Activity of Cassia auriculata leaf extract in rats with alcoholic liver injury

This study was undertaken to investigate the effect of Cassia auriculata leaf extract on tissue lipid peroxidation and antioxidant status in experimental hepatotoxicity. Administering ethanol to rats for 60 days resulted in significantly elevated levels of serum total bilirubin, aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) as compared with those of the experimental control rats. Significantly elevated levels of tissue thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), hydroperoxides and lowered activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and reduced glutathione (GSH) were also observed on alcohol treatment as compared with those of experimental control rats. Concentration of serum non-enzymic antioxidants such as vitamin E and vitamin C were also significantly lowered on alcohol supplementation. Treatment with Cassia auriculata leaf extract at a dose of 250 mg kg(-1) body weight and 500 mg kg(-1) body weight to rats administered alcohol, lowered the levels of TBARS and hydroperoxides and elevated the activities of SOD and CAT and the levels of reduced GSH in the liver, brain, kidney and intestine significantly compared to unsupplemented alcohol treated rats. Cassia auriculata leaf extract treatment restored the serum vitamin E, and vitamin C levels also to near those of the experimental control animals. Our data indicate that supplementation with Cassia auriculata leaf extract can offer protection against free radical mediated oxidative stress in experimental hepatotoxicity. In addition, histopathological studies of the liver and brain confirmed the beneficial role of Cassia auriculata leaf extract.     

Essentiality Assessment of Cysteinyl and Lysyl-tRNA Synthetases of Mycobacterium smegmatis

Discovery of mupirocin, an antibiotic that targets isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase, established aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase as an attractive target for the discovery of novel antibacterial agents. Despite a high degree of similarity between the bacterial and human aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, the selectivity observed with mupirocin triggered the possibility of targeting other aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases as potential drug targets. These enzymes catalyse the condensation of a specific amino acid to its cognate tRNA in an energy-dependent reaction. Therefore, each organism is expected to encode at least twenty aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, one for each amino acid. However, a bioinformatics search for genes encoding aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases from Mycobacterium smegmatis returned multiple genes for glutamyl (GluRS), cysteinyl (CysRS), prolyl (ProRS) and lysyl (LysRS) tRNA synthetases. The pathogenic mycobacteria, namely, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium leprae, were also found to possess two genes each for CysRS and LysRS. A similar search indicated the presence of additional genes for LysRS in gram negative bacteria as well. Herein, we describe sequence and structural analysis of the additional aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase genes found in M. smegmatis. Characterization of conditional expression strains of Cysteinyl and Lysyl-tRNA synthetases generated in M. smegmatis revealed that the canonical aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase are essential, while the additional ones are not essential for the growth of M. smegmatis.     

Capping of actin filaments by vinculin activated by the Shigella IpaA carboxyl-terminal domain

Shigella, the causative agent of bacillary dysentery, invades epithelial cells. Upon bacterial-cell contact, the type III bacterial effector IpaA binds to the cytoskeletal protein vinculin to promote actin reorganization required for efficient bacterial uptake. We show that the last 74 C-terminal residues of IpaA (A559) bind to human vinculin (HV) and promotes its association with actin filaments. Polymerisation experiments demonstrated that A559 was sufficient to induce HV-dependent partial capping of the barbed ends of actin filaments. These results suggest that IpaA regulates actin polymerisation/depolymerisation at sites of Shigella invasion by modulating the barbed end capping activity of vinculin.     

An intervarietal genetic linkage map of Indian bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and QTL maps for some metric traits

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) exhibits very narrow genetic diversity and hence there is high relatedness among cultivated varieties. However, a population generated from an intervarietal cross, with the parents differing in a large number of traits, could lead to the generation of QTL maps which will be useful in practice. In this report a genetic linkage map of wheat is constructed using a cross between two Indian bread wheat varieties: Sonalika and Kalyansona. The linkage map consisted of 236 markers and spanned a distance of 3639 cM, with 1211.2 cM for the A genome, 1669.2 cM for the B genome, 192.4 cM for the D genome and 566.2 cM for unassigned groups. Linkage analysis defined 37 linkage groups of which 24 were assigned to 17 chromosomes. The genetic map was used to identify QTLs by composite internal mapping (CIM) for three metric traits, viz. culm length (CL), flag leaf length (FLL) and flag leaf breadth (FLB). Of 25 QTLs identified in this study, 15 have not been reported previously. Multitrait CIM (MCIM) analysis was carried out for traits that were significantly correlated such as FLB-FLL and CL-FLB-FLL. Detection of a large number of QTLs for the three traits analysed suggests that in parent cultivars that are not too diverse, the differences at genetic level detected as polymorphisms may be mostly associated with QTLs for the observed differences.     

Fine needle aspiration cytology of low grade endometrial stromal sarcoma: a case report

BACKGROUND: Endometrial stromal sarcoma (ESS) is a rare neoplasm and is composed of E cells closely resembling normal proliferative endometrial stromal cells. Because of its rarity, the preoperative diagnosis is difficult for clinicians. These tumors are rarely subjected to fine needle aspiration (FNA), and the cytologic diagnosis is also difficult, as the differential diagnosis is leiomyosarcoma/cellular leiomyoma. CASE: A 23-year-old woman presented with a history of prolonged vaginal bleeding. The diagnosis on FNA was given as sarcoma with the possibility of low grade ESS or leiomyosarcoma. On histopathologic examination, the diagnosis was confirmed to be low grade ESS. CONCLUSION: Aspirates of low grade ESS are extremely cellular, with cohesive tissue fragments of monotonous, small, oval cells with bland chromatin tightly women in a metachromatic, extracellular matrix. The differential diagnosis should include a cellular leiomyoma and leiomyosarcoma.     

Combined therapeutic efficacy of carvacrol and X-radiation against 1,2-dimethyl hydrazine-induced experimental rat colon carcinogenesis

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry - Colon cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers, and is a major cause of cancer morbidity and mortality worldwide. The objective of the present...     

Nifedipine impairs neutrophil respiratory burst by a mechanism other than calcium channel blockade

Summary Superoxide production by mice neutrophils was inhibited by nifedipine exposure in a dose dependent manner. The inhibition of Ca²⁺ uptake elicited by nifedipine did not appear to account for the observed effect as the extracellular Ca²⁺ enrichment and depletion did not produce a significant reversal of the inhibition. Cytosolic free Ca²⁺ as measured by Quin 2AM fluorescence did not show any significant change, indicating that the effect was independent of the inhibition of Ca²⁺ influx. In addition nifedipine caused a significant inhibition (p < 0.01) in NADPH oxidase activity. Our data indicates that nifedipine inhibits superoxide production independent of inhibiting Ca²⁺ inflow and supports the hypothesis that Ca²⁺ antagonists affect cellular functions by non Ca²⁺ mediated process as well.