The high mortality rate in Bangladesh is related to poverty, which results in protein malnutrition, essential fatty acid deficiency and lacks in adequate vitamins, minerals and calorie. Exploring new food items with improved dietary nutrition factors may, therefore, help to decrease the mortality rate in the poor countries like Bangladesh. Accordingly, the present study was a proximate composition and fatty acid analysis of L. purpureus seed—a legume seed which is given no careful attention locally, though it might be a good source of valuable nutrition factors for both animals and humans. The purpose of the study was, therefore, to generate awareness that L. purpureus could also act as a good source of food components essential for good health. Proximate analysis revealed that the seed powder contained 8.47 ± 0.52% moisture; 3.50 ± 0.0.07% ash; 1.02 ± 0.06% total fat; 23.95 ± 0.15% total protein; 1.21 ± 0.16% total dietary fiber; 61.86 ± 0.70% total carbohydrate and 352.4 ± 2.66 kcal/100 g energy. Phytic acid content (%) was 1.014 ± 0.048. Major fatty acid composition (%): the essential fatty acid linoleic acid (C18:2, ω-6) was 9.50 ± 0.68, while the linolenic acid (C18:3, ω-3) was 1.95 ± 0.18. Palmitic acid (C16:0), stearic acid (C18:0) and oleic acid (C18:1) were, respectively, 2.96 ± 0.19, 0.77 ± 0.04 and 1.10 ± 0.06. Lignoceric acid (C24:0) was 0.11 ± 0.007%. Monounsaturated palmitoleic acid (0.006 ± 0.0), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA, C22:5, ω-3) and nervonic acid (0.002 ± 0.0) were present in trace amounts. Arachidonic acid (AA, C20:4, ω-6), eicosapentaenoic acid (C20:5, ω-3), and docosahexaenoic acid (C22:6, ω-3) were not detected. The fatty acid profile, thus, suggests that essential omega-6 fatty acid linoleic acid (C18:3, ω-6) and omega-3 linolenic acid (C18:3, ω-3) were the major polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) present in L. purpureus seed. In addition, the seed contained high amount of proteins. Finally, these results suggest that L. purpureus seed could be used as a good source of quality food components, including protein and essential fatty acids.

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We studied the effect of chronic oral exposure to lead acetate (PbA) on the sensitivity of RBC to hemolysis and whether the sensitivity could be decreased by feeding the rats with extract of medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum. Three groups of rats, control, PbA-exposed, and G. lucidum (Gl)+PbA, were used. PbA (3 mM) was administered via drinking water and G. lucidum extract by gavage at 300 mg/Kg BW/day for 12 weeks. Afterwards, the rats were killed and washed RBCs were subjected to hemolysis in the presence of Fenton's reagents. Hemolysis was determined by estimating the amount of released hemoglobin. The levels of lipid peroxide (LPO) and GSH were determined from RBC membranes and whole RBCs, respectively. The levels of TNFα and LPO also were determined from hepatic tissues. The RBCs of PbA-exposed rats displayed significantly higher sensitivity to hemolysis than those of the Gl+PbA rats. The levels of LPO increased and GSH decreased in the RBCs, with concomitant increases in the levels of hepatic TNFα and LPO in the PbA-exposed rats. The degree of hemolysis was significantly low in the RBCs of Gl+PbA rats, concurrently with amelioration of hepatic parameters. Finally, the study suggests that PbA-induced-hemolysis and related oxidative-toxicity might be minimized by consumption of G. lucidum.

