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Despite effective chemotherapy, schistosomiasis remains the second major public health problem in the developing world, second to malaria. The present study was undertaken to explore the therapeutic effect of the micronutrients (vitamin E and selenium) and chloroform extract of Citharexylum quadrangular leaves and their mixture against the deleterious pathological impacts induced in mice livers by Schistosoma mansoni infection. Parasitological markers showed that oral ingestion of the different supplements to S. mansoni infected mice was effective in reducing the worm burden with concomitant decrease in the egg burden, granuloma count and its diameter as well as total area of infection in their livers versus untreated ones. Parasitological parameters were reflected by the improvement of the histopathological pictures of livers of infected-treated mice. The current investigation also showed that the used agents and their mixture successfully modulated liver fibrosis of infected mice which was documented by a marked decrease of liver hydroxyproline level ( as biomarker of liver fibrosis) as well as the serum levels of inflammatory fibrogenic mediators namely, fructosamine, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) and total immunoglobin E (IgE). In addition, the used agents showed ameliorative action on the elevated liver oxidative stress- nitric oxide (NO) and malondialdehyde (MDA) and the decreased antioxidant biomarkers, reduced glutathione (GSH), glutathione reductase (GR), thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) and catalase (CAT) which may have a role in liver damage and fibrosis due to S mansoni infection. In conclusion, treatment with the used micronutrients and plant extract either alone or in combination attenuated the deleterious impacts of S. mansoni infection on mice livers. The combination of all supplements was more effective as it greatly modified the inflammatory mediators and oxidative stress responsible for schistosomal liver fibrosis. Key words: Citharexylum quadrangular; Vitamin E, selenium, Shistosoma mansoni, antioxidants.

The present study investigates the effects of carnosine and/or cyclosporine A (CyA) treatment against traumatic brain injury (TBI) in immature rats. Traumatized rats received carnosine [(200 mg/kg/day, in pre-and post-treatment (i.p.)] for 7 consecutive days following TBI. CyA (20 mg/kg, i.p.) was administrated 15 min and 24 h after TBI. The results revealed that TBI caused sever brain injury indicated by increased nucleotide hydrolysis which was ensured by pronounced increase in ectonucleotidases, NTPDases (ATP and ADP hydrolysis) and 5'-nucleotidase (AMP hydrolysis) in traumatized rats compared with normal animals. TBI also causes elevation of glycolytic enzymatic activities as lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and phosphoglucoisomerase (PGI) in rats’ brains. In addition TBI pronouncedly reduced the activities of antioxidant enzymes glutathione reductase (GR) and catalase (CAT) in brain tissue as compared to normal animals. Injection of carnosine and/or CyA significantly modulates the altered enzymatic activities. In conclusion, the present data may suggest the beneficial effect of carnosine and/or CyA in protection of brain tissues from disorders induced by traumatic injury. Key words: Carnosine, cyclosporine A, glutathione reductase, traumatic brain injury (TBI).