Comparative in vitro study of the intestinal absorption of titanium and iron in rats

Rat Everted Gut Sac (EGS) model was employed to study the intestinal uptake of titanium and iron. Incubation of freshly prepared rat EGS in Earle's medium pH = 7.4 containing titanium showed that the absorption of titanium as well as iron was a dose dependent process. Ascorbic acid enhanced the absorption of both metal ions, while NaF (1 mM) as an inhibitor of glycolytic energy supply, decreased their absorption. The Na+-K+ ATPase inhibitor, ouabain (1 mM) reduced intestinal absorption of Titanium. This suggests that titanium uptake is an active transport process as is iron uptake. Iron absorption was reduced approximate by 17% when titanium was presented to incubation medium EGS whereas, the absorption of titanium was decreased by 35% when iron was added to the reaction mixture.     

Impact of DNA damage on the frequency of sperm chromosomal aneuploidy in normal and subfertile men

Background: Various frequencies of sperm aneuploidy are reported in sperms of subfertile patients compared to normal individuals. Moreover, sperm DNA damage is shown to be associated with male infertility. In this study, the rate of DNA damage and frequencies of aneuploidy in sperms of subfertile patients was investigated. Methods: Semen samples were obtained from healthy normal and subfertile (oligozoospermia, asthenozoospermia, and oligoasthenozoospermia) men. The frequency of aneuploidy was assessed using primed in situ labeling (PRINS) analysis with specific primers for chromosomes 18, 21, X, and Y. Sperm DNA damage was assessed using alkaline comet assay. Results: The mean frequencies of disomy for the patients were significantly higher than normal for all chromosomes (P<0.01). The extent of DNA damage in sperms of subfertiles was significantly higher than in normal individuals (P<0.001). The obtained results indicated that higher rate of DNA damages led to higher frequency of chromosomal disomy except for asthenozoospermia samples which exhibited higher rate of DNA damage and lower frequency of chromosomal disomy. Conclusions: These results demonstrate that men with oligozoospermia and oligoasthenozoospermia have an elevated risk for chromosome abnormalities in their sperm, particularly sex chromosomes. DNA damage might be involved in the process of malsegregation of chromosomes.Asthenozoospermia, DNA damage, Primed in situ labeling (PRINS), Comet assay     

Variability and association among some pomological and physiochemical traits in spring frost tolerant genotypes of Persian walnut (Juglans regia L.) and selection of genotypes with superior traits based on machine learning algorithms

Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution - Persian walnut (Juglans regia L.) is an economically important species of edible nuts. In the present study, northwest regions of Iran were explored to find...     

Prunus arabica (Olivier) Meikle,an important genetic resource for breeding of almond: morphological and pomological characterizations

Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution - Phenotypic variation of 75 accessions of wild Prunus arabica (Olivier) Meikle species was assessed. There were significant variations among the accessions...     

Effects of Different Types of Composts on Soil Characteristics and Morphological Traits of Two Dry Rangeland Species

Today, environmental protection and safe crop production are very important. The management of soil elements by compost is considered as important for sustainable agriculture. The mode of action of the composts is very different between various plant species. To evaluate the effects of different composts on soil structural and chemical properties and on morphological traits of two dry rangeland species (atriplex; Atriplex lentiformis and mesquite; Prosopos juliflora), a study was conducted in Fars Province of Iran during the year 2010. The study was a factorial experiment based on a randomized complete block design with three replications. Treatments included compost types: solid (SC) and liquid compost or compost tea (LC), solid-liquid mixture (XSL) and control (Con; non used compost) as the first factor, and two pasture plant species as the second factor. The results showed that the compost application had significant and positive effects on morphological traits such as plant height, stem diameter, plant volume, crown length, width, and area, and caused 15, 51.18, 70.67, 34.18, 18.35, and 64.94% increase on these morphological traits, respectively. Although soil acidity was not significantly affected by compost and species, the effects of compost were significant on organic matter percentage, soil phosphorous, and potassium contents. Soil nitrogen percentage was affected by both species and compost. Compost application caused a decrease in the amount of sodium compared with the control. Overall, the results of this study suggested that within the compost types, liquid compost was an advisable biofertilizer in a similar climate. Furthermore, the LC and the XSL are recommended for improving the morphological traits and the soil characteristics, respectively.     

Effects of dietary fish oil substitution with mixed vegetable oils on growth and fillet fatty acid composition of juvenile Caspian great sturgeon (Huso huso)

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of fish oil replacement with dietary vegetable oils on growth performance, chemical composition and fatty acids profiles in fillets of farmed Caspian great sturgeon juveniles Huso huso (26.97 ± 0.49 g). Five isonitrogenous and isolipidic diets were formulated, containing 10 % of added oil. The diet with 100 % kilka fish oil (Caspian tyulka, Clupeonella caspia) was the control. Fish oil was substituted by 50 % of vegetable oils consisting of an equal share of sunflower and soybean oils (diet A), sunflower and canola oils (diet B) and soybean and canola oils (diet C). In diet D, 100 % of fish oil was replaced with vegetable oil (1:1:1 ratio of sunflower oil, soybean oil and canola oil). Significant differences (P > 0.05) were not detected during 60 days feeding trial in final body weight, weight gain, condition factor, specific growth rate, feed conversion rate, protein efficiency ratio and the chemical composition of fillet (crude protein, crude lipid, moisture and ash). Generally, the fatty acids composition of fish fillets was reflective of the dietary lipid sources. These results indicate the feasibility of substituting fish oils with the mixture of vegetable oils in diets of juvenile H. huso without negative influence on growth providing optimum ratios of n-3/n-6 and n-3/18:1n-9 is met in the diet.     

