Alkaloids of Zanthoxylum monophyllum and Z. punctatum

The known alkaloids N-methylcorydine and magnoflorine were major constituents of stems and branches of Zanthoxylum punctatum (Rutaceae). Berberine was the major alkaloid of Z. monophyllum, which also contained a new pyrano-2-quinolone alkaloid, zanthophylline, and its desmethyl analog. Zanthophylline has an —NCH₂OAc functional group which is readily hydrolyzed by dilute acid. Methyl vanillate and the furocoumarin columbianetin were also found in Z. monophyllum.     

Population genomics of the southern Caspian Sea Vobla Rutilus lacustris

Hydrobiologia - The genus Rutilus is widespread in the western and central Palearctic region. In the Caspian Sea, the taxonomic status of different populations of Rutilus lacustris has...     

A Dermal Gel Made of Rutilus Kutum Skin Collagen-Chitosan for Deep Burn Healing

International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics - Natural compounds extracted from marine organisms consisting of biological active materials like collagen provide a major source of...     

Immune response variations to Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi recombinant porin proteins in mice

ObjectivesTyphoid fever is caused by Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi. OmpC, OmpF and OmpA, the three major outer membrane proteins (OMPs), could serve as vaccine candidates.MethodsThe porins antigenicity was predicted in silico. The OMP genes were amplified, cloned and expressed. Sero-reactivities of the recombinant proteins purified by denaturing method were assayed by ELISA. BALB/c mice were immunized with the recombinant porins followed by bacterial challenge.ResultsBacterial challenge of the animal model brought about antibody triggering efficacy of the antigen in OmpF > OmpC > OmpA order. Experimental findings validated the in silico results. None of the antigens had synergic or antagonistic effects on each other from immune system induction points of view. Despite their high immunogenicity, none of the antigens was protective. However, administration of two or three antigens simultaneously resulted in retardation of lethal effect. Porins, in addition to their specific functions, share common functions. Hence, they can compensate for each other's functions.ConclusionsThe produced antibodies could not eliminate the pathogenicity by blockade of one or some of the antigens. Porin antigens are not suitable vaccine candidates alone or in denatured forms. Native forms of the antigens maybe studied for protective immunogenicity.     

Fine-scale population genetic structure of Endangered Caspian Sea trout,Salmo caspius: implications for conservation

Hydrobiologia - Many populations of Caspian Sea trout (Salmo caspius)—a nationally endangered species in Iran—have been extirpated or depleted due to anthropogenic impacts. The Lar...     

Human Chorionic Gonadotropin Increases β-Cleavage of Amyloid Precursor Protein in SH-SY5Y Cells

Elevated levels of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides, the main component of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s disease, are the result of excessive β- and γ-cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) and/or impaired Aβ clearance in the brain. It has been suggested that high concentrations of luteinizing hormone (LH) in women contribute to increased Aβ generation after menopause, but the mechanism for this is incompletely understood. We investigated the effect of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), an LH receptor agonist, on APP β-cleavage in the SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cell line. Treatment of these cells with hCG-induced elevated β-cleavage in a dose-dependent manner: administration of 30 mIU but not 10 mIU/ml of hCG significantly increased sAPPβ levels in the cell medium 1.7-fold as measured by ELISA. These results support the notion that LH contributes to elevated Aβ levels at least in part by increasing β-cleavage of APP by β-site APP cleaving enzyme.     

A comparison investigation of DNP-binding effects to HSA and HTF by spectroscopic and molecular modeling techniques

This paper describes the interaction between 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) with the two drug carrier proteins – human serum albumin (HSA) and human holo transferrin (HTF). Hence, binding characteristics of DNP to HSA and HTF were analyzed by spectroscopic and molecular modeling techniques. Based on results obtained from fluorescence spectroscopy, DNP had a strong ability to quench the intrinsic fluorescence of HSA and HTF through a static quenching procedure. The binding constant and the number of binding sites were calculated as 2.3?×?10¹¹?M^?1 and .98 for HSA, and 1.7?×?10¹¹?M^?1 and 1.06 for HTF, respectively. In addition, synchronous fluorescence results showed that the microenvironment of Trp had a slight tendency of increasing its hydrophobicity, whereas the microenvironment of the Tyr residues of HSA did not change and that of HTF showed a significant trend (red shift of about 4?nm) of an increase in polarity. The distance between donor and acceptor was obtained by the Förster energy according to fluorescence resonance energy transfer, and was found to be 3.99 and 3.72?nm for HSA and HTF, respectively. The critical induced aggregation concentration (C_CIAC) of the drug on both proteins was determined and confirmed by an inflection point of the zeta potential behavior. Circular dichroism data revealed that the presence of DNP caused a decrease of the α-helical content of HSA and HTF, and induced a remarkable mild denaturation of both proteins. The molecular modeling data confirmed our experimental results. This study is deemed useful for determining drug dosage.     

A comparison study of the interaction between β-lactoglobulin and retinol at two different conditions: spectroscopic and molecular modeling approaches

The interaction between bovin β-Lactoglobulin (β-LG) and retinol at two different pH values was investigated by multispectroscopic, zeta potential, molecular modeling, and conductometry measurements. The steady state and polarization fluorescence spectroscopy revealed that complex formation at two different pH values could occur through a remarkable static quenching. According to fluorescence quenching, one set of binding site at pH 2 and two sets of binding sites at pH 7 were introduced for binding of retinol to β-LG that show the enhancement of saturation score of β-LG to retinol in dimmer condition. The polarization fluorescence analysis represented that there is more affinity between β-LG and retinol at pH 7 rather than at pH 2. The effect of retinol on β-LG was studied by UV-visible, circular dichroism (CD), and synchronous fluorescence, which indicated that retinol induced more structural changes on β-LG at pH 7. β-LG–retinol complex formation at two different pH values was recorded via applying resonance light scattering (RLS) and zeta potential. Conductometry and RLS showed two different behaviors of interaction between β-LG and retinol at two different pH values; therefore, dimmer formation played important roles in different behaviors of interaction between β-LG and retinol. The zeta potential was the implied combination of electrostatic and hydrophobic forces which are involved in β-LG–retinol complex at two different pH values, and the hydrophobic interactions play a dominant role in complex formation. Molecular modeling was approved by all experimental results. The acquired results suggested that monomer and dimmer states of β-LG can be induced by retinol with different behaviors.     

The novel allele (3R) of the VNTR polymorphism in the XRCC5 promoter region dramatically decreases the gene expression

Polymorphism of variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) in the promoter region of X-ray repair cross-complementing 5 (MIM: 194364, XRCC5; rs6147172) was reported. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the influence of this polymorphism on XRCC5 mRNA levels. Genotypes of XRCC5 VNTR were determined by high resolution of melting analysis (HRMA). The quantitative XRCC5 mRNA expression (compared to ß-actin expression) among 0R/1R, 1R/2R, and 1R/3R genotypes was investigated. There was a negative correlation between the overall number of tandem repeats and XRCC5 expression (r = ?0.965, df = 7, P < 0.001). The mRNA level of XRCC5 decreased as function of number of tandem repeats. The 3R allele of the VNTR polymorphism in the XRCC5 promoter region dramatically decreases the gene expression.