Status of the reproductive system of bony fish from the Teterev River and the Kiev Reservoir 20 years after the Chernobyl accident

The status of the reproductive system is investigated in five species of Teleostei from the Teterev River and the Kiev Reservoir (Ukraine), descendants of F₄2–F₇ generations of fish exposed to radiation from the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Twenty years after the accident, a wide range of morphofuinctional anomalies of this system is present in fish. The most significant of them are: asymmetry and anomalous morphology of gonads, proliferation of connective tissue—sterilization, mass destruction of follicular and sex cells of various developmental stages, and hermaphroditism. Among the investigated species, disturbances of reproductive glands were preset to the highest extent in pike Esox lucius and crucian carp Carassius carassius. In the series of investigated generations the maximum frequency of occurrence of gonad anomalies was noted in F₄ and F₅, due to prolonged mutagenesis (Dubinin, 1986).     

Some Data on Reproductive Biology of Spotted Ghoul Inimicus sinensis (Synanceiidae)

Journal of Ichthyology - Gonadal structure, cytological condition of oocytes, ultrastructure of egg envelope, and spermatozoa morphology are studied in the individuals of Inimicus sinensis...     

Thymoquinone attenuates doxorubicin‐cardiotoxicity in rats

Contrary to the fact that doxorubicin is a powerful chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of neoplastic diseases, cardiotoxicity is too important to be ignored. Thymoquinone serves as a powerful free radical scavenger. In the study, the effects of thymoquinone against doxorubicin‐cardiotoxicity will be evaluated. Forty rats were divided into five groups. Group I: control group (n = 8); group II: olive oil group (n = 8); group III: thymoquinone group (n = 8); given 10 mg/kg thymoquinone intraperitoneally per day throughout the experiment; group IV: doxorubicin group (n = 8); injected with a single dose of 15 mg/kg ip doxorubicin on the 7th day of the experiment; group V: doxorubicin + thymoquinone group (n = 8); administered with 10 mg/kg thymoquinone per day during the experiment and 15 mg/kg doxorubicin ip on the 7th day. The experiment was planned for 14 days. Immunohistochemically, heat shock protein (HSP) 70 and HSP90, glucose‐regulated protein 78 (GRP78), caspase‐3 were stained. We made terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling for apoptotic evaluation. Total oxidant status (TOS) levels and total antioxidant status (TAS) were measured in the heart tissue. Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and pro‐B type natriuretic peptide (proBNP) were evaluated. In the study, HSP70, HSP90, GRP78, and caspase‐3 levels increased in group IV. TOS and TAS levels were significant compared to group I. Doxorubicin significantly increased ANP and NT‐proBNP levels. Thymoquinone revealed significant differences in these values. Thymoquinone can be an important cardioprotective agent against doxorubicin‐cardiotoxicity.     

New insights into antioxidant strategies against paraquat toxicity

Free radicals are implicated in many diseases including atherosclerosis, cancer and also in rheumatoid arthritis. Reaction of uric acid with free radicals, such as hydroxyl radical and hypochlorous acid (HOCl) results in allantoin production. In this study, we measured the serum allantoin levels, oxidation products of uric acid, as a marker of free radical generation in rheumatoid arthritis. Fasting blood samples were obtained from 21 rheumatoid patients and 15 healthy controls. In this study, the serum allantoin and uric acid levels were measured by a gas chromatography–mass spectrometry method and the ratios were calculated. The mean allantoin and uric acid levels and ratios in the patient group were 22.1±11.3, 280.5±65.0 and 8.0±3.7?μM, while in the control group they were 13.6±6.3, 278.3±53.6 and 4.9±2.1?μM, respectively. The effects of gender, age, menopausal status, duration of disease and medications on serum allantoin and uric acid levels of the patient and control groups were studied. Our results suggest that uric acid acts as a free radical scavenger and thus is converted to allantoin. Increased allantoin levels suggest the possible involvement of free radicals in rheumatoid arthritis.     

