Gene, Cell and Tissue
Year:2019 | Volume:6 | Issue:4|Papers Count:7

Background: Natural polysaccharides have been found to act as potent immunomodulatory agents. Objectives: The present study aimed to assess and optimize the concentration of polysaccharides driven from Chlorella by-product (CBP) for interferon- (IFN-) and interleukin-2 (IL-2) gene expression by chicken peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Methods: In this study, a crude polysaccharide (CP) was extracted from CBP and fractionated to F1 and F2 using anion-exchange chromatography. Extracted polysaccharideswereused at the concentrations of 200to1000 g/mLin the culturemediumfor PBMCs. The data were analyzed by historical-data response surface methodology (RSM) approach. The analysis of variance test was applied to check the significance of RSM results. Results: The effects of immunomodulator type and concentration were statistically significant (P < 0. 0001) on both cytokines. In addition, the interaction effect was also significant for IFN- expression (P = 0. 03). The regression models of IFN- andIL-2 expression were confirmed by the non-significant lack of fit (P = 0. 056 and P = 0. 066, respectively), the determination coefficient (R2 = 0. 98 and R2 = 0. 96, respectively), and adjusted determination coefficient (Adj. R2 = 0. 97 and Adj. R2 = 0. 94, respectively). The predicted determination coefficients (Pred. R2 = 0. 96 and Pred. R2 = 0. 92 for IFN- and IL-2 expression, respectively) were in reasonable agreement with the adjusted R2 values and confirmed that the models had a good predictive ability. The adequate precision values of above 4 (37. 51 and 24. 45 for IFN- and IL-2, respectively) also proved the established models could navigate the design space. Furthermore, the optimization results by the historical-data design of RSM revealed that F1 at 786. 68  g/mL with the desirability of 0. 87 could be selected to maximize the gene expression of IFN- and IL-2 by chicken PBMCs. Conclusions: It is concluded that the immunostimulatory effect was more prominent for F1 than for CP or F2 polysaccharides. In addition, historical-data RSM showed to be a valuable technique to optimize the factors and reach maximum gene expression in chicken PBMCs. Further investigations are now in progress to determine the interrelationship between the molecular structure and bioactivities of CP and fractionated polysaccharides.

Even though varicella is rare in pregnancy, if it occurs, it may be associated with a high rate of mortality and morbidity for both mother and newborn. Studies show that maternal infection causes congenital varicella syndrome, which could be presented with neonatal malformations such as limbs hypoplasia, skin scarring, and visual defects. This disease is more dangerous in the case of association with pneumonia, bacterial superimposed infections, and hemorrhage. Therefore, it is suggested that any varicellaexposed pregnant woman at any gestational age receives prophylactic varicella immunoglobulin. This paper deals with the clinical consequences and the available methods of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of varicella-zoster virus infection during pregnancy.

Background: Acinetobacter baumannii is a non-fermentative gram-negative bacterium that is common in nosocomial infections. As an opportunistic pathogen in hospitals, it is resistant to a large number of antibiotics and responsible for numerous infections such as bacteremia, pneumonia, meningitis, urogenital infections, and surgical wound infections. Methods: We isolated 10 strains of Acinetobacter baumannii from urine samples of patients referring to Zabol Hospital. Solanum nigrumandSaponaria officinalis plants were harvested from Zabol city, dried in shade, milled, placed in a solvent solution (96% ethanol) for 24 h, and extracted using a rotary machine. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the least bactericidal concentration were determined by the microdilution method. Results: The results of the antibiotic resistance testing showed that 100% of the strains were susceptible to antibiotics ceftazidime, gentamycin, and azithromycin while only 16. 6% were resistant to ampicillin. The results of antimicrobial activity analysis showed that the leastminimuminhibitory concentration of Saponaria officinalis leaves extract was 25ppmagainst A. baumannii. Nine strains were inhibited at this concentration and one strain survived at all concentrations. The lowest minimum inhibitory concentration of Solanum nigrum extract was 12. 5, with two strains being inhibited at this concentration and seven strains being inhibited at 25. Conclusions: This study showed antimicrobial effects of Solanum nigrum and Saponaria officinalis extracts against A. baumannii. Therefore, they can be proposed as treatments for infections caused by this bacterium.

