Hepatoprotective effect of Solatium xanthocarpum fruit extract against CCl_4 induced acute liver toxicity in experimental animals

Objective:To investigate the hepatoprotective potential of Solonum xanthocarpum（Solanaceae） （S.xanthocarpum） in experimental rats to validate its traditional claim.Methods:50%ethanolic fruit extract of S.xanthocarpum（SXE,100.200 or 400 mg/kg hods weight） was administered daily for 14davs in experimental animals.Liver injury was induced chemically,by CCl4 administration （1 mL/kg i.p.）.The hepatoprotective activity was assessed using various biochemical parameters like aspartate aminotransferase（AST）,alanine aminotransferase（ALT）.Serum alkaline phosphatise （SALP） and total bilirubin.Meanwhile,in vivo antioxidant activities as lipid peroxidation（LPO）, reduced glutathione（GSH）.superoxide dismutase（SOD） and calalase（CAT） were screened along with histopathological studies.Results:Obtained results demonstrated that the treatment with SXE significantly（P【0.05- 【0.001） and dose-dcpendcntly prevented chemically induced increase in serum levels of hepatic enzymes.Furthermore.SXE significantly（up to P【0.001） reduced the lipid peroxidation in the liver tissue and restored activities of defence antioxidant enzymes GSH,SOU and catalasc towards normal levels.Histopathology of the liver tissue showed that SXE attenuated the hepatocellular necrosis and led to reduction of inflammatory cells inflltration. Conclusions:The results of this study strongly indicate the protective effect of SXE against acute liver injun which may he attributed to its hepatoprotective activity,and there by scientifically support its traditional use.

The difference of morphological characteristics and population structure in PAO and DPAO granular sludges

We examined how long-term operation of anaerobic–oxic and anaerobic–anoxic sequencing batch reactors(SBRs) affects the enhanced biological phosphorus removal(EBPR)performance and sludge characteristics. The microbial characteristics of phosphorus accumulating organism(PAO) and denitrifying PAO(DPAO) sludge were also analyzed through a quantitative analysis of microbial community structure. Compared with the initial stage of operation characterized by unstable EBPR, both PAO and DPAO SBR produced a stable EBPR performance after about 100-day operation. From day 200 days(DPAO SBR)and 250 days(PAO SBR) onward, sludge granulation was observed, and the average granule size of DPAO SBR was approximately 5 times larger than that of PAO SBR. The DPAO granular sludge contained mainly rod-type microbes, whereas the PAO granular sludge contained coccus-type microbes. Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis revealed that a high ratio of Accumulibacter clade I was found only in DPAO SBR, revealing the important role of this organism in the denitrifying EBPR system. A pyrosequencing analysis showed that Accumulibacter phosphatis was present in PAO sludge at a high proportion of 6%,whereas it rarely observed in DPAO sludge. Dechloromonas was observed in both PAO sludge(3.3%) and DPAO sludge(3.2%), confirming that this organism can use both O_2 and NO_3^- as electron acceptors. Further, Thauera spp. was identified to have a new possibility as denitrifier capable of phosphorous uptake under anoxic condition.