Protein post-translational modifications after spinal cord injury

Deficits in intrinsic neuronal capacities in the spinal cord,a lack of growth support,and suppression of axonal outgrowth by inhibitory molecules mean that spinal cord injury almost always has devastating consequences.As such,one of the primary targets for the treatment of spinal cord injury is to develop strategies to antagonize extrinsic or intrinsic axonal growth-inhibitory factors or enhance the factors that support axonal growth.Among these factors,a series of individual protein level disorders have been identified during the generation of axons following spinal cord injury.Moreover,an increasing number of studies have indicated that post-translational modifications of these proteins have important implications for axonal growth.Some researchers have discovered a variety of post-translational modifications after spinal cord injury,such as tyrosination,acetylation,and phosphorylation.In this review,we reviewed the post-translational modifications for axonal growth,functional recovery,and neuropathic pain after spinal cord injury,a better understanding of which may elucidate the dynamic change of spinal cord injury-related molecules and facilitate the development of a new therapeutic strategy for spinal cord injury.

Antioxidant and modulatory role of Chlorophytum borivilianum against arsenic induced testicular impairment

Arsenic has a suppressive influence on spermatogenesis and induces impairment in male reproductive system due to oxidative stress. The present study was aimed to test the arsenic induced toxicity and protection by Chlorophytum borivilianum. The effect of sodium arsenite （4 mg/（kg body weight （bw）.day）） via double distilled water without or with C. borivilianum （800 mg/（kg bw.day）） was evaluated in Swiss albino mice for 30 days. The radical scavenging activity of the aqueous C. borivilianum root extract was measured using DPPH （1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrayzyl） radical. Qualitative assessment of various cell types in the testis, sperm count and motility, testicular activity of lipid peroxidation （LPO）, reduced glutathione （GSH）, acid and alkaline phosphatase, cholesterol and serum testosterone were monitored. Arsenic treatment showed a significant increase in LPO, acid and alkaline phosphatase, cholesterol and decrease in sperm count, sperm motility, GSH and serum testosterone. Combined treatment showed significant decrease in LPO, acid and alkaline phosphatase, cholesterol and elevation in sperm count, sperm motility, GSH and serum testosterone. Testicular histopathology showed that C. borivilianum had reduced degeneration of germ cell in the seminiferous tubules and loss of sperms induced by arsenic intoxication. The results thus led us to conclude that administration of C. borivilianum root extract is found to be protective against arsenic induced toxicity.

Identification of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Inhibitors from Urtica dioica to Develop Herbal-Based Therapeutics Against COVID-19

Objective: The high transmission rate and mutations of SARS-Co V-2 have made it a global pandemic, and the shortage of any effective clinical treatment has created such a commotion. There are some synthetic antiviral drugs, such as remdesivir and lopinavir that are being repurposed to treat SARS-Co V-2, but all of these demonstrate extreme side effects in humans. Hence, promoting herbal-based drug development has become crucial as they are cost-effective and have lesser or no side effects. Urtica dioica is abundant in the Himalayan region and the compounds present in it have shown significant antiviral and anti-SARS activity. Therefore, molecular docking studies were performed to identify SARS-Co V-2 spike protein inhibitors from U. dioica to combat the COVID-19 disease. Materials and Methods: Compounds from U. dioica were screened using the bioinformatic approach, and subsequently, these compounds were docked with the S1 subunit of the COVID-19 spike protein(PDB ID: 6YOR). Molecular docking was carried out using the Py Rx software(0.8 version) and further examined by employing the Discovery Studio Visualizer. Results: About all the selected compounds showed significant binding energy(e.g., beta-sitosterol:-10.3 kcal/mol) in contrast to the control chloroquine phosphate. This binding was observed with the spike protein residues that were common in the old strain and the more contagious newly modified B.1.1.7 strain of SARS-Co V-2. Conclusions: Thus, our study can be used in effective drug development against SARS-Co V-2 and its mutant strains also.