Displaying publications 21 - 40 of 123 in total

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  1. Fulltext Recombinant Human erythropoietin reduces viability of MCF-7 breast cancer cells from 3D culture without caspase activation
    ShujaaEdin HY, Al-Haj NA, Rasedee A, Alitheen NB, Kadir AA, How CW, et al.
    Saudi J Biol Sci, 2021 Apr;28(4):2549-2557.
    PMID: 33935571 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.01.059
    Recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) is the erythropoiesis-stimulating hormone that is being used concurrently with chemotherapeutic drugs in the treatment of anemia of cancer. The effect of rHuEPO on cancer cells in 3-dimensional (3D) cultures is not known. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of rHuEPO on the viability of MCF-7 breast cancer cells from 2-dimensional (2D) and 3D cell cultures. The monolayer MCF-7 cells from 2D culture and MCF-7 cell from 3D culture generated by ultra-low adhesive microplate technique, were treated with 0, 0.1, 10, 100 or 200 IU/mL rHuEPO for 24, 48 or 72 h. The effects of rHuEPO on MCF-7 cell viability and proliferation were determined using the (4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay (MTT), neutral red retention time (NRRT), trypan blue exclusion assay (TBE), DNA fragmentation, acridine orange/propidium iodide staining (AO/PI) assays. The MCF-7 cells for 3D culture were also subjected to caspase assays and cell cycle analysis using flow cytometry. rHuEPO appeared to have greater effect at lowering the viability of MCF-7 cells from 3D than 2D cultures. rHuEPO significantly (p 
  2. Fulltext Recombinant human Erythropoietin enhanced the cytotoxic effects of tamoxifen toward the spheroid MCF-7 breast cancer cells
    Shujaa Edin HY, Al-Haj NA, Rasedee A, Banu Alitheen N, Abdul Kadir A, Wun How C, et al.
    Saudi J Biol Sci, 2021 Sep;28(9):5214-5220.
    PMID: 34466099 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.05.043
    Erythropoietin (EPO) is widely used to treat anemia in patients undergoing chemotherapy for cancers. The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of rHuEPO on the response of spheroid breast cancer, MCF-7, cells to tamoxifen treatment. The MCF-7 spheroids were treated with 10 mg/mL tamoxifen in combination with either 0, 10, 100 or 200 IU/mL rHuEPO for 24, 48 or 72 h. The viability of the MCF-7 cells was determined using the annexin-V, cell cycle, caspases activation and acridine orange/propidium iodide staining. rHuEPO-tamoxifen combination significantly (p greater than 0.05) increased the number of spheroid MCF-7 cells entering early apoptotic phase after 12 h and late apoptotic phase after 24 h of treatment; primarily the result of the antiproliferative effect tamoxifen. Tamoxifen alone significantly (p 
  3. Fulltext Species-specific identification of porcine blood plasma in heat-treated chicken meatballs
    Shahimi S, Abd Mutalib S, Ismail N, Elias A, Hashim H, Kashim MIAM
    Saudi J Biol Sci, 2021 Apr;28(4):2447-2452.
    PMID: 33911957 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.01.043
    This study was conducted to detect the presence of chicken and porcine DNA in meatballs using mitochondria DNA (mtDNA) of cytochrome b (cyt b) and nuclear DNA (nDNA) short interspersed nuclear element (SINE) species-specific primers, respectively. While, the mtDNA primers targeted transfer RNA-ATP8 (tRNA-ATP8) gene was used for 1 and 5% (w/w) chicken meatball spiked with commercial porcine blood plasm. Chicken meatballs spiked with 1% and 5% (v/w) fresh and commercial porcine blood plasma, respectively were prepared and heat-treated using five (n = 5) cooking methods: boiling, pan-frying, roasting, microwaving and autoclaving. Two pairs of mtDNA and nDNA primers used, produced 129 and 161 bp amplicons, respectively. Whereas, tRNA-ATP8 primers produced 212 bp of amplicon. Electrophoresis analysis showed positive results for porcine DNA at 1% and 5% (w/w or v/v) for all of the different cooking techniques, either for fresh or commercial blood plasma using SINE primers but not for tRNA-ATP8 primers. The present study has highlighted the useful of species-specific primers of SINE primers in PCR analysis for detecting porcine DNA blood plasma in heat-treated chicken meatballs.
