Assessment of methomyl-induced adrenal gland disruption in rat fetuses and pups: Potential protective effects of propolis supplementation.

The present study aimed to unravel the possible adverse effects of methomyl on the developing adrenal gland of rat fetuses and pups. Additionally, this study explored the potential improving effects of propolis against these possible hazards induced by methomyl exposure. To achieve that, pregnant rats were divided into four groups: control group, received 1 mL distilled water, propolis group, received 1 mL propolis at a dose of 300 mg/kg, methomyl group, received 1 mL methomyl at a dose of 2 mg/kg, and combined group, received 1 mL methomyl followed by 1 mL propolis, an hour later at the same previous doses. The results revealed that methomyl exposure, during pregnancy and lactation, induced many histological and ultrastructural changes, caused DNA damage and downregulated the expression of steroidogenic acute regulatory (StAR) and CYP11B2 genes in the adrenal glands of both rat fetuses and pups. Interestingly, propolis supplementation demonstrated a remarkable ability to mitigate these deleterious effects and restored the histology and ultrastructure architecture of the adrenal glands of both fetuses and pups, as well as decreased DNA damage and upregulated the expression of StAR and CYP11B2 genes in the adrenal gland of rat fetuses and pups. In conclusion, our study highlights the potential hazardous impact of methomyl exposure during pregnancy and lactation on the development of the adrenal gland in rat fetuses and pups, moreover, the study presents a new approach to alleviate these effects through propolis administration which could be used as a dietary supplement to mitigate the adverse effects of methomyl exposure.

Iron overload induced by diphenylamine triggers reactive oxygen species and apoptosis in the spleen of pregnant rats and their fetuses.

Diphenylamine (DPA) is an aniline derivative, used widely as an industrial antioxidant, dye mordant, and agricultural fungicide. DPA was reported as hazardous to mammals both acutely and chronically, however little is known about the toxicity of DPA and its derivatives during pregnancy. This study aimed to evaluate and explain the possible mechanism of toxicity induced by DPA on blood and spleen, as a fundamental hematopoietic target organ, in pregnant rats and their fetuses. Pregnant rats were orally administrated distilled water, corn oil, and/or DPA (400 mg/kg b.wt) from the 5th to 19th day of gestation. DPA-induced spleen toxicity was mirrored by significant upregulation of programmed death-1 (PD-1) protein expression and an increase in the percentage of apoptotic cells and a decrease in their proliferating capacity. These results have been confirmed through marked G0/G1 cell-cycle arrest that was observed by flow cytometric analysis of spleen cells. Moreover, the contents of reactive oxygen species and iron in the spleen tissue were significantly higher than that of the control group. DPA resulted in severe anemia, decreased hemoglobin and hematocrit, thrombocytopenia and leukopenia in addition to significant changes in differential leukocytic count of both mothers and fetuses. Evidently, DPA triggered serious pathological changes in the spleen tissue of both mothers and fetuses and the histochemical examination revealed a significant increase in iron expression. In conclusion, these results implicate the hemato- and splenotoxicity of DPA and the possible role of oxidative stress and apoptosis in DPA-induced toxicity in the spleen of pregnant rats and their fetuses. This in-turn suggests the urgent need to reduce exposure to DPA as possible as it can.

Neurotoxic effect of nalufin on the histology, ultrastructure, cell cycle and apoptosis of the developing chick embryo and its amelioration by selenium.

The use of opioids during pregnancy has recently dramatically increased presenting major health problems, especially on the developing neonatal nervous system development. Nalufin is considered one of the most used opioid analgesics for treatment of moderate to severe pain, especially during pregnancy. The aim of the present study was firstly to assess the possible neurotoxic effects of nalufin injection during the organogenesis period of chick embryos, and second to investigate the ameliorative effects of selenium as a supplement. Fertilized chicken eggs were in ovo injected with 0.2ml of either nalufin (20 mg/kg egg) or selenium (0.1 mg/kg egg) or both. Nalufin injection resulted in cerebral cortical layer disruption, increase of Caspase-3 immunoexpression and chromatolytic nuclei, degenerated organelles, rarefied cytoplasm and hemorrhage. On the molecular levels, nalufin induced DNA fragmentation, cell cycle arrest and increased the percentage of apoptosis of the neuronal cells. Selenium combined treatment restored the three-layered structure of the cerebral cortex, decreased caspase-3 immuno-expression, improved ultrastructure and recovered cell cycle arrest, decreased apoptosis, and DNA degradation. In conclusion, nalufin treatment during pregnancy imposes great concerns and should not be used during embryonic development, on the other hands, selenium appears to be a promising neuroprotective agent against nalufin-induced neurotoxicity.

An assay for cancer stem cell-induced angiogenesis on chick chorioallantoic membrane.

