Impact of circadian clock dysfunction on human health

All living organisms exhibit circadian rhythms. Humans show circadian rhythm of the different physiological functions such as sleep-wake cycle, core body temperature, feeding behavior, metabolic activity, heart rate variability, hormone secretion, and others. The hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) acts as a primary circadian pacemaker. Peripheral tissues have an endogenous circadian clock; however, SCN synchronizes the circadian activity of the peripheral clocks. The retinohypothalamic tract (RHT) from retinal ganglionic cells carries the photic signal into the SCN that regulates the rhythmic expression of the core clock genes through the feedback loop. At the output level, the SCN connects with the pineal gland and the peripheral tissues with the help of neuroendocrine mediators. Disruption of circadian clock functions is detrimental to health. Shift work, night work, chronic or acute jet lag, and light-at-night have adverse effects on circadian functions. Misalignment of circadian rhythm alters the expression of core clock genes, leading to deregulation of cellular activity and metabolic functions. Circadian rhythm dysfunction causes many pathologic conditions, including sleep disorders, cardiovascular problems, metabolic dysfunction, infertility, poor physical performance, as well as cancer. The present work has reviewed the relationship between circadian clock dysfunction and impaired physiological activities

Protective effects of some Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) grade food preservatives against experimentally induced renal dysfunction

Drug induced nephrotoxicity is the current concern of research due to its awful worldwide occurrences. Generally recognized as safe (GRAS) grade food preservatives e.g. butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), L-ascorbic acid (Vit.C) and gamma-tocopherol (Vit. E) exhibits potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory properties against severe oxidative stress. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of food preservatives on carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced (230 mg/ kg b wt/ rat/day) nephritic damage in rats. Nephritic markers like serum urea, blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine; antioxidant markers such as GSH, SOD, CAT, GPx, and lipid peroxidation end product, MDA were measured to establish anti-oxidant properties of said food preservatives and vitamins. The results had shown an elevated level of serum urea (387.30%), blood urea nitrogen (376%), serum creatinine (646.82%) and marked decreased activity of antioxidant markers like SOD (81.03%), CAT (72.24%), GSH (63.04%), GPx (50.34%) as well. CCl4 induced nephrotoxicity also caused 48.14% and 59.47% increase in sodium and potassium concentration. Histological studies also confirmed that antioxidant status in renal cells was restored as BHA, BHT, L-ascorbic acid, and gamma-tocopherol successfully ameliorated certain degenerative changes caused due to CCl4 intoxication. Therefore, it can be concluded that supplementation of certain food preservatives like BHA, BHT and like Vitamins L-ascorbic acid, gamma-tocopherol may be potentially beneficial to the community affected by severe renal dysfunction.   Keywords: butylated hydroxyanisole, butylated hydroxytoluene, L-ascorbic acid, gamma-tocopherol, CCl4 intoxication

Hepatotoxic effect of Rifampicin as an Anti-Tuberculosis drug on male Albino rat

Tuberculosis is one of the serious airborne infectious diseases. Rifampicin is commonly used as anti-tuberculosis drug which creates drug-induced hepatotoxicity. Physiologically, liver maintains metabolic homeostasis and also regulates the detoxification process. The study of rifampicin mediated hepatotoxicity had been performed on male albino rat after its oral administration with a dose of 50 mg/kg body weight/day for 14 days. Several biochemical markers like serum glutamate pyruvate tranaminase (AST), serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), serum total protein, serum bilirubin, serum cholesterol were considered to evaluate the toxicity. Significant elevation of level of AST (115.89%), ALT (134.40%), ALP (46.15%), serum cholesterol (91%) and bilirubin content (119.44%) had been observed in treated group compared with control group. High level of MDA content as lipid peroxidation marker was also been noticed in drug induced group. Histopathological studies had shown the disintegrated hepatolobular structure with dilated central vein. All these findings indicated that the selected dose of rifampicin is hepatotoxic; proper monitoring and care are essential during the treatment of tuberculosis. Keywords: rifampicin; hepatoxicity; anti-tuberculosi

