In this study we investigated antioxidative and antiproliferative activity of different horsetail (Equisetum arvense L.) extracts. The antioxidative activity was measured by the electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy-spin trapping method. The influence of different horsetail extracts during lipid peroxidation of (1) sunflower oil induced by the lipophilic azo-initiator 4,4'-azobis(4-cyanovaleric acid) and (2) soybean phosphatidylcholine liposomes induced by the hydrophilic azo-initiator 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride was studied. Antiproliferative activity was measured using the sulforhodamine B colorimetric assay on the human cancer cell lines HeLa, HT-29, and MCF7. The results of ESR analysis confirmed that the extracts investigated suppressed the formation of lipid peroxyl radicals in both systems investigated in a dose-dependent manner. The results indicate that n-butanol, methanol, ethyl acetate, and water extracts had significant peroxyl radical scavenging activity. Extracts inhibited cell growth that was dependent on cell line, type of extract, and extract concentration. Ethyl acetate extract exhibited the most prominent antiproliferative effect, without inducing any cell growth stimulation on human tumor cell lines. The results obtained suggest that the horsetail extracts could be used as an easily accessible source of natural antioxidants and as potential phytochemicals.

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Cyanobacteria are present in all aquatic ecosystems throughout the world. They are able to produce toxic secondary metabolites, and microcystins are those most frequently found. Research has displayed a negative influence of microcystins and closely related nodularin on fish, and various histopathological alterations have been observed in many organs of the exposed fish. The aim of this article is to summarize the present knowledge of the impact of microcystins and nodularin on the histology of fish. The observed negative effects of cyanotoxins indicate that cyanobacteria and their toxins are a relevant medical (due to irritation, acute poisoning, tumor promotion, and carcinogenesis), ecotoxicological, and economic problem that may affect both fish and fish consumers including humans.

Background Metastatic Axillary Lymph Node (mALN) status is currently the most important prognostic factor in the management of primary breast cancer (BC). Thus, development of specimens which enable identification of new mALN markers, involved in the progression of the disease, are of considerable interest. The specific aim of this work was to describe the method of establishment of Metastatic Axillary Nodal Cell Suspension and its fractionation, termed Fractionated Nodal Cell Suspension (FNCS), into nuclear and cytosolic extracts to enable determination of protein expression levels of nuclear cFOS and cytosolic Transforming Growth Factor β1 (TGFβ1) in BC patients. Results To standardize the procedure, HeLa cells were successfully fractionated into nuclear/cytosolic extracts with confirmed presence of nuclear cFOS and cytosolic TGFβ1 proteins. Subsequently, the ALN Cell Suspension specimens were obtained and further fractionated from a pilot sample of six ALN tissue pairs, mALN versus autologous normal ALN (nALN), dissected from invasive BC patients. The mALN/nALN results revealed overexpression of both nuclear cFOS and cytosolic TGFβ1 protein levels. However, only the TGFβ1 data exhibited statistically significant overexpression, which was proportional to the respective values of mALN diameter of tumor deposits. Conclusions Detailed protocol for establishment and fractionation of mALN cell suspension specimens, termed FNCS, into nuclear and cytosolic extracts is here described for the first time. This approach might be a convenient ex vivo model for simultaneous analysis of protein, RNA and DNA biomarkers from nuclear/cytosolic extracts of the same mALN tissue sample. It might have potential to enable, in the age of genomics and personalized medicine, an identification of novel mALN biomarkers and thus improve the screening, diagnosis and prognosis of invasive BC.