Effect of potassium simplex optimization medium and NCSU23 supplemented with beta-mercaptoethanol and amino acids of in vitro fertilized porcine embryos

The present study was conducted to examine the comparative efficacy of potassium simplex optimization medium (KSOM) and North Carolina State University (NCSU)-23 medium supplemented with beta-mercaptoethanol (beta-ME) and amino acids (AA) on the developmental competence of porcine in vitro fertilized (IVF) embryos. Four experiments were conducted. KSOM and NCSU-23 medium were used to culture porcine parthenogenetic (Exp. 1) and IVF (Exp. 2) embryos. KSOM and NCSU-23 were equally effective in supporting porcine parthenogenetic and IVF embryo development from the 1-cell stage to blastocysts. The NCSU-23 medium (Exp. 3) and KSOM (Exp. 4) were supplemented with amino acid (AA; 5 microl/ml non-essential amino acids + 10 microl/ml essential amino acids) and/or 10 microM beta-mercaptoethanol (beta-ME). The quality of blastocysts from Exp. 3 and 4 was evaluated by counting the number of total cells and determining the ratio of the inner cell mass (ICM) to trophoectoderm (TE) cells. Supplementing with AA and beta-ME or beta-ME alone in NCSU-23 produced significant (p<0.05) differences in terms of rate of cleavage to the 2- to 4- cell (80.8 to 85.4% vs. 73.6%) and blastocyst (30.4 to 30.5 vs. 23.5%) stages and the number of TE (51.4 to 53.8 vs. 35.8) and total cells (67.2 to 71.2 to 48.8) over the control group. On the other hand, supplementing KSOM with AA and/or beta-ME produced significant (p<0.05) differences in terms of rate of cleavage to the 2- to 4-cell (78.8% vs. 67.7%) and morula (57.8% vs. 46.3%) stages and the number of ICM (18.6 to 19.2 vs. 11.6) and total cells (62.8 to 70.6 vs. 42.8) over control group. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that both KSOM and NCSU-23 medium supplemented with AA and beta-ME and/or only beta-ME alone are superior to normal KSOM and NCSU-23 for porcine IVF embryo culture in terms of embryo developmental competence and quality.     

Calcium and L-histidine interaction on nutrients accumulation in three tomato cultivars under nickel stress

This study was carried out to evaluation of some nutrients accumulation including Ni (nickel), Fe (iron), Mg (magnesium), Cu (copper), Ca (calcium) as well as Ni translocation factor (TF) in three tomato cultivars grown hydroponically under treatments including L-histidine (His) and calcium chloride (CaCl₂) (300 µM) exposed to nickel (II) sulfate (NiSO₄) (150 and 300 µM) by ICP-OES (inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy) analysis. Tomato cultivars included Cal-J N3, Early Urbana Y and. Results indicated that shoot Ni accumulation increased under Ni stress. Ca and His reduced root, shoot Ni content and Ni TF (translocation factor) under Ni stress in Petoearly CH cultivar. Ni stress also decreased root and shoot Ca, Fe, Mg and Cu while Ca and His improved the nutrients uptake, and inhibited Ni accumulation. Therefore, Ca and His alleviated adverse effects of Ni stress on nutrients in Petoearly CH cultivar. Beside, Ca and His interaction alleviate Ni stress by inhibition of Ni uptake and translocation as well as plant nutrition improvement in the tomato plants.     

Genotype-Dependent Differential Responses of Three Forage Species to Calcium Supplement in Saline Conditions

Salt toxicity comprises of osmotic and ionic components both of which can severely affect root and shoot growth. In many crop species, supplemental calcium (Ca) reduces the inhibition of growth typical of exposure to salt stress. The objective of this study was to compare whole plant growth and physiological responses to interactive effect of salinity and Ca level on three forage species [African millet (AM), tall wheat grass (TW), and perennial ryegrass (PR)] differing in tolerance to sodium chloride (NaCl) salinity. Plants were grown under glasshouse condition and supplied with nutrient solution containing 0, 100, and 250 mM NaCl supplemented with 0.5, 5, or 10 mM calcium chloride (CaCl₂). Plant growth, ionic concentration, water relations, and solute (proline and glycinebetaine) concentrations of the plants were determined two weeks after the salinity treatments. At 100 mM NaCl, there was a moderate reduction in dry matter (DM) production of all three species. A drastic decrease in DM occurred at 250 mM NaCl. Supplemental Ca reduced the adverse effects of salinity on all three species. The TW showed higher shoot and root growth in 100 and 250 mM NaCl than AM and PR. It also showed the highest DM at 5 and 10 mM Ca supplement. The shoot and root DM of TW increased by about 45 and 15%, respectively compared to the control. Chemical analysis indicated that in TW, Ca restricted both uptake and transport of sodium (Na) from root to shoot. It also increased Ca and potassium (K) concentrations in both organs. The transport of K and Ca from root to shoot of AM and PR were decreased by NaCl, but were restored with increasing Ca in the medium. The opposite occurred for Na. In PR, more K uptake was observed in shoot at 250 mM NaCl with 10 mM Ca supplement. The sap osmotic potential (Ψ_S) was the highest in TW at 10 mM Ca in the presence of 250 mM NaCl. Contribution of various solutes to the difference in Ψ_S among the species from the control and 250 mM salt treatment differed greatly. Supplemental Ca induced decline in the leaf Ψ_S of TW which was predominately due to K, glycinebetaine, Na and proline accumulation. Addition of 10 mM Ca to the growth medium maintained a low Na and a high K level. Accumulation of glycinebetaine and proline in leaf contributed the NaCl tolerance of TW. The presented results suggest that supplement Ca, not only improved ionic relations but also induced plant ability in production of compatible solutes (glycinebetaine and proline) and osmotic adjustment. Accordingly, genotype dependent capacity could be found using supplemental Ca.