Background: Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) have recognized that polymorphisms of the resistin gene were strongly correlated with the risk of type 2 diabetes. Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the association of the-420 resistin gene polymorphism with type 2 diabetes in Khuzestan province, Iran. Methods: Unrelated healthy controls (n = 200) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients (n = 200) were selected from Khuzestan province, Iran. Genotyping was performed by the PCR-RFLP method. Results: The frequency of the CC genotype in diabetic patients was about twice as high as in healthy individuals (P < 0. 05). The frequency of the C allele was higher in diabetics than in healthy subjects and this difference was statistically significant. Also, diabetic patients with the CC genotype had the highest fasting blood glucose and the lowest HbA1C among studied patients with other genotypes although these differences were not statistically significant (P 0. 05). Conclusions: The findings showed that the resistin gene polymorphism at position-420 (C>G) gene was correlated with T2DM. In addition, the high frequency of the C allele in diabetic patients may influence susceptibility to T2DM.

Dear Editor, We have read with great interest the recent article by Fazli and Ghorbian describing their study about the “ Association study of non-coding RNA miR-499 and miR196a2 gene polymorphisms with the risk of idiopathic recurrent pregnancy loss” (1). We would like to thank the authors for sharing their valuable experience with non-codingRNA gene polymorphisms with the risk of idiopathic recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL). The authors found that the polymorphismof the miR-499 genehada statistically significant association with the risk of RPL, unlike miR-196a2. They concluded that the miR-499 gene encoding regionmaybe contributed as a genetic predisposition factor to RPL. However, the role of miR-499 and miR196a2 gene polymorphisms in patients with RPL remains unclear....

Background: Biofilms are communities of microorganisms embedded in a self-produced extracellular polymeric matrix. Bacterial cells are protected from antimicrobial agents in biofilm structure. Objectives: This article aims at exploring the anti-bacterial anti-biofilm effects of the ethanol extracts of Glycyrrhiza glabra, Rosmarinus officinalis, and Saponaria officinalis on food pathogens. Methods: Methanol extracts of Glycyrrhiza glabra, Rosmarinus officinalis, and Saponaria officinalis were prepared by rotary device. The bacterium was purchased in standard form. Finally, the antimicrobial activities of the extracts on the bacteria were measured by the microdilution method. Results: The results of this study showed that the lowest inhibitory concentration of G. garlic extract of methanol extract was 0. 62 mg/mL, which was inhibited by L. monocytogenes, while B. cereus was eliminated in all concentrations of the extract. The lowest inhibitory concentration of rosemary extract was 0. 62 mg/mL, which was inhibited by S. dysenterae and V. cholera, while the highest inhibitory concentration was 2. 5 mg/mL, which B. cereus is restrained. The results of the study showed that the biofilm formation rate decreases with increasing concentrations of the extracts Conclusions: The result of the study showed that plant extracts have antimicrobial and anti-biofilm effects on food pathogens. Herbal extracts can be used to control food borne pathogens.

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common progressive diseases in the joints. A few studies have evaluated the effect of combined endurance training (ET), hyaluronic acid (HA), and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on bone mass. Objectives: The present study aimed to examine the effect of ET, HA, and MSCs on osteocalcin (OC) gene expression in cartilage tissues of rats with knee OA. Methods: In this experimental study, 40 rats with OA were divided into eight groups of five rats, including (1) control, (2) MSCs, (3) HA, (4) ET, (5) HA + MSCs, (6) ET + HA, (7) ET + MSCs, and (8) ET + MSCs + HA. To investigate the effects of OA on OC, five rats were assigned to the healthy group. During eight weeks, the ET groups ran on a treadmill three sessions per week (30-50 min at a speed of 16 m/min), the MSC groups received MSCs (1  106 cells/kg) intra-articularly, and the HA groups were treated with a 10 mg/mL intra-articular therapeutic dose of HA. The OC gene expression levels were measured by the real-time PCR method. The Shapiro-Wilk and one-way ANOVA with Tukey’ s post hoc tests were used to analyze the data (P 0. 05). Results: Osteoarthritis significantly decreased OC (P  0. 05); nevertheless, ET + HA + MSCs, HA + MSCs, ET + HA, and ET + MSCs significantly increased OC (P 0. 05). Also, OC was significantly higher in the ET + HA + MSCs group than in either of ET, HA, or MSC groups (P 0. 05). Conclusions: It seems that a combination of ET, HA, and MSCs has more favorable effects than each one alone on the improvement of OC in cartilage tissues of rats with knee OA.