Curcumin the active component of turmeric is widely used as an anticancer agent for treating many human cancers. This study aimed at the extraction of curcumin from Curcuma Longa and investigates its therapeutic effec...Curcumin the active component of turmeric is widely used as an anticancer agent for treating many human cancers. This study aimed at the extraction of curcumin from Curcuma Longa and investigates its therapeutic effect as ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) inhibitor in HepG2 cells. The proliferation of HepG2 cells was carried out by using the MTT assay. In addition, cell cycle analysis was evaluated by using the flow-cytometric technique. Our results showed that curcumin has the ability to inhibit the proliferation of HepG2 cells with IC50 of 24.79 μg/ml and induced G2/M cell cycle arrest. Moreover, it caused an elevation in the intracellular concentration of Ca2+. Moreover, in the curcumin administration the downregulation expression level of ODC and Bcl-2 genes (p ≤ 0.05) was significant found. On the other hand, upregulation in the expression level of P53, Bax, and caspase-3 genes (p ≤ 0.05). This study concluded that curcumin may be considered as a new saving candidate for the future progress of antitumor agents.展开更多
Pregnancy is associated with down regulating cell-mediated immunity (T-Lymphocyte) which would lead for increasing susceptibility to viral and bacterial infection, therefore it is expected that feeding probiotic bacte...Pregnancy is associated with down regulating cell-mediated immunity (T-Lymphocyte) which would lead for increasing susceptibility to viral and bacterial infection, therefore it is expected that feeding probiotic bacteria would help in strengthening pregnant immunity. To test the effect of probiotics feeding on immunity during pregnancy, rats were fed on four different diets, a basal diet (the control) or basal diet fortified with different probiotics which were yogurt (Streptococcus thermophilus EMCC 1043 and Lactobacillus delbruckii subsp bulgaricus EMCC 1102) (G1), yogurt plus Bifidobacterium breve (G2), and yogurt plus Bifidobacterium breve plus Lactobacillus paracasei (G3). Feeding started before mating, during gestation and after parturition. Probiotics particularly (G2) and (G3) improved signifi-cantly rats' body weight gain over the control during gestation and after parturition and their off-spring. G2 and G3 significantly lowered total serum cholesterol than the control. Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL)-fraction decreased insignificantly during gestation but the difference was significant after parturition. Probiotic feeding enhanced leukocyte production which was differentiated more into lymphocytes than phagocytes particularly on third week of gestation and after parturition. CD4+ counts in the control rats suffered a decrease on pregnancy and the decrease continued during gestation period and after parturition. On the other hand, probiotic feeding helped CD4 to overcome the decrease occurred on pregnancy to give counts on the third week and after parturition higher than before pregnancy. CD8+ counts were also increased with probiotics feeding as compared to the control which suffered continuous decrease during pregnancy. Therefore, probiotics feeding improved pregnant rats' general health, lipid profile and both sides of immunity.展开更多
文摘Curcumin the active component of turmeric is widely used as an anticancer agent for treating many human cancers. This study aimed at the extraction of curcumin from Curcuma Longa and investigates its therapeutic effect as ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) inhibitor in HepG2 cells. The proliferation of HepG2 cells was carried out by using the MTT assay. In addition, cell cycle analysis was evaluated by using the flow-cytometric technique. Our results showed that curcumin has the ability to inhibit the proliferation of HepG2 cells with IC50 of 24.79 μg/ml and induced G2/M cell cycle arrest. Moreover, it caused an elevation in the intracellular concentration of Ca2+. Moreover, in the curcumin administration the downregulation expression level of ODC and Bcl-2 genes (p ≤ 0.05) was significant found. On the other hand, upregulation in the expression level of P53, Bax, and caspase-3 genes (p ≤ 0.05). This study concluded that curcumin may be considered as a new saving candidate for the future progress of antitumor agents.
文摘Pregnancy is associated with down regulating cell-mediated immunity (T-Lymphocyte) which would lead for increasing susceptibility to viral and bacterial infection, therefore it is expected that feeding probiotic bacteria would help in strengthening pregnant immunity. To test the effect of probiotics feeding on immunity during pregnancy, rats were fed on four different diets, a basal diet (the control) or basal diet fortified with different probiotics which were yogurt (Streptococcus thermophilus EMCC 1043 and Lactobacillus delbruckii subsp bulgaricus EMCC 1102) (G1), yogurt plus Bifidobacterium breve (G2), and yogurt plus Bifidobacterium breve plus Lactobacillus paracasei (G3). Feeding started before mating, during gestation and after parturition. Probiotics particularly (G2) and (G3) improved signifi-cantly rats' body weight gain over the control during gestation and after parturition and their off-spring. G2 and G3 significantly lowered total serum cholesterol than the control. Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL)-fraction decreased insignificantly during gestation but the difference was significant after parturition. Probiotic feeding enhanced leukocyte production which was differentiated more into lymphocytes than phagocytes particularly on third week of gestation and after parturition. CD4+ counts in the control rats suffered a decrease on pregnancy and the decrease continued during gestation period and after parturition. On the other hand, probiotic feeding helped CD4 to overcome the decrease occurred on pregnancy to give counts on the third week and after parturition higher than before pregnancy. CD8+ counts were also increased with probiotics feeding as compared to the control which suffered continuous decrease during pregnancy. Therefore, probiotics feeding improved pregnant rats' general health, lipid profile and both sides of immunity.
