The inhibition of gastric mucosal lesion, oxidative stress and neutrophil-infiltration in rats by the lichen constituent diffractaic acid.

The antiulcerogenic effect of diffractaic acid (DA) isolated from Usnea longissima, a lichen species, on indomethacin (IND)-induced gastric lesions was investigated in rats. Administration of 25, 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg doses of DA and ranitidine (RAN) (50 mg/kg dose) reduced the gastric lesions by 43.5%, 52.9%, 91.4%, 96.7% and 72.7%, respectively. It is known that oxidative stress leads to tissue injury in organisms. Thus, in all treated groups of rats, the in vivo activities of the antioxidant enzymes, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and the levels of reduced glutathione (GSH) and lipid peroxidation (LPO) were evaluated. IND caused oxidative stress, which resulted in LPO in tissues, by decreasing the levels of GPx, SOD and GSH as compared to healthy rats. In contrast to IND, the administration of DA and RAN showed a significant decrease in LPO level and an increase in tissue SOD, GPx and GSH levels. However, while CAT activity was significantly increased by the administration of IND, the administration of DA and RAN decreased CAT activity. The administration of IND also increased the myeloperoxidase (MPx) activity, which shows neutrophil infiltration into the gastric mucosal tissues. In contrast to IND, the administration of DA and RAN decreased MPx activity. The changes in activities of gastric mucosal nitric oxide synthases (NOS) throughout the development of gastric mucosal damage induced by IND were also studied. A decrease in constitutive NOS (cNOS) activity and an increase in inducible NOS (iNOS) activity were determined in gastric damaged tissues induced by IND. The administration of DA (100 mg/kg dose) and RAN reversed the activities of iNOS and cNOS. These results suggest that the gastroprotective effect of DA can be attributed to its enhancing effects on antioxidant defense systems as well as reducing effects of neutrophil infiltration.     

Mutualism Disruption Threatens Global Plant Biodiversity: A Systematic Review

Background

As global environmental change accelerates, biodiversity losses can disrupt interspecific interactions. Extinctions of mutualist partners can create “widow” species, which may face reduced ecological fitness. Hypothetically, such mutualism disruptions could have cascading effects on biodiversity by causing additional species coextinctions. However, the scope of this problem – the magnitude of biodiversity that may lose mutualist partners and the consequences of these losses – remains unknown.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We conducted a systematic review and synthesis of data from a broad range of sources to estimate the threat posed by vertebrate extinctions to the global biodiversity of vertebrate-dispersed and -pollinated plants. Though enormous research gaps persist, our analysis identified Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and global oceanic islands as geographic regions at particular risk of disruption of these mutualisms; within these regions, percentages of plant species likely affected range from 2.1–4.5%. Widowed plants are likely to experience reproductive declines of 40–58%, potentially threatening their persistence in the context of other global change stresses.

Conclusions

Our systematic approach demonstrates that thousands of species may be impacted by disruption in one class of mutualisms, but extinctions will likely disrupt other mutualisms, as well. Although uncertainty is high, there is evidence that mutualism disruption directly threatens significant biodiversity in some geographic regions. Conservation measures with explicit focus on mutualistic functions could be necessary to bolster populations of widowed species and maintain ecosystem functions.     

Free radical scavenging activity,total phenolic content,total antioxidant status,and total oxidant status of endemic Thermopsis turcica

Thermopsis turcica, endemic to Turkey, is in danger of extinction. Studies on this species are very few due to the fact that it was only discovered in 1983 and grows in a small circumscribed area in Turkey. In this study, free radical scavenging activity, total phenolic content, total oxidant status (TOS), and total antioxidant status (TAS) of methanol (TTM) and acetone (TTA) extracts of T. turcica were measured spectroscopically. Free radical scavenging activity was determined according to the elimination of DPPH radicals and total phenol content was determined by the Folin–Ciocalteu reaction. Total oxidant status (TOS) and total antioxidant status (TAS) were measured with commercially available kits. Methanol and acetone extracts of T. turcica were found to have a specific radical scavenging effect. This effect was found to be related to the total phenolic content of the extracts. Since the TTA had a higher phenolic content than the methanol extract, it had a stronger radical scavenging effect. In addition, the total antioxidant capacity of the methanol extract was observed to be higher than that of its acetone counterpart. As a result, due to its antioxidative properties, T. turcica is thought to be a natural source of antioxidants.     

Increase in nonnative understorey vegetation cover after nonnative conifer removal and passive restoration

Nonnative conifers are widespread in the southern hemisphere, where their use as plantation species has led to adverse ecosystem impacts sometimes intensified by invasion. Mechanical removal is a common strategy used to reduce or eliminate the negative impacts of nonnative conifers, and encourage native regeneration. However, a variety of factors may preclude active ecological restoration following removal. As a result, passive restoration – unassisted natural vegetation regeneration – is common following conifer removal. We asked, ‘what is the response of understorey cover to removal of nonnative conifer stands followed by passive restoration?' We sampled understorey cover in three site types: two‐ to ten‐year‐old clearcuts, native forest and current plantations. We then grouped understorey species by origin (native/nonnative) and growth form, and compared proportion and per cent cover of these groups as well as of bare ground and litter between the three site types. For clearcuts, we also analysed the effect of time since clearcut on the studied variables. We found that clearcuts had a significantly higher average proportion of nonnative understorey vegetation cover than native forest sites, where nonnative vegetation was nearly absent. The understorey of clearcut sites also averaged more overall vegetation cover and more nonnative vegetation cover (in particular nonnative shrubs and herbaceous species) than either plantation or native forest sites. Notably, 99% of nonnative shrub cover in clearcuts was the invasive nonnative species Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius). After ten years of passive recovery since clearcutting, the proportion of understorey vegetation cover that is native has not increased and remains far below the proportion observed in native forest sites. Reduced natural regeneration capacity of the native ecosystem, presence of invasive species in the surrounding landscape and land‐use legacies from plantation forestry may inhibit native vegetation recovery and benefit opportunistic invasives, limiting the effectiveness of passive restoration in this context. Abstract in Spanish is available with online material.     

