سال:1395 | دوره: | شماره: |تعداد مقالات:7

Obesity is one of the primary challenging health issues of the current century. The prevalence of obesity in Iran is increasing. Childhood obesity boosts the risk of adult obesity, which is really threatening the next generations (1). It is considered as one of the most important risk factors for type 2 diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. The etiology of human obesity has a complex pathogenesis due to the interactions between genetic factors, environmental factors and life style. The former brings about 40% - 70% of the obese phenotype.

Background: Many studies examine the antibacterial effects of medicinal plants; however, little research is done to evaluate their effects on different cell types, especially dermal fibroblasts.Objectives: The current study aimed to study the effect of different concentrations of Aloe Vera, henna, chamomile, myrtle, mint, licorice, cinnamon, ginger and cedar extracts and their synergistic effects on the viability of dermal fibroblasts.Methods: To evaluate the performance of herbal extracts on dermal fibroblasts, in the first experiment different concentrations (6.25, 12.5, 25, 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1000g/mL) of the extracts were evaluated by the MTT cell proliferation assay. In the second experiment, the minimum effective concentrations of the plant extracts in triple combination were evaluated in the cells under study.Results: The minimum effective concentrations of henna, chamomile, myrtle, mint, cinnamon, ginger and cedar were 12.5, 6.25, 6.25, 6.25, 6.25, 12.5 and 12.5mg/mL, respectively. Results showed that, by comparing the minimum effective concentration of herbal extracts, the viability of dermal fibroblasts significantly increased by cedar extract (P<0.05). Combination of Aloe Vera, licorice and mint extracts significantly increased the viability of dermal fibroblasts (P<0.05).Conclusions: Based on the results of the current study, it was concluded that Aloe vera, licorice and mint extracts had synergistic effects on the viability of dermal fibroblasts; in addition, the combination of Aloe vera and licorice with either henna or myrtle, and Aloe vera and mint with either cedar or ginger resulted in synergistic effects on viability of dermal fibroblasts. The third category of triple combinations of herbal extracts with synergistic effects on the cells under study was the combination of Aloe Vera and mint with either chamomile or cinnamon and also Aloe vera and licorice with either myrtle or cedar.

Background: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) survival decreased following in vivo injection and its application has been limited in stem cell therapy. Preconditioning was established as a strategy to increase the cells’ efficiency, but more studies are necessary to determine its safety and mechanisms.Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of preconditioning mesenchymal stem cells with low serum and H2O2 on in vitro cell survival.Methods: Mesenchymal stem cells were cultured and preconditioned with low serum and H2O2 for 6, 12, 24 and 48 hours in six groups. Control, group I with 5mM H2O2, group II with 10 mM H2O2, group III with 0.5% fetal bovine serum (FBS), group IV: 5 mM H2O2+0.5% FBS and V: 10 mMH2O2+0.5% FBS. Cell proliferation was evaluated with the MTT assay.Results: Cell proliferation in groups IV and V increased significantly compared to the other groups after 6, 12 and 24 hours of treatment (P<0.05). Also, after 48 hours, cell treatment with 5mMH2O2+0.5% FBS led to a significant increase in cell proliferation (P< 0.05).Conclusions: Our data suggest that preconditioning with 5MH2O2+0.5% FBS and 10mMH2O2+5% FBS improved cell proliferation and viability. However, the mechanisms related to protective properties of preconditioning and using this strategy in stem cell therapy requires more research.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are single-stranded, non-coding RNAs, approximately 19 to 22 nucleotides in length that function as negative regulators of gene expression. MicroRNAs genes are transcribed by RNA polymerase II. The primary miRNA transcript (pri-miRNAs) is cleaved by the Drosha ribonuclease III enzyme to produce an approximately 70-nt stem-loop precursor miRNA (pre-miRNA), which is further cleaved by the cytoplasmic Dicer ribonuclease to create mature miRNA (1, 2). In the recent years, there has been heightened interest among investigators to study the role of mircoRNA (miRNA) in cancer development as well as response to treatment in cancer patients since they function as tumor suppressors or oncogenes (3, 4).

Dear Editor, Thalassemia syndromes are congenital types of anemia resulting from genetic mutations affecting normal production of globin genes. These genetic based disorders are known as the most common causes of inherited anemia worldwide, including Iran. Thalassemia is inherited in an autosomal recessive manner; in other words, the two defective alleles need to be transmitted from both mother and father.

Background: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is considered as a carcinogen for gastric mucosa. The mechanism by which H. pyloriare involved in gastric carcinogenesis is still unclear.Objectives: The current study aimed to investigate the effects of H. pylori infection on immunohistochemical expression of p53 and Ki-67genes in gastric specimens of patients with intestinal metaplasia (IM), dysplasia (DYS) and gastric cancer (GC).Methods: In the study, 42 cases with IM, 38 with DYS and 42 with GC were selected from pathology archive of Ali-ebne-Abitaleb hospital, Zahedan, Iran; p53 and Ki-67 immunohistochemical study was done, accordingly. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare the groups. Level of significance was set at P<0.05.Results: In IM specimens, expression of p53 and Ki-67 was significantly higher in the cases with H. pylori infection than those not infected withH. pylori. In DYS specimens, in the group with H. pylori infection, the expression of p53 was significantly higher while expression ofKi-67 was significantly lower than the group without H. pylori infection. In GC specimens, the expression of p53 was significantly higher in the group withH. pylori infection compared to the group without H. pylori infection. Expression of Ki-67 in the specimens withH. pylori infection was not significantly different from those without H. pylori infection.Conclusions: The study results showed that p53 expression increased in IM, DYS and GC cases with H. pylori infection compared to those withoutH. pylori infection. The results also suggested that, Ki-67 expression was different in precancerous stages of gastric carcinogenesis, based on the infection withH. pylori.

Background: MTHFR gene is one of the main and effective factors in genes methylation. This gene has a common polymorphism in cordon 677, which can affect its activity. Changing activity rate of this gene can affect methylation rate of tumor suppressor genes and cell membrane proteins and other genes in addition to their expression rate. Therefore, it can be considered as one of the effective factors on producing cancer.Methods: In this descriptive-cross sectional study, 34 cancer and non-cancer tissue samples were studied. Initially, DNA was extracted from samples and then E-cadherin and MTHFR c677t polymorphism were amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).Methylation status of E-cadherin was evaluated by adding methylation restriction enzymeHpaII and polymorphism of MTHFRc677t was assessment by the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method.Results: Methylation status of E-cadherin gene numbers of methylated cases in the cancer group were equal to one and unmethylated cases equal to 33 and numbers of unmethylated cases in the non-cancer group was equal to 34 while there were no methylated cases. In assessment of methylation status of E-cadherin and different genotypes of MTHFR in codon number 677 in cancer samples, number of CC, CT and TT genotypes were equal to 0, 1 and 0 in the methylated group and equal to 6, 27 and 1 in the unmethylated group, respectively.Conclusions: According to this observation, another factor such as oncogenes activitymaycause cancer in samples but CT genotype of MTHFR can be considered as an effective factor in creating cancer.