Angiogenesis is generally involved in tumor growth and metastasis. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are considered to facilitate the angiogenesis. Therefore, CSCs could be the effective targets to stop angiogenesis. Recently, our group successfully generated CSC models from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in the presence of conditioned medium derived from cancer derived cells. These novel model CSCs has been characterized by highly tumorigenic, angiogenic and metastatic potentials in vivo. The angiogenic potential of CSCs has been explained by the expression of both angiogenic factors and their receptors implying the angiogenesis in autocrine manner. In this protocol we optimized the method to evaluate tumor angiogenesis with the CSC model, which was described effective to assess sorafenib as an antiangiogenic drug, on chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay. Our results demonstrate that CSCs developed from iPSCs and CAM assay are a robust and cost-effective tool to evaluate tumor angiogenesis with CSCs. Collectively, CSCs in CAM assay could serve as a very useful model for the screening of potential therapeutic agents targeting tumor angiogenesis.

Paclitaxel and Sorafenib: The Effective Combination of Suppressing the Self-Renewal of Cancer Stem Cells.

"Combination therapy", which is a treatment modality combining two or more therapeutic agents, is considered a cornerstone of cancer therapy. The combination of anticancer drugs, of which functions are different from the other, enhances the efficiency compared to the monotherapy because it targets cancer cells in a synergistic or an additive manner. In this study, the combination of paclitaxel and sorafenib in low concentration was evaluated to target cancer stem cells, miPS-BT549cmP and miPS-Huh7cmP cells, developed from mouse induced pluripotent stem cells. The synergistic effect of paclitaxel and sorafenib on cancer stem cells was assessed by the inhibition of proliferation, self-renewal, colony formation, and differentiation. While the IC50 values of paclitaxel and sorafenib were approximately ranging between 250 and 300 nM and between 6.5 and 8 µM, respectively, IC50 of paclitaxel reduced to 20 and 25 nM, which was not toxic in a single dose, in the presence of 1 µM sorafenib, which was not toxic to the cells. Then, the synergistic effect was further assessed for the potential of self-renewal of cancer stem cells by sphere formation ability. As a result, 1 µM of sorafenib significantly enhanced the effect of paclitaxel to suppress the number of spheres. Simultaneously, paclitaxel ranging in 1 to 4 nM significantly suppressed not only the colony formation but also the tube formation of the cancer stem cells in the presence of 1 µM sorafenib. These results suggest the combination therapy of paclitaxel and sorafenib in low doses should be an attractive approach to target cancer stem cells with fewer side effects.

The ameliorative effect of curcumin extract on the morphological and skeletal abnormalities induced by sunset yellow and tartrazine in the developing chick embryo Gallus domesticus.

Previous studies have suggested that food dyes are responsible for causing number of health problems. The study under consideration aims to show the possible morphological and skeletal malformation induced due to in ovo administration of sunset yellow (SY) and tartrazine (Tz) with or without curcumin (Cur) during organogenesis of developing chick embryo at doses 1.575mg/egg, 0.375mg/egg and 3mg/kg eggs for SY, Tz and Cur comparing with control. The investigation revealed evident reduction in the weight and length of embryos as well as malformations in feather, head, and limbs. Most of the congenital malformations were seen in SY and Tz injected groups such as short beak, excencephaly, kniked tail and pygostyle, curved scapula and retardation in the degree of ossification were the most evident in endoskeleton malformation. In addition, the length of ossified long bones in SY and Tz groups was affected. Co-administration of Cur with SY and Tz ameliorate the reversed effect of SY and Tz on the shape, length, body weight and skeleton of embryos.

Effect of gabapentin on fetal rat brain and its amelioration by ginger.

Intrauterine exposure to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) is associated with neurodevelopmental alterations causing postnatal behavioral and cognitive alterations. These disorders are associated with the interference of these AEDs with the developing cerebral cortex and hippocampal neurons. Therefore, it is crucial to identify the drugs that should be avoided during pregnancy in order to prevent AED mediated developmental alterations. The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of prenatal exposure to the antiepileptic drug gabapentin (GBP) on the rat fetal brain during the organogenesis phase and to examine the potential ameliorative effect of ginger (Zingiber officinale). Consequently, the current study addressed the developmental neural changes on the histological, immuno-histochemical and ultrastructural levels. The brain of fetuses from the GBP group showed a highly significant decrease in their weight. Histologically, the cerebral cortex and hippocampus regions of fetuses maternally injected with GBP showed layer disorganization, vacuolated neuropil and massive cell degeneration. The expression of Caspase 3 was significantly increased in the brain of GBP fetuses, unlike the expression of Bcl-2 which was significantly decreased. On the ultrastructure level, the neurons showed pyknotic and chromatolytic nuclei. The cytoplasm was rarefied with swollen organelles. Co-administration of ginger evidently ameliorated most of these effects. In conclusion, GBP administration during pregnancy could possibly affect the developing fetal brain and ginger may have ameliorating effect against the induced GBP neurotoxicity and should be taken in parallel.