Ontogeny of glutathione and glutathione-related antioxidant enzymes in rat liver

We conducted a comprehensive characterization of the ontogeny of glutathione (GSH) and its related enzymes in rat liver. GSH content and activities of glutathione reductase (GR), cytosolic glutathione-S-transferases (GST), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were determined in male rat livers (n = 4) at different developmental stages. Our results indicate total hepatic GSH content and GR, GST, and GPx activity were low in the perinatal period. GSH content remained relatively constant throughout postnatal development, but GR, GST, and GPx activity underwent significant increases to attain adult levels by late post-weaning. Whether the ontogenic pattern of GSH and its related enzymes explain, in part, the altered susceptibility of neonates to some toxicants requires further investigation. Our study provides fundamental biological information on the ontogeny of cytosolic antioxidant/detoxification enzymes in a relevant toxicological risk assessment species. Additional studies are needed to fully characterize the ontogeny of other xenobiotic detoxification enzymes to further promote the rat as a developmental toxicology model that can identify toxicokinetic reasons for differences in susceptibility to toxicity between the neonate and adult.     

Antioxidant potential of sesame (Sesamum indicum) cake extract in stabilization of sunflower and soybean oils

Recently natural antioxidants have gained increased interest because natural food ingredients are safer than synthetic ones. Antioxidant activities and protective effects of sesame cake extract (SCE) in stabilizing sunflower oil (SFO) and soybean oil (SBO) were tested. Since different antioxidant compounds have different mechanisms of action, 2,2-azinobis (3-ethylbenzthiazoline sulfonate) (ABTS) radical scavenging activity, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging capacity, and β-carotene/linoleic acid test system were used to assess the antioxidant efficacy of SCE. Total phenolic, flavonoid and flavonol contents in SCE were 1.94 (mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE) g⁻¹ dry weight (DW)), 0.88 (mg quercetain equivalent (QE) g⁻¹ DW), and 0.40 (mg QE g⁻¹ DW), respectively. Protective effects of SCE in stabilizing SFO and SBO were tested, compared to synthetic antioxidants, by measuring their peroxide values (PV), conjugated dienes (CD), conjugated trienes (CT) and p-anisidine value during accelerated storage. Results indicated that SCE exhibited stronger antioxidant activity in SFO and SBO than butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), while its antioxidant activity was less than that of tert-butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ).     

Microbiological study and insecticidal potential of purified extract from Streptomyces sp. on the larvae of Galleria mellonella

Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection - In the present study, one Streptomyces species was isolated from a soil sample that was collected in Khafr El Shikh Governorate. Actinomycetes are...     

Feed intake, nutrient digestibility and ruminal fermentation activities in sheep-fed peanut hulls treated with Trichoderma viride or urea

This study aimed to assess impacts of fungal treatment on the nutritional value of peanut hulls (PH) or urea at the rate of 5 kg/100 g of PH. Fermented sugar beet pulp inoculated with Trichoderma viride was supplemented to PH at rates of 5.0, 10.0 and 15.0 g/100 g air dry of PH and mixed well before aerobic incubation for 21 days. Organic matter (OM) content of PH declined with increased levels of fermented sugar beet pulp inoculums, while crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), and ash increased. Fiber contents were decreased with both treatments of fermented sugar beet pulp and urea. Total N of PH increased with urea treatment, which reduced the true protein N to total protein N ratio. In sacco degradabilities of dry matter (DM), OM, and CP with urea treatment increased compared with fungal treatment. The DM intake of peanut hulls treated with fungus (PHF) was higher (P?<?0.05) than with peanut hulls treated with urea (PHU). Digestibility of OM, CP, neutral detergent fiber, and non-fiber carbohydrate by native breed Ossimi sheep with PH were higher (P?<?0.05) than with PH or urea treated PH. The intakes, losses, and balance of N increased (P?<?0.01) with PHF versus PH feeding. Feeding PHF increased (P?<?0.01) ruminal concentrations of NH₃-N, acetic acid, butyric acid, and the acetic to propionic acid ratio. Bacterial and protozoal counts increased (P?<?0.05) with feeding PHF or PHU versus PH. Overall, this fungal treatment of peanut hulls created a higher nutritive value feed for ruminants.     