Dietotherapeutic potency of ornamental lentil dumpling, a traditional food preparation from South West Bengal, India

Gahana bori (in Bengali) or ornamental lentil dumpling is a state-of-art preparation designed in the form of paisleys, ornaments or flowers, used as a decorative adjunct with the main dish.. Here, we have made an attempt to evaluate the dirtotherapeutic potency of this traditional preparation. The principal ingredient is the Vigna mungo (blackgram/ urad bean). In its preparation, the soaked bean is pasted and placed on a cloth piece having a central small pore. The fermented paste is squeezed onto the poppy seeds containing plate in such a way that it looks like an ornament. The sundried preparation is generally fried in oil and served along with the meal. For the first time, we have scientifically explored Gahana bori. The number of total aerobes, total anaerobes, yeast, mould, and LAB were increased during soaking. The contents of free phenolics and flavonoids were increased in the fermented paste and that also reflected by the higher in vitro DPPH antioxidant activity. The levels of B-group of vitamins particularly the quantity of riboflavin, thiamin, folic acid, vitamin B12, and vitamin C were also enriched in the products. The water extract of this product exhibited a notable antibacterial activity against enteropathogens. Thus, the lentil-based Gahana bori is not only improved the appearance or presentation of food product but also the same have a good health beneficial potentiality

Thermodynamic and kinetic characteristics of an a-amylase from Bacillus licheniformis SKB4

An amylolytic bacterial strain, Bacillus licheniformis SKB4 produced maximum amylase at pH 6.5 at 42 °C, and at late stationary phase (24 h) of growth. Starch and peptone were found the best supporting carbon and nitrogen source with C:N ratio of 1:2 for amylase production. The purified enzyme was non-responsive to most of the metal ions except K+ and Mg++ (1.0 mM). The enzyme was stable and active at pH 6.5. The enzyme showed optimum temperature at 90 °C with 10 min of half life (t½) at 100 °C. The Q10 of the enzyme was 1.0. The thermodynamic principles like activation energy, free energy for substrate binding and transition state of the enzyme were found 31.53, 5.53 and -17.4 KJ/Mol of starch, respectively. The kinetic constant like Vmax, Km, K catand catalytic efficiency (Kcat/Km)for starch were found to be 1.04 μmol mg-1 min-1, 6.2 mg ml-1,2 × 103 S-1 and 3.22 × 102 ml mg-1 S-1,respectively. All these findings suggested that this amylase has unique characteristics for starch hydrolysis in respect to thermostability and kinetic properties

Hepatoprotective effect of food preservatives (butylated hydroxyanisole, butylated hydroxytoluene) on carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatotoxicity in rat

Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), a hepatotoxic agent is widely used to study the toxic mechanisms in experimental animals. This study was carried out to establish the hepatoprotective measures of food preservative antioxidants butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydroxytolune (BHA, BHT) when mixed with food towards carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) intoxication (230 mg/ kg b wt/rat/day) in rat. Biochemical markers like serum glutamate pyruvate tranaminase (AST), serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and bilirubin content, antioxidant enzymes such as SOD, CAT, GPx, and malondialdehyde (MDA) as the end product of lipid peroxidanion were measured. The results had shown the elevated level of AST (121.16%), ALT (124.68%), ALP (122.41%) an, bilirubin content (57.14%) after CCl4 treatment. Marked decrease of activity of antioxidant enzymes such as SOD (85.36%), CAT (67.47%), GPx (50.7%) had indicated that the ROS mediated toxicity and pretreatment of BHA and BHT restored the activity of these enzymes. High level of MDA content with reduced GSH value was also observed due to oxidative stress. The hepatic antioxidant status was restored with the food preservative (BHA, BHT) antioxidant treatment which had indicated the significant protective effect against CCl4 induced hepatotoxicity and finally confirmed by histopathological studies. Keywords: Butylated hydroxyanisole, Butylated hydroxytoluene, Hepatoprotection, CCl4 - intoxicated rat