  4. Fulltext An enhanced topologically significant directed random walk in cancer classification using gene expression datasets
    Seah CS, Kasim S, Fudzee MFM, Law Tze Ping JM, Mohamad MS, Saedudin RR, et al.
    Saudi J Biol Sci, 2017 Dec;24(8):1828-1841.
    PMID: 29551932 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2017.11.024
    Microarray technology has become one of the elementary tools for researchers to study the genome of organisms. As the complexity and heterogeneity of cancer is being increasingly appreciated through genomic analysis, cancerous classification is an emerging important trend. Significant directed random walk is proposed as one of the cancerous classification approach which have higher sensitivity of risk gene prediction and higher accuracy of cancer classification. In this paper, the methodology and material used for the experiment are presented. Tuning parameter selection method and weight as parameter are applied in proposed approach. Gene expression dataset is used as the input datasets while pathway dataset is used to build a directed graph, as reference datasets, to complete the bias process in random walk approach. In addition, we demonstrate that our approach can improve sensitive predictions with higher accuracy and biological meaningful classification result. Comparison result takes place between significant directed random walk and directed random walk to show the improvement in term of sensitivity of prediction and accuracy of cancer classification.
  5. Fulltext ZnCl2 catalyzed new coumarinyl-chalcones as cytotoxic agents
    Sathish Kumar K, Kotra V, Phani Kumar Kola, Praveena Devi CB, Anusha N, Hari Babu B, et al.
    Saudi J Biol Sci, 2021 Jan;28(1):386-394.
    PMID: 33424321 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2020.10.020
    A new series of coumarin-yl-chalcone derivatives (3a-m) had been designed and synthesized through different reactions such as aromatic addition, cyclization and Claisen-Schmidt reactions in good yields (54-78%). 5-acetyl-4-(2-hydroxyphenyl) -6-methyl-3, 4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H) -one (1) has been synthesized by multi-component one pot reaction of salicylaldehyde, methyl acetoacetate and urea, which was further reacted with malonic acid employing ZnCl2 catalyst to yield 5-acetyl-4-(4-hydroxy-2-oxo-2H-chromen-8-yl) -6-methyl-3, 4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H) -one (2). The title compounds (3a-m) were synthesised by reacting 5-acetyl-4-(4-hydroxy-2-oxo-2H-chromen-8-yl) -6-methyl-3, 4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-one (2) with different aromatic aldehydes in the presence of potassium hydroxide. In silico studies, a preliminary screening method for predicting the anti-cancer activity was performed for the synthesized compounds (3a-m) against Src, Alb tyrosine kinase and homology model protein (PDB ID: 4csv). The derivatives 3h and 3m showed moderate binding energies. The in vitro cytotoxic activity was evaluated for the compounds 3h and 3m by using human cancer cell-line morphology and MTT assay against three human cell-lines A549 (Lung), Jurkat (Leukemia) and MCF-7 (Breast). The results indicate that the derivatives 3h and 3m display significant anti-cancer activity, however it was found to be less cytotoxic when compared to the standard used i.e. Imatinib.
  6. Prevalence and pattern of dyslipidemia in hyperglycemic patients and its associated factors among Pakistani population
    Sarfraz M, Sajid S, Ashraf MA
    Saudi J Biol Sci, 2016 Nov;23(6):761-766.