Ameliorative Effects of Brassinosteroids on Growth and Productivity of Snap Beans Grown Under High Temperature

The effect of brassinosteroids (BRs) was tested, in order to assess the possibility of alleviation of the adverse effects of high temperature stress on snap bean plants during delayed summer cultivation. Therefore, two field experiments were carried out in successive seasons, 2010 and 2011, with two bean cultivars ‘Paulesta’ and ‘Oxzira’, spraying with BRs of the following concentrations 0 (control), 25, 50 and 100 ppm. Plant growth, yield and pods quality of beans were studied. Spraying bean plants with BRs at a concentration of 25 and 50 ppm increased vegetative growth, total yield and quality of pods with no significant difference between both treatments. Using BRs at 25 ppm increased the total free amino acids (FAA) in leaves and total phenolic acids in the pod in comparison to control-treatment. ‘Oxzira’ cultivar resulted in the highest number of leaves, number of branches, dry weight of whole plant, total yield, total FAA in leaves and total phenolic acids in pod. Whereas, ‘Paulesta’ cultivar had the highest of plant length and total FAA in pods.     

Yield Attributes and Oil Safety in the Hyperaccumulator Canola Plant Grown in a Bioremediated Sewaged Soil

A field experiment was carried out at Abu-Rawash sewage farm to appraise the effect of certain novel remediative amendments on the quality of oil as well as the vegetative parameters and yield criteria of canola plant used as hyperaccumulator for the remediation of sewaged soils. The treatments included fallow soil （irrigated without growing canola）, soil cultivated with canola （Brassica napus L.） and inoculated with arbuscular mycorrhiza （AM）, soil inoculation with Thiobacillus sp. （a mixture of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans and Thiobacillus thiooxidant）, soil treated with a mixture of 250 mg bentonite plus 250 mg rock phosphate/kg soil and inoculated with phosphate dissolving bacteria （PDB）, and soil treated with all the aforementioned remediative amendments. Results indicated that the vegetative parameters and yield criteria of canola plant did not exhibit any serious adverse impact under all treatments applied. The concentrations of Zn and Cu in canola oil extracted from plants grown in soil inoculated with AM and/or Thiobacillus sp. far exceeded the safe permissible levels. On the other hand, the content of both PTEs in the oil extracted from canola plants grown in soil treated with either probentonite or with mixture of all remediative amendments followed the permissible safe levels.     

Modified resazurin microtiter assay for in vitro and in vivo assessment of sulfamonomethoxine activity against the fish pathogen <Emphasis Type="Italic">Nocardia seriolae</Emphasis>

Resazurin microtiter assay (REMA) was carried out using four sulfonamides, three culture media, and four inoculum sizes as a first screening step to establish an easy-to-interpret sulfonamides susceptibility testing method for Nocardia seriolae. The in vitro activity of sulfamonomethoxine (SMM) against 190 clinical N. seriolae isolates was then examined, and in vivo experimental treatment was performed. When the culture medium and the inoculum size were considered in tandem, a 0.5× the original concentration of cation-adjusted Mueller–Hinton broth and an inoculum size of 10² CFU/well showed the clearest endpoint reading for all tested drugs, and the REMA-generated data were in excellent agreement with those generated by the reference Etest method. SMM activity showed minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 4–32 μg/ml against all tested N. seriolae isolates. Treatment of amberjack groups experimentally infected with N. seriolae isolates having SMM MICs of 4 and 32 μg/ml, resulted in survival rates of 100% and 87.5% in the two groups, respectively. In this study, we developed a simple visual method to test SMM activity against N. seriolae.     

