فصلنامه زیست شناسی تکوینی
سال سیزدهم شماره 3 (پیاپی 51، تابستان 1400)

Fumaria vaillantii belongs to the Fumariaceae family, is a plant rich in secondary compounds with medicinal effects. Alkaloids, phenols and essential oil were extracted to measure antifungal activity. Crude extract with ethanol was obtained from plant shoots. Crude extract was used to separate the alkaloid and phenol fractions. Alkaloids were extracted in four fractions. The essential oil was extracted with a Clevenger apparatus. Aspergillus flavus and A. niger were prepared from Pasture Institute in Iran. Aspergillus specimens (disc diameter 5 mm) were cultured in the potato dextrose agar media with different amounts of phenolic, alkaloid and essential oil extracts. Aspergillus hyphae were studied under control and after treatment with phenolic, alkaloid and essential oil extracts by light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The anti- Aspergillus effects of the phenolic, alkaloid and essential oil extracts of F. vaillantii against A. flavus, and A. niger were severe. Two concentrations of all three extracts inhibited fungal growth. The results of light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy showed that the F. vaillantii extracts affected on the fungus cell structure. They cause thinning and breaking of walls, plasmolysis and vesiculation of cells of some filaments, inhibiting the growth and induction of fungal death. Phenolic, alkaloid extracts and essential oils of F. vaillantii had similar antifungal activity on both species of Aspergillus. F. vaillantii, is a plant rich in phenolic compounds, alkaloids and essential oils with antifungal effects.

According to the previous studies, natural cytotoxicity receptors including NKP46 can play an important role in strengthening and sustaining immune responses against viral infection, which may have a role in the progression of inflammation in celiac disease. Moreover, Interleukin-15, which is one of the most important inflammatory cytokines in celiac disease pathogenesis, can also change the expression of this type of receptors that leads to atrophy of intestinal villi. The aim of this study was to evaluate the intestinal expression of NKP46 gene in patients with celiac disease on a gluten-free diet in comparison with healthy individuals. In this study, 20 small intestinal biopsy samples were collected from patients with celiac disease and 20 samples from healthy subjects. After RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis, gene-specific primer pairs were designed, PCR conducted and NKP46 gene expression was evaluated by real-time PCR method. 8 females (40%) and 12 males (60%) in the patient group and 7 females (35%) and 13 males (65%) in the control group were studied. NKP46 gene expression was not significantly different between celiac patients who were on a gluten-free diet and healthy individuals (Pvalue: 0.4). The lack of significant difference in the expression of this receptor between the patient and control groups can be due to the effects of gluten-free diet adherence. Additional studies are recommended to achieve a more complete expression profile of these receptors and possible mutations affecting their expression in treated and untreated celiac disease patients.

Black cumin (Nigella sativa L.) as an herbal plant with high medicinal and economical usage, belongs to Rannunculaceae family. Due to the economic and medicinal importance of this plant and the seriousness of salinity and drought problems in Iran, in this study, the effect of salinity and drought stress on germination percentage and stomatal changes was investigated. The experiment was performed based on completely randomized design with three replications in the pot condition. To create different levels of drought and salinity, two days/ three days of drought and 30, 60 mM NaCl were used respectively. Germination percentage was recorded daily by placing 10 seeds in Petri-dish. Leaf stomata traits were studied using a light microscope two months after treatment. Variance analysis results showed that increasing drought and salinity stress reduced germination percentage. Drought stress also had a greater effect on reducing the size of the pore so that the diameter and the length of the pore showed a significant decrease and the pores were elongated, which shows the effect of dry stress on the closing stomata. Also, high salinity stress (60 mM NaCl) caused a significant increase in pore width and had no significant effect on other stomatal characteristics. The applied drought and salinity stresses did not show a significant increase in the number of stomata. According to the stomatal reaction in different levels of draught stress rather than salinity, it could be indicated the higher sensitivity of this plant to drought treatments.

