Diagnostic significance of IL-6 and IL-8 in tubal ectopic pregnancy.

As there are no specific non-invasive markers for the diagnosis of tubal ectopic pregnancy, our objective in the present study was to explore the role of inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-8 in the diagnosis of ruptured tubal ectopic pregnancy. Twenty-eight women with tubal ectopic pregnancy, 31 patients with intrauterine abortion and 29 gestational age matched women having normal intrauterine pregnancy were included in the study. Five millilitre of blood was collected at the time of admission, serum was separated and stored at -70 °C for subsequent analysis of ß hCG, IL-6 and IL-8 levels. The level of IL-6 was a significant increase in the women with tubal ectopic pregnancy compared to intrauterine abortion and normal pregnancy. IL-8 levels decrease significantly in the tubal ectopic pregnancy and in intrauterine abortion patients when compared with the normal pregnancy group. At the cutoff of 26.48 pg/ml IL-6 level predicted the tubal ectopic pregnancy with moderate accuracy. Therefore, it can be concluded that measurement of IL-6 may have relevance in the diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy as a novel inflammatory serum biomarkers.

Antidiabetic effect of S-allylcysteine: Effect on plasma and tissue glycoproteins in experimental diabetes.

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of S-allylcysteine (SAC) on dearrangement in glycoprotein levels in the streptozotocin induced diabetic model. SAC (150 mg/kg b.w./day) was administered orally for 45 days to normal and diabetic rats. STZ-induced diabetic rats showed significant increase in blood glucose and glycoprotein components such as hexose, hexosamine, fucose and sialic acid in plasma, liver and kidneys of diabetic rats. Oral administration of SAC to diabetic rats for a period of 45 days normalized all the above-mentioned biochemical parameters. The antihyperglycemic effect of SAC was compared with glyclazide, a well-known antihyperglycemic drug. The present study indicates that SAC possesses a significantly beneficial effect on the glycoprotein moiety in addition to its antidiabetic effect.