Journal of Basic & Clinical Pathophysiology
Volume:2 Issue: 1, Winter-Spring 2014

Nutritional factors are a matter of debate in the etiology of preterm labor. This study was conducted to assess the association of maternal folic acid consumption with preterm labor. comprised and This cohort study was conducted on 191 healthy pregnant women in 2009, referring to two teaching hospitals in Tehran (Iran). The folic acid intake was measured and its correlation with preterm labor (premature rupture of membrane, newborn birth weight, and Apgar score) was assessed. Pearson and Spearman correlation tests were used for statistical analysis. The age range of the participants was 19 to 41 years with a mean and standard deviation of 27.8 and 4.4 years, respectively. Birth weight mean of newborns was 3228.64 (± 439.86) g with a gestational age mean of 38.7 (± 1.49) weeks. In 7 cases, 3.7% of the infants were born premature. In the second trimester of pregnancy, the average intake of folic acid was 1.16 (± 0.79) mg. The correlation of folic acid intake with the pregnancy outcomes was not significant. Our findings did not indicate favorable association of folic acid intake with pregnancy outcomes neither for mothers nor for their neonates. We suggest conducting further studies on larger sample sizes and determining serum folate level.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a weakening neurodegenerative disorder typified by increased b-amyloid (Ab) deposition and neuronal dysfunction causing to impaired learning and memory. Among proposed risk factors, induced oxidative stress is a main cause for incidence of the disease. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of the rosmarinic acid on learning and memory impairments with emphasis on its antioxidant properties. In the present study, the effect of the intraperitoneally administration of rosmarinic acid (10 and 20 mg/kg) on learning and memory impairments was assessed in intrahippocampal Ab(25–35)-injected rats. The results showed that the intrahippocampal Ab(25–35)-injected rats exhibit lower spontaneous alternation score inY-maze tasks (p This study indicates that rosmarinic acid pretreatment ameliorates Ab-induced impairment of learning and memory in rats via attenuation of oxidative stress burden.

According to the issue of dependence and tolerance in addicted patients, the inefficiency of existing treatments and the new recommendation for drug combination therapy for diseases in modern pharmacology, the present study examined the effect of methadone and valproate combination on morphine dependence and tolerance. Ninety-eight male mice were divided into the following groups: saline, morphine, methadone, valproate, and three groups of valproate+methadone, i.e. 1 to 1, 2 to 1 and 1 to 2 ratios. Except for the saline group, the others received escalating dose of morphine for 8 consecutive days. In acquisition group, drugs were injected for 30 minutes before morphine administration. In expression group, the drugs were used only at 8th day (test day). Morphine tolerance was measured by tail immersion test and for dependence assessment, naloxone-induced withdrawal signs was evaluated. Jumping behavior as a main sign of dependence in both acquisition and expression significantly reduced in methadone1+valproate2 treatment group. Also, acquisition and expression of tolerance significantly decreased in valproate and methadone1+valproate2 more than other groups. Our results show that methadone and valproate combination treatment could probably reduce tolerance and dependence more than single valproate or methadone treatments.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disorder with massive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta. L-Dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) substitution is still the gold standard therapy for PD. However, there has been little information available on neuroprotective and regenerative therapies for PD. Due to the neuroprotective and anti-oxidant property of Melissa officinalis (MO), this research study was done to evaluate whether MO could improve behavioral and structural changes in an experimental model of early PD in rat. In this study, rats (n = 48) were divided into 4 groups, i.e. sham-operated, SO-treated sham-operated, 6-OHDA-lesioned and MO-treated lesioned groups. The experimental model of PD was induced by unilateral intrastriatal injection of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA, 12.5 mg/5ml of saline-ascorbate; left side). The treated sham and lesioned groups received MO at a dose of 100 mg/kg once a day before surgery for three times at an interval of 24 h. One week post-surgery, the animals were tested for rotational behavior by apomorphine for an hour and the number of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNC) was counted. MO pretreatment significantly improved apomorphine-induced turning behavior and partially prevented loss of SNC neurons with no significant effect on the Sham group. These results suggest that MO pretreatment could exert neuroprotection against 6-OHDA neurotoxicity, as observed by preservation of dopaminergic neurons and attenuation of motor asymmetry and this may have potential benefit in neurodegenerative and movement disorders like PD.

