IPRI showed promising neuroprotective effects against scopolamine-induced memory dysfunction in rats. These findings contributed to the stimulation of α-secretase enzymes, the activation of MAPK/ERK1/2, and the alleviation of oxidative stress.

Marine derived fungi are considered as a promising source of novel drugs due to their biodiversity and consequent chemo-diversity. Although marine microorganisms especially fungi are not well defined taxonomically, making this a promising frontier for the discovery of new medicines. This study focused on marine derived fungi as a model for bioactive exploration for new entities with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant capacity. Three in-vitro assays were used to investigate the bioactive antioxidant potentiality of fungal extracts. Thiobarbituric acid (TBARS), α,α-Diphenyl-ßpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and NO assay are based on their total phenolic and flavonoid content of each extract group. Ch. globosum recorded the highest antioxidant activity (92.82%) in TBARS assay, while G. dankaliensis came first by recording 59.28% in DPPH assay in comparison with ascorbic acid (61.83%). In NO inhibition assay, N. oryzae showed 49.3% comparing with ascorbic acid (73.12%). From the preliminary result of our extracts, we can consider the marine derived fungi extracts as promising antioxidant and anti-inflammatory drug candidate.

The levels of arylsulfatases A and B, α-amylase, aspartate transcarbamylase, and γ-glutamyl transpeptidase were investigated during the infection of mice with schistosoma mansoni. This infection caused a significant (p<0.001) increase in the activity of hepatic arylsulfatase B (ASB), aspartate transcarbamylases and γ-glutamyl transpeptidase. A non-significant difference occurred for α-amylase (p<0.3) and arylsulfatase A (p>0.5) when compared to the control. The specific activity of hepatic ASB was progressively increased with the progression of the Schistosoma-infection. Moreover, the kinetic studies of hepatic ASB in Schistosomainfection showed that a slight decrease in the value of K m and about a 40% increase in V max when compared to the control. In addition, the pH optimum of hepatic ASB was altered from 6 to 7 as a result of schistosomiasis. These observations suggest that there are schistosomiasis-associated changes of the catalytic and kinetic properties of hepatic ASB.

ABSTRACT

In this article, we present a study on the levels of epidermal growth factor (EGF), its phosphorylated receptor (p-EGFR) and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) in the sera of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and chronic hepatitis C (CHC) infection. The results reveal significant higher serum levels of EGF and TGF-β1 in patients with HCC compared to their level in patients with CHC infection and control subjects. The levels of p-EGFR in HCC and CHC patients show a highly significant difference between patients. Based on the best cutoff value of 914 pg/ml, EGF shows 63.3 % sensitivity and 87.5 % specificity for HCC patients where the area under the curve is 0.81. The p-EGFR shows sensitivity of 63.3 % and specificity of 100 % where the area under the curve is 0.87 for HCC patients based on the best cutoff value of 39 U/mg protein. The best cutoff value (370 pg/ml) for serum TGF-β1 displays sensitivity of 86.7 % and specificity of 100 %, where the area under the curve is 0.97 for HCC patients.

No abstract

The detection of cytochrome P450 1A in S. rivulatus liver and gills was used as a biomarker for the exposure to polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as organic pollutants along the Bay of Alexandria, Egypt. PAHs were determined in both sediment and S. rivulatus tissues in Abu Qir Bay, Alexandria as a test area and the Matrouh coast as a control area. High levels of PAHs in Abu Qir Bay area and ratios of specific PAH compounds indicate the petrogenic origin of hydrocarbons. Both antioxidant activity and oxidative stress markers increased significantly. The protein expression of P450 1A in the liver and gill of S. rivulatus was markedly induced. Moreover, the toxicity in fish organs was supported by histopathological observations. These data suggest correlation between bioaccumulated PAH and P450 1A induction and provide strong evidence of the importance of P450 1A as a biomarker of the exposure of S. rivulatus to xenobiotics.

Incubation parameters used for the production of a protein lysate from enzymatically degraded waste feather using crude keratinase produced by laceyella sacchari YNDH was optimized using RSM, amino acids quantification was estimated as well. The optimization resulted in total soluble protein 2089.5µg/ml. The optimal conditions were, time 20.2h, feather concentration 3g% and keratinase activity 24.5U/100ml at pH, 10; and cultivation temperature 50oC. The FPL was found enriched with essential and rare amino acids.In parallel, this YNDH enzyme group had been partially purified and some characteristics of it were studied. Crude enzymes were first concentrated with Amicon Ultra 10k centrifugal filter, and then concentrated proteins were applied to "QFF" strong anion column chromatography. The partially purified enzyme has an estimated molecular masses ranged 6 to 10 kDa. The maximum enzyme activity was observed at 70°C and pH 10.4 when measured by both casein and keratin azure as substrates. Interestingly, keratinolytic activity of this group was not affect by EDTA, PMSF and DTT. Generally the overall characters of this group protease/keratinase nearly the same when its activity was measured with both substrates suggesting that all these 3 protein bands working together as a group of keratinases.