Antioxidant, Antidiabetic, and Antibacterial Potentials and Chemical Composition of Salvia officinalis and Mentha suaveolens Grown Wild in Morocco.

This work evaluated in vitro antioxidant, antidiabetic, and antibacterial properties of Salvia officinalis (S. officinalis) and Mentha suaveolens (M. suaveolens) essential oils (EO). The EOs were extracted, and their chemical composition was determined using GC-MS analysis. The in vitro antioxidant, antidiabetic, and antibacterial activities of S. officinalis and M. suaveolens EO were shown to be remarkable. Furthermore, S. officinalis EO demonstrated better antioxidant findings (using DPPH, ABTS, and FRAP test) than M. suaveolens EO (p < 0.5). There were no significant differences in the inhibitory effects of the EOs on α-amylase and α-glucosidase activities in the antidiabetic assays. All of the examined bacterial strains (10 different strains), with the exception of P. aeruginosa, demonstrated significant sensitivity to the tested EOs, with M. suaveolens EO exhibiting better activity than S. officinalis EO. Thus, the research indicated that EO from these two medicinal plants has considerable potential for application in the formulation of antibacterial, antioxidant, and antidiabetic pharmaceuticals. However, more research studies are required to interpret the pharmacologic action of the studied EOs and their principal constituents and to confirm their safety.

Seroprevalence of Asymptomatic Dengue Virus Infection and Its Antibodies Among Healthy/Eligible Saudi Blood Donors: Findings From Holy Makkah City.

BACKGROUND: Threat to blood transfusion-transmitted dengue virus (DENV) and its antibodies has recently emerged worldwide. Dengue fever is an endemic disease in Saudi Arabia, particularly in its Western region. The aim of this study was to estimate the seroprevalence of asymptomatic DENV infection and its antibodies among eligible Saudi blood donors. METHODS: Serum samples from 910 healthy/eligible adult male Saudi blood donors, who reside in Holy Makkah City of Saudi Arabia, were collected between March 2015 and August 2016 and screened for the detection of DENV nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) antigen and anti-DENV IgM and IgG antibodies using commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits (Panbio, Brisbane, QLD, Australia). RESULTS: Among the tested donors, 48 (5.3%) were seropositive for DENV-NS1 antigen, whereas 50 (5.5%) and 354 (38.9%) were seropositive for anti-DENV IgM and IgG antibodies, respectively. Seropositivity for DENV-NS1 antigen and/or anti-DENV IgM antibody among the tested donors reflects their ongoing asymptomatic viremic infectious stage with DENV during their donation time, whereas high prevalence of anti-DENV IgG seropositivity reflects the high endemicity of dengue disease in this region of Saudi Arabia. CONCLUSIONS: These results show high prevalence of asymptomatic DENV infection and its antibodies among Saudi blood donors, raising the importance of establishing blood screening for dengue disease at different blood donation services and units in Saudi Arabia to improve the guarantee of blood transfusions and to control DENV dissemination.

Thymoquinone potentiates chemoprotective effect of Vitamin D3 against colon cancer: a pre-clinical finding.

Prevention of colon cancer among high-risk group has been long lasting research goal. Emerging data have evidenced the anticancer activities of Vitamin D3 (Vit.D) and Thymoquinone (TQ). The aim of the current study was to evaluate the synergistic potential of Thymoquinone and Vitamin D3 in the control of colon cancer progression using azoxymethane-induced rat model. Vit.D and TQ were given individually or in combination 4 week prior to induction and continued for a total of 20 week. At the end of the study, all animals were euthanized and their resected colons were examined macroscopically and microscopically for tumor growth. Colonic tissue preparations were used for measuring gene expression and/or protein levels of selected pro and anti-tumor biomarkers using quantitative RT-PCR, ELISA and immunohistochemistry. Compared with their individual supplementation, combined Vit.D/TQ showed prominent anti-tumor effect manifested by significant reduction (P < 0.05) of the numbers of grown tumors and large aberrant crypts foci. Mechanistically, gene expression and/or protein quantification studies revealed that combined Vit.D/TQ supplementation induced significant reduction (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05) of pro-cancerous molecules (Wnt, ß-catenin, NF-κB, COX-2, iNOS, VEGF and HSP-90) as well as significant increase (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively) of anti-tumorigenesis biomarkers (DKK-1, CDNK-1A, TGF-ß1, TGF-ß/RII and smad4) as compared to un-supplemented or individually supplemented groups, respectively. In conclusion, TQ augmented the chemopreventive effect of Vit.D during the initiation phase of colon cancer in rat model, with the potential to suppress progression of pre-neoplastic lesions in colon carcinogenesis.

Important role for macrophages in induction of crescentic anti-GBM glomerulonephritis in WKY rats.