It has been shown that oxidative stress increases in diabetes and it has an important role in its development and subsequent complications. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of acute resistance exercise on oxidative stress in skeletal muscle and cardiac tissues of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Twenty male wistar rats were rendered diabetic by a single dose of streptozotocin (STZ; 50 mg/kg, IP) and were randomly divided into two groups: (1) acute resistance exercise and (2) sedentary control. Acute resistance exercise consisted of 4 separate sessions of exercise that happened in non-consecutive days. After the last session, the animals were anesthetized by xylazine (10 mg/kg) and ketamine (75 mg/kg) and flexor hallucis longus (FHL) muscle and heart were surgically removed and stored at -80 °C until biochemical analysis of malondialdehyde (MDA), protein carbonyl (PC), and glutathione (GSH) was done. Our findings showed a significant decrease of MDA (p=0.007), but not PC level (p=0.678) of cardiac tissue of resistance exercise group. However, in FHL muscle, resistance exercise caused a significant increase in MDA (p=0.01), but there was no significant changes in PC level (p=0.399). Resistance exercise also caused a small but insignificant increase in GSH content of both skeletal and cardiac muscle tissues (p=0.11 and p=0.19, respectively). We observed that in diabetic rats, acute resistance exercise decreases cardiac tissue MDA, increases skeletal muscle MDA level, and had no significant effect on PC and GSH level. Further research is needed to specify the mechanisms of these differences in various tissues following resistance exercise.

According to the importance of learning and memory in the human life and also unavoidable neural degeneration due to aging, finding new compounds (drugs) against this process is valuable. However, there are many recommendations for herbal medicine and constituents which encouraged us to examine a candidate plant Zingiber officinalis for the mentioned purpose. Male rats (250-300 g) were divided into control and treatment groups. Treatment groups consist of three subgroups including oral (plant was prescribed to animals mixed in food at a ratio of 6.25%) for 2 weeks, and two groups that received the plant extract at doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg (intraperitoneal, IP). In order to investigate the spatial recognition (alternation) behavior and acquisition-recalling (step through latency, STL), the animals were subjected to Y maze and shuttle box tests, respectively. In our study, the difference of the initial latency (IL) in oral treatment groups (8.24±1.21 s) and injection (50 and 100 mg/kg) groups versus control group (14.28±1.45 s) were non-significant. However, step through latency (STL) time difference for oral (18.12±0.8 s) group versus control one (13.28±1.33 s) was significant (p Oral and intraperitoneal administration of the Zingiber officinalis could have a significant improving effect on acquisition, retention and recall.

Iranian Traditional Medicine (ITM) has a long history in the prevention and treatment of diseases. Clinical uses, side effects, and toxic effects of many singular and compounds were known to scientists of ITM and articular books on toxicology and detoxification of drugs has been written by scientists, but their measurement tools to evaluate chronic toxicity of drugs are limited. Hab-o Shefa is a combination drug which has an important place in Iranian Traditional Medicine to cure drug addiction. According to the attention of people to traditional medicine and expanding the use of natural drugs, and also, more attention to treatment of addicts, clinical studies on its toxicology are required. However, we decided to do oral toxicity study of this combination in rats. Acute oral toxicity of Hab-o Shefa in male Wistar rats was evaluated using doses of 200, 500, 1500, 2000, 3000, 4000, and 5000 mg per kg of body weight. Protocol that we used to define acute toxicity and determine LD50 of Hab-o Shefa was based on the method that proposed by Mr. Smith and colleagues (1960) and the changes to it ​​by Mr. Van Dan Howell in 1990. Results and The results showed apparently no toxicity and mortality in rats. Histopathological studies of the vital organs of rats at these dosages did not show any histological abnormalities.

Vascular abnormality and dysfunction plays an important role in the pathogenesis of vascular disease in diabetic state. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether an in vitro exposure of endothelium-intact aortic rings to Melissa officinalis (lemon balm, MO) aqueous extract could have a beneficial effect in rats with subchronic diabetes. Diabetes was induced with a single dose of intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ, 60 mg/kg). After one month, reactivity of isolated endothelium-intact aortic rings to KCl and phenylephrine (PE) in the absence and presence of blockers of nitric oxide synthase (L-NAME) and prostaglandin synthesis pathway (indomethacin) in addition to the role of extracellular calcium was evaluated in the presence of MO extract in a cumulative manner. After 1 month, addition of MO extract (at a concentration range of 0.2-1 mg/ml) caused a significant concentration-dependent relaxation of phenylephrine (PE) and not KCl-preconstricted rings in both control and diabetic groups with a significant inter-group difference of These findings show that MO aqueous extract could relax the PE-preconstricted rings of aorta in STZ-diabetic rats through a nitric oxide pathway and prostaglandin pathway does not have a significant role and this extract could not affect the release of calcium from intracellular stores.