Physalis pubescens L. alleviates testicular disruptions associated with streptozotocin-induced diabetes in male Wistar rats, Rattus norvegicus.

Testicular impairment is a serious complication of diabetes that is mediated by oxidative stress and inflammation. Physalis has antioxidative and anti-inflammatory actions. Thus, the present study investigated the ameliorative role of Physalis juice (PJ) prepared from the fruits against testicular damages in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Adult male Wistar rats were divided randomly into five groups (n=6): control, orally administered 5 mL PJ/kg daily (PJ), injected intraperitoneally with a single dose of 55 mg STZ/kg without treatment (STZ), or treated daily with PJ (STZ+PJ) or with 500 mg metformin/kg (STZ+Met), for 28 days. The STZ group showed a marked elevation in the blood glucose level by 230%, whereas remarkable declines in the serum levels of testosterone (44%), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) (48%), and luteinizing hormone (LH) (36%), as compared to controls. In comparison to controls, the testis of the STZ group showed remarkable declines in the testis weight (15%), the glutathione (GSH) content (45%), mRNA and protein levels of B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) (48 and 35%), mRNA and activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) (63 and 40%), catalase (CAT) (56 and 31%), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) (51 and 44%), and glutathione reductase (GR) (62 and 43%), whereas marked elevations in the levels of interleukin-1 beta (IL-1ß (169%), tumor necrosis factor-alfa (TNFα) (85%), nitric oxide (NO) (96%), malondialdehyde (MDA) (83%), mRNA and protein levels of Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) (400 and 61%), and mRNA level of caspase-3 (Cas-3) (370%). Some histopathological alterations were observed in the testicular tissue of the STZ group. In contrast, PJ markedly alleviated all the abovementioned disturbances. In conclusion, PJ at a dose of 5 mL/kg attenuated the diabetes-associated testicular impairments, which may be due to its antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and antiapoptotic actions.

Assessment of the Anti-Cancer Efficiency of Silver Moringa oleifera Leaves Nano-extract against Colon Cancer Induced Chemically in Rats.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) categorized as the most common type of gastrointestinal cancers affected both genders equally. Chemotherapeutic drugs became limited due to their deleterious side effects. Therefore, efficiency of M. oleifera leaves extract increased by incorporating silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) then studied against colon cancer induced by azoxymethane (AOM) in rats. METHODS: Different hematological and biochemical measurements in addition to specific tumor and inflammatory markers were quantified. Histopathological examination for Colonic tissues was performed. Native proteins and isoenzyme patterns were electrophoretically detected in addition to assaying expression of Tumor Protein P53 (TP53) and Adenomatous Polyposis Coli (APC) genes in colonic tissues. RESULTS: M. oleifera nano-extract restored levels of the hematological and biochemical measurements in addition to levels of tumor and inflammatory markers to normalcy in both of nano-extract simult- and post-treated groups. Also, it minimized severity of the histopathological alterations in the simult-treated group and prevented it completely in the post-treated group. The lowest similarity index (SI%) values were noticed with electrophoretic protein (SI=61.54%), lipid (SI=0.00%) and calcium (SI=75.00%) moieties of protein patterns, catalase (SI=85.71%), peroxidase (SI=85.71%), α-esterase (SI=50.00%) and ß-esterase (SI=50.00%) isoenzymes in addition to altering the relative quantities of total protein and isoenzyme bands in colon of cancer induced group. Moreover, levels of TP53 and APC gene expression increased significantly (P≤0.05) in colon cancer induced group. The nano-extract prevented the qualitative and quantitative alterations in the different electrophoretic patterns in addition to restoring levels of the gene expressions to normalcy in both of simult- and post-treated groups. CONCLUSION: M. oleifera nano-extract exhibited ameliorative effect against the biochemical, physiological and molecular alterations induced by AOM in nano-extract simult- and post-treated groups.
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The ameliorative role of Physalis pubescens L. against neurological impairment associated with streptozotocin induced diabetes in rats.

Neuropathy is considered a critical complication of diabetes mellitus (DM). Scientific studies are needed to relieve these painful complications. The current study aims to estimate the ameliorative role of Physalis juice (PJ) against neurological impairment in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Type 1 DM was induced after one week of injecting rats with 55 mg STZ/kg body weight. PJ-treated rats were orally administered 5 ml PJ/kg body weight per day for 28 days after induction of diabetes. A small piece of the cerebral cortex of rats was fixed and used for histopathological investigations. The remaining portion of the cerebral cortex was homogenized for biochemical and molecular analyses. As compared to the controls, STZ-injected rats showed significant elevations in the levels of blood glucose, tumor necrosis factor alfa, interleukin-1ß, malondialdehyde, nitric oxide, and expression levels of caspase-3 and B-cell lymphoma-2 associated X-protein. Additionally, remarkable declines in the levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, monoamines, B-cell lymphoma-2, glutathione, as well as the activities and gene expression levels of superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione reductase in STZ-treated rats were reported. Moreover, some histopathological alterations were observed in the brain cortex of the STZ-treated rats. On the other hand, the administration of PJ substantially reduced the blood glucose and alleviated the above-mentioned alterations in all the studied parameters of the cerebral cortex. In conclusion, an oral administration of 5 ml PJ/kg revealed a neuroprotective action against neurodegenerative diabetes-induced complications in rats, which might be due to the reported antioxidative and anti-inflammatory actions of PJ. Thus, further therapeutic studies are recommended to apply PJ in the treatment regimen of diabetes.