Saffron and its constituents have been shown to decrease ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in kidney or brain tissues. In this study, the effects of saffron ethanolic extract and its constituents, crocin and safranal, were evaluated in skeletal muscle during I/R injury. Hind limb ischemia was induced using clamping the common femoral artery and vein. After 2 h ischemia, the clamp of the femoral vessels of animals was taken off and the animal underwent 1h reperfusion. Muscle injuries were evaluated by recording of the electromyographic (EMG) potentials and performing some biochemical analysis including thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), total sulfhydryl (SH) groups and antioxidant capacity of muscle (using FRAP assay). The ethanolic extract of saffron (5, 20 and 80 mg kg−1), crocin (50, 200 and 400 mg kg−1), safranal (0.1, 0.25 and 0.5 ml kg−1) and normal saline (10 ml kg−1) were administered intraperitoneally 1 h prior reperfusion. The average peak-to-peak amplitude during I/R was significantly increased in extract, crocin and safranal groups in comparison with control-ischemic group. Following saffron, crocin and safranal administration, the total SH contents and antioxidant capacity were elevated in muscle flap. The MDA level was declined significantly in test groups. It is concluded that saffron extract and its constituents show a protective effect against lower limb I/R in rat.

Cisplatin is a chemotherapeutic agent used for treating various malignancies. The study aimed to prepare pegylated liposomal cisplatin and evaluate its efficacy against human breast cancer cell line MCF-7. Drug-loaded nanoparticles were synthesized by reverse phase evaporation technique. The study is highlighted by extensive characterization of nanoparticles in terms of nanoparticle morphology, type of drug entrapment, cisplatin retention capability, and cytotoxicity effects. The size, size distribution, and zeta potential of nanodrug were estimated 142 nm, 0.33, and -22 mV, respectively. Drug-loading efficiency was equal to 48% that occurred physically. Furthermore, high retention capability (39% of drug was released after 72 h) with significantly enhanced cytotoxicity of nanodrug (1.75 times more than the standard drug) confirmed the potency of liposomal nanoparticles as proper cisplatin carrier.

Background/aim: This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of pegylated liposomal etoposide nanoparticles (NPs) against T-47D and MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines.Materials and methods: Pegylated liposomal etoposide NPs were prepared by reverse phase evaporation method. The size, size distribution, and zeta potential of the NPs was measured by a Zetasizer instrument. The cytotoxicity of NPs was inspected by methyl thiazol tetrazolium assay. The release pattern of the drug from the vesicles was studied by the dialysis method. Drug loading and encapsulation efficiency (EE) were also measured. Results:The mean size, size distribution, and zeta potential of pegylated liposomal etoposide NPs were 491 ± 15.5 nm, 0.504 ± 0.14, and -35.8 ± 2.5 mV, respectively. Drug loading and EE were 10.3 ± 1.6% and 99.1 ± 2.8%, respectively. The etoposide release in the formulation was estimated at about 3.48% after 48 h. The cytotoxicity effect of etoposide NPs on T-47D and MCF-7 cell lines of breast cancer showed higher antitumor activity as compared with those of the free drug. Conclusion:Liposome-based NPs may hold great potential as a drug delivery system.

The aim of this study was optimization of culture medium in direction of increasing the production rate of desferrioxamine B. Streptomycetes are the most widely studied and well known genus of the actinomycete family. Streptomycetes usually inhabit soil and are important decomposers. The genus Streptomyces are Gram-positive and GC rich bacteria that are important for production of many antibiotics and secondary metabolites. These metabolites are important in industrial and medical fields. Deferoxamines (also known as desferrioxamine B, desferoxamine B, DFO-B, DFOA, DFB or desferal) are low-molecular-weight, iron-chelating compounds (siderophores) produced and secreted by many actinomycetes, including species of Streptomyces, Nocardia and Micromonospora. Streptomyces pilosus synthesizes the siderofore desferrioxamine B. Desferrioxamine B is used clinically to treat disorders related to iron overload and pathological iron deposition in human. Our results revealed that the use of soybean as a base medium plus additives such as Na2HPO4.12H2O, NaH2PO4, MgSO4.7H2O, ZnSO4.7H2O, FeSO4.7H2O, CaCl2.2H2O, NaCl, MnSO4, NH4Cl, KH2PO4, K2HPO4, some of the amino acids and vitamins increased the production of desferrioxamine B about 8 times in comparison with the control.

Apoptosis is a naturally occurring process by which a cell is directed to programmed cell death. Chemotherapy drugs affect the cancer cells by the apoptotic induction. During the present study, a series of 4H-chromene-3-carbonitrile was synthesized by one-pot method as the inducers of apoptosis. Cytotoxic effects of six compounds of 4H-chromene-3-carbonitrile were evaluated against five tumor cell lines, with the help of colorimetric 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Compound 4 showed significant cytotoxic activity and was selected for conjugation with the synthesized gold nanoparticles by aspartic acid. Also, we evaluated apoptosis induction capacity of the selected compound with the help of fluorescent dyes and DNA fragmentation. The result showed that the conjugated and non-conjugated forms of compound 4 were effective in inducing apoptosis and conjugated one had more efficiency and reduced the effective dose. Also, molecular modeling experiments involving compound 4 and colchicine binding site of tubulin dimer showed several strong hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions to many important amino acid residues and GTP.