Protective effect of quercetin on some hematological parameters in rats exposed to cadmium

ABSTRACT

We investigated the effects of quercetin (Q) on some hematological parameters and determined the percentage of alpha-naphthyl acetate esterase (ANAE) positive lymphocytes in rats that had been exposed to cadmium (Cd). Thirty male Wistar albino rats were divided into four groups: control (C), quercetin (Q), cadmium (Cd) and Q + Cd (CdQ). Blood samples were taken to assess erythrocytes (RBC), leukocytes (WBC), hemoglobin levels (Hb), hematocrit values (Hct), platelets (PLT), alpha-naphthyl acetate esterase (ANAE) positive lymphocytes. RBC, Hb, Hct; the number of PLT significantly decreased in the Cd group. To the contrary, these parameters were increased significantly in the CdQ group compared to the Cd group. Although we found a significant increase in total WBC count and neutrophil percentage, the number of lymphocytes decreased in the Cd group compared to the other three groups. Also, the percentage of peripheral blood ANAE positive lymphocytes decreased significantly in the Cd group (p < 0.05). Q exhibits positive effects on some hematological characteristics and the percentage of ANAE positive lymphocyte in cases of acute CD toxicity.     

SIRT2 ablation has no effect on tubulin acetylation in brain, cholesterol biosynthesis or the progression of Huntington's disease phenotypes in vivo

Huntington's disease (HD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder for which there are no disease-modifying treatments. The molecular pathogenesis of HD is complex and many mechanisms and cellular processes have been proposed as potential sites of therapeutic intervention. However, prior to embarking on drug development initiatives, it is essential that therapeutic targets can be validated in mammalian models of HD. Previous studies in invertebrate and cell culture HD models have suggested that inhibition of SIRT2 could have beneficial consequences on disease progression. SIRT2 is a NAD(+)-dependent deacetylase that has been proposed to deacetylate α-tubulin, histone H4 K16 and to regulate cholesterol biogenesis - a pathway which is dysregulated in HD patients and HD mouse models. We have utilized mice in which SIRT2 has been reduced or ablated to further explore the function of SIRT2 and to assess whether SIRT2 loss has a beneficial impact on disease progression in the R6/2 mouse model of HD. Surprisingly we found that reduction or loss of SIRT2 had no effect on the acetylation of α-tubulin or H4K16 or on cholesterol biosynthesis in the brains of wild type mice. Equally, genetic reduction or ablation of SIRT2 had no effect on HD progression as assessed by a battery of physiological and behavioural tests. Furthermore, we observed no change in aggregate load or levels of soluble mutant huntingtin transprotein. Intriguingly, neither the constitutive genetic loss nor acute pharmacological inhibition of SIRT2 affected the expression of cholesterol biosynthesis enzymes in the context of HD. Therefore, we conclude that SIRT2 inhibition does not modify disease progression in the R6/2 mouse model of HD and SIRT2 inhibition should not be prioritised as a therapeutic option for HD.     

Hyberbaric oxygen increases atresia in normal &; steroid induced PCO rat ovaries

Background  

In this study, we investigated the effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) on the morphology of estradiol valerate (EV) induced polycystic ovary (PCO) to find a new treatment modality for improvement of PCO.     

Application of microbial enhanced oil recovery technique to a Turkish heavy oil

Summary Microbial enhance oil recovery utilizes microorganisms and their metabolic products to improve the recovery of crude oil from reservoir rocks. In this study an anaerobic bacterium, Clostridium acetobutylicum was injected into a one-dimensional model reservoir containing a Turkish heavy oil (Raman oil) at 38° C. This injection was followed by water flooding after a suitable shut-in period. Comparison of oil recovery results of pure water flooding runs with experiments in which bacterial concentration and shut-in periods were varied indicated increases in oil recovery of about 12% of the original oil in place. This increase was attributed to changes in the viscosity and pH of the crude oil.Offprint requests to: T. Mehmetoglu     

Characterizing genetic intra-tumor heterogeneity across 2,658 human cancer genomes

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Polymorphism Due to Multiple Amino Acid Substitutions at a Codon Site Within Ciona savignyi

We compared two haploid genotypes of one Ciona savignyi individual and identified codons at which these genotypes differ by two nonsynonymous substitutions. Using the C. intestinalis genome as an outgroup, we showed that both substitutions tend to occur in the same genotype. Only in 53 (34.4%) of 154 codons, one substitution occurred in each of the two genotypes, although 77 (50%) of such codons are to be expected if substitutions were independent. We considered two feasible evolutionary causes for the observed pattern: substitutions driven by positive selection and compensatory substitutions, as well as several potential biases. However, none of these explanations is fully compelling, and data on multiple genotypes of C. savignyi would help to elucidate the causes of this pattern.