NOVA BIOLOGICA REPERTA
Year:2016 | Volume:3 | Issue:1|Papers Count:8

Basolateral Amygdala is an important site of anxiety. Interactions between a-noradrenergic and opioidergic systems in Basolateral amygdale were, then, selected to investigate anxiety and memory. The elevated plus-maze was employed and the male wistar rats were tested. The site of BLA was cannulated bilaterally. Morphine (4, 5, 6 mg/kg) was injected to rats intraperitonealy, while clonidine (1, 2, 4 mg/rat) and yohimbin (0.5, 1, 2 mg/rat) were injected to BLA. Open arm time percentage (%OAT), open arm entry (%0AE) and locomotor activity were determined by this behavioral test. Retention was tested 24 hours later. Administration of morphine (6 mg/kg) increased the OAT% in anxiety test, indicating anxiolytic-like effect. Intra Basolateral amygdala infusion of clonidine (4 mg/rat) has an anxiolytic-like effect. While co-administration of clonidine (4 mg/rat) and ineffective dose of morphine (4 mg/kg) showed significant increase of OAT% in anxiety test; presenting anxiolytic response. Intra Basolateral amygdala administration of yohimbine (2 mg/rat) decreased OAT% indicating of decrease anxiety-like behavior. While Coad ministration of intra Basolateral amygdala clonidine (4 μg/rat) and effective dose of morphine (6 mg/kg) showed a significant increase of OAT%, presenting anxiolytic response; co-administration of ineffective doses of morphine (4 mg/kg) and yohimbine (1 mg/rat) with the effective dose of clonidine (4 mg/rat) showed that yohimbine could reverse the anxiolytic-like effect of morphine and clonidine. It should be noted that there are no significant changes in locomotor activity. The results indicate that morphine creates the compromise changes in adrenergic neurons of Basolateral amygdala by changing the a-noradrenergic system on anxiety.

Lung cancer is the fifth most common cancer in Iran, with rates of 4.7 to 9.2 per 100 thousand populations. Despite the low incidence, survival is not promising. Using biological markers could lead to longer survival rate in patients due to early diagnosis. In this study, we evaluated the association of SNP rs11614913 in mir-196a2 with risk of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in population of southern Iran. SNP rs11614913 in miR-196a2 was assayed in 95 lung cancer patients and 100 controls. The extracted DNA from peripheral blood was amplified using specific primers followed by TaaI digestion. Based on the nucleotide base in this SNP (T or C) two different patterns were produced. In case of T, two bands (187bp and 196bp) and in case of C just one band (383bp) was generated. Analysis of electrophoretic pattern of digestion products revealed that the frequencies of C allele for SNP rs11614913 miR-196a2 were 0.695 in patients and 0.76 in controls. The statistical analysis indicates the presence of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium between the two alleles in the population studied (p>0.05). Based on the results in this study, no significant association between SNP rs11614913 and susceptibility to NSCLC was found. However, male participants who possess TC/TT genotypes showed high risk for NSCLC compared to those possessed CC genotypes.

Androgens have been proved to have positive effect on hair follicle growth and wound healing; therefore this study was aimed mainly to evaluate the impact of sheep testis extract on the improvement and growth of hair follicle as well as recovery of injuries on the skin of Wistar rats. In this experimental study, rats were randomly divided into 7 groups: control (negative control), sham (treatment with physiologic serum), experimental group 1 (treatment with 100% sheep testis extract), experimental group 2 (treatment with 75% extract), experimental group 3 (treatment with 50% extract), positive control 1 (treatment with honey for evaluation of wound healing) and positive control 2 (treatment with Minoxidil for evaluation of hair follicle growth). Then, rats were killed and the removed approximate wound skin was fixed in 10% formalin, kept in paraffin block. In addition, the serial sections with 6 mm thickness were prepared and hematoxylin eosin staining was performed. Then, epidermal thickness, the number of fibroblast, basal cells, inflammatory cells, vessel bud and hair follicle were assessed. Statistical analysis was performed by one way ANOVA, Tukey test at p˃0.05. The results showed that the wound healing process, the hair follicle formation, the reepithelialization, the angiogenesis, the number of basal cell, fibroblasts, and the number of follicles were significantly improved in the experimental groups 1 and 2 (in comparison with control group (p˃0.05). Results of this study demonstrated that the sheep testis extract induced improvement in regeneration process, wound healing and hair follicle growth in rats, which can be suggested as a suitable candidate for clinical wound healing studies due to its richness of androgen and growth factors.

In this study the phylogenetic relationship of the Jajrud River Brown trout Salmo trutta L. 1758 in the Namak Lake basin was analyzed using complete D-Loop sequence of the mitochondrial genome, in comparison with other Iranian populations of the species. According to the results, Jajrud brown trout, like other Iranian brown trout populations, belongs to the Danube phylogenetic lineage. The observed haplotype in the Jajrud population is similar to the reported haplotype in the Karaj River. The results showed that the Namak Lake basin brown trout affined to the Caspian populations, while its relationship to Salmo macrostigma was not confirmed. Although the Karaj and Jajrud River haplotypes have not been observed in the Caspian Sea basin, because of its relationship to other Iranian and Danube haplotypes, it is plausible to consider this haplotype as an old haplotype that also may exist in the Caspian Sea basin. According to the biology of brown trout, geographic characteristics, and based on the properties of the Namak haplotype, it may be inferred that the Namak basin brown trout populations are native to the habitat and not introduced.

