فصلنامه زیست شناسی جانوری تجربی
سال یازدهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 41، تابستان 1401)

Sodium polyacrylate is a material with a high potential for water and moisture absorption. In this study, the effects of this material on the rate of embryo development and the expression of apoptosis-related and antioxidants genes in the blastocyst was evaluated. Adult female mice were superovulated by injection of pregnant mare serum gonadotropin (PMSG) and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and after placing beside adult male mice, zygotes were harvested from oviducts and transferred into media containing 0, 5, 25, and 50 μg/ml sodium polyacrylate. Zygotes were cultured towards the blastocyst stage and the rate of embryo development was assessed. Expression of intended genes were evaluated by real time RT-PCR. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Duncan's post hoc toast were used to determine the differences between the means of the groups. The rate of blastocysts was significantly lower in 50 μg/ml compared to the control group (P<0.05). The expression of Bcl-2 increased significantly in 5 μg/ml in comparison to the control group and decreased significantly in 50 μg/ml compared to 5 and 25 μg/ml (P<0.05). The expression of Bax/Bcl-2 and Caspase-3 in 50 μg/ml increased significantly in comparison to 0, 5, and 25 μg/ml (P<0.05). Therefore, the high concentration of sodium polyacrylate has an adverse effect on the embryo through apoptosis system.

Cancer is a disease that results from the uncontrolled proliferation of cells. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. The most common treatment methods of breast cancer are surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, which each have adverse side effects for patients. In this way, efforts are being made to identify new chemotherapeutic compounds that have fewer side effects or reduce their side effects on normal cells. Saffron has been considered by researchers in cancer treatment due to its various medicinal compounds. In this study, according to various reports on the anti-cancer effect of saffron, the anti-cancer properties of cultivated saffron in different regions of Iran was investigated against two breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231). First, aqueous and methanolic extracts were prepared from the samples and then their cytotoxic effect at different concentrations on the viability of both cell lines at 48 and 72 hours was investigated by MTT assay. The results showed that these extracts did not have a significant cytotoxic effect on the MDA-MB-231 cell line, but the effect of these extracts on the MCF-7 cell line was becoming evident at higher concentrations and increasing time. The cultivated saffron in Gonabad region had greatest cytotoxic effect. Also, the cytotoxic effect of the methanolic extracts was more than the aqueous extracts.

The present study was performed to investigate the effect of furosemide on oxidative stress, mortality due to ascites and some blood parameters in broiler chickens. A total of 450 Ross 308 days-old chicks were assigned to 3 groups (control and two treatments of 30 and 60 ppm zamide) in a completely randomized design with 5 replications and 30 chicks per replicate. The birds were subjected to a special cold temperature program to induce ascites. Blood parameters: red blood cell count, hematocrit, hemoglobin, white blood cells, activity of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, creatine kinase and oxidative stress parameters such as; Plasma antioxidant capacity, plasma malondialdehyde, glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase activity, glucose, protein, triglyceride, cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein were measured. Performance parameters of body weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio were also evaluated. Deaths were recorded daily and described to differentiate the cause of death and determine ascites. The results showed that administration of 60 ppm of furosemide significantly reduced weight and feed intake as well as improved feed conversion ratio (P<0.05). In addition, furosemide, significantly decreased ascites index and ascites losses (P<0.05). Also, level of 60 ppm furosemide, increased white blood cells, plasma antioxidant capacity, glutathione-peroxidase activity). Decreased plasma protein, malondialdehyde and activity of plasma aspartate, aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, and creatinine kinase (P<0.05). The results of this research show that the level of 60 ppm Furosemide can reduce the problems caused by high blood pressure in birds with this metabolic syndrome by improving its antioxidant status.

In this research, a comparison was made between the concentration of secondary metabolites of Hibiscus sabdariffa content in its leaves and induced transgenic hairy roots. The levels of anthocyanins and flavonoids and total phenol were measured in both samples. In the next step, polyphenols were measured by HPLC. The concentration of catechin flavonoids in the transgenic hairy root extract was 22.8 mg/g dry matter which was several times higher than that of ​​0.9 mg/g in leaf extract of dry matter. The obtained results clearly demonstrated that, the rate of concentration of secondary metabolites during the process of induction of transgenic hairy root was increased. Then, the extracts of leaf and transgenic hairy root samples at various concentrations of 0, 25, 50, 50, 100, 200, 400 mg / ml were added to HepG2 liver cancer cell lines and the percentage of cell survival was calculated by MTT method. The cell survival rate in the sample treated with transgenic hairy roots samples was less than the leaf extract samples, which was most likely due to the higher concentration of Catechin in the transgenic hairy roots extract. The best concentrations of extracts of transgenic hairy root extract showed that, the highest percentage of cell apoptosis was 100 mg/ ml.

