Identification of miRNA signatures and their therapeutic potentials in prostate cancer

Molecular Biology Reports - Herein, we identified miRNA signatures that were able to differentiate malignant prostate cancer from benign prostate hyperplasia and revealed the therapeutic potential...     

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.     

The stereochemistry of the Grignard reaction of steroidal 4,5-epoxy-3-ketones

The stereochemistry of the addition of methylmagnesium bromide to a steroidal 4,5-epoxy-3-ketone has been shown to be determined by the stereochemistry of the epoxide. The epoxidation to the corresponding 3-alkyl-3-hydroxy-4-enes by per-acid was determined by the stereochemistry of the allylic alcohol.     

Insecticidal Metabolites from the Rhizomes of Veratrum album against Adults of Colorado Potato Beetle,Leptinotarsa decemlineata

The dried rhizomes of Veratrum album were individually extracted with CHCl₃, acetone, and NH₄OH/benzene to test the toxic effects against the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata, which is an important agricultural pest. Fifteen compounds in various amounts were isolated from the extracts using column and thin‐layer chromatography. The chemical structures of 14 compounds were characterized as octacosan‐1‐ol ( 1 ), β‐sitosterol ( 2 ), stearic acid ( 3 ), diosgenin ( 4 ), resveratrol ( 5 ), wittifuran X ( 6 ), oxyresveratrol ( 7 ), β‐sitosterol 3‐O‐β‐D ‐glucopyranoside ( 8 ), diosgenin 3‐O‐α‐L ‐rhamnopyranosyl‐(1→2)‐β‐D ‐glucopyronoside ( 9 ), oxyresveratrol 3‐O‐β‐D ‐glucopyranoside ( 10 ), jervine ( 11 ), pseudojervine ( 13 ), 5,6‐dihydro‐1‐hydroxyjervine ( 14 ), and saccharose ( 15 ) using UV, IR, MS, ¹H‐ and ¹³C‐NMR, and 2D‐NMR spectroscopic methods. However, the chemical structure of 12 , an oligosaccharide, has not fully been elucidated. Compounds 4, 6, 9 , and 10 were isolated from V. album rhizomes for the first time in the current study. The toxic effects of three extracts (acetone, CHCl₃, and NH₄OH/benzene) and six metabolites, 2, 2 + 4, 5, 7, 8 , and 11 , were evaluated against the Colorado potato beetle. The assay revealed that all three extracts, and compounds 7, 8 , and 11 exhibited potent toxic effects against this pest. This is the first report on the evaluation of the toxic effects of the extracts and secondary metabolites of V. album rhizomes against L. decemlineata. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the extracts can be used as natural insecticides.     

Effects of xylene and formaldehyde inhalations on oxidative stress in adult and developing rats livers.

In this study, it was aimed to demonstrate the possible oxidative stress caused by exposure of xylene and formaldehyde (HCHO) on liver tissue, and on body and liver weights in adult as well as developing rats. The rats (96 female Sprague-Dawley) were randomly divided into four groups: embryonic day 1 (Group 1), 1-day-old infantile rats (Group 2), 4-week-old rats (Group 3) and adult rats (Group 4). The animals were exposed to gases of technical xylene (300 ppm), HCHO (6 ppm) or technical xylene + HCHO (150 ppm + 3 ppm), 8 hours per day for 6 weeks. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities, and glutathione (GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were evaluated. In addition, body and liver weights were determinated. Compared to the control animals, body and liver weights were decreased in the embryonic day 1 group (P < 0.001, P < 0.01, respectively) and the 1-day-old infantile group (P < 0.001). Liver weight was increased in the 4-week-old group (P < 0.01). SOD activities were decreased in the 4-week-old rats exposed to HCHO (P < 0.01). CAT activities increased in the embryonic day 1 group (P < 0.05). GSH levels were decreased in the 1-day-old infantile group (P < 0.01), and MDA levels was increased in the embryonic day 1 group (P < 0.05) as compared with the respective control groups. As to GSH and MDA levels in adult and 4-week-old animals, no statistically significant differences were observed (P > 0.05). The present study indicates that exposures to xylene, HCHO and a mixture of them are toxic to liver tissue, and developing female rats are especially more adversely affected. Furthermore, the results of this study show that adult female rats could better tolerate the adverse effects of these toxic gases.     

Protective effects of leptin on ischemia/reperfusion injury in rat bladder

The aim of the study was to evaluate protective effects of exogenous leptin on ischemia/reperfusion (I/R)-induced injuries to the urinary bladder tissue and to investigate the effect on tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) levels and apoptotic cells during I/R injury. Bladder I/R injury was induced by abdominal aorta occlusion by ischemia for 45 min, followed by 60 min of reperfusion in rats. The rats were divided into three groups: control (n = 8 + 8), I/R (n = 8 + 8) and I/R+leptin group (n = 8 + 8). The rats in the I/R+leptin group were treated intraperitoneally with leptin (10 microg/kg) 60 min prior to ischemia induction. At the end of the reperfusion period, urinary bladders of the first eight rats from each group were removed for TUNEL staining processing while the others were removed for biochemical analyses for MDA and TNF-alpha levels. In the I/R group, the ratios of TUNEL-positive nuclei were higher than the control and the I/R+leptin groups. The MDA and TNF-alpha levels of the bladder tissue in the I/R group were higher than the control and leptin-treated groups. TUNEL-staining and biochemical studies revealed that leptin has a protective effect on urinary bladder I/R injury.     

Plasma tumor necrosis factor-alpha levels and insulin resistance in nondiabetic hypertensive subjects

OBJECTIVES: Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is associated with insulin resistance in certain conditions. However, whether TNF-alpha is related to insulin resistance in hypertensive subjects is still controversial. The aim of this study was to determine the status of TNF-alpha and insulin resistance in hypertension. METHODS: Newly diagnosed nondiabetic 17 essentially hypertensive (6 men, 11 women) patients, and 11 control healthy subjects (5 men, 6 women) are involved in the study. Body mass index (BMI), insulin, fasting blood glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride, and TNF-alpha levels were measured. Insulin resistance is assessed according to homeostasis model of assessment (HOMA-IR). RESULTS: Serum insulin (8.4 +/- 2.7 vs. 6.1 +/- 1.4 mIU/ml; p < 0.01), triglyceride (245.0 +/- 39.9 vs. 193.0 +/- 22.8 mg/dl; p < 0.01), and TNF-alpha (4.2 +/- 0.7 vs. 3.0 +/- 0.6 pg/ml; p < 0.001) levels, and HOMA-IR (2.0 +/- 0.8 vs. 1.3 +/- 0.3; p < 0.001) were significantly higher in the hypertensive patients compared to the normotensive control group. There were positive correlations between TNF-alpha levels and body mass index (r = 0.64, p < 0.01), and triglyceride (r = 0.55 p = 0.02) levels in the whole study group. However, there was no correlation of either TNF-alpha or HOMA-IR. CONCLUSIONS: Our data revealed that hypertensive patients have insulin resistance and higher TNF-alpha levels, but there is no relation between TNF-alpha levels and insulin resistance.