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Concomitant oral supplementation of Pleurotus florida lectin (PFL) (@50μg/ml) on arsenic (@ 5 μM) exposed renal cells was investigated to evaluate the protective value of PFL against arsenic toxicity in rats. Renal cells, exposed to arsenic(III), showed a significant inhibition of cell proliferation index (CPI) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) acid and catalase (CAT) activity with an increased level of lipid peroxidation (LPO). A marginally increased level of nitric oxide (NO) was found firstly and thereafter decreased due to long-term arsenic exposure in the cells. Concurrent application of PFL in arsenic exposed renal cells had remarkable protective effect on inhibited CPI, SOD, and CAT activity and restored LPO and NO level in renal cells. Arsenic caused down-regulation of mRNA expression of SOD2 gene that was reversed by administration of PFL. The results concluded that supplementation of PFL protected renal cells against arsenic-induced oxidative stress.

Arsenic is one of the widely dispersed elements in the Earth’s crust and exists in the environment due to natural and anthropogenic sources. The toxin is greatly expanded through intensive application of groundwater in agriculture in the region within the Green Revolution framework. It is an environmental chemical element of high concern for human and animal health. Agricultural land is constantly contaminated with arsenic due to application of groundwater for irrigation purposes. Animals, being exposed to arsenic through contaminated drinking water, exhibit major abnormalities in the blood and tissues of animals prior to the excretion in the urine and feces. This present study was conducted to evaluate the hemato-biochemical indices and blood oxidative stress in thirty Black Bengal goats irrespective of age, sex, breeding system of Ghetugachi village of Nadia district of West Bengal, India, and control Akna village of Polba block of Hoogli district of West Bengal, India. There was a significant reduction in hemoglobin, red blood cells and white blood cells, packed cell volume, and total serum protein with a significant elevation of aspartate aminotransaminase, alanine aminotransaminase, blood urea nitrogen, and creatinine. Elevated corpuscular osmotic fragility depicted an altered mechanism associated with the deviation of the normal functioning of erythrocytes. Goats harboring in the grazing arsenic endemic zone also showed a significantly higher arsenic burden in blood. The affected goats further exhibited declined superoxide dismutase and catalase activities of erythrocytes and plasma nitrite levels with increased lipid peroxidation and protein carbonyl level. Our investigation concluded that goats of the arsenic-affected areas are suffering from a subclinical form of arsenic toxicity, which is proved through the altered hemato-biochemical and oxidative stress indices with a higher arsenic concentration in the blood.

Sepsis is most important aetiological factor for death in dogs throughout the World. Various pathophysiological studies indicated that septic shock is occured due to inflammatory reaction that triggers cellular damage, multiorgan failure, and thereby, death. Cytokines have an immense role in causing immunological response through its pleiotropic activities. Generally, cytokines have both pro- as well as anti-inflammatory actions by maintaining regulatory defense mechanisms through counteracting with invading microorganisms. Cytokines are the important biomarker to unregulate the immunological functions by accelerating inflammation related to cellular damaging. In my present study, I correlate the potential role of cytokines in maintaining tissue-damaging activities in tissues in the dog., {"references":["Angus DC, Linde-Zwirble WT, Lidicker J, Clermont G, Carcillo J, Pinsky MR. Epidemiology of severe sepsis in the United States: analysis of incidence, outcome, and associated costs of care. Critical Care Medicine. 2001;29(7):1303–1310.","Blackwelland T. S., Christman J. W. Sepsis and cytokines: current status British Journal of Anaesthesia 1996; 77: 110–117","Bone RC, Balk RA, Cerra FB, et al. Definitions for sepsis and organ failure and guidelines for the use of innovative therapies in sepsis. The ACCP/SCCM Consensus Conference Committee. American College of Chest Physicians/Society of Critical Care Medicine.Chest. 1992;101(6):1644–1655","Cabrera-Perez J, Condotta SA., Badovinac VP., Griffith TS. Impact of sepsis on CD4 T cell immunity. J Leukoc Biol. 2014 Nov; 96(5): 767–777.","Court O, Kumar A, Parrillo JE, Kumar A, Crit Care. Clinical review: Myocardial depression in sepsis and septic shock. 2002; 6(6): 500–508","James D. Faix. Biomarkers of sepsis. Crit Rev Clin Lab Sci. 2013 Jan; 50(1): 23–36.","Machado JR, Soave DF, da Silva MV, de Menezes LB, Etchebehere RM, Monteiro MLG dos R, dos Reis MA, Corrêa RRM, Celes MRN. Neonatal Sepsis and Inflammatory Mediators Mediators Inflamm. 2014; 2014: 269681","Martin GS, Mannino DM, Eaton S, Moss M. The epidemiology of sepsis in the United States from 1979 through 2000. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2003;348(16):1546– 1554","Matsumoto H, Ogura H, Shimizu K, Ikeda M, Hirose T, Matsuura H, Kang S, Takahashi K, Tanaka T, Shimazu T. The clinical importance of a cytokine network in the acute phase of sepsis. Sci Rep. 2018; 8: 13995","Schulte W, Bernhagen J, Bucala R. 2013. Cytokines in Sepsis: Potent Immunoregulators and Potential Therapeutic Targets—An Updated View. Mediators Inflamm. 2013; 165974","Wang Y, Liu Q, Liu T, Xu X, Gao W, Bai X, Li Z. Caspase-1-dependent pyroptosis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells predicts the development of sepsis in severe trauma patients: A prospective observational study Medicine (Baltimore) 2018 Feb; 97(8): e9859"]}