BACKGROUND: A crucial role for CD8(+) cells in induction of crescentic anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM) glomerulonephritis (GN) in WKY rats was demonstrated in studies showing that depletion of CD8(+) cells completely suppressed glomerular accumulation of monocytes/macrophages (Mo/Mphi), crescent formation and proteinuria. Because these studies did not definitively identify CD8(+) cells as the cause of tissue injury, we examined the roles of Mo/Mphi in the development of anti-GBM GN. METHODS: We examined correlations between the amount of urinary protein and the numbers of glomerular CD8(+) cells or Mo/Mphi in rats after administrating different doses of anti-GBM antibody (5.0, 7.5, 10.0 and 25.0 microl/100 g body weight). The roles of Mo/Mphi in induction of GN were examined in animals by depleting Mo/Mphi in the glomerulus. To do this, rats were injected intravenously with liposome-encapsulated dichloromethylene diphosphonate (liposome-MDP) from day 3 to day 7 after anti-GBM antibody injection and they were then sacrificed at day 8. RESULTS: Liposome-MDP treatment significantly reduced the number of ED-1(+) Mo/Mphi accumulated in glomeruli from 32.1 +/- 1.2 to 1.4 +/- 0.3/glomerular cross-section (mean +/- SD, P < 0.01), and the amount of urinary protein from 103.8 +/- 19.8 to 31.8 +/- 15.9 mg/day (P < 0.01), as well as the incidence of crescentic glomeruli from 91.3 +/- 2.7 to 23.3 +/- 7.6% (P < 0.01) at day 8. This treatment also reduced the number of CD8(+) cells accumulating in the glomeruli from 5.4 +/- 0.7 to 0.5 +/- 0.1/glomerular cross-section (P < 0.01). Upregulation of glomerular intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) mRNA expression was suppressed by Mo/Mphi depletion. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that Mo/Mphi play an important role in the induction of crescentic anti-GBM GN and glomerular injury.

Suppression of experimental crescentic glomerulonephritis by interleukin-10 gene transfer.

BACKGROUND: Investigated were effects of overexpression of interleukin-10 (IL-10) on the outcome and progression of crescentic glomerulonephritis in Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats. METHODS: Rats were singly or simultaneously injected with antiglomerular basement membrane (a-GBM) antibody and adenoviral vector encoding rat IL-10 (Ad-rIL-10) or LacZ (Ad-LacZ) (3 x 1010 pfu/rat) intravenously, and were sacrificed at day 7. Their kidneys and other organs were isolated and examined by histology and immunohistochemistry. The In vivo expression of IL-10 mRNA in the liver of Ad-rIL-10-injected rats was confirmed by both reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and ribonuclease protection assay analysis and its translated protein was measured in the serum by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: The exogenous IL-10 mRNA was strongly expressed in the liver in a dose-dependent manner and was intense at days 4 and 7 but was less intense at day 14. Ad-rIL-10 treatment significantly reduced the incidence of glomerular crescent formation from 67%+/- 1.9% in a-GBM antibody-treated group or 69.8%+/- 1.9% in a-GBM antibody + Ad-LacZ-treated group to 21.6%+/- 1.8% (P < 0.001), the glomerular infiltration of macrophages from 35.7 +/- 6.3 cell s/gcs (a-GBM antibody) or 37.6 +/- 8.6 cells/gcs (both a-GBM antibody + Ad-LacZ) to 17.9 +/- 5.5 cells/gcs (P < 0.001), that of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II-positive cells from 14.4 +/- 5.3 cells/gcs (a-GBM antibody) or 15 +/- 4.6 cells/gcs (a-GBM antibody + Ad-LacZ) to 5.7 +/- 2.3 cells/gcs (P < 0.0001) at day 7, the glomerular and immune tissue expression of IL-1beta mRNA, as well as the proteinuria from 159.0 +/- 22.7 mg/24 hours (a-GBM antibody) or 166 +/- 28 mg/24 hours (a-GBM antibody + Ad-LacZ) to 42.2 +/- 35.2 mg/24 hours (P < 0.01) at day 7. The serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen levels were also reduced from 2.8 +/- 0.1 mg/dL (a-GBM antibody) or 2.8 +/- 0.1 mg/dL (a-GBM antibody + Ad-LacZ) to 1.0 +/- 0.1 mg/dL (P < 0.001) and from 63.2 +/- 8.9 mg/dL (a-GBM antibody) or 61.3 +/- 5.2 mg/dL (a-GBM antibody + Ad-LacZ) to 27.0 +/- 4.5 mg/dL (P < 0.001), respectively. However, the glomerular accumulation of CD8+ T cells was unaffected: 5.4 +/- 1.1 cells/gcs (a-GBM antibody + Ad-rIL-10), 5.9 +/- 1.5 cells/gcs (a-GBM antibody), and 5.8 +/- 1.1 cells/gcs (a-GBM antibody + Ad-LacZ) (P= NS). CONCLUSION: IL-10 gene transfer significantly attenuated the glomerular lesions and injury in the anti-GBM crescentic glomerulonephritis of WKY rats.

Novel expression of sodium/myo-inositol co-transporter in podocytes in puromycin aminonucleoside nephrosis.

BACKGROUND: How podocytes respond to injury is poorly understood, although podocyte injury in the glomerulus has been proposed as the crucial mechanism in the pathogenesis of proteinuria and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. An increase in sodium/myo-inositol co-transporter (SMIT) transcripts, an osmoprotective gene, has been demonstrated in a variety of brain injury models. In the present study, we investigated SMIT expression in podocytes in experimental nephrosis. METHODS: Two types of nephrosis were induced in rats: puromycin aminonucleoside (PAN) nephrosis and monoclonal antibody (mAb) 5-1-6 nephropathy. Podocyte injury was morphologically distinct in the former type of nephrosis and limited to a minimum in the latter. SMIT expression in isolated glomeruli was estimated by ribonuclease protection assay. Localization of SMIT-expressing cells in glomeruli was examined by in situ hybridization. RESULTS: SMIT transcripts in glomeruli increased conspicuously in the nephrotic stage of PAN nephrosis, whereas the transcripts in cortices and medullae did not show significant changes. In situ hybridization revealed that podocytes were predominant cells expressing SMIT in the glomerulus. Significant increase of SMIT mRNA in the glomeruli was detected before the onset of massive proteinuria. In contrast, up-regulation of SMIT expression was not observed in mAb 5-1-6 nephropathy, whose urinary protein levels were comparable with those in the nephrotic stage of PAN nephrosis. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that SMIT expression in podocytes is not provoked by an effect of massive proteinuria but by extensive cellular injury.