K+ Efflux and Retention in Response to NaCl Stress Do Not Predict Salt Tolerance in Contrasting Genotypes of Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Sudden elevations in external sodium chloride (NaCl) accelerate potassium (K⁺) efflux across the plasma membrane of plant root cells. It has been proposed that the extent of this acceleration can predict salt tolerance among contrasting cultivars. However, this proposal has not been considered in the context of plant nutritional history, nor has it been explored in rice (Oryza sativa L.), which stands among the world’s most important and salt-sensitive crop species. Using efflux analysis with ⁴²K, coupled with growth and tissue K⁺ analyses, we examined the short- and long-term effects of NaCl exposure to plant performance within a nutritional matrix that significantly altered tissue-K⁺ set points in three rice cultivars that differ in salt tolerance: IR29 (sensitive), IR72 (moderate), and Pokkali (tolerant). We show that total short-term K⁺ release from roots in response to NaCl stress is small (no more than 26% over 45 min) in rice. Despite strong varietal differences, the extent of efflux is shown to be a poor predictor of plant performance on long-term NaCl stress. In fact, no measure of K⁺ status was found to correlate with plant performance among cultivars either in the presence or absence of NaCl stress. By contrast, shoot Na⁺ accumulation showed the strongest correlation (a negative one) with biomass, under long-term salinity. Pharmacological evidence suggests that NaCl-induced K⁺ efflux is a result of membrane disintegrity, possibly as result of osmotic shock, and not due to ion-channel mediation. Taken together, we conclude that, in rice, K⁺ status (including efflux) is a poor predictor of salt tolerance and overall plant performance and, instead, shoot Na⁺ accumulation is the key factor in performance decline on NaCl stress.     

Association of nicotinamide-N-methyltransferase (NNMT) gene rs694539 variant with bipolar disorder

Here we report the association of the rs694539 variant of nicotinamide-N-methyltransferase gene with bipolar disorder in a case–control study of 95 bipolar disorder patients and 201 healthy controls (χ² = 13.382, P = 0.001). With the polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism method we developed we were able to show the association for the first time. This new finding may provide evidence to understand the mechanism of the disease.     

Age and growth of manybar goatfish Parupeneus multifasciatus (Mullidae) from the Nha Trang Bay of the South China Sea

The growth of individuals is analyzed in the mass tropical species manybar goatfish Parupeneus multifasciatus from the Nha Trang Bay of the South China Sea. The relationship between the body weight and body length is determined for the females and males. Among the fishes larger 180 mm fork length (FL), the males prevail. Linear growth of the sagitta is characterized by negative allometry in relation to body length, and sagitta growth in length is faster than in width. Age of fish assessed based on the analysis of daily increments on the sagitta does not exceed three years, and the majority of individuals reach the first sexual maturity by the age of one year. The growth rate of the fish is characterized by a large individual variation.     

Probing the roles of two tryptophans surrounding the unique zinc coordination site in lipase family I.5

A unique zinc domain found in all of the identified members of the lipase family I.5 is surrounded by two conserved tryptophans (W61 and W212). In this study, we investigated the role of these hydrophobic residues in thermostability and thermoactivity of the lipase from Bacillus thermocatenulatus (BTL2) taken as the representative of the family. Circular dichroism spectroscopy revealed that the secondary structure of BTL2 is conserved by the tryptophan mutations (W61A, W212A, and W61A/W212A), and that W61 is located in a more rigid and less solvent exposed region than is W212. Thermal denaturation and optimal activity analyses pointed out that zinc induces thermostability and thermoactivity of BTL2, in which both tryptophans W61 and W212 play contributing roles. Molecular explanations describing the roles of these tryptophans were pursued by X‐ray crystallography of the open form of the W61A mutant and molecular dynamics simulations which highlighted a critical function for W212 in zinc binding to the coordination site. This study reflects the potential use of hydrophobic amino acids in vicinity of metal coordination sites in lipase biocatalysts design. Proteins 2016; 84:129–142. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Effects of pH on structural and functional properties of porin from the outer membrane of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Yersinia pseudotuberculosis</Emphasis>. I. Functionally important conformational transitions of yersinin

The changes in the structural and functional properties of yersinin, a porin from the outer membrane of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, were studied in the pH range 8.0–2.0 using SDs-PAGE, scanning microcalorimetry, optical spectroscopy and bilayer lipid membrane technique. It was found that in the pH range under study the changes in the spatial structure of yersinin were biphasic. In the first steps of pH titration (pH 8.0–4.5), porin underwent a series of conformational transitions, which did not affect the trimeric structure of its molecule. In the second step (pH 4.0–2.0), structural rearrangements led to dissociation of the protein trimers into monomers. It is noteworthy that complete unfolding of the polypeptide chain of the protein was not observed even at low values of pH. Thus, at pH 2.0 the conformational intermediate of the protein retained up to 50% of its regular secondary structure. Studies of current fluctuations in the bilayer lipid membrane revealed that in weakly acidic media the conductivity of yersinin pores was decreased by one order of magnitude. The most drastic changes in the conductivity of the model membrane were observed at pH 5.8, whereas a further decrease of pH to 5.0 resulted in the closure of porin channels. It was concluded that the observed changes in the pore-forming properties of yersinin in a narrow range of pH represent an early step in the adaptation of bacteria to the changing conditions of the environment and entail control over the biosynthesis of nonspecific porins. The pH-dependent changes in the structure and pore-forming properties of yersinin provide additional evidence in favor of conformational and functional plasticity of porins.