Rana, Tanmoy, Bera, Asit Kumar, Bhattacharya, Debasis, Das, Subhashree and Das, Subrata Kumar 2020. Effect of chronic environmental exposure of arsenic on haemato-biochemical profiles and DNA fragmentation of backyard poultry in arsenic endemic zone. Indian Journal of Poultry Science, 55(3): 243-247.

An experimental study on the temperature ($T$) dependence of giant dipole resonance (GDR) width was performed for the medium mass nucleus $^{74}\mathrm{Kr}$ in the range of $T\ensuremath{\approx}2--2.5$ MeV at an average angular momentum of $26\ensuremath{\hbar}$ using the $^{16}\mathrm{O}+^{58}\mathrm{Ni}$ fusion reaction. The emitted high-energy $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ rays and evaporated neutrons were measured in coincidence with low-energy discrete $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-ray multiplicities. The GDR parameters, nuclear level density parameter, and nuclear temperature were determined by the statistical model analysis of the high-energy $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-ray spectra as well as evaporated neutron spectra. The measured GDR width is found to increase monotonically with temperature, in contradiction with the recent observation of the width saturation in $^{88}\mathrm{Mo}$. Comparisons of the measured data with predictions of the adiabatic thermal shape fluctuation model and its refined version, the critical temperature included fluctuation model, are presented and discussed.

Background: The excitation energy dependence of the fission fragment mass and folding angle distributions for reactions with loosely bound projectiles are reported to be significantly different compared to the reactions with tightly bound nuclei. Extensive study to understand the reaction mechanism of weakly bound projectiles is required as it can simulate the mechanism of fission induced with radioactive ion beams.Purpose: The effect of loosely bound nuclei on fission fragment folding angle and mass distributions in the $^{9}\mathrm{Be}+^{238}\mathrm{U}$ reaction near the Coulomb barrier energies is investigated and the contributions of incomplete fusion fission in the total fission cross section are studied.Methods: Mass and folding angle distributions of the fission fragments have been measured near the Coulomb barrier energies using two large area multiwire proportional counters. Fragment masses were determined from the time-of-flight difference method. To understand the effect of breakup of loosely bound nuclei, the results are compared with tightly bound proton-, $\ensuremath{\alpha}$-particle-, and carbon-induced reactions, as well as with the predictions from semiempirical calculations.Results: The width of folding angle distributions is found to increase with lowering excitation energy in the $^{9}\mathrm{Be}+^{238}\mathrm{U}$ reaction. This is in contrast to the reaction $^{12}\mathrm{C}+^{232}\mathrm{Th}$ involving tightly bound projectiles, populating similar compound nuclei. The peak-to-valley ratios of the fission fragment mass distributions for all events are found to sharply increase with lowering excitation energy in the $^{9}\mathrm{Be}+^{238}\mathrm{U}$ reaction. The possible contribution of incomplete fusion into the total fission cross section could be extracted. The measured mass distributions were found to be consistent with the semiempirical calculation gef and macro-microscopic two-center shell model calculations considering the admixture of incomplete fusion fission.Conclusion: For actinide targets, mass distributions of inclusive fission are influenced by the breakup/transfer channels of the weakly bound projectiles. At the above-barrier energies, the contribution of incomplete fusion is found to be $\ensuremath{\approx}25\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}4%$ which is similar to the reported value of the complete fusion suppression factor in reactions involving nuclei with low binding energies. The increase in the peak-to-valley ratio with lowering excitation energy in the fission fragment mass distribution could be explained by the combined analysis of folding angle and mass distributions.

