Pumpkin seeds (Cucurbita pepo subsp. ovifera) decoction promotes Trichinella spiralis expulsion during intestinal phase via "Weep and Sweep" mechanism.

Trichinosis is a zoonotic disease of communal health concern as it instigated human outbreaks in several countries. Besides, the development of resistance, traditional therapy has numerous antagonistic effects. Thereby, finding efficient natural alternatives is required. In comparison to albendazole, this study evaluated the impact of pumpkin decoction on Trichinella spiralis in experimentally infected mice. The anthelmintic action of pumpkin decoction (500 mg/kg) was determined using T. spiralis infected mice in enteric phase for 5 days. Pumpkin decoction anthelmintic activity fortified by mixing with honey (1:1). Pumpkin decoction and Pumpkin decoction-honey mixture were evaluated by comprising with reference drug, albendazole (50 mg/kg). The T. spiralis adult count was significantly lower in all treated groups, with the pumpkin decoction-honey mixture showing the largest reduction (83.2%) when compared to the infected group (P ≤ 0.001). The intestinal histological changes and the level of COX-2 expression in the intestinal tissue were both significantly reduced in the same group. The pumpkin decoction improved the immune response, as evidenced by a significant decrease in nitric oxide (NO) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) and a significant increase in the expression of the transforming growth factor (TGF-1ß) and interleukin-17 (IL-17). The pumpkin decoction's anthelmintic action was facilitated by the TGF-1ß and IL-17-driven Weep and Sweep mechanism. Both administration of pumpkin decoction beside honey showed the best treatment group that resulted in high infection reduction besides amelioration of biochemical markers and restoration of histological to normal state. In conclusion, pumpkin decoction is highly effective against T. spiralis which could be a promising alternative herbal drug and the pumpkin decoction effect was higher in the case of combination with honey.

Acidic Exo-Polysaccharide Obtained from Bacillus sp. NRC5 Attenuates Testosterone-DMBA-Induced Prostate Cancer in Rats via Inhibition of 5 α-Reductase and Na+/K+ ATPase Activity Mechanisms.

Bacillus sp. NRC5 is a new strain that grows in Egyptian beaches. This strain produces acidic exo-polysaccharide that have excellent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor properties. The current study aimed to introduce a new natural product feasible for prostate cancer therapies. The anti-prostate cancer of acidic exo-polysaccharide produced from marine Bacillus sp. NRC5 (EBPS) was determined using 7,12-dimethylbenz-(a)-anthracene; DMBA-induced prostate cancer in male Sprague Dawley rats. Rats were subcutaneously injected with testosterone (3 mg/kg/day for 3 months) and a single dose of DMBA (65 mg/kg) for induction of prostate cancer. EBPS was administrated orally at dose 200 mg/kg/day for 3 months. To study protective effect of EBPS, animals received EBPS before cancer induction, meanwhile in therapeutic effect animals received EBPS after cancer induction. EBPS debug oxidative stress and inflammatory conditions associated with prostate cancer. EBPS either protective or therapeutic material considerably reduced cancer growth rate-limiting enzyme-i.e., 5-α-reductase (46.89 ± 1.72 and 44.86 ± 2.56 µg Eq/mL) and Na+/K+ ATPase (0.44 ± 0.03 and 0.42 ± 0.02 µg Eq/mL), compared to cancer control (69.68 ± 3.46 µg Eq/mL). In addition, both cancer biomarkers-i.e., prostate-specific antigen and carcinoembryonic antigen were significantly lowered as evidence of the ability of EBPS to protect and treat prostate cancer in chemically induced rats. EBPS showed protective and therapeutic efficacy on testosterone-DMBA-induced prostate cancer rats with a good safety margin. This study may go to clinical trials after a repeated study on another type of small experimental animal, their offspring, and one big experimental animal.

Production, structural and biochemical characterization relevant to antitumor property of acidic exopolysaccharide produced from Bacillus sp. NRC5.