Antioxidant characteristics of phenolipids (quercetin-enriched lecithin) in lipid matrices

A novel phenolipids formulation containing a complex of quercetin and soy lecithin was developed. Antioxidant and antiradical characteristics of native soy lecithin and phenolipids’ formulations (complexes of quercetin and lecithin, 1:99 and 3:97, w/w) in the protection of triolein and sunflower oil (SFO) models stored under accelerated oxidative conditions for 15 day at 60 °C were studied. Progress of oxidation was monitored by recording the ultraviolet absorptivity and measuring the formation of oxidative products (peroxide value). The antiradical action of different lipid matrices against DPPH· and galvinoxyl radicals was screened during Shaal oven test. The factors influencing the oxidative stability (OS) of different models were also discussed. Inverse relationships were noted between peroxide values and oxidative stabilities at termination of the storage. Absorptivity at 232 nm and 270 nm in models containing lecithin increased gradually with the increase in time, due to the formation of conjugated dienes and polyenes. In general, oxidative stabilities of models enriched with phenolipids’ formulations were better than in models containing lecithin or quercetin alone, most likely as a consequence of synergism between polar lipids and quercetin as well as tocopherols. Moreover, increases in concentration of quercetin in phenolipid formulations resulted in an increase in its antioxidative potential. These results will be useful for improving the antioxidative activity, health impact and functionality of polar lipids and phenolic compounds in different food and pharmaceutical applications.     

Application of α-glucosidase activity and drug susceptibility tests to epidemiological studies on the fish pathogen <Emphasis Type="Italic">Nocardia seriolae</Emphasis>

This study determined the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) for oxytetracycline hydrochloride (OTC) and erythromycin (Em), along with the α-glucosidase (α-glu) activities in 110 Nocardia seriolae strains isolated in Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures in 2008–2009. The strains were examined for the presence of the tet(K), tet(L), tet(M), tet(O), tet(S), erm(A), erm(B), mph(A), mef(A), and msr(D) genes. All the α-glu-positive strains (n = 15) were OTC resistant and Em sensitive, with MICs of 32–64 and <0.125 μg/ml, respectively. All the α-glu-negative strains (n = 95) were OTC sensitive, with MICs of 2–4 μg/ml, and most of them (93 of 95) were Em resistant, with MICs of >128 μg/ml. The MICs for Em in the remaining 2 α-glu-negative strains were <0.125 μg/ml. The 15 OTC-resistant strains possessed the tet(K) and/or tet(L) gene(s), and all of the 93 Em-resistant strains possessed both the mef(A) and msr(D) genes. The relationship between α-glu activity and drug sensitivity of the N. seriolae strains may explain the difference in prevalence of each phenotype. Nevertheless, the relationship should be further explored using N. seriolae isolates collected from more prefectures and farms.     

In Vitro Comparative Evaluation of Antioxidant Activity of Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Extracts from Algicolous Fungi

The screening of potential antioxidant activities of hydrophobic (ethyl acetate) and hydrophilic (polysaccharide) extracts from both mycelia and fermentation media of eleven algicolous fungi was performed using three antioxidant assays. Algicolous fungi were able to ferment low-cost nutrients composed of potato infusion, glucose, and natural seawater and produce hydrophobic and hydrophilic metabolites with antioxidant properties. Signi?cant differences were observed in antioxidant activities of extracts from the various species evaluated using total antioxidant activity (TAA), hydroxyl radical scavenging activity (HRSA), and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), as well as their total sugar contents (TSC) of hydrophilic extracts and total phenolic contents (TPC) of hydrophobic extracts. TSC of endopolysaccharides was higher than exopolysaccharides and showed a significant correlation with both TAA and FRAP. Most of mycelial extracts were richer in phenolics than fermentation media, and TPC of hydrophobic extracts was significantly correlated with their FRAP. Mycelial extracts for most of algicolous fungi showed higher antioxidant activities than fermentation media. Both hydrophobic and hydrophilic extracts of algicolous fungi showed good antioxidant properties, especially as hydrogen-donating antioxidants, which could be considered for future applications in medicine, food production, or cosmetic industry.