Social partnering alters sleep in fear-conditioned Wistar rats.

Social support, when provided following a traumatic experience, is associated with a lower incidence of stress-related psychiatric disorders. Our hypothesis was that providing a social interaction period with a naive conspecific would improve sleep architecture in response to cued fear conditioning in Wistar rats. Rats were randomly assigned to either the socially isolated or socially partnered groups. Rats assigned to the socially isolated group were individually housed following electrode implantation and fear conditioning. Rats assigned to the socially partnered group were initially paired-housed, and then one rat from each pair was randomly chosen for sleep electrode implantation and fear conditioning. Rats from both groups were habituated to a recording chamber, and baseline sleep was recorded over 22 hours. One day later (Training Day), they were fear-conditioned to 10 presentations of a tone (800 Hz, 90 dB, 5 sec) co-terminating with a mild electric foot shock (1.0 mA, 0.5 sec), at 30-sec intervals. While rats in the socially isolated group were left undisturbed in their home cage for 30-min, socially partnered rats interacted for 30 minutes with their non-stressed rat partner immediately after fear conditioning and while the auditory tones were presented on Days 1 and 14. The results indicated that social interaction increased sleep efficiency in partnered rats compared to isolated rats following the fear conditioning procedure. This was due to an increase in the amount of rapid eye movement sleep (REMS) during the light phase. Evaluation of REMS microarchitecture revealed that the increase in REMS was due to an increase in the number of single REMS episodes (siREMS), which represented a more consolidated REMS pattern. A surprising finding was that partnered rats had a greater number of sequential REMS episodes (seqREMS) at Baseline, on the Training Day and on Day 1 when compared to isolated rats. The greater number of seqREMS episodes in partnered rats may be due to the partnering procedure and not fear conditioning, as the effect was also seen at Baseline. Thus it appears that while the partnering procedure may have given rise to a fragmented REMS pattern, social partnering promoted a greater consolidation of REMS in response to the fear conditioning procedure.

Pharmacological Intervention through Dietary Nutraceuticals in Gastrointestinal Neoplasia.

Neoplastic conditions associated with gastrointestinal (GI) tract are common worldwide with colorectal cancer alone accounting for the third leading rate of cancer incidence. Other GI malignancies such as esophageal carcinoma have shown an increasing trend in the last few years. The poor survival statistics of these fatal cancer diseases highlight the need for multiple alternative treatment options along with effective prophylactic strategies. Worldwide geographical variation in cancer incidence indicates a correlation between dietary habits and cancer risk. Epidemiological studies have suggested that populations with high intake of certain dietary agents in their regular meals have lower cancer rates. Thus, an impressive embodiment of evidence supports the concept that dietary factors are key modulators of cancer including those of GI origin. Preclinical studies on animal models of carcinogenesis have reflected the pharmacological significance of certain dietary agents called as nutraceuticals in the chemoprevention of GI neoplasia. These include stilbenes (from red grapes and red wine), isoflavones (from soy), carotenoids (from tomatoes), curcuminoids (from spice turmeric), catechins (from green tea), and various other small plant metabolites (from fruits, vegetables, and cereals). Pleiotropic action mechanisms have been reported for these diet-derived chemopreventive agents to retard, block, or reverse carcinogenesis. This review presents a prophylactic approach to primary prevention of GI cancers by highlighting the translational potential of plant-derived nutraceuticals from epidemiological, laboratory, and clinical studies, for the better management of these cancers through consumption of nutraceutical rich diets and their intervention in cancer therapeutics.

Synthesis and characterization of transition metal 2,6-pyridinedicarboxylic acid derivatives, interactions of Cu(II) and Ni(II) complexes with DNA in vitro.

Mononuclear complexes M(L)Cl(2) where M=Mn(II), Fe(II), Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) and (L=N,N-diethylpiperazinyl,2,6-pyridinedicarboxylate), have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, (1)H NMR spectroscopy, UV-vis, magnetic moment, TGA/DSC, cyclic voltammetry and conductivity measurement data. The spectral data suggests that the dipicolinic acid acts as a bidentate ligand and is coordinated to the metal ion through the carboxylate oxygen. The cyclic voltammogram for Cu(L)Cl(2) complex was found to display two reversible Cu(II)/Cu(I) and Cu(II)/Cu(III) redox couple. The ligand exhibits a two-step thermolytic pattern while the complexes decompose in three stages respectively. An octahedral geometry has been proposed for both the complexes. The investigation of the interaction of the complexes with calf thymus DNA has been performed with absorption spectroscopy and fluorescence quenching experiments, which showed that the complexes are avid binders of calf thymus DNA. Also the interaction of the Cu(II) and Ni(II) complexes with plasmid DNA (pUC 19) was studied using agarose gel electrophoresis. The results revealed that these complexes can act as effective DNA cleaving agents resulting in the nicked form of DNA (pUC 19) under physiological conditions. The gel was run both in the absence and presence of an oxidizing agent (H(2)O(2)). The ligand and its complexes have also been screened against microbes in order to study their antibacterial action. The results revealed that the Cu(II) complex has activity comparable with the reference drugs gentamycin and flucanzole.

Riboflavin-mediated cellular photoinhibition of cisplatin-induced oxidative DNA breakage in mice epidermal keratinocytes.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Cisplatin is one of the most effective chemotherapeutic agents used in the treatment of various kinds of malignant tumors. A major drawback associated with cisplatin chemotherapy is its cytotoxicity/genotoxicity towards normal tissues. The cytotoxicity has been attributed, in part, to the oxidative stress generated by the drug. Riboflavin is a micronutrient known for its photosensitization characteristics. Owing to the emergence of photodynamic therapy as a modality for the treatment of solid tumors and other accessible lesions in terms of opthalmic, dermatological, cardiovascular and urological diseases, the therapeutic window of riboflavin as a sensitizer has been used to avoid the toxic side effects of cisplatin. METHODS & RESULTS: Using mice epidermal keratinocytes and comet assay, we show that photochemically activated riboflavin is able to prevent oxidative cellular DNA breakage induced by cisplatin. Irradiation of cells exposed to cisplatin resulted in a dose-dependent increase in the frequency of strand breaks in cellular DNA. Sequential incubation of keratinocytes with riboflavin and cisplatin followed by irradiation led to a significant decrease in strand breakage and reduced the generation of reactive oxygen species. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that cisplatin-induced genotoxicity may be blunted or reduced by using riboflavin as a photosensitizer.