Research in Molecular Medicine
Volume:3 Issue: 3, Aug 2015

Liver ischemia / reperfusion Injury (IRI) is one of the major causes of liver failure during various types of liver surgery, trauma and infections. The present study investigates the effect of dexsamethasone on the liver injury and inducible nitric oxide synthase gene expression during hepatic warm ischemia/reperfusion in rats. 24 male Wistar rats (200-250 g) were randomly divided into 3 group 8 rat each: 1) saline treated group (Control), 2) saline - administered ischemia/reperfusion insulted group (IR), and 3) dexamethasone - administered IR group (DEX + IR). Dexamethasone were injected twice at a dose of 8 mg/kg intraperitoneally (60 min before ischemia and immediately after reperfusion). After 1 h of ischemia and 3 hours of subsequent reperfusion, blood and liver samples were collected. Ischemia significantly increases serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels in the IR group which significantly were reduced by dexamethasone in DEX + IR group (P< 0.05). In parallel to this finding, according to histopathological imaging, dexamethasone reduces hepatic tissue damages. In addition elevated inducible nitric oxide synthase gene expression in IR was significantly decreased in DEX + IR group (P< 0.05). Dexamethasone, an anti- imflammatory drug, can decline hepatic IR stimulated damages through inhibition of immune mediated reactions and inhibition of iNOS gene expression.

Antiviral screening of newly isolated or synthesized compounds is an important matter which requires a reliable antiviral test. In order to address this issue, the development of a rapid antiphage test has been conducted. To achieve this goal, the antiphage activity of three antiviral drugs (Acyclovir, Lamivudine and Trifluridin) against phage CP51 which infects Bacillus cereus (ATCC 10876) was investigated. Phage lysate was prepared by inoculation of bacterial culture with few phage plaques. The number of phage has to be about one million units per milliliter. The antiviral drugs were dissolved in suitable solvents and different concentrations of each drug were prepared. Phage lysate (0.1ml) mixed with appropriate amount of each drug. After 30 minutes incubation at ambient temperature or without any incubation, 500 μl inoculum of 5 hours old liquid culture of B.cereus added to the mixture. Then, melted top agar (1.4-1.9 ml) was subjoined at the end and the final admixture was immediately seeded on the solid PA agar. After 24 h, plaques were counted. Out of three drugs, only trifluridine significantly decreased the plaque forming unit ratio (p<0.05) at higher concentration (133 μg/ml). The results of preincubation method and non-incubation method did not show any significant differences (p>0.05). Briefly, the scientific evidences from this study supported the development of one rapid qualitative and quantitative antiphage assay.

Dermatophytes are the most common fungal agents causing superficial skin infections in worldwide. Species identification of these fungi is important for therapeutic and epidemiological apects. The purpose of this study was identification and epidemiology of dermatophytosis in patients referring to medical mycology laboratory of Razi hospital in Tehran, during 2014. In this study, 610 clinical specimens were collected from patients with suspected dermatophytosis. Direct microscopy and culture examinations were performed for all samples. DNA was extracted from fungal colony using phenol chloroform. Then ITS1-5.8s-ITS2 region of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) was amplified by the universal fungal primers ITS1 and ITS4 and digested with enzymes mva1. In the present study, 236 subjects (38.6%) were positive for dermatophytosis. Among the patients, 64.8% were male and 35.2% female. The most frequent dermatophytes isolated were Trichophyton interdigitale (40.3%), Trichophyton rubrum (22.9%) and Trichophyton tonsurans (18.7%) respectivly. Also 58 samples were improperly diagnosed by morphological method, they were re-identified as Trichophyton interdigitale and Trichophyton rubrum by using PCR-RFLP. The survey showed that PCR-RFLP is a rapid and reliable method for discrimination of dermatophytes. We suggest using of PCR-RFLP as a valuable method along with morphological examination for diagnostic dermatophytes particularly in clinical and epidemiological settings.

Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the major agents for an increasing number of serious hospital and community acquired infections. The aim of this study was to investigate on occurrence of the MRSA and mecA gene among nosocomial and environmental specimens in Kurdistan hospitals and also to determine antibiotic resistance of the isolates. Patients and Totally 264 clinical and environmental Staphylococcus were isolated from February 2011 to June 2012 in Kurdistan medical University Hospitals, Iran, and their susceptibility patterns to different antibiotics were performed. Furthermore, agar screen method was used to determine oxacillin resistant isolates. Finally, using PCR, the oxacillin resistant isolates were tested for the presence of mecA gene. In this study, 82 of the 88 (93.18%) Staphylococcus aureus isolates were resistant to oxacillin using agar screen method. However, mecA gene was detected in 66 of the 88 strains (75%). Our results showed that the agar screen method is more reliable in determination of MRSA strains comparing with PCR. The results showed that the studied MRSA were found to be with high prevalence and mecA is widespread in S. aureus isolates in Sanandaj.