Cerebral ischemia is a major global problem that can lead to the loss of cortical pyramidal cells following ischemic / reperfusion injury. Recent studies have examined the neuroprotective role of barberry hydroalcoholic extract in acute ischemia.

This study was performed experimentally on 18 male Wistar rats. Rats were divided into 3 groups of control ، ischemic and experimental. The ischemic model was performed by bilateral ligation of the common carotid arteries for 20 minutes and then blood was restored. In the experimental group, barberry hydroalcoholic extract was injected intraperitoneally for 7 days before ischemia. After 4 days of ischemia, the rat’s brains were removed and stained by applying chrysalis fast violet method. The number of pyramidal cells of the prefrontal cortex of all three groups was counted by Imaging-Pro-Plus software. Then, statistical analysis of the data was performed by one-way ANOVA and Tukey test.

The results showed that 20 minutes of ischemia significantly reduced the number of pyramidal cells in the cerebral cortex, so that there was a significant difference in the number of these cells between the ischemic group and the control and experimental groups. However, this difference between the control group and the experimental group was not significant.

This study reveals that hydro alcoholic extract of barberry has a neurotropic effect on the pyramidal cells of the prefrontal cortex and can be considered as a new candidate for treating of ischemic brain injuries.

Selenium is a beneficial element with antioxidant properties that increases plant growth and tolerance to abiotic stresses. In order to investigate the effect of Nano Selenium solution treatments on Cherry Tomato plant growth, treatments including Sodium Selenate (bulk) and Selenium nanoparticles were applied at four levels (0 as control, 2, 4 and 10 ppm). The experimental results showed that interaction between Selenium nanoparticles and all studied traits (fresh weight, dry weight, anatomical indices of roots and stems and leaves, chlorophyll content) were significantly different at 1% level. Treatments caused morphological changes in stems, roots and leaves compared to controls. The highest increase in root and leaf diameter was observed in group four Nano Selenium (21.55 and 1.1%) compared to the control. All treatments reduced stem diameter compared to control. An increasing trend of root and stem central cylinder thickness was observed in proportion to the concentration compared to the control. Both Nano-Selenium and bulk Selenate reduced the differentiation of xylem vessels in leaves compared to the controls. The results of studied morphological and anatomical traits indicated that the use of two levels of Nano-Selenium concentrations, 2 and 4 ppm, improved the growth parameters, in contrast, application of 10 ppm Nano-Selenium concentration reduced the growth parameter, the content of plant pigments in comparison with the control sample. Overally, the results showed that Selenium treatment in appropriate amounts can contribute to the optimal yield of cherry tomatoes and increase plant growth and pigmentation and affect tissue differentiation and organ development.

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect plant growth regulator, silicic acid, sucrose and activated charcoal used in micro propagation of thornless Blackberry cv. Merton explants. Propagules of cv. Merton were cultivated on a 1/2 Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium. The single buds were cultured in 1/2 MS containing 0.1% activated charcoal and new shoot containing buds were formed 3 weeks after culture. New buds were cultured in MS containing BA, Kin and IBA at concentrations of 0.2, 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 mgL-1 for shoot regeneration. New shoot after 6 weeks regenerated and the best medium for shoot regeneration was MS medium contains 1.5 mg/l BA and 0.1 mg/l IBA. Shoots were cultured in 1/2 MS containing 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2 mgL-1 NAA and IBA for root formation. After determining the optimal concentrations of IBA and NAA, activated charcoal in concentrations of 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2%, silicic acid in concentrations of 0, 1, 5, 10, 20 mgL-1, sucrose in concentrations of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5% were added to the culture medium to improve rooting. Sucrose in 4% increased the root length, root weight and chlorophyll content. The addition of activated charcoal in the MS medium resulted in increased shoot and root length. In thornless blackberry cultures, Silicic acid decreased the shoot number but until 5 mg/l increased the shoot length. Silicic acid increased the root length in 1 mg/l and increased the root weight in 5 mg/l rather than control respectively.