    PMID: 27872574
    In diabetes mellitus dyslipidemia is one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular disease. In type 2 diabetes mellitus early detection and treatment of dyslipidemia can avoid risk for cardiovascular disorder. The present study was carried to determine the prevalence and pattern of hyperlipidemia in patients with hyperglycemia. The cross sectional study was done in different laboratories of Pakistan, the laboratories served patients referred from different government and private hospitals between July 2014 and June 2015. All known cases of diabetes mellitus were evaluated for their lipid profile. Totally 200 diabetic patients were included in the study in which 120 (60%) were males and 80 (40%) were females. Prevalence of dyslipidemia among diabetic males was 97.18% while for females 87.15%. Among dyslipidemic male the proportion with mixed dyslipidemic patients was 17.5%, combined two parameters dyslipidemia was 47.5% and isolated single parameter dyslipidemia was 35%. In females these proportions in mixed, combined two parameters and isolated single parameter were 16.25%, 51.25% and 32.5%, respectively. Majority of hyperglycemic patients were dyslipidemic. The most prevalent pattern among male was combined dyslipidemia with high triglycerides (TG) and low High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) and in female it was high Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) and low HDL. The most prevalent lipid abnormality in our study was low HDL followed by high TG.
  7. Fulltext Analysis of bioactive compounds and chemical composition of Malaysian stingless bee propolis water extracts
    Salleh SNAS, Hanapiah NAM, Johari WLW, Ahmad H, Osman NH
    Saudi J Biol Sci, 2021 Dec;28(12):6705-6710.
    PMID: 34866969 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.07.049
    Propolis is a resinous substance collected by stingless bees containing bioactive compounds which exert various biological properties. The present study focused on the evaluation of chemical profiles produced by three Indo-Malayan stingless bee propolis extracted using water. Fresh propolis was collected from the same area and ecosystem conditions in Selangor, Malaysia, namely Tetrigona apicalis, Tetrigona binghami, and Heterotrigona fimbriata. The bioactive compounds and chemical composition of propolis extracts were then analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Results showed that propolis from the three different stingless bee species consisted of major groups such as sugar (31.4%), carboxylic acid (17.1%), terpenoid (14.3%), sugar alcohol (11.4%), hydrocarbon (5.7%), aldehyde (5.7%) amino acid (2.9%) and other constituents (11.4%). Heterotrigona fimbriata displayed the highest amount for both total phenolics (13.21 mg/mL) and flavonoids (34.53 mg/mL) compared to other propolis extracts. There is also no significant difference detected between all samples since p ≤ 0.05. In conclusion, this study shows that Malaysian stingless bee propolis contain bioactive components that have great potential to be used for their therapeutic and medicinal benefits. However, more investigations and analysis of stingless bee propolis need to be carried out in order to enhance the understanding and applications of propolis in the future.
  8. Fulltext Conventional methods and future trends in antimicrobial susceptibility testing
    Salam MA, Al-Amin MY, Pawar JS, Akhter N, Lucy IB
    Saudi J Biol Sci, 2023 Mar;30(3):103582.
    PMID: 36852413 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2023.103582
    Antimicrobial susceptibility testing is an essential task for selecting appropriate antimicrobial agents to treat infectious diseases. Constant evolution has been observed in methods used in the diagnostic microbiology laboratories. Disc diffusion or broth microdilution are classical and conventional phenotypic methods with long turnaround time and labour-intensive but still widely practiced as gold-standard. Scientists are striving to develop innovative, novel and faster methods of antimicrobial susceptibility testing to be applicable for routine microbiological laboratory practice and research. To meet the requirements, there is an increasing trend towards automation, genotypic and micro/nano technology-based innovations. Automation in detection systems and integration of computers for online data analysis and data sharing are giant leaps towards versatile nature of automated methods currently in use. Genotypic methods detect a specific genetic marker associated with resistant phenotypes using molecular amplification techniques and genome sequencing. Microfluidics and microdroplets are recent addition in the continuous advancement of methods that show great promises with regards to safety and speed and have the prospect to identify and monitor resistance mechanisms. Although genotypic and microfluidics methods have many exciting features, however, their applications into routine clinical laboratory practice warrant extensive validation. The main impetus behind the evolution of methods in antimicrobial susceptibility testing is to shorten the overall turnaround time in obtaining the results and to enhance the ease of sample processing. This comprehensive narrative review summarises major conventional phenotypic methods and automated systems currently in use, and highlights principles of some of the emerging genotypic and micro/nanotechnology-based methods in antimicrobial susceptibility testing.