This study targeted the production of exopolysaccharide from Bacillus sp. NRC5 grown in Egyptian seawater to use it as natural antitumor therapy. The biological activities of selected exopolysaccharide (BEPS) as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticancer have been studied. BEPS was evaluated as an anti-inflammatory in vitro against cyclooxygenase (COX-1 and COX-2) and evaluated as an anticancer on human breast and prostate cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and PC3). In addition, BEPS antitumor activity was tested against the Ehrlich Ascites Carcinoma (EAC) model. The BEPS presented potent antioxidant activities, consisted of glucose, mannose, and mannuronic acid in a molar ratio of 1.0:1.7:0.8 with a molecular weight of 3.59 × 105 g/mol. BEPS showed a promising COX-2 inhibitory effect in comparison with the reference drug celecoxib. BEPS appeared efficient anticancer property, where it killed 64.20 and 70.20% of MCF-7 and PC3 cells at 100 µg/ml, respectively (IC50, 76.70, and 70.40 µg/ml, respectively). BEPS exhibited antitumor ability as it prolonged the lifespan of mice to reach 75 days instead of 20 days in the tumor control, reduced viable cancer cells count, tumor volume and weight, modulated blood components, and white blood cells differentiation. BEPS produced from Bacillus sp. NRC5 showed its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory abilities and antitumor abilities, which may all be attributed to its unique composition containing sulfated moieties and uronic acids.

Hyssopus officinalis exerts hypoglycemic effects on streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats via modulating GSK-3ß, C-fos, NF-κB, ABCA1 and ABGA1 gene expression.

OBJECTIVES: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DMT2) is contributed to dual interactions between environmental factors and certain genetic factors. This impressed a great need for novel treatment strategy. Nevertheless, Hyssopus officinalis (H. officinalis) as a terrestrial herb is considered to be an important source of natural antioxidants, it could be assessed as an anti-hyperglycemic agent. METHODS: In the current study, HPLC identified the active constitutes of H. officinalis, including total polyphenols, and flavonoids. Type 2 diabetes mellitus was induced in male Wistar albino rats via a single ip dose of streptozotocin (STZ) (35 mg/kg BW). One week post diabetes induction, rats were administrated H. officinalis (500 mg/ kg BW) orally for one month. Molecular analysis was assessed to investigate the efficiency of H. officinalis on modulating ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1) and G1 (ABCG1) genes, in addition to apoptotic biomarkers, glycogen synthase kinase-3ß (GSK-3ß) and cellular oncogene-fos (C-fos) genes. Furthermore, inflammatory biomarkers, nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) gene expression were also assessed. RESULTS: H. officinalis alcoholic extract declared the presence of polyphenols as gallic acid and flavonoids as quercetin in addition to many active constituents. Apigenin-7-glucoside and Chlorgenic acid were the most common constituents in the extract. RT-PCR results declared a significant up-regulation in mRNA gene expression of ABCA1 and ABCG1 upon H. officinalis treatment. Meanwhile, C-fos gene expression recorded a slight down-regulation. Gene expression of apoptotic biomarker GSK-3ß demonstrated a significant down regulation as well as inflammatory biomarkers NF-κB and TNF-α. CONCLUSION: From the data recorded, it could be concluded that H. officinalis exerts a great hypoglycemic potential via modulating C-fos, GSK-3ß, NF-κB, TNF-α, ABCA1 and ABCG1 gene expression and signaling pathways and could be considered as an effective candidate for DMT2 treatment.

Acidic Exopolysaccharide Produced from Marine Bacillus amyloliquefaciens 3MS 2017 for the Protection and Treatment of Breast Cancer.