Identification,Quantification, and System Analysis of Protein N‐ε Lysine Methylation in Anucleate Blood Platelets

Protein posttranslational modifications critically regulate a range of physiological and disease processes. In addition to tyrosine, serine, and threonine phosphorylation, reversible N‐ε acylation and alkylation of protein lysine residues also modulate diverse aspects of cellular function. Studies of lysine acyl and alkyl modifications have focused on nuclear proteins in epigenetic regulation; however, lysine modifications are also prevalent on cytosolic proteins to serve increasingly apparent, although less understood roles in cell regulation. Here, the methyl‐lysine (meK) proteome of anucleate blood platelets is characterized. With high‐resolution, multiplex MS methods, 190 mono‐, di‐, and tri‐meK modifications are identified on 150 different platelet proteins—including 28 meK modifications quantified by tandem mass tag (TMT) labeling. In addition to identifying meK modifications on calmodulin (CaM), GRP78 (HSPA5, BiP), and EF1A1 that have been previously characterized in other cell types, more novel modifications are also uncovered on cofilin, drebin‐like protein (DBNL, Hip‐55), DOCK8, TRIM25, and numerous other cytoplasmic proteins. Together, the results and analyses support roles for lysine methylation in mediating cytoskeletal, translational, secretory, and other cellular processes. MS data for this study have been deposited into the ProteomeXchange Consortium via the PRIDE partner repository with the dataset identifier PXD012217.     

Microwave-Accelerated and Metal-Enhanced Fluorescence Myoglobin Detection on Silvered Surfaces: Potential Application to Myocardial Infarction Diagnosis

In this short paper, we describe a novel approach to both significantly accelerate and optically amplify fluorescence-based immunoassays. Our approach utilizes metal-enhanced fluorescence (MEF) to intrinsically optically amplify fluorescence signatures, which, when combined with the use of low-power microwaves to kinetically accelerate assays, provides for both ultrafast and ultrabright immunoassays. Surprisingly, the use of low-power microwaves and silver nanostructures provides for localized heating, concentrating the effect to the particles themselves as compared to the generic heating of the high dielectric assay fluid. We have subsequently applied our microwave-accelerated MEF approach to the detection of myoglobin, where its rapid quantification is paramount for the clinical assessment of an acute myocardial infarction.     

Investigation of the Effects of Some Drugs and Phenolic Compounds on Human Dihydrofolate Reductase Activity

Dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) plays a fundamental role in cellular metabolism and cell growth. Inhibition of this enzyme will cause a decrease in the amount of folate that occurs in many metabolic processes, and the deficiency of which may cause various diseases. This study investigated the effects of some drugs and phenolic compounds on DHFR activity in vitro. To determine the inhibitory effect of compounds, enzyme activity was measured with a final concentration of an inhibitor ranging from 10 μM to 51 mM. DHFR was inhibited effectively by naringin, ferulic acid, and levofloxacin with IC₅₀ values under 660 μM. Syringic acid, cefepime, ceftizoxime, cefazolin, ceftriaxone, and ceftazidime exhibited inhibitory effects on the enzyme activity with IC₅₀ values in the range of 3.840–30.224 mM. K_i constants were calculated using the Cheng–Prusoff equation. K_i constants calculated in the range of 0.009–2.024 mM with respect to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase (NADPH) and in the range of 0.060–5.830 mM about FH₂.     

Gastroprotective and Antioxidant Effects of Lobaria pulmonaria and Its Metabolite Rhizonyl Alcohol on Indomethacin‐Induced Gastric Ulcer

Two lichen metabolites, rhizonaldehyde ( 1 ) and rhizonyl alcohol ( 2 ), were isolated from the acetone extract of Lobaria pulmonaria by chromatographic methods, and their chemical structures were determined by UV/VIS, IR, and 1D‐ and 2D‐NMR spectroscopic methods. The gastroprotective and in vivo antioxidant activities of extracts of L. pulmonaria and its metabolites, 1 and 2 , were investigated in indomethacin‐induced ulcer models in rats. The gastric lesions were significantly reduced by acetone, hexane, and CHCl₃ extracts, with 75.3–41.5% inhibition. Rhizonyl alcohol ( 2 ) significantly reduced the gastric lesions with an inhibition rate of 84.6–42.8%, whereas rhizonaldehyde ( 1 ) significantly increased the gastric lesions. Antioxidant parameters and myeloperoxidase activities were also evaluated in the gastric tissues of the rats. Indomethacin caused oxidative stress, which resulted in lipid peroxidation in gastric tissues by decreasing the levels of the antioxidants as compared to healthy rat tissues. In contrast to indomethacin, all extracts and rhizonyl alcohol ( 2 ) caused a significant decrease in lipid peroxidation levels and an increase in antioxidant parameters, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione‐S‐transferase, and reduced glutathione in gastric tissues. The administration of rhizonyl alcohol ( 2 ) also resulted in a decrease in gastric myeloperoxidase activity increased by indomethacin. The gastroprotective effect of rhizonyl alcohol ( 2 ) can be attributed to its antioxidant properties and its suppressing effect on neutrophil infiltration into gastric tissues.