Combined effects of ethanol and manganese on cultured neurons and glia

Manganese is essential for normal development and activity of the nervous tissue. Mn²⁺ ions are involved in protein synthesis and may prevent free radical damage. Since it is now established that alcohol degradation may produce free radicals, we studied the effect of Mn²⁺ on ethanol induced alterations using cultured nerve cells as an experimental model of the central nervous system. Neurons and glial cells were cultured from rat brain cortex; a tumoral rat glial cell line (C6) was also examined. We measured enzymatic markers of nerve cell maturation (enolase, glutamine synthetase) and superoxide dismutase, a scavenger of free radicals; all these enzymes being activated by Mn²⁺ ions. Only for the glial cell types an alcohol antagonizing effect was found when Mn²⁺ was combined with ethanol. Neurons were not sensitive to that Mn²⁺ effect.     

Respiratory enzymes in muscle: Interaction between environmental temperature, nutrition and growth

1. 1.In young pigs living at 35 or 10°C on a high or low energy intake, respiratory enzyme activities in longissimus dorsi muscle were greater both in the cold and on low intake. The elevated activities in the cold were unlikely to be related entirely to shivering since they were also found in muscle from the diaphragm.

2. 2.In a second study, pigs were kept close to thermal neutrality (26°C) on different levels of food intake and for different periods of time. For all animals, as body weight increased there was a decline in respiratory enzyme activity and the number of dark fibres in skeletal muscle. For those of the same weight, but different age and food intake, there was no difference in enzyme activity or number of dark fibres per unit area.

3. 3.At least part of the difference in respiratory enzyme activities related to energy intake must therefore be due to differences in body size. However, size is not the sole determinant of enzyme activity in skeletal muscle, since in animals of similar size those living at 10°C have greater enzyme activities than those at 35°C.

Development of glial cells cultured from prenatally alcohol treated rat brain: Effect of supplementation of the maternal alcohol diet with a grape extract

The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of supplementation of a maternal alcohol diet with a grape extract on glial cell development. Glial cells were cultured during 4 weeks from cortical brain cells of the new born offspring in DMEM medium supplemented with fetal calf serum. Enzymatic markers of nerve cell development were measured (enolase isoenzymes and glutamine synthetase). Since alcohol consumption produces free radicals the antioxidant system superoxide dismutase was also investigated. Compared to the decrease found in only alcohol treated animals, all parameters except neuron-specific enolase were antagonized and even stimulated after grape extract supplementation. The effect was more important after only 1 month than 3 months of treatment. Also in the total brain an alcohol antagonizing effect and a glutamine synthetase activation were found. Our data demonstrate that addition of a grape extract to the maternal alcohol diet may partially or completely overcome the alcohol induced retardation of glial cell development.     

Advanced water splitting for green hydrogen gas production through complete oxidation of starch by in vitro metabolic engineering

Starch is a natural energy storage compound and is hypothesized to be a high-energy density chemical compound or solar fuel. In contrast to industrial hydrolysis of starch to glucose, an alternative ATP-free phosphorylation of starch was designed to generate cost-effective glucose 6-phosphate by using five thermophilic enzymes (i.e., isoamylase, alpha-glucan phosphorylase, 4-α-glucanotransferase, phosphoglucomutase, and polyphosphate glucokinase). This enzymatic phosphorolysis is energetically advantageous because the energy of α-1,4-glycosidic bonds among anhydroglucose units is conserved in the form of phosphorylated glucose. Furthermore, we demonstrated an in vitro 17-thermophilic enzyme pathway that can convert all glucose units of starch, regardless of branched and linear contents, with water to hydrogen at a theoretic yield (i.e., 12 H₂ per glucose), three times of the theoretical yield from dark microbial fermentation. The use of a biomimetic electron transport chain enabled to achieve a maximum volumetric productivity of 90.2 mmol of H₂/L/h at 20 g/L starch. The complete oxidation of starch to hydrogen by this in vitro synthetic (enzymatic) biosystem suggests that starch as a natural solar fuel becomes a high-density hydrogen storage compound with a gravimetric density of more than 14% H₂-based mass and an electricity density of more than 3000 W h/kg of starch.     

Molecular and immunological characterization of the major outer membrane proteins of Brucella

Abstract Saccharomyces cerevisiae exponentially growing in basic or 0.7 M NaCl medium were isotopically labelled with ³⁵S-methionine, followed by protein separation and quantification by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) combined with computerised image analysis. The electrophoretic separation resolved about 650 proteins of which 13 displayed significant and at least 2-fold changes in rate of synthesis during saline growth. By sequencing of 2D-PAGE resolved proteins, one of the 8 induced spot, p42.9/5.5, was shown to correspond to the full length (containing the N-terminal extension) product of the GPD 1 gene encoding the cytoplasmic glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenase. The expression of the TDH 3 gene, glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, and the ENO 2 gene, enolase, decreased during growth in NaCl medium, declines hypothesised to have an impact on the flux to glycerol.     

