278 research outputs found
ANTIOXIDANT AND HEPATO PROTECTIVE ACTIVITY OF VARIOUS EXTRACTS OF INDIGOFERA BARBERI GAMBLE AGAINST D-GALACTOSAMINE INDUCED TOXICITY IN RATS
Objective: To investigate Antioxidant and Hepatoprotective activity of various extracts of Indigofera barberi Gamble against D-Galactosamine induced toxicity in rats.
Methods: Indigofera barberi Gamble is used traditionally as folk system of medicine in India for the treatment of liver diseases, and as a liver tonic. Petroleum ether (PEEIB), chloroform(CEIB) and ethanolic extracts (EEIB) of Indigofera barberi Gamble (aerial part of the plants extracts, 200mg/kg, p. o) was tested for its hepatoprotective effect against D-galactosamine induced hepatic damage in rats at a dose of (400mg/kg, i. p) to induce hepatotoxicity and Silymarin (25 mg/kg, i. p.) was administered as standard drug.
Results: The biochemical parameters of liver tissue LPO, GSH, GPX, GST, SOD and CAT values were significantly (p<0.01) altered against ethanolic extracts treatment of Indigofera barberi Gamble and were comparable with standard drug silymarin.
Conclusion: Animal pretreatment with petroleum ether and chloroform extracts of Indigofera barberi Gamble did not change above mentioned parameters significantly. The histopathological studies also substantiates the results and hence, it can be concluded from the present study that, the ethanolic extracts of Indigofera barberi Gamble has appreciable hepatoprotective potential in albino rats against D-galactosamine induced hepatic damage
Maximally localized Wannier functions in LaMnO3 within PBE+U, hybrid functionals, and partially self-consistent GW: an efficient route to construct ab-initio tight-binding parameters for e_g perovskites
Using the newly developed VASP2WANNIER90 interface we have constructed
maximally localized Wannier functions (MLWFs) for the e_g states of the
prototypical Jahn-Teller magnetic perovskite LaMnO3 at different levels of
approximation for the exchange-correlation kernel. These include conventional
density functional theory (DFT) with and without additional on-site Hubbard U
term, hybrid-DFT, and partially self-consistent GW. By suitably mapping the
MLWFs onto an effective e_g tight-binding (TB) Hamiltonian we have computed a
complete set of TB parameters which should serve as guidance for more elaborate
treatments of correlation effects in effective Hamiltonian-based approaches.
The method-dependent changes of the calculated TB parameters and their
interplay with the electron-electron (el-el) interaction term are discussed and
interpreted. We discuss two alternative model parameterizations: one in which
the effects of the el-el interaction are implicitly incorporated in the
otherwise "noninteracting" TB parameters, and a second where we include an
explicit mean-field el-el interaction term in the TB Hamiltonian. Both models
yield a set of tabulated TB parameters which provide the band dispersion in
excellent agreement with the underlying ab initio and MLWF bands.Comment: 30 pages, 7 figure
Lung development in laminin γ2 deficiency: abnormal tracheal hemidesmosomes with normal branching morphogenesis and epithelial differentiation
BACKGROUND: Laminin γ2 (Lamc2), one of the polypeptides in laminin-332 (laminin-5), is prominent in the basement membrane of alveolar walls and airways of developing and adult lung. Laminins are important for lung morphogenesis and based on its localization, a function for laminin γ2 in lung development has been hypothesized. Targeted deletion of the laminin γ2 gene in mice results in skin blistering and neonatal death at 3–5 days after birth due to failure to thrive. METHODS: Examination of lung development in Lamc2-/- mice through 1–2 days postnatal was accomplished by morphometric analysis, lung bud culture, electron microscopy, immunohistochemical and immunofluorescence staining. RESULTS: Compared to littermate controls, Lamc2-/- lungs were similar in morphology during embryonic life. At post-natal day 1–2, distal saccules were mildly dilated by chord length measurements. Epithelial differentiation as evaluated by immunohistochemical staining for markers of ciliated cells, Clara cells, alveolar type I cells and alveolar type II cells did not reveal a difference between Lamc2-/- and littermate control lungs. Likewise, vascular development, smooth muscle cell differentiation, and elastic fiber formation looked similar, as did airway basement membrane ultrastructure. Branching morphogenesis by lung bud culture was similar in Lamc2-/- and littermate control lungs. Since laminin-332 is important for hemidesmosome formation, we examined the structure of tracheal hemidesmosomes by transmission electron microscopy. Compared to littermate controls, Lamc2-/- tracheal hemidesmosomes were less organized and lacked the increased electron density associated with the basement membrane abutting the hemidesmosome. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that laminin γ2 and laminin-332, despite their prominence in the lung, have a minimal role in lung development through the saccular stage
- …