Hypoglycemic and antihyperglycemic effects of Anabasis articulata (Forssk) Moq (Chenopodiaceae), an Algerian medicinal plant

Anabasis articulata leaves decoction is widely used by Algerian traditional medicine practitioners as a remedy for the treatment of diabetes. The aqueous extract was found to be non-toxic at 1000 mg/kg, asno deaths or hazardous signs were recorded during treatment or the observation period (24 and 72 h) in either control or treated groups of mice. Experiments were performed in non-diabetic mice, and inhyperglycemic mice (glucose treated and alloxan treated mice) to confirm the antidiabetic potential of A. articulata. Our results showed that the orally administration at a dose of 400 mg/kg decreased the glycaemia by 29.89% after 6 h (p < 0.05), corresponding to the greatest decrease of blood glucose in normoglycaemic mice. This dose also lowered blood glucose concentrations in diabetic mice revealing antihyperglycemic effect of A. articulata leaves. The class of phytochemical responsible for antidiabetic effects in aqueous leaf extract was also investigated. Phytochemical screening showed that the aqueous extract contains alkaloids (1.25%) and saponin (1.30%). Our findings showed that saponin (5 mg/Kg) was the active fraction, since it restores the normal blood glucose levels after 21 days of treatment. The alkaloid fraction did not significantly reduce the blood glucose level. The present studyconfirms the antidiabetic proprieties of A. articulata leaves previously reported by Algerian healers

Double-check: validation of diagnostic statistics for PLS-DA models in metabolomics studies

Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) is a PLS regression method with a special binary ‘dummy’ y-variable and it is commonly used for classification purposes and biomarker selection in metabolomics studies. Several statistical approaches are currently in use to validate outcomes of PLS-DA analyses e.g. double cross validation procedures or permutation testing. However, there is a great inconsistency in the optimization and the assessment of performance of PLS-DA models due to many different diagnostic statistics currently employed in metabolomics data analyses. In this paper, properties of four diagnostic statistics of PLS-DA, namely the number of misclassifications (NMC), the Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (AUROC), Q2 and Discriminant Q2 (DQ2) are discussed. All four diagnostic statistics are used in the optimization and the performance assessment of PLS-DA models of three different-size metabolomics data sets obtained with two different types of analytical platforms and with different levels of known differences between two groups: control and case groups. Statistical significance of obtained PLS-DA models was evaluated with permutation testing. PLS-DA models obtained with NMC and AUROC are more powerful in detecting very small differences between groups than models obtained with Q2 and Discriminant Q2 (DQ2). Reproducibility of obtained PLS-DA models outcomes, models complexity and permutation test distributions are also investigated to explain this phenomenon. DQ2 and Q2 (in contrary to NMC and AUROC) prefer PLS-DA models with lower complexity and require higher number of permutation tests and submodels to accurately estimate statistical significance of the model performance. NMC and AUROC seem more efficient and more reliable diagnostic statistics and should be recommended in two group discrimination metabolomic studies

Dietary fat increases solid tumor growth and metastasis of 4T1 murine mammary carcinoma cells and mortality in obesity-resistant BALB/c mice

Introduction High-fat diets (HFDs) are known to cause obesity and are associated with breast cancer progression and metastasis. Because obesity is associated with breast cancer progression, it is important to determine whether dietary fat per se stimulates breast cancer progression in the absence of obesity. This study investigated whether an HFD increases breast cancer growth and metastasis, as well as mortality, in obesity-resistant BALB/c mice. Methods The 4-week-old, female BALB/c mice were fed HFD (60% kcal fat) or control diet (CD, 10% kcal fat) for 16 weeks. Subsequently, 4T1 mammary carcinoma cells were injected into the inguinal mammary fat pads of mice fed continuously on their respective diets. Cell-cycle progression, angiogenesis, and immune cells in tumor tissues, proteases and adhesion molecules in the lungs, and serum cytokine levels were analyzed with immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In vitro studies were also conducted to evaluate the effects of cytokines on 4T1 cell viability, migration, and adhesion. Results Spleen and gonadal fat-pad weights, tumor weight, the number and volume of tumor nodules in the lung and liver, and tumor-associated mortality were increased in the HFD group, with only slight increases in energy intake and body weight. HF feeding increased macrophage infiltration into adipose tissues, the number of lipid vacuoles and the expression of cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)2, cyclin D1, cyclin A, Ki67, CD31, CD45, and CD68 in the tumor tissues, and elevated serum levels of complement fragment 5a (C5a), interleukin (IL)-16, macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF), soluble intercellular adhesion molecule (sICAM)-1, tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1, leptin, and triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells (TREM)-1. Protein levels of the urokinase-type plasminogen activator, ICAM-1, and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 were increased, but plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 levels were decreased in the lungs of the HFD group. In vitro assays using 4T1 cells showed that sICAM-1 increased viability; TREM-1, TIMP-1, M-CSF, and sICAM-1 increased migration; and C5a, sICAM-1, IL-16, M-CSF, TIMP-1, and TREM-1 increased adhesion. Conclusions Dietary fat increases mammary tumor growth and metastasis, thereby increasing mortality in obesity-resistant mice

Médicaments et aliments : approche ethnopharmacologique = Medicines and foods : ethnopharmacological approach

In order to establish the origine of dietetics in Arabo-Persian medicine, the Coran and the Hadith, Islamic Sacred texts, have been studied. Their quotations concerning basic dietetic notions and food products used in Arabo-Persian medicine have been taken into consideration. The second part of this study concerns patients' food, diets and dietetics mentioned in Arabo-Persian writings. According to Arabo-Persian physicians and scientists foods are classified into absolute foods, medicinal foods and food drugs. The use of foods as drugs is illustrated by three examples : fenugreek (#Trigonella foenum graecum L.), honey and garlic (#Allium sativum L.). (Résumé d'auteur

Tumor regulation of myeloid-derived suppressor cell proliferation and trafficking

A stress response can induce myeloid progenitor cell (MPC) proliferation, mobilization, and extramedullary hematopoiesis (EMH) within lymphoid and parenchymal organs. Our studies using in vivo BrdU labeling, Ki-67 IHC staining, and carboxyfluorescein succinimidyl ester (CFSE) adoptive cell transfer revealed that spleens, rather than bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood (PB), from 4T1 mammary tumor-bearing (TB) mice were the primary site of MPC proliferation. The resultant increase in MPCs was associated with tumor hematopoietic growth factor (GF) transcription, decreased apoptosis, as well as, prolonged survival of splenic MPCs. In naive mice. i.v. injected CFSE-labeled MDSCs (myeloid-derived suppressor cells) initially accumulated in the lungs, while in TB mice, they rapidly sequestered in the spleen. In contrast, a few of the injected MDSCs and leukocytes arrested, proliferated, or accumulated in the marrow, tumor, or PB of TB mice. However, BrdU labeling revealed a significant demargination of proliferating splenic MPCs into the PB. In tumors, despite high GF transcript levels, we found that a high frequency of MDSCs was apoptotic. In summary, tumor growth and cytokines regulate MPC proliferation, trafficking, accumulation, apoptosis, and survival. (C) 2012 Elsevier BM. All rights reserved.Nebraska Research Initiative (NRI)This research was funded by a grant from the Nebraska Research Initiative (NRI), Translation of Biotechnology into the Clinic