an Australian example

The Australian rainforest is a rich source of medicinal plants that have evolved in the face of dramatic environmental challenges over a million years due to its prolonged geographical isolation from other continents. The rainforest consists of an inherent richness of plant secondary metabolites that are the most intense in the rainforest. The search for more potent and more bioavailable compounds from other plant sources is ongoing, and our short review will outline the pathways from the discovery of bioactive plants to the structural identification of active compounds, testing for potency, and then neuroprotection in a triculture system, and finally, the validation in an appropriate neuro-inflammatory mouse model, using some examples from our current research. We will focus on neuroinflammation as a potential treatment target for neurodegenerative diseases including multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson’s (PD), and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) for these plant-derived, anti-inflammatory molecules and highlight cytokine suppressive anti-inflammatory drugs (CSAIDs) as a better alternative to conventional nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to treat neuroinflammatory disorders

Protocol developed for the hatchery production of marine model fish Oryzias dancena (Hamilton, 1822)

A non-human species that has been widely studied in the laboratory for helping scientists understanding the biological processes is called a ‘model organism’. Their inherent characteristics include easy maintenance, anatomical and physiological similarities to humans, high reproductive rate and large offspring number, and a short generation time (the time period from birth to reproduction). Among the fishes, zebra fish (Danio rerio) is widely accepted globally as a model organism for research in freshwater providing valuable insights into cell, tissue, organ, and system level. However, for studies involving marine and brackish waters, it is not advisable to superimpose the cues obtained from freshwater model organism, which necessitates the use of a species with marked euryhaline characteristics. Oryzias dancena (Hamilton, 1822), with tolerance to varying salinities, are small and easy to bred, and are capable of being maintained in large numbers; therefore offers as an excellent alternate fish model organism for experiments in marine systems

Modification of Physicochemical Properties of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient by Pharmaceutical Co-Crystals

The oral drug delivery is widely used and accepted routes of administration, but it fails to provide the therapeutic effectiveness of drugs due to low solubility, poor compression and oral bioavailability. Crystal engineering is the branch where the modification of API is of great importance. Co-crystallization of API using a co-former is a hopeful and emerging approach to improve the performance of pharmaceuticals, such as micromeritic properties, solubility, dissolution profile, pharmacokinetics and stability. Pharmaceutical co-crystals are multicomponent systems in which one component is an active pharmaceutical ingredient and the others are pharmaceutically acceptable ingredients that are of GRAS category. In multidrug co-crystals one drug acts as API and other drug acts as coformer. This chapter illustrates the guidance for more efficient design and manufacture of pharmaceutical co-crystals with the desired physicochemical properties and applications