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Identifying dietary alternatives for artificial antioxidants capable of boosting antihemolytic and antioxidative defense has been an important endeavor in improving human health. In the present study, we studied antihemolytic and antioxidative effects of germosprout (i.e., the germ part along with sprouted stems plus roots) extract prepared from the pregerminated rice. The extract contained considerable amounts of antioxidant β-carotene (414 ± 12 ng/g of extract) and phytochemicals such as total polyphenols (12.0 ± 1.1 mg gallic acid equivalent/g of extract) and flavonoids (11.0 ± 1.4 mg catechin equivalent/g of extract). The antioxidant potential of the extract was assessed by its DPPH- (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl-) free radical scavenging activity where we observed that germosprout extract had considerable antioxidative potentials. To evaluate antihemolytic effect of the extract, freshly prepared erythrocytes were incubated with either peroxynitrite or Fenton's reagent in the absence or presence of the extract. We observed that erythrocytes pretreated with the extract exhibited reduced degree of in vitro hemolysis. To support the proposition that germosprout extract could act as a good antioxidative agent, we also induced in vitro oxidative stress in erythrocyte membranes and in the aorta, brain, heart, and liver tissue homogenates in the presence of the extract. As expected, germosprout extract decreased oxidative stress almost to the same extent as that of vitamin E, as measured by lipid peroxide levels, in all the mentioned tissues. We conclude that rice germosprout extract could be a good natural source of antioxidants to reduce oxidative stress-induced hemolysis and damage of blood vessels and other tissues.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prominent dementia-related disease and characterized by the presence of insoluble amyloid beta peptide (Aβ) fibers in or around the brain neurons of the affected person. Therefore, agent(s) capable of inhibiting brain amyloid deposition might delay the occurrence or retard the progress forwards of AD and related neurobehavioral symptoms.Here, we report whether, chronic oral administration of Syzygium cumini (locally known as Jam)-seed extract exerts protection against the progressive cognitive decline in the Aβ 1-40 -infused AD model rats. After 12 weeks of feeding with S. cumini seed extract (at 300 mg/kg BW), we evaluated the learning-related memory of the rats by 8-arm radial maze task, where we determined two types of memory errors, namely reference memory errors (RMEs) and working memory errors (WMEs). After completion of memory tests, rats were sacrificed and the levels of lipid peroxide (LPO), the Aβ 1-40 -burden, Aβ 1-40 -oligomers, proinflammatory TNFα, brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), Tyrosine-kinase B (TrkB), postsynaptic-density protein 95 (PSD-95) and Synapse-associated protein (SNAP-25) were determined in the corticohippocampal tissues of the brain. In addition, in vitro antioxidative effects of S. cumini seed extract were evaluated. The oral administration of S. cumini extract significantly increased the memory-related learning ability of the AD model rats, concomitantly with reductions in the levels of corticohippocampal Aβ 1-40 -burden and Aβ 1-40 -oligomers. Furthermore, the extract suppressed the levels of TNFα and LPO in the corticohippocampal tissues of the AD rats and also the later in the plasma, suggesting an anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory activities of the S. cumini extract in the brains of AD model rats. S. cumini extract also increased the levels of brain cognition and memory-related proteins, including BDNF, TrKB, PSD-95 and SNAP-25. We thus

We studied on the effect of Curcuma longa extract on spatial learning-related memory ability of old rats in eight-arm radial maze task. Rats were randomly divided into two groups: one group was orally administered 100 mg/KgBW/day C. longa extract (CLE) dissolved in deionized water and the other group was administered the vehicle alone for 10 weeks. The rats were tested with the partially baited eight-arm radial maze to evaluate two types of spatial memory-related learning ability displayed by reference memory errors (RMEs) and working memory errors (WMEs). Chronic administration of CLE significantly decreased the number of RMEs and WMEs, concurrently with the decreases in the cortico-hippocampal levels of lipid peroxides (LPO) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α). In a parallel set of experiments, CLE-pretreated rats of the same age group were subjected to hypoxia-reperfusion injury by carotid artery occlusion to induce oxidative stress in the brains in order to examine whether such an in vivo hypoxia-induced oxidative stress could be ameliorated by the extract. Again, the levels of LPO were significantly decreased in the cortico-hippocampal tissues of the CLE-fed hypoxic rats. The histology of the brains also revealed that the CLE-pretreated rats had retained improved cellular integrity. Finally, our results provide the evidence that oral administration of C. longa extract increases the defense against oxidative stress and proinflammatory TNF-α, concurrently with the improvement of memory-re-* Corresponding author. F. Akter et al. 79 lated brain cognitive ability of the aged rats.

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