Nowadays, nanoparticles (NPs) have a great potential application in different industries. Titanium dioxide NPs cause the biggest eco-toxicological and eco-physiological concerns due to the increase of anthropogenic input into the aquatic ecosystems, compared with other NPs. In this study, the impact of yeast enriched with titanium dioxide NPs on the growth, survival, digestive enzyme activity and lipid metabolism in Artemia urmiana (AU) and Artemia franciscana (AF) is investigated. The experiment was designed in two treatments (control and enriched yeast with titanium dioxide NPs) and each with four replicates for both Artemia species. The investigation indicated that titanium dioxide nanoparticles did not affect the Artemia species growth but increased AF survival significantly. However, No significant difference was observed in AU survival. Also, the results showed that NPs decreased AU digestive enzyme activity significantly and the reverse pattern was observed for AF. The impact of NPs on the body lipid content was investigated in Artemia species and the results revealed that using this NPs decrease this parameter in AU but did not affect on AF lipid body content. The results obtained in this experiment suggest that the eco-physiological effects of titanium dioxide NPs differ in Artemia urmiana and Artemia franciscana.

Carnosic acid and Rosmarinic acid belong to a family of polyphenols found in Rosemary. In this study the effects of these two compounds were compared based on ceramide metabolism in cell line of Hep-G2. Hep-G2 cells were cultured in DMEM, supplemented with fetal bovine serum and antibiotics. Cells with double dilution were then cultured with Carnosic acid and Rosmarinic acid (with concentrations 0 to 70 mM for 24 h) and viability of cells was determined by MTT method. A spectrophotometer and HPLC assay was used to measure of caspase-3 activity and the level of ceramide. The activity of such enzymes as sphingomylinase, acid ceramidase, glucosylceramide synthase was also measured. Carnosic acid increased cell viability in Hep-G2 cells by reducing ceramide levels and the activity of the other enzymes such as caspse-3, sphingomylinase, glucosylceramide synthase and also by increasing the activity of the ceramidase enzyme acid. Rosmarinic acid in concentrations of up to 50 mM decreased cell viability by increasing ceramide levels and the activity of caspse-3, sphingomylinase and also by decreasing activity of enzymes such as acid ceramidese and glucosylceramide synthase. This substance also in concentrations of up to 40 mM caused increasing activity of caspase-3 enzyme. Although in most cases polyphenols resulted in induction of apoptosis and decreased cell viability, in some cases they affected inversely and caused cell growth.

In order to study the interactive effects of salinity and ascorbic acid with the quantity of photosynthetic pigments, soluble sugar, proline and protein in Satureja khuzestanica plant, a factorial experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design (salinity at four levels of 0, 40, 80 and 120g in 100kg soil and ascorbic acid at two levels of 0 and 2 mM) with 6 replicates. The results showed that photosynthetic pigments amount was decreased by the increase of the soil salinity from 0 to 40g NaCl in 100kg soil, then increased by the salinity level of 80g NaCl in 100kg soil and then decreased by the salinity level of 120g NaCl in 100kg soil again. The amount of soluble sugar, proline and protein was increased by the soil salinity levels of 0 to 40g in 100kg soil and then decreased by the salinity level of 80gNaCl in 100kg soil, and showed an increase at the salinity level of 120g NaCl in 100 kg soil. In the presence of ascorbic acid, the amount of photosynthetic pigments was increased by the increase of the soil salinity from 0 to 40g NaCl in 100kg soil and then decreased by the salinity level of 80g NaCl in 100kg soil and then increased by the salinity level of 120g NaCl in 100kg soil. However, the quantity of soluble sugar, proline and protein was decreased by the increase of salinity level from 0 to 40g in 100kg soil, then increased by the salinity level of 80g NaCl in 100kg soil, and finally decreased by the salinity level of 120g NaCl in 100kg soil.

The increasing influence of APG classification system necessitates an update on taxa recorded in most regional floras including Iran. Many changes in circumscriptions of families and orders have occurred in APG in comparison with other classification systems. However, here we only attempt to emphasize on changes in the Iranian flora, especially in comparison with “Flora Iranica” and “Flora of Iran”. Of the overall 132 family names which have been mentioned here, 22 families are not found in Flora Iranica. Based on the APG IV system, 21 families which had been mentioned in Flora Iranica for Iran should be merged with other families. Accordingly, the angiosperms of Iran comprise 8012 species, approximately 1234 genera and 132 families placed in 39 orders. Gymnosperms (17 spp.), ferns (60 spp.) and mosses (534 spp.) included, the number of plant species of Iran exceeds approximately 8628 species. The largest angiosperms families of Iran are Fabaceae (1401 spp.) and Asteraceae (1234 spp.) in terms of number of species, and Asteraceae, Poaceae, Apiaceae and Fabaceae in terms of number of genera. The largest angiosperm order of Iran in terms of family number is Caryophyllales. The largest genera of Iran are Astragalus with about 830 species and Cousinia with about 280 species. In the two latest versions of APG a linear sequence of families is provided to be used by herbarium curators.