Myco-remediation of plastic pollution: current knowledge and future prospects.

To date, enumerable fungi have been reported to participate in the biodegradation of several notorious plastic materials following their isolation from soil of plastic-dumping sites, marine water, waste of mulch films, landfills, plant parts and gut of wax moth. The general mechanism begins with formation of hydrophobin and biofilm proceding to secretion of specific plastic degarding enzymes (peroxidase, hydrolase, protease and urease), penetration of three dimensional substrates and mineralization of plastic polymers into harmless products. As a result, several synthetic polymers including polyethylene, polystyrene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyurethane and/or bio-degradable plastics have been validated to deteriorate within months through the action of a wide variety of fungal strains predominantly Ascomycota (Alternaria, Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Fusarium, Penicillium spp.). Understanding the potential and mode of operation of these organisms is thus of prime importance inspiring us to furnish an up to date view on all the presently known fungal strains claimed to mitigate the plastic waste problem. Future research henceforth needs to be directed towards metagenomic approach to distinguish polymer degrading microbial diversity followed by bio-augmentation to build fascinating future of waste disposal.

Evaluating the hypolipidemic effect of garlic essential oil encapsulated in a novel double-layer delivery system.

The limited application of garlic essential oil (GEO) is attributed to its pungent taste, poor water solubility and low bioavailability. Liposomes are nontoxic, biodegradable and biocompatible, and ß-cyclodextrin can inhibit undesirable odors and improve the stability and bioavailability. Thus a promising dual-layer GEO ß-cyclodextrin inclusion compound liposome (GEO-DCL) delivery system with both advantages was designed and prepared in this study. Experimental results indicated that the encapsulation efficiency of GEO-DCLs was 5% higher than that of GEO liposomes (GEO-CLs), reaching more than 88%. In vitro release experiment showed that the release rate of GEO in GEO-DCLs was 40% lower than that of GEO-CLs after incubation in gastric juice for 6-h, indicating that the stability of GEO-DCLs was better than GEO-CLs. Evaluation of the effects of GEO-DCLs on lowering blood lipid levels in hypercholesterolemia mice. GEO-DCLs could reduce the weight and fat deposition in hypercholesterolemia mice. Inhibiting the increase of TC, LDL-C, and decrease of HDL-C in mice. The degree of liver injury was decreased, the number of round lipid droplets in liver cytoplasm was reduced, and the growth of fat cells was inhibited. The lipid-lowering effects of GEO-DCLs were dose-dependent. GEO-DCL can improve the bioavailability of GEO and improve dyslipidemia. Based on GEO's efficacy in lowering blood lipids, this study developed a kind of GEO-DCL compound pomegranate juice beverage with good taste, miscibility and double effect of reducing blood lipids. This study lays a foundation for the application of GEO in the field of functional food.

Pinostrobin alleviates testicular and spermatological damage induced by polystyrene microplastics in adult albino rats.

BACKGROUND: Polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) have become major environmental pollutants that adversely effects multiple organs specifically testicles. Pinostrobin (PN) is an important flavonoid which, shows several pharmacological potentials. PURPOSE: The current study was designed to elucidate the mitigative effects of PN against PS-MPs induced testicular toxicities in rats. METHODS: 48 male albino rats were randomly distributed into 4 groups, control, PS-MPs group (0.01 mg/kg), PS-MPs + PN group (0.01 mg/kg of PS-MPs; 40 mg/kg of PN) and PN group (40 mg/kg). RESULTS: PS-MPs intoxication substantially lessened the activities of glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione reductase (GSR), superoxide dismutase (SOD) along with catalase (CAT) while, raised the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) as well as reactive oxygen species (ROS). Additionally, PS-MPs reduced luteinizing hormone (LH), plasma testosterone, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) concentration, sperm motility, sperm count, expression of steroidogenic enzymes and Bcl-2 (anti-apoptotic protein) along with the count of spermatogenic cells. While, dead sperm count, sperm abnormalities (tail, neck and head), Bax and caspase-3 (apoptotic proteins) expression along with histopathological anomalies were elevated. Moreover, PS-MPs exposure increased the level of inflammatory markers. However, PN treatment considerably decreased oxidative stress (OS) by reducing ROS as well as increased sperm motility and alleviated all the damages induced by the PS-MPs. CONCLUSION: Therefore, it is concluded that PN may prove a potential therapeutic candidate to restore all the PS-MPs-induced testicular toxicities.

Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method development for monitoring stress-related corticosteroids levels in pig saliva.

Biochemical response stressors results in an increase of adrenocortical activity. Before knowing the corticosteroid levels in saliva in a stressful situation, baselines salivary levels should be established. A method for simultaneous determination of five corticosteroids was developed, validated and applied to pig saliva at farms. The method employs solid-phase extraction (SPE) coupled with clean-up extraction step using silica cartridge in the same step followed by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), using electrospray ionization (ESI) in positive mode. The overall method quantification limits range from 0.050 to 0.30µg/L for the enrichment of 1.0mL saliva samples and analyte recoveries are between 60 and 90% (RSD<11%). Some factors studied were: pig sex, breeds, and time at farm. The analytical method clearly shows that CRL and CRS levels of, respectively, 3.0 and 4.0µg/L in saliva can be indicative of maxima non-stress levels in different pig breeds at farm.