Nigella Sativa and Oriental Spices with Protective Role in Iron Intoxication: in vivo Experiments on Rabbits

Homeostasis of hematological parameters is essential for assuring a general health status for any living organism. Iron is one of the essential mineral, involved in many vital processes - mainly in blood cells production, but in the same way it can become toxic in very high concentration. Hemoglobin and red blood cells are directed related with the iron ion, due to the high quantity (70%) of total iron from organism being part of the blood (hemoglobin) and muscle (myoglobin) cells. Ferrous ion is part of hemoglobin structure, and red blood cells. But, the administration of high doses of iron can negatively affect the general health status, because the iron alters the enzymatic system in the vital organs. The aim of our experimental study was to verify the hypothesis that in rabbit’s organism, after intraperitoneal administration of 15g Fe2+/body weight as ferrous-gluconate hydro solution, a special diet based on a complex, fresh, organic vegetables (roots and leaves) protects the organism by iron intoxication and help the hematological homeostasis. The research experiment was conducted during 43 days in summer time, on German Lop Eared breed young rabbits, which were protected with a diet that consisted of administration of Nigella sativa, some oriental spices (Allium ampeloprasum, Allium tuberosum, Coriandrum sativum, Eruca sativa, Cucumis sativus, Raphanus sativus, Trigonella foenum-graecum) and other vegetables (Trifolium, Petroselinum crispum, Dacus carrota subsp.sativus and Cucumis sativus). At the final of experiment we collected blood samples for hematological test and we evaluated the erythrocytes, leukocytes, platelets, hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, and red cell distribution width. The results were analytical evaluated and only for hemoglobin we obtained significant increase value in experimental rabbits compared to control group of rabbits

OSMOLARITY AND APOPTOSIS IN IVF BOVINE EMBRYOS

The aim of this research was to establish the optimal conditions for culture of bovine embryos obtained in vitro and the effects of osmolarity on development and apoptosis. The embryos obtained by in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure were divided into two different groups. The embryos from the control group were cultured for 7 days in B2-Menezo. The embryos from the experimental group were cultured in medium with NaCl, having variation of concentration and osmolarity. Results showed that there are differences in development stage and apoptosis. Increasing the concentration from 90 to 120mM NaCl generated decreasing of the blastocyst stage (P<0.05), and also the apoptosis was increased in the blastocyst stage. The optimum concentration of NaCl was 90mM and the optimum osmolarity of the medium was between 260-280 mOsmol for the studied IVF bovine embryos, affecting positively the embryos development

Nigella sativa - a Plant with Personality in Biochemistry and Experimental Medicine Researches

Last decades often presented references to traditional medicine, or culinary use of natural resources for a better health status, prevention or treatment of different diseases. One of the natural plants came lately in the researches as a miracle salve: Nigella sativa. Also commonly known as black cumin, the most use of this plant are the seeds, such as, as powder, as oil extract, or as hydro or alcoholic extracts. Culinary usage of N. sativa is referring to the seeds used as spice. Medical usage of this plantis mostly used as oil or extracts administrated orally or intraperitoneal. The best demonstrated bioactive component is thymoquinone, an alkaloid, monotherpenoid compound, that seems to be the key of medical benefits of N. sativa. Experimental medicine proved that seeds of black cumin have health enhancement and pharmaceutical effects, being used in various disseases (cardiac, digestive and respiratory diseases; hepatic and renal tonic; inflammations; reproductive and neural disorders, analgesic; appetite stimulant; cancer prevention and treatment; spasmolytic and diabetes. Seeds (as powder, oil or hydro, alcoholic extracts) have been demonstrated that have antimicrobial, antiparasitic, antitumoral, antidiabetic, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory action. N. sativa is easy to cultivate, storing, and offering diver potential of use as seed, seed oil, different type of seed extracts

Rabbits in vivo experiments and hematological evaluation after iron toxicity

Iron is essential elements for human, animals and plant organism. The depletion of organism in iron leads to modification in the concentration of hemoglobin which is responsible for oxygen transportation. Also, overload of iron represents a possible intoxication that can affect negatively the liver tissue and then all cells. Our experiments was conducted on two groups (control and experimental) of rabbits – German Lop Eared Rabbits breed, and we administrated ferrous gluconate (10mg/kg body weight) to the experimental group, two times. Also, during the experiment the rabbits had a special diet with plants from garden administrated fresh. The plants have very good antioxidant properties, and can prevent the iron intoxication and also participate intense to detoxification of the liver after iron overload. Hematological analysis were preformed for red blood cells, hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, red cell distribution width, platelet and leukocyte evaluation. The results demonstrated a very good protective action of the diet plants, meaning that the hematological parameters were not out of normal range after iron overload