Activities of hydrolytic enzymes in callus cultures of tobacco during organogenesis

Starch, total sugars, reducing sugars and protein contents and the specific activities of hydrolytic enzymes such as amylase, Phosphorylase, soluble acid invertase, wall-bound acid invertase, sucrose synthetase, acid and alkaline phosphatases and ribonuclease were determined in root forming, shoot forming and non-organ-forming callus cultures of tobacco. Organ-forming cultures not only showed higher amounts of the above metabolites but also higher enzyme activities compared to non-organ-forming cultures. The activities of these enzymes in relation to organogenesis is discussed.     

Ellagic acid regulates hyperglycemic state through modulation of pancreatic IL-6 and TNF- α immunoexpression

BackgroundType 2 diabetes (T2DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder. Although therapeutic pharmaceutical agents continue to advance, herbal medicines are potential complementary treatments for the promotion of glucose homeostasis, with minimal adverse effects. Conventionally, ellagic acid (EA) has been utilized for the therapy of a range of pathologies owing to its anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic actions.ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to determine the activity of EA on serum α-amylase and lipase titers, and on pancreatic tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) concentrations using the streptozocin-induced T2DM rodent model.MethodsEA extract synthesized from fresh strawberry fruit was employed for therapy. 50 adults male Wistar rats were randomized into either control, EA, diabetic, co-treated or post- treated cohorts.ResultsEA diminished fasting blood glucose levels, altered lipase, amylase, IL-6, PCNA and TNF- α expression and enhanced islet cell renewal, insulin, and immunoreactivities.ConclusionInflammatory indicators are elevated in the presence of T2DM. Extract of EA has overall tissue reparative and safeguarding properties, as indicated by the augmented β- cell population and enhanced glucose homeostasis. Thus, EA may be an innovative treatment approach for the maintenance of normoglycemia in individuals with T2DM.     

A Cysteine Endopeptidase (“Dionain”) Is Involved in the Digestive Fluid of Dionaea muscipula (Venus’s Fly-trap)

The carnivorous plant Dionaea muscipula (Venus’s flytrap) secretes proteinases into the digestive fluid to digest prey proteins. In this study, we obtained evidence that the digestive fluid contains a cysteine endopeptidase, presumably belonging to the papain family, through inhibitor studies and partial amino acid sequencing of the major SDS–PAGE band protein. The name “dionain” is proposed for the enzyme.     

Potential Applications of the Oxidoreductive Enzymes in the Decolorization and Detoxification of Textile and Other Synthetic Dyes from Polluted Water: A Review

ABSTRACT

Recently, the enzymatic approach has attracted much interest in the decolorization/degradation of textile and other industrially important dyes from wastewater as an alternative strategy to conventional chemical, physical and biological treatments, which pose serious limitations. Enzymatic treatment is very useful due to the action of enzymes on pollutants even when they are present in very dilute solutions and recalcitrant to the action of various microbes participating in the degradation of dyes. The potential of the enzymes (peroxidases, manganese peroxidases, lignin peroxidases, laccases, microperoxidase-11, polyphenol oxidases, and azoreductases) has been exploited in the decolorization and degradation of dyes. Some of the recalcitrant dyes were not degraded/decolorized in the presence of such enzymes. The addition of certain redox mediators enhanced the range of substrates and efficiency of degradation of the recalcitrant compounds. Several redox mediators have been reported in the literature, but very few of them are frequently used (e.g., 1-hydroxybenzotriazole, veratryl alcohol, violuric acid, 2-methoxy-phenothiazone). Soluble enzymes cannot be exploited at the large scale due to limitations such as stability and reusability. Therefore, the use of immobilized enzymes has significant advantages over soluble enzymes. In the near future, technology based on the enzymatic treatment of dyes present in the industrial effluents/wastewater will play a vital role. Treatment of wastewater on a large scale will also be possible by using reactors containing immobilized enzymes.     

Effects of metal stress on biochemical response of some aquatic macrophytes growing along an industrial waste discharge channel

Abstract

The present research work focused on the metal translocation in the soil-plant system and subsequent metal stress on biochemical response of aquatic macrophytes growing along an industrial waste discharge channel. The bottom sediment of the effluent channel is highly contaminated with metals. High transfer factor (TF) for most of the metals indicated higher metal uptake by aquatic macrophytes of which Typha sp. was found to be the most suitable. Average TF was in the order of Fe (4.82) > Mn (3.91) > Cu (3.59) > Cd (2.29) > Zn (2.22) > Cr (1.83) > Pb (1.80). Hyper accumulation of metals within plants resulted in significant reductions in total chlorophyll, soluble sugar with an increase in protein and proline content. The investigation also demonstrated that exposure to high concentrations on metals resulted in enhanced activity of catalase (61.82–90.91%) and peroxidase (37.08–70.23%) in all examined macrophytes with a reduced (27.58–43.4%) or unchanged ascorbate peroxidase activity depending on plant species.