Breast cancer is the most common female malignancy and the leading cause of cancer mortality in women worldwide. The human epidermal growth factor receptor2 (HER2) is a transmembrane tyrosine kinase receptor that is usually overexpressed in human breast cancers. Stable cell lines heterogeneously overexpressing HER2 are highly required as in vitro models for breast cancer research. The aim of this study was to establish a stable cell line overexpressing HER2. CHO Cells were transfected with linearized pCVN/HER2 plasmid and selected for the recombinant cells with G418 antibiotic. Expression of HER2 in the transfected cells was analyzed using western blotting and immunofluorescence. We found that the recombinant cells stably expressed high levels of HER2 proteins that were mostly concentrated on the cell membrane. The cell line established here provides a useful in vitro model for breast cancer research and any HER-related studies.

Cerium nanoparticles (CeNP) have an interesting potential in drug delivery, gene therapy, molecular imaging and medicine. The present study focuses on the effect of exposure of cerium nanoparticles and Cerium oxide (CeO2) on oxidative stress biomarkers in human lymphocytes. lymphocytes were incubated for 24, 48 and 72 h at 37°C with different concentrations (15, 30, 60 and 120 mM) of CeNP and CeO2.In lymphocytes samples evaluated oxidative stress biomarkers such as total antioxidant capacity (TAC), lipid peroxidation (LPO) and catalase activity (CAT). All data were analyzed by one way ANOVA with Tukey post hoc test. The results showed that CeNP after 24, 48 and 72 hours caused a increase in the TAC compared to CeO2 120mg/kg group. CeNP decreased LPO level and CAT activity compared with CeO2 120mg/kg group. The present study showed that after treatment for 24,48 and 72 hours, CeO2 is able to induce oxidative toxicity in human lymphocytes. The results suggest that ROS intermediates are responsible for Ce-induced oxidative damage in experimental lymphocytes. Therefore, CeNP plays an important role in the alteration of oxidative injuries of human lymphocytes

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system that inflammation, demyelination, oligodendrocyte loss, gliosis, axonal injury and neurodegeneration are the main histopathological hallmarks of the disease. Although MS was classically thought as a demyelinating disease, but axonal injury occurs commonly in acute inflammatory lesions. In MS microglial activation is not only responsible for inflammatory cascade but also creates degenerative cascade. The evidence has shown mitochondrial dysfunction plays an important role in axonal degeneration in all stages of MS due to neuronal cell loss and activation pro-inflammatory cytokines. Neuronal loss occurs as a result of apoptosis and necrosis and mitochondrial pathway is the main important system for apoptosis and this way was involved in neurodegenerative disorders such as MS. Hence in multiple sclerosis disease, mitochondrial dysfunction causes energy failure and then increases inflammation and demyelination in neurons.

Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) is one of the main proteins of HBV envelop and its serum quantitative measurement is the most common quantitative test for monitoring the progress of Chronic Hepatitis B. Although measurement of serum HBV DNA copy number is a gold standard method for displaying viral load, the test is relatively expensive and it is not readily available everywhere in the world, while quantitative detection of HBsAg is fairly easy and inexpensive. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between serum HBsAg level and HBV DNA copy number in patients with chronic HB. Quantitative HBsAg, quantitative HBV DNA, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) serum levels were tested in 74 patients with chronic hepatitis B infection - who were HBsAg -positive for more than 6 months. In order to find any correlation between the results of these methods, Spearman and Kruska- Wallis correlation coefficient tests were applied. No significant correlation was observed between quantitative HBsAg and HBV DNA measurements. Also, we could not find any correlation between serum HBsAg and ALT levels. But, serum HBV DNA content and AST level had a significant positive correlation. There are many factors affecting the correlation between serum HBV DNA copy number and HBsAg level such as genotype of HBV virus, phase of infection, methods of measurement, HBeAg status, and drug and types of treatment procedures. Therefore, these factors should be considered in further studies dealing with the correlation between quantitative HBV DNA and HBsAg tests.