Nitric oxide (NO), a pleiotropic free radical messenger molecule, is responsible for the various cellular function of the gastrointestinal mucosa. It plays a major role in the maintenance of perfusion, regulation of microvascular, epithelial permeability, and immune functions. Nitric oxide exerts its beneficial effect on the initiation and maintenance of inflammation in human inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). But the accelerated production of NO triggers activation of the inducible form of the NO synthase enzyme (iNOS) that leads to damages of the intestinal membrane. Nitric oxide synthase enzyme is responsible for the higher production of NO from l-arginine and causes an inflammatory condition in the intestinal epithelium. Nitric oxide induces nitrative DNA damage and oxidative DNA damage in the cellular system. Accelerated production of NO enhances iNOS activity that is associated with cytotoxicity and apoptosis of gastrointestinal epithelial cells in the dog. Chronic inflammation leads to angiogenesis that is modulated by the immune system in IBD. Chronic inflammation is a major risk factor for the development of gastrointestinal malignancies. Nitric oxide participates in mucosal inflammation in the intestine through invigoration of NO synthase enzyme. The intrinsic complex mechanism is correlated with the inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract and is also correlated with the expression of iNOS, enzymatic activity and NO production. Nitric oxide employs a significant role in modulating epithelial permeability with accelerated immune response in acute colitis. But the enormous generation of NO causes adverse effects on the mucosal cell during the inflammatory process in IBD. In this review, a complex episode of NO generation with altered biochemical pathways was assessed for the regulation of mucosal inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease of dogs. This review is a unique compilation of the role of NO in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease of dogs. Nitric oxide plays a key role in modulating cancer in the gastrointestinal tract. This review seeks to explore the characteristics of NO as a major hallmark of canine inflammatory bowel diseases.Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), the most significant chronic inflammatory condition, is characterized by the painful infection in the gastrointestinal tract among dogs. Nitric oxide (NO) plays a significant role in counteracting the inflammation in the mucosa of the intestine. But prolonged chronic inflammation in the submucosal layers leads to accelerated production of NO that causes harmful effects on the cellular system of the intestine of IBD cases. In IBD, a complex mechanism has occurred in the intestine of dogs.

Nanoparticles have been attracted attention in poultry research due to their low toxicity, higher bio-availability, high surface area with sustained drug release. Dietary supplementation with selenium nanoparticles (Se-NPs) plays a regulatory role in maintaining growth performance, feed conversion ratio (FCR), antioxidant defense as well as microbial control. Se-NPs have emerging importance in modulating intestinal health through the maintenance of beneficial microbes (microflora) as well as the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA). Se-NPs regulate intrinsic redox status by scavenging free radicals. The antioxidant potentiality of Se-NPs is influenced by the activation of the seleno-enzymes such as thioredoxin reductase and glutathione peroxidase family (GPx) involved in scavenging of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). The emerging significance of Se-NPs on antimicrobial activity has been exploited due to their bio-accumulative effects and biocompatibility potentiality in the cellular systems against poultry pathogens. The present review highlights on growth performance, antioxidant defense, and anti-bacterial potentiality of Se-NPs in poultry and also provide insight into its significance in the poultry industry.

The fragment emission mechanism in the binary decay of composites formed in the reactions $^{20}\mathrm{Ne}+^{56}\mathrm{Fe}$ and $^{16}\mathrm{O}+^{58}\mathrm{Ni}$ has been studied at two different excitation energies. The inclusive energy and angular distributions of the emitted fragments $^{6,7}\text{Li}$, $^{7,8,9}\text{Be}$, $^{10,11}\text{B}$, and $^{11,12,13,14}\text{C}$ have been measured in the laboratory angles ranging from ${15}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ to ${35}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ (corresponding angles in center of mass ranging from ${20}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ to ${50}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$). The energy distributions of the fragments are found to be Gaussian and peaked at energies higher than those expected from fusion-fission-type reactions. The center-of-mass angular distributions of all the fragments have been found to fall faster than $\ensuremath{\approx}1/\mathrm{sin}{\ensuremath{\theta}}_{\mathrm{c}.\mathrm{m}.}$-like dependence and the average $Q$ values of the fragments are found to decrease with increasing the center-of-mass angle of the emitted fragment for both the systems. The above characteristics of fragments signify that they were emitted from nonequilibrium sources, produced in a highly energy damped deep-inelastic-type reaction. The lifetimes of the dinuclear composites estimated from the angular distributions of these fragments are found to be in the range of $\ensuremath{\approx}(0.5--2.7)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}22}$ s, which are smaller than the respective compound-nuclear lifetimes $[\ensuremath{\approx}(1.0--2.0)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}21} \mathrm{s}]$. The angular-momentum dissipations estimated from the average kinetic energies of the fragments are found to be, for lighter fragments in particular, greater than those predicted by the empirical sticking limit.