Cheese - facts between nutrition, health and tradition

Nowadays, people are more and more interested by their health status, about their diet and are looking for healthy products, less processed, and with moderate content of lipids and salt. Thus, cheese is a traditional, healthy, and varied product - that can be produced from cow, ewe, goat, or buffalo milk, fresh or maturated diary product. The water, dry matter and lipid content are very important for maturation degree of cheese and for preservation time. Lipid and salt content is important for the taste, and for flavor – lipids being responsible for creamy sensorial characteristics. Thus, we analyzed some physic-chemical characteristics (water, dry matter, lipid, salt content, and also the ration between lipids and dry matter) and some microbiological characteristics for four types of Italian cheese: Pecorino, Basky, Magra and Ricotta. Pecorino presented the lowest water content (32.53%) and highest salt content (5.14%), being a maturated cheese (60-70 maturation days). Basky presented low water content (39.06%) and low salt content (2.36%), but 24.3% lipids, and 39.84 lipid / dry matter ration. Magra is a non-maturated cheese, with 50.19% water, with very low content of lipids (1.47%), with low lipid/dry matter ration (2.67) and no salt, being indicated in different diets. Ricotta is a cheese with highest water content (67.22%), with moderate lipid content (13.9%), with very low salt content (0.91%), and high lipid/dry matter ration (42.43). Microbiologic test were performed for all four Italian cheese and the E. coli, and Staphylococcus were under the maximum limits (<10 E. coli; <100 Staphylococcus), while the Listeria monocytogenes was absent. This study tries to demonstrate that if we know very well the cheese products and our health status we can choose the best product, depending on the water, lipid and salt content of the cheese

Environment between pollution and therapy

Environment is a critical complex index for quality of the habitat for humans, animals and plants. Ecosystems are communities of different species of plants and animals which lives together, depending one of another, being influenced by the pollution of air, water or soil. Some plants and animals are used as natural bioindicators of environmental quality, thus in pollution situations the specific organisms cannot live in the ecosystem. Then, environment was since ancient the source of the natural therapeutics products. But in case of pollution the plants used in curing do not have the same effect, or even cannot be used as therapy due to the pollutant contains. So, the environmental quality is very important not only for the ecosystems, but also for some applications of plants in natural products therapy

Flame atomic absorption spectroscopy in mineral analysis of barley from Banat area

Barley as a cereal grain is very important for animal and human nutrition, being also used in food products technology for fermented or distillated beverages. It has very good nutritional properties for animals and human, being the forth ranks in cultivation and quantity production in the world. The flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (FAAS) is an analysis method for metals, but the laboratory procedure is essential for the final result. Our goal was to analysis the barley content from Banat area with FAAS method using direct determination from the solution after digestion and using a diluted solution. The direct determination for copper content in barley (in mg/Kg, presented as mean and SD) was 4.146±0.205; iron content was 25.657±0.583; manganese determination was 10.391±0.192 and zinc content was 17.911±0.565. The quantity of metals (in mg/Kg, presented as mean and SD) from diluted (5x) samples for copper was 4.463±0.403; for iron was 26.821±1.083; for manganese was 11.136±0.444; for zinc was 18.731±0.665. Comparative evaluation of the mineral content for copper, iron, manganese and zinc showed that the quantitative analysis of five times diluted samples present higher values for all analyzed minerals comparative with direct determination

Associations between environmental non-essential heavy metals, ecobiochemistry and health

Environmental heavy metals should be a concern of the entire world due to its impact on the animal and human population. "Heavy metals" is a generic name used for metals characterized by relatively high atomic weight, density, and atomic number. Some of the heavy metals are essential nutrients for animals and humans, but when their ingested concentration exceeds the needs, their homeostasis is unbalanced and health status is impaired. Non-essential heavy metals are minerals that are harmful to the environment and living organisms. The environment is the main source of minerals provided by soil, water and air. Any deficiency or excess of minerals in the environment will be transferred to the living organisms. Plants, meat and water – are ingredients of humans' diet, and because of that, any overload affects the minerals' homeostasis that could lead to accumulation in target organs – mainly in the liver and kidney, also in the brain, heart, lungs, and other organs. Ecobiochemistry and xenobiochemistry are two complex sciences that are trying to find correlations between the biochemical processes related to the minerals’ needs, intake, and excretion to assure a good health status

The importance of leptin in animal science

There are two different neurons that control the energetic homeostasis in animals: appetite-stimulating and appetite-suppressing neurons. Leptin is a peptide hormone (also known as “satiety hormone”), released by adipose cells, being an anorexigenic compound which inhibit the hunger. Leptin function in animal organism is opposite by the action of ghrelin – a peptide hormone acting as an orexigenic compound that activate the hunger sensation. The quantity of leptin produced in organism is correlated by the size and the number of adipocytes, and of course by the lipid tissue mass. The action of leptin is in accordance with the neuropeptide Y that signaling the brain to increase the appetite and make the animal to eat. When the animals lose weight, the mass of adipose tissue is diminished, that has as consequence a decrease the leptin concentration in the blood. Blood leptin is correlated also with other characteristics, such as: fasting for a short term, stress, physical activity, sleep duration (prehibernation and hibernation), insulin concentration, obesity and diabetes