PURPOSE: This study was planned to investigate the anti-breast-cancer property of acidic exopolysaccharide produced from marine Bacillus amyloliquefaciens 3MS 2017 (BAEPS) in an animal model, which previously showed in-vitro anti-breast-cancer activity, by studying its potential participation in various targeted mechanisms. METHODS: Mammary carcinoma in female Sprague-Dawley rats, both in prophylactic and in curative designs, was chemically induced using 7,12-dimethylebenz-(a)-anthracene (DMBA). B. amyloliquefaciens 3MS 2017 anti-breast-cancer property was evaluated by studying its effects on cancer-growth-rate-limiting enzymes (aromatase and Na+/K+ ATPase), sexual hormones (estrogen and progesterone), antioxidant and inflammatory biomarkers (cyclooxygenase-1; COX-1 and cyclooxygenase-2; COX-2). The incidence of breast cancer by DMBA was dependent on the level of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and aromatase. RESULTS: 7,12-Dimethylebenz-(a)-anthracene female rats were characterized by a significant increase in cancer-related biomarkers with an increase of oxidative stress biomarkers, in comparison with the negative control. Potent BAEPS anticancer activity on DMBA rats was exhibited either as a prophylactic or as a curative agent, which appeared via restoring the aromatase and Na+/K+ ATPase subunits levels and CEA close to the normal level. Besides, BAEPS modulated a sexual hormone, in comparison with the cancer control group (P ⩽ .05). B. amyloliquefaciens 3MS 2017 selectively inhibited COX-2 in parallel with promising antioxidant properties. The curative characters of BAEPS were more promising than the prophylactic. CONCLUSION: The anti-breast-cancer characters accompanied with a good safety margin may be attributed to its inhibitory effect on cancer-growth-rate-limiting enzymes, estrogen production, COX-2 level and lipid peroxidation, concurrent with enhancing COX-1 level, progesterone production, and antioxidant status.

Production, characterization and biological activities of acidic exopolysaccharide from marine Bacillus amyloliquefaciens 3MS 2017.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate in-vitro antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antitumor abilities against human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF7) and human prostate cancer (PC3) as well as the suppressor effect of bacterial exopolysaccharide (BAEPS) on Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC). METHODS: In-vitro antioxidants characters of BAEPS were determined using various methods, while anti-inflammatory activity was estimated against cyclooxygenase (COX-1 and COX-2). In-vitro study, anticancer against MCF7 and PC3 were assessed by the mitochondrial dependent reduction of yellow MTT. In in-vivo study against EAC progression, mice were inoculated with EAC cells and then were orally administered BAEPS at 200 mg/kg after 24 h (equals to 0.10 of determined LD50)/10 d. RESULTS: BAEPS was acidic exopolysaccharide contained uronic acid (12.3%) and sulfate (22.8%) with constitution of glucose, galactose and glucuronic acid in a molar ratio 1.6:1.0:0.9, respectively, with a molecular mass of 3.76 × 104 g/mol. BAEPS appeared potent antioxidant characters as free radical scavenging, oxygen reactive species scavenging and metal chelation, while its reducing power was low. BAEPS showed selective anti-inflammatory activity against COX-2 than COX-1, COX-2 selective. BAEPS exhibited potent and selective effect to breast cell cancer MCF7, the death percentage was 65.20% with IC50 = 70 µg/mL and IC90 = 127.40 µg/mL. BAEPS decreased counted viable EAC cells and induced non-viable cells. BAEPS improved all assessed hematological parameters. These improvements were reflected in the increasing median survival time and significant increment (P < 0.05) in life span. CONCLUSIONS: BAEPS has anti-tumor activity with a good margin of safety. The anti-tumor activity of BAEPS may be due to its content from sulfated groups and uronic acids and they have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

