Ganoderma applanatum extract mediated synthesis of silver nanoparticles

Abstract Nanotechnology has been used in the field of medicine and pharmacology for its greater efficacy of drug delivery than crude molecules of drugs. In the present study medicinal mushroom Ganoderma applanatum extract mediated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized, characterized by Ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis.) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction, Dynamic light scattering (DLS) and Furior transform-infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Maximum absorbance was recorded at 435nm by UV-Vis. The synthesized nanoparticles of 13.54nm-255nm in size with an average particle size of 58.77nm were analyzed by DLS. FTIR-Spectroscopy provided high transmission at 3606cm-1 corresponds for phenolic capping biochemical. Thus G. applanatum extract can be used for synthesis of silver nanoparticles and the synthesized nanoparticles may be used for development of future therapeutic agent for treatment of diseases.

Role of IL-1ß, IL-6 and TNF-α cytokines and TNF-α promoter variability in Plasmodium vivax infection during pregnancy in endemic population of Jharkhand, India.

BACKGROUND: The combinatorial effects of Plasmodium infection, perturbation of inflammatory responses and the dichotomic role of TNF promoter polymorphism has potential clinical and physiological relevance during pregnancy. OBJECTIVE AND METHODS: This coordinated orchestration instigated us to investigate the circulating level of inflammatory cytokines (IL-1ß, TNF-α and IL-6) employing ELISA in a stratified group of samples and the plausible genetic association of TNF-α -308 G/A using PCR-RFLP/sequencing during Plasmodium vivax infection in pregnancy. RESULTS: We observed significantly elevated concentrations of IL-1ß were observed, followed by IL-6 and TNF-α in women with malaria (WWM) and in malaria in pregnancy (MIP). Further, elevated IL-1ß, followed by TNF-α and IL-6 were detected in the non-infected pregnancy group. The differential dynamics of inflammatory cytokine concentration during each trimester of pregnancy with and without P. vivax infection were detected. For the first time, a high level of IL-6 was observed in the first trimester of MIP and high IL-1ß in healthy pregnancies. In the second trimester, however, we observed a high level of IL-1ß in the MIP group compared to a sustained high level of IL-1ß in the healthy pregnancy group. In the third trimester, high IL-1ß was sustained in the MIP group and healthy pregnancies acquired a high TNF-α level. The genotypic distribution for the TNF-α promoter -308 G/A position was observed to be nonsignificant and mildly associated during MIP (OR = 1.4) and in WWM (OR = 1.2). Moreover, based on genotypic distribution, we observed a well-correlated and significantly elevated TNF-α concentration in the mutant homozygote genotype (AA; p = 0.001) followed by heterozygotes (GA; p = 0.0001) and ancestral genotypes (GG; p = 0.0001) in both MIP and WWM subjects. CONCLUSION: The observation of elevated IL-1ß and IL-6 in MIP and TNF-α in WWM may be regarded as a prognostic inflammatory marker of infection and pregnancy. Most particularly, the TNF-α concentration and its polymorphic variability in the promoter region may indicate genetic susceptibility and mildly influence the risk for P. vivax infection during pregnancy and in women with malaria.

iNOS polymorphism modulates iNOS/NO expression via impaired antioxidant and ROS content in P. vivax and P. falciparum infection.

Nitric oxide (NO) has dicotomic influence on modulating host-parasite interplay, synchronizing physiological orchestrations and diagnostic potential; instigated us to investigate the plausible association and genetic regulation among NO level, components of oxidative stress, iNOS polymorphisms and risk of malaria. Here, we experimentally elucidate that iNOS promoter polymorphisms are associated with risk of malaria; employing mutation specific genotyping, functional interplay using western blot and RT-PCR, quantitative estimation of NO, total antioxidant content (TAC) and reactive oxygen species (ROS). Genotyping revealed significantly associated risk of P. vivax (adjusted OR = 1.92 and 1.72) and P. falciparum (adjusted OR = 1.68 and 1.75) infection with SNP at iNOS-954G/C and iNOS-1173C/T positions, respectively; though vivax showed higher risk of infection. Intriguingly, mutation and infection specific differential upregulation of iNOS expression/NO level was observed and found to be significantly associated with mutant genotypes. Moreover, P. vivax showed pronounced iNOS protein (2.4 fold) and mRNA (2.5 fold) expression relative to healthy subjects. Furthermore, TAC and ROS were significantly decreased in infection; and differentially decreased in mutant genotypes. Our findings endorse polymorphic regulation of iNOS expression, altered oxidant-antioxidant components and evidences of risk association as the hallmark of malaria pathogenesis. iNOS/NO may serve as potential diagnostic marker in assessing clinical malaria.