Regarding the role of arginine in vasodilatation and reduction of blood pressure and the possibility of replacing this amino acid with guanidinoacetic acid, a test was conducted with 400 chicks in 5 treatments (control, two levels of 0.5 and 1% arginine, and two levels of 0.15 And 0.3% Guanidininostech) in four replications in a completely randomized design. Birds were subjected to a cold temperature program for induction of pulmonary hypertension syndrome. Blood parameters (RBC, hemoglobin, hematocrit and heterophile / lymphocyte), biochemical parameters (lactate, urea, uric acid and nitric oxide), enzymatic parameters (LDH, AST, ALT, CK) and antioxidant TAS, MDA, GPX, SOD) in plasma were measured at the end of the experiment (day 42). The results showed that supplementation of 1% arginine and 0.15% guanidinoacetic acid significantly decreased the heterophilic/ lymphocyte index, hematocrit, urea and uric acid, and increased nitric oxide (P <0.05). Treatment with 1% arginine and 0.15% guanidinoacetic acid reduced malondialdehyde and increased activity of superoxide dismutase and creatine kinase in plasma (P <0.05). The level of 1% of arginine also significantly increased the activity of glutathione peroxidase enzyme in the plasma. Other measured parameters were not significantly affected by experimental treatments (P> 0.05). In general, the results of this experiment showed that, given the lower price of guanidinoacetic acid compared to arginine, it is possible to effectively use 0.15% guanidinoacetic acid to replace arginine supplementation in preventing reduce stress.

The aim of present study was to evaluation the effect of different levels of soybean lecithin in tris extender replaced with egg yolk on semen quality parameters of Arabic ram after freeze-thawing process. For this purpose, the experiment with numbers of 8 adult and healthy Arabic rams with an average weight of 75 ± 5 kg were used in a completely randomized design. Semen samples were collected using electro ejaculator. Semen samples were mixed and after dilution, were divided in to 5 experimental groups. Treatments were increasing levels of soybean lecithin (0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 percent) and egg yolk (15 percent) in tris base extender and 5 percent of glycerol. The 5 numbers of 0.5 ml straws from each treatment were filled. The straws were equivalence for 2 hours in 5˚C and then freezed. After 2 weeks, straws were thawed at 37˚C. Qualitative parameters of spermatozoa including the motility, viability, morphological abnormalities, membrane integrity and the pH of semen were evaluated. The resulted of this experiment showed that extender containing 1.5 percent of soybean lecithin significantly improved total motility and progressive motility, viability, morphological abnormalities and membrane integrity of Arabic ram spermatozoa compared to the other levels of lecithin as well as egg yolk (P<0.05). The most improvement have been observed at the 1.5 % soybean lecithin. Therefore, this level can be used in tris extender for maintaining of Arabic ram spermatozoa in freeze condition.

Cancer is the result of the overgrowth of malignant cells that have the ability to spread to other parts of the body. Dichloroacetate (DCA) has been considered as a new drug to control various cancers. The effects of stem cells or their conditioned media (CM) on the treatment or control of some cancers have also been shown. In this study, human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (h-ADMSCs) and breast cancer cell line 4T1 were first treatedwith different concentrations of DCA and their viability was assessed by MTT assay and 1mM were selected for CM collection. h-ADMSCs with four groups including groups with no FBS media, ± DCA (-FBS /±1mM DCA) and groups with 5% FBS ± DCA (+5%FBS/±1mMDCA) were treated to prepare CM. Then the viability, colony forming potential, cell cycle profile and apoptosis of CM-treated 4T1 cells were investigated. The results showed that CM in the -FBS/+DCA group decreased the viability (P-Value <0.05) and increased the proliferation of 4T1 cells, compared to the -FBS/-DCA group, respectively. Compared to +5%FBS/-DCA group, CM of +5% FBS/+DCA were able to increase viability and proliferation of 4T1 cells. Also, CM of the four studied groups caused changes in the rate of apoptosis and cell cycle profile of 4T1 cells. It seems that, DCA can increase the viability and proliferation of 4T1 breast cancer cells by affecting on thecomposition of mesenchymal stem cells CM.