maryam mojahed taghi

Edaravone is a free radical scavenger which is used as a drug for the treatment of cerebral infarction and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Edaravone is distributed widely in the body and its effects are not limited to the neural tissue. Many studies indicate that edaravone has some nitric oxide synthase (NOS) modulating properties. In this research we evaluated the effects of edaravone (1, 5 and 10 mg/kg) alone or in concombination with diphenyliodonium chloride (a specific endothelial NOS inhibitor) or aminoguanidine (a specific inducible NOS inhibitor) on oxidative stress, and renal tissue and function in a model of acute kidney injury induced by a single intramuscular injection of hypertonic glycerol solution. Effects of edaravone on gene expressions of eNOS and iNOS (by RT-PCR) were also investigated. Data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey’s test. At the end of this study, edaravone attenuated oxidative stress and improved renal tissue damage and dysfunction. Aminoguanidine enhanced the renoprotective effects of edaravone. Edaravone showed no remarkable effect on the expression of eNOS gene but it reduced the induction of iNOS gene significantly. The results of this study showed that edaravone could protect against rhabdomyolysis-induced acute kidney injury using its antioxidant activity and inhibiting effect on iNOS gene expression.

Application of plants and their compounds has long been significant in treating diseases mainly due to their natural potential and lower side effects than chemical drugs and presence of alkaloids, and polyphenols in their extract. Despite research carried out on the properties of such plants and popularity of blood diseases, few studies have been done on its effects on blood cells, thus, it was attempted for the first time to evaluate the effect of hydroalcoholic extract of the Pseudium guava leaf on blood cells in rats.

After extracting the leaves of guava plant, 40 adult male rats were divided into four groups. Which included control (cases with no treatment during the study) and experimental groups (cases receivied of hydroalcoholic extract of Psidium guava leaf, in different doses daily for 3 months). At the end of the test period, blood samples were counted.

The results of this study showed that the hydroalcoholic extract increased White Blood Cells and Red Blood Cells, but no significant change was observed. This increase in hematocrit was significant in the group receiving hydroalcoholic extract at a dose of 5000 mg/kg compared to the control group.

The results of the study had a positive effect on blood cells. Also, the lack of cytotoxicity with high doses of the extract of this plant means its safe use in traditional medicine.

Cisplatin is a cytotoxic agent in cancer therapy. Nephrotoxicity is considered as a side effect of cisplatin usage. Using rate models, we studied the possible protective impact of corn-silk (CS) extract against cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity. Thirty-five experimental rats were divided into five groups (n=7 per each group) as follow: C1: Control received distilled water only; C2: received one dose of cisplatin, and CS: received 300 mg/kg/day of CS. Both CS1 and CS2 received 200 and 300 mg/kg/day of the CS extract orally, individually, for eight consecutive days. CS1 and CS2 received a single dose of cisplatin on the first day only. The specific biochemical markers and histopathological alterations were evaluated. According to our results, cisplatin administration could have induced severe degeneration in all parts of the nephron tubules and liver. Pre-treatment with CS exhibited a significant decrease in the malondialdehyde (MDA) levels as compared to the values obtained after treatment with cisplatin alone (P<0.01). Moreover, the CS extract with 200 mg dose showed significant (P<0.01) protection against the cisplatin-induced elevation of blood urea nitrogen. Further, the serum levels of alanine transaminase and aspartate transaminase were higher in the cisplatin-treated groups, when compared to the control group (P<0.05). Furthermore, the hepatic function was also improved in cisplatin-treated animals, which were pre-treated with CS. CS has the potential to attenuate nephrotoxicity and lipid peroxidation induced by cisplatin in rats.

A method for predicting liquid densities of binary mixtures from heat of vaporization and liquid density at boiling point temperature (ΔHvap and n b ρ) as scaling constants, is presented. B2(T) follows a promising corresponding-states principle. Calculation of α(T) and b(T), the two other temperature-dependent constants of the equation of state, are made possible by scaling. As a result ΔHvap and n b ρ are sufficient for determination of thermophysical properties of liquid mixtures. We applied the procedure to predict liquid densities of (x1 n-butane + x2 isobutane) at compressed state with temperature range from 280 to 440 K and pressures up to 200 MPa. The experimental liquid densities were correlated satisfactory with our procedure and the results are within 5%.