  9. Fulltext Effects of Canarium odontophyllum leaves on plasma glucose and T lymphocyte population in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats
    Saari SM, Basri DF, Budin SB, Warif NM
    Saudi J Biol Sci, 2017 Feb;24(2):320-323.
    PMID: 28149168 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2015.09.032
    Type 1 diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease characterized by lack of insulin production. Immune mechanisms are implicated in the pathogenesis of Type 1 diabetes. Canarium odontophyllum (CO) fruits and leaves have been shown to possess high antioxidant activity. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of CO leaves aqueous extract on the blood glucose and T lymphocyte population in the spleen of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Nineteen male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups: normal, diabetic control and CO treated diabetic groups. Diabetes was induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of 65 mg STZ/kg body weight. The extract of CO leaves was administered orally by force feeding daily at the dose of 300 mg/kg for 28 days. The rats were sacrificed at the end of the study and the spleen was harvested for flow cytometry analysis. The results showed a significant decrease in body weight of diabetic and CO treated diabetic groups compared with the normal group (p 
  10. Fulltext The effects of applying sewage sludge into Jiangxi red soil on the growth of vegetables and the migration and enrichment of Cu and Zn
    Rrong W, Aiping T, Ashraf MA
    Saudi J Biol Sci, 2016 Sep;23(5):660-6.
    PMID: 27579018 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2015.10.028
    Jiangxi red soil was used as the tested soil and water spinach (Ipomoea aquatic) and Chinese chive (Allium tuberosum) were used as the tested vegetables in this study to investigate the effects of different amounts of sewage-sludge application on the growth of vegetables and the migration and enrichment patterns of Cu and Zn in vegetables using the potted method. The results indicated that the application of sewage sludge could improve the properties of red soil and promote vegetable growth. The dry weight of water spinach and Chinese chive reached the maximal levels when treated with the amount of sewage sludge at 4% and 10%, which was 4.38 ± 0.82 g and 1.56 ± 0.31 g, respectively. The dry weights after the application of sewage sludge were all larger than control treatment (CK) without sludge application. With increases in the applied amount of sewage sludge, the concentrations of Cu and Zu in red soil continued to increase, and the peak value was not reached. After the two vegetables were planted, the concentrations of Cu and Zn in red soil decreased by different degrees. The degrees of decrease of Zn were generally higher than those of Cu. The enrichment coefficient of water spinach on Cu showed a trend of increase followed by a decrease and reached the peak value of 1.04 ± 0.38 when the applied amount was 4%. The enrichment coefficient of Chinese chive on Cu overall showed a decreasing trend and did not reach the peak value under the treatment levels used in this experiment. The enrichment pattern of Chinese chive on Zn was not obvious, and the differences among all treatment levels were not significant (p 
  11. Fulltext Enhancing food waste biodegradation rate in a food waste biodigester with the synergistic action of hydrolase-producing Bacillus paralicheniformis GRA2 and Bacillus velezensis TAP5 co-culture inoculation
    Roslan MAM, Jefri NQUA, Ramlee N, Rahman NAA, Chong NHH, Bunawan H, et al.
    Saudi J Biol Sci, 2021 May;28(5):3001-3012.
    PMID: 34012331 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.02.041
    Food waste (FW) minimization at the source by using food waste biodigester (FWBs) has a vast potential to lower down the impact of increasing organic fraction in municipal solid waste generation. To this end, this research sought to check the performance of locally isolated hydrolase-producing bacteria (HPB) to improve food waste biodegradation rate. Two under-explored HPB identified as Bacillus paralicheniformis GRA2 and Bacillus velezensis TAP5 were able to produce maximum amylase, cellulase, protease and lipase activities