Protective effect of vanillic acid against benzo(a)pyrene induced lung cancer in Swiss albino mice

Vanillic acid (VA) is found in high concentrations in various plants and used as traditional medicine for various diseases. The aim of the existing study is to illustrate the protective effects of VA against benzo(a)pyrene (B(a)P)‐induced lung cancer in Swiss albino mice. B(a)P (50 mg/kg b.wt.) was given orally to induce lung cancer in mice. The body weight, tumor incidence, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), neuron‐specific enolase (NSE), and enzymatic/nonenzymatic antioxidants (superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione reductase, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione) were estimated. Further histochemical investigation through hematoxylin and eosin staining was also carried out. B(a)P administered groups showed increased levels of serum pathological markers CEA, NSE along with reduced final body weight as well as decreased tissue enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidants activities, whereas VA treatment (200mg/kg/b.wt) along with B(a)P showed significantly reverted the above changes, which proves as prominent anticancer effects in experimentally induced lung cancer. Overall, these results suggest that VA has an efficient preventive action against B(a)P‐induced lung cancer, and this is attributed to its free‐radical scavenging antioxidant activities.     

Laboratory studies on the life cycle of Leydigia acanthocercoides Fisher (1854) (Cladocera: Chydoridae)

The biology of Leydigia acanthocercoides has been studied under laboratory conditions with reference to longevity, instar duration, growth, fecundity and embryonic development at a temperature range of 28–30 °C. It has three preadult and thirteen adult instars. Under the given laboratory conditions this species produces 20 eggs during a life span of 23 days. The number of eggs produced is uniformly constant in all adult instars. The growth rate seems to be exponential in the early phase of the life cycle as in other Cladocera. The general pattern of embryonic development of L. acanthocercoides is similar to those of other tropical cladocerans though differences in the duration of total developmental period have been recorded.Part of Ph.D. thesis.     

Prediction of MHC class II binding peptides based on an iterative learning model

Background

Prediction of the binding ability of antigen peptides to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules is important in vaccine development. The variable length of each binding peptide complicates this prediction. Motivated by a text mining model designed for building a classifier from labeled and unlabeled examples, we have developed an iterative supervised learning model for the prediction of MHC class II binding peptides.

Results

A linear programming (LP) model was employed for the learning task at each iteration, since it is fast and can re-optimize the previous classifier when the training sets are altered. The performance of the new model has been evaluated with benchmark datasets. The outcome demonstrates that the model achieves an accuracy of prediction that is competitive compared to the advanced predictors (the Gibbs sampler and TEPITOPE). The average areas under the ROC curve obtained from one variant of our model are 0.753 and 0.715 for the original and homology reduced benchmark sets, respectively. The corresponding values are respectively 0.744 and 0.673 for the Gibbs sampler and 0.702 and 0.667 for TEPITOPE.

Conclusion

The iterative learning procedure appears to be effective in prediction of MHC class II binders. It offers an alternative approach to this important predictionproblem.     

Regulation of the excitatory amino acid transporter EAAT5 by the serum and glucocorticoid dependent kinases SGK1 and SGK3

In the mammalian retina, glutamate re-uptake is mediated by the sodium dependent cotransport systems EAAT1-5 thus terminating neuronal excitation and preventing neuroexcitotoxicity. In retinal amacrine and ganglion cells, EAAT5 is colocalized with the serum and glucocorticoid inducible kinase SGK1, a serine/threonine kinase known to regulate transport. The study explored the possible regulation of EAAT5 by SGK1, its isoform SGK3, and the closely related protein kinase B. EAAT5 was coexpressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes with or without the respective kinases. Transport activity was quantified by electrophysiology and cell surface expression was determined by chemiluminescence. Both EAAT5 mediated currents and EAAT5 protein abundance at the cell surface were increased by a factor of 1.5-2 upon coexpression of SGK1 or SGK3 but not following coexpression of PKB. In conclusion, the kinases SGK1 and SGK3 increase EAAT5 activity by increasing cell surface abundance of the carrier.     

Human umbilical cord tissue stem cells and neuronal lineages in an injectable caffeic acid–bioconjugated gelatin hydrogel for transplantation

Present-day scaffolds are useful in cell therapy to a reasonable extent, but in pursuit of improvising the scaffold to improve the outcome, we tested a new injectable caffeic acid–bioconjugated gelatin hydrogel scaffold (CBGH; with tunable stiffness −10%). Two-dimensional (2D) form of human umbilical cord tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (HUCMSCs) culture performed based on our previously reported methods and characterized by using multipotent and pluripotent analysis. In addition, neurogenesis was induced in the presence of retinoic acid or neural growth factor or epidermal growth factor categorized by neuronal markers. The viability, proliferation rate, and vascular endothelial growth factor expression of HUCMSCs increased significantly in the CBGH scaffold. In addition, there was an increase in CD90 and TRA-1-81 phenotypic expressions and SOX-2, MAP-2, TAU, NeuN, and NF, which confirmed the neurogenesis of encapsulated HUCMSCs. Topographical elucidation by scanning electron microscopy data showed that the HUCMSCs proliferated and migrated inside the construct. Hematoxylin and eosin staining demonstrated a more viable structural pattern and cresyl violet staining showed the Nissl synthesis, confirming the presence of functional neurons in the encapsulated form. The molecular-level analysis further substantiated that HUCMSCs cultured in CBGH expressed significantly greater upregulation of stemness, neuronal genes, and protein expression compared with the adherent culture. Correspondingly, this is the first time that we have measured the fluorescence intensity variation of the HUCMSCs-stained cell segmentation process using customized MATLAB code execution to reduce the background noise and autofluorescence. We conclude that this novel CBGH scaffold increases the viability, proliferation, stemness, and also neuronal transdifferentiation of HUCMSCs in a three-dimensional culture than the 2D plastic adherent culture.     

The biology of simocephalus acutirostratus king (Cladocera: Daphnidae)-hatchability of the parthenogenetic egg cultured in artificial media

The development of the parthenogenetic egg of the daphnid, Simocephalus acutirostratus was studied in different artificial media. The hatchability is found to be 100% in 0.001 M to 0.01 M of sodium chloride. 100% hatchability is noticed in concentrations ranging from 0.001 M to 0.05 M of calcium chloride. Apart from minor fluctuations, a high percentage of hatchability is recorded when isotonic solutions of sodium and calcium chloride are mixed. The hatchability of the different stages of the embryo is studied in an artificial medium which contains various proportions of sodium chloride, potassium chloride and calcium chloride. The results are discussed and compared with those from an allied temperate form, Simocephalus vetulus (O. F. Muller).