The protection of Thymus vulgaris leaves alcoholic extract against hepatotoxicity of alcohol in rats.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the protective effect of Thymus vulgaris (T. vulgaris) leaves 70% alcoholic extract against alcohol-mediate hepatotoxicity rats. METHODS: The protective effect of T. vulgaris extract was investigated at dose of 500 mg/kg/day (as 0.1 of LD50) orally against alcohol-mediate hepatotoxicity using adult male Wister albino rats during 21 days. Protective effect of T. vulgaris extract was evaluated comparing with silymarin standard drug at recommended dose (25 mg/kg/day) orally for 21 days. Serum liver and kidney functions, serum lipid profile, liver antioxidant enzymes activities, liver glutathione concentration (GSH), liver oxidative parameters and histopathological study of liver and kidney were estimated to find out protective effect of T. vulgaris extract. RESULTS: Alcohol-mediate hepatotoxicity rats (alcohol-control) showed hepatocytes distortion represented as marked increment on liver biomarkers; alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) activities, as well as pronounced reduction on total protein and its fractions albumin and globulin production corresponding to normal ranges. Oxidative stress status was appeared on alcohol-control evident as significant depletion on GSH concentration, antioxidant enzymes activities; catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione- S- transferase (GST) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) recorded significant dwindling, concurrence with significant augmentation on oxidative stress parameters; malondyaldehyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) concentrations with respect to normal values. Serum lipid profile was affected by alcohol administration, total cholesterol (TC) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were significantly reduced, meanwhile high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was raised comparing to normal ranges. Co-administration of T. vulgaris extract with alcohol showed protective effect on hepatocytes manifested as remarkable minimizing on ALP, AST and ALT activities and marked increment on total protein, albumin and globulin production compared to alcohol-control. Amelioration was achieved on oxidative stress status on rats co-administrated T. vulgaris extract with alcohol. Accordingly, antioxidant enzymes activities; CAT, SOD, GR, GST and GPx were significantly magnified, while oxidative stress parameters; MDA and H2O2 concentration were significantly lessened corresponding to alcohol-control. Also, lipid profile was markedly improved and risk ratio was lowered by T. vulgaris extract co-administrated in comparison with alcohol-control. All these obvious results were confirmed by histopathological examination, which illustrated that extract showed normalization of degenerated and fibrotic liver tissue as of alcohol-control. CONCLUSION: T. vulgaris extract protected hepatocytes from damaging by alcohol reflecting improvement on liver performance and inhibition of oxidative stress status of liver. T. vulgaris extract appeared hepatoprotective, hypolipidemic and antioxidant activities on alcohol-mediate hepatotoxicity rats compared to silymarin.

Hypolipidemic and antioxidant activity of the aqueous extract from the uneaten pulp of the fruit from Cordia dichotoma in healthy and hyperlipidemic Wistar albino rats.

Hyperlipidemia is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease. Hyperlipidemia increases the incidence of myocardial ischemia and cardiac events. This study evaluated the potential hypolipidemic and antioxidant action of the aqueous extract from the uneaten pulp of the fruit from Cordia dichotoma ("CDNP extract"). In vivo studies were performed for 10 weeks on dietary hyperlipidemic and healthy Wistar albino rat models that received two dose levels of the CDNP extract (0.50 and 1.00 g/kg body weight). Serum lipid profiles were determined for the experimental animals. Dietary hyperlipidemic rats were characterized by an elevated lipid profile compared to the healthy control, i.e., increased levels of serum total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), very low density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C), and triglycerides (TG), although the level of high-density lipoprotein (HDL-C) was reduced. Levels of antioxidant enzymes, i.e., glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT), were significantly higher in the dietary hyperlipidemic rats than in the normal healthy ones, while the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) was significantly lower. Force-feeding hyperlipidemic Wistar albino rats with the CDNP extract at two doses decreased TC, LDL-C, VLDL-C, and TG to normal levels. The risk ratio, which was as high as 870 % for the hyperlipidemic rats was decreased by the treatment to levels close to that calculated for the healthy control rats. Levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were very low in the hyperlipidemic Wistar albino rats but increased significantly when CDNP extract was adminstered, attaining similar HDL-C levels to those of healthy control rats. Treatment with the CDNP extract also improved the levels of antioxidant enzymes (GR, GST, GPx, SOD, and CAT) in hyperlipidemic Wistar albino rats. Thus, the CDNP extract improves the lipid metabolism of healthy and hyperlipidemic Wistar albino rats and can be employed in the management of dietary hyperlipidemia.