Nanotechnology, an emerging and promising technology, has been implicated to revolutionize the poultry industry. The main aspect of nanotechnology was to modify or alter the particle size into nanometers and thereby alter the physical as well as chemical features of the particular molecules. Selenium (Se), an essential trace element, can play an immense role in the maintenance of diverse physiological functions, body metabolism and cellular homeostasis, and the performance of poultry. Selenium nanoparticles (Se-NPs) are of growing importance due to its nutrients digestibility, medicinal therapy, targeted drug delivery system, and production of vaccines. Se-nanoparticles are having importance due to its high bioavailability and digestive efficiency. Se-NPs have been implicated to increase relative weights of immune-related organs (burse and thymus) to enhance immunity and thereby modulate egg production as well as the reproductive performance of birds. The present review is highlighted on the significant role of nano-selenium on reproductive performance and immunocompetence in poultry as comparative advantages over conventional sources of Se in poultry diets.

The isospin dependence of nuclear level density has been investigated by analyzing the spectra of evaporated neutrons from excited $^{116}\mathrm{Sn}$ and $^{116}\mathrm{Te}$ nuclei. These nuclei are populated via $p+^{115}\mathrm{In}$ and $^{4}\mathrm{He}+^{112}\mathrm{Sn}$ reactions in the excitation energy range of 18--26 MeV. Because of low excitation energy, the neutron spectra are predominantly contributed by the first-chance decay leading to the $\ensuremath{\beta}$-stable $^{115}\mathrm{Sn}$ and neutron-deficient $^{115}\mathrm{Te}$ as residues for the two cases. Theoretical analysis of the experimental spectra has been performed within the Hauser-Feshbach formalism by employing different models of the level-density parameter. It is observed that the data could only be explained by the level-density parameter that decreases monotonically when the proton number deviates from the $\ensuremath{\beta}$-stable value. This is also confirmed by performing a microscopic shell-model calculation with the Woods-Saxon mean field. The results have strong implications on the estimation of the level density of unstable nuclei and calculation of astrophysical reaction rates relevant to $r$ and $rp$ processes.

Neutron kinetic energy spectra in coincidence with low-energy $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-ray multiplicities have been measured around $A\ensuremath{\approx}110$ in the $^{16}\mathrm{O}+^{93}\mathrm{Nb}$ and $^{20}\mathrm{Ne}+^{93}\mathrm{Nb}$ reactions in a compound nuclear excitation energy range of $\ensuremath{\approx}90--140$ MeV. The excitation energy (temperature) dependence and the angular momentum (spin) dependence of the inverse level density parameter $k$ have been investigated by comparing the experimental data with statistical Hauser-Feshbach calculations. In contrast to the available systematic in this mass region, the inverse level density parameter showed an appreciable increase as a function of the excitation energy. The extracted $k$ values at different angular momentum regions, corresponding to different $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ multiplicities, also showed an overall increase with the average nuclear spins. The experimental results have been compared with a microscopic statistical-model calculation and found to be in reasonable agreement with the data. The results provide useful information to understand the variation of nuclear level density at high temperature and spins.

The excited states of $^{197}\mathrm{Tl}$ have been studied via $^{197}\mathrm{Au}(^{4}\mathrm{He}$, $4\mathrm{n})^{197}\mathrm{Tl}$ reaction at a beam energy of 50 MeV from the K-130 cyclotron at the Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC). The $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ rays were detected using the VECC array for Nuclear Spectroscopy (VENUS) with six Compton-suppressed clover HPGe detectors. An improved level scheme of $^{197}\mathrm{Tl}$ has been proposed from this work, which has been extended to 5.1 MeV of excitation energy and 39/2 $\ensuremath{\hbar}$ of spin from the placement of 28 new $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-ray transitions. Band crossings in the known one- and three-quasiparticle (qp) bands have been identified for the first time in this work. Two new bands, based on 3-qp and 5-qp configurations, have been observed for the first time in this nucleus; both of which are identified as the magnetic rotational (MR) in nature. The excitation energies of these bands are similar to that of the doubly degenerate bands observed for the similar 3-qp and 5-qp configurations in $^{195}\mathrm{Tl}$. These indicate a transition from an aplanar geometry of the neutron, proton, and the core angular momentum vectors to a planar one for neutron number $N\ensuremath{\ge}116$ in Tl isotopes. The total Routhian surface calculations suggest a change in shape from oblate for the 1-qp configuration to a near-spherical one for the 3- and 5-qp configurations. This is consistent with the observed MR nature of the bands with multi-qp configuration. The MR bands are well reproduced by a model calculations in the frame work of the shears mechanism with the principal axis cranking.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an important chronic condition associated with the infection affecting the gastrointestinal tract (G.I.) in dogs. Several factors' viz. gastrointestinal tract lymphoid tissue (GALT), permeability defects, genetic, ischemic, biochemical, psychosomatic disorders, infectious and parasitic agents, dietary allergies, and adverse drug reactions are associated with inflammatory bowel disease. The most noticeable clinical signs are vomiting, diarrhea, changes in appetite, weight loss, anorexia, ascites and peripheral edema. Nitric oxide (NO), a pleiotropic free radical messenger molecule plays an immense role in playing mucosal inflammation in the intestine through activation of NO synthase enzyme (iNOS). The complex mechanism associated with inflammation in the G.I. tract is also correlated with the expression of iNOS, enzymatic activity, and NO production. NO exerts a beneficial role in maintaining epithelial permeability as well as the immune response in acute colitis. But the excessive production of NO causes adverse effects. In the review, the author suggests that a complex phenomenon is associated with competing biochemical pathways triggered by NO through the regulation of mucosal inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease. This review is a unique compilation about the role of NO in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease of the dogs.

Background: The influence of shell effect on the dynamics of the fusion fission process and its evolution with excitation energy in the preactinide Hg-Pb region in general is a matter of intense research in recent years. In particular, a strong ambiguity remains for the neutron shell closed $^{210}\mathrm{Po}$ nucleus regarding the role of shell effect in fission around $\ensuremath{\approx}30--40\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{MeV}$ of excitation energy.Purpose: We have measured the fission fragment mass distribution of $^{210}\mathrm{Po}$ populated using fusion of $^{4}\mathrm{He}+^{206}\mathrm{Pb}$ at different excitation energies and compare the result with recent theoretical predictions as well as with our previous measurement for the same nucleus populated through a different entrance channel. Mass distribution in the fission of the neighboring nuclei $^{213}\mathrm{At}$ is also studied for comparison.Methods: Two large area multiwire proportional counters (MWPC) were used for complete kinematical measurement of the coincident fission fragments. The time of flight differences of the coincident fission fragments were used to directly extract the fission fragment mass distributions.Results: The measured fragment mass distribution for the reactions $^{4}\mathrm{He}+^{206}\mathrm{Pb}$ and $^{4}\mathrm{He}+^{209}\mathrm{Bi}$ were symmetric and the width of the mass distributions were found to increase monotonically with excitation energy above 36.7 MeV and 32.9 MeV, respectively, indicating the absence of shell effects at the saddle. However, in the fission of $^{210}\mathrm{Po}$, we find minor deviation from symmetric mass distributions at the lowest excitation energy (30.8 MeV).Conclusion: Persistence of shell effect in fission fragment mass distribution of $^{210}\mathrm{Po}$ was observed at the excitation energy $\ensuremath{\approx}31\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{MeV}$ as predicted by the theory; at higher excitation energy, however, the present study reaffirms the absence of any shell correction in the fission of $^{210}\mathrm{Po}$.

Neutron evaporation spectra have been measured from $^{4}\mathrm{He}+^{208}\mathrm{Pb}$ and $^{4}\mathrm{He}+^{209}\mathrm{Bi}$ reactions by using $^{4}\mathrm{He}$-ion beams of several bombarding energies. Excitation-energy dependence of the level density parameter has been studied for the two systems in the excitation energy range of $\ensuremath{\sim}18$--50 MeV. For both the reactions an overall reduction of the asymptotic level density parameter with increasing excitation energy (temperature) is observed. The trend of the data was compared with the Thomas--Fermi model predictions and found to be in reasonable agreement. The value of the shell damping parameter has been extracted from the lowest-energy data in the case of $^{210,211}\mathrm{Po}$ and $^{211,212}\mathrm{At}$ nuclei close to the $Z=82$ and $N=126$ shell closure, and it was found to be consistent with the recent measurement in the vicinity of doubly magic $^{208}\mathrm{Pb}$ nucleus.

Chronic arsenicosis is a major environmental health hazard throughout the world, including India. Animals and human beings are affected due to drinking of arsenic contaminated ground water, due to natural mineral deposits, arsenical pesticides or improperly disposed arsenical chemicals. Arsenic causes cancer with production of free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) that are neutralized by an elaborate antioxidant defense system consisting of enzymes and numerous non-enzymatic antioxidants. Dietary antioxidant supplements are useful to counteract the carcinogenesis effects of arsenic. Oyster mushroom lectins can be regarded as ingredients of popular foods with biopharmaceutical properties. A variety of compounds have been isolated from mushrooms, which include polysaccharides and polysaccharopeptides with immune-enhancing effects. Lectins are beneficial in reducing arsenic toxicity due to anticarcinogenetic roles and may have therapeutic application in people suffering from chronic exposure to arsenic from natural sources, a global problem that is especially relevant to millions of people on the Indian subcontinent.

The fission fragment mass distributions have been measured in the reactions 16O + 184W and 19F+ 181Ta populating the same compound nucleus 200Pb? at similar excitation energies. It is found that the widths of the mass distribution increases monotonically with excitation energy, indicating the absence of quasi-fission for both reactions. This is contrary to two recent claims of the presence of quasi-fission in the above mentioned reactions., Comment: Accepted for publication as a regular article in Physical Review C

Arsenicosis caused due to drinking of arsenic contaminated ground water is a major environmental health hazard throughout the world. We evaluated the ecotoxicological effect of arsenic on chicken and duck in an arsenic endemic zone. The concentration of arsenic was higher in chicken and duck feed and their by-products than that in the respective samples of control area. Arsenic concentration in the eggs of both chicken and duck was higher than that in the respective samples of control area. Thus, we concluded that arsenic enters into food chain through the intake of contaminated eggs. Furthermore, adverse health effect of arsenic on avian population is due to the alteration in haematobiochemical indices.

The present study was planned to investigate the effect of arsenic in rats on several biochemical indices of oxidative stress. Rats were exposed to arsenite in drinking water for upto 12 weeks. Chronic exposure to arsenic for a period of 12 weeks significantly (p < 0.05) increased arsenic burden in blood, liver, and kidney. Several intrinsic antioxidant defenses were activated after a 4-week exposure to arsenic. Some remained elevated, but others became depressed over a longer exposure period. Alterations in most of the biochemical variables reached statistical significant (p < 0.05). Arsenic significantly (p < 0.01) reduced mRNA expression of the superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) gene with respect to the glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) gene. These observations indicated that prolong exposure to arsenic causes induction of oxidative stress and biochemical alterations.

Chronic arsenic exposure results in toxicity in humans and causes many toxicologic manifestations. Apoptosis was measured by cell adhesion, morphologic alterations, cell proliferation, terminal deoxyuridine triphosphate nick-end labeling (TUNEL), and caspase-3/CPP32 fluorometric protease assay. Results of the present study suggested that arsenic administration in rats caused apoptosis by elevating morphologic alterations, TUNEL-positive nuclei, caspase-3 activity, and DNA damage and by reducing cell adhesion and cell proliferation in a time-dependent manner. The apoptosis in renal cells of arsenic-exposed rats reverted to normal values after coadministration of mushroom lectin. This study provided significant evidence that Pleurotus florida lectin has an antiapoptotic property by protecting from arsenic-induced toxicity. The beneficial effect of Pleurotus florida lectin was proportional to its duration of exposure. This finding might be of therapeutic benefit in people suffering from chronic exposure to arsenic from natural sources, a global problem that is especially relevant to millions of people on the Indian subcontinent.

This study was accomplished to exemplify the possible protective role of ascorbic acid and mushroom lectin against arsenic-induced cytotoxicity and impairment of superoxide dismutase (SOD) production pathway in hepatocytes of rat. Hepatocytes were isolated from rat and treated with sodium arsenite (AS), arsenic plus ascorbic acid (AS + AA) and arsenic plus mushroom lectin (AS + ML). A placebo control was also included. Arsenic treatment resulted in the depletion of cell proliferation, phagocytic activity (nitro blue tetrazolium index) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, relative mRNA expression of superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) and enhanced production of nitric oxide (NO). Ascorbic acid, a standard antioxidant, could normalize cellular perturbation and SOD production pathway relating to gene expression, whereas partially purified Pleurotus florida lectin (PFL), an edible mushroom containing protein complex, maintained cellular activity and prevented stress by normalizing phagocytic (NBT index) and SOD activities vis-a-vis relative gene expression. It could further defend NO production of hepatocytes. Mushroom lectin strongly prevented sodium arsenite-induced damage of SOD production pathway in hepatocytes, and its effect was also comparable to a standard antioxidant, i.e. ascorbic acid.

Oyster mushroom, Pleurotus florida is regarded as one of the popular food with biopharmaceutical properties. Here, the study aimed to investigate the antioxidative effects of mushroom (Pleurotus florida) lectin against arsenic-induced nephrotoxicity in rats. Animals were divided into four groups; Group 1 was control. Groups 2, 3 and 4 were exposed to arsenic (20 parts per million [ppm] in drinking water), arsenic plus oral supplementation of ascorbic acid (25 mg/kg body weight) and arsenic plus oral supplementation of mushroom lectin (150 mg/kg body weight) respectively. Both ascorbic acid and mushroom lectin prevented the arsenic-mediated growth retardation and normalized the elevated kidney weight. Disrupted activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) and enhanced lipid peroxidation (LPO), protein carbonyl (PC) and nitric oxides (NO) production in kidney caused by arsenic could also be maintained towards normalcy by supplementation of mushroom lectin and ascorbic acid. These antioxidative effects were exhibited in a time-dependant manner. Further, arsenic-mediated down-regulation of messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) gene was obstructed by these agents. Thus it was found that mushroom lectin reversed the effect of arsenic-mediated oxidative stress in a time-dependent manner.

Objective: To identify genotypes of Oesophagostmum venulosum (O. venulosum) prevailing in West Bengal, India by comparing variation of nucleotide sequences among 28S rRNA. Methods: PCR amplification of partial segment of 28S rRNA sequence and analysis of sequence amplified product by single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP). Results: Two distinct conformers among male and female parasites were identified by PCR-SSCP analysis. Sequence analysis among conformers revealed the presence of five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in codon 64, 66, 86, 125 and 146. Secondary RNA prediction structure showed that out of 5 SNPs, 4 occurred at interior loop of RNA which confirmed evolutionary changes among isolates prevailing in this region. Conclusions: SNPs occured in different isolates of O. venulosum might influence critical changes in rRNA folding pattern which influence evolutionary changes among isolates.

Ascorbic acid is a sugar acid and an essential vital food nutrient found mainly in fruits and vegetables. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of ascorbic acid against arsenic induced oxidative stress in blood of rat. In rat, treatment with ascorbic acid prevented the increased serum enzymatic activity of AST, ALT, ALP, ACP and LDH. In addition, treatment with ascorbic acid prevented elevated production of LPO, PC and NO and restored the depletion of reduced SOD and CAT activities. Interestingly, ascorbic acid markedly upregulated lymphocytes relative mRNA expression of lymphocytes SOD2 gene corresponding to GAPDH, house keeping candidate gene in arsenic-treated rat, which might provide anti-oxidative activity in the blood.

Oxidative stress due to arsenic toxicity and ameliorative potentiality of L-ascorbic acid was evaluated in an ex vivo system of rat hepatic tissue. The study revealed that arsenic increased the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) and the level of lipid peroxidation (LPO), protein carbonyl (PC) and nitric oxide (NO) at 1 hour, 1.5 hours and 2 hours of incubation. Co-treatment with L-ascorbic acid was found effective to normalize the activity of SOD and CAT and the production of LPO, PC and NO in hepatic tissue. This ex vivo study suggested that ascorbic acid is helpful to ameliorate arsenic-induced oxidative stress. This may be one of the alternative screening systems to study the efficacy of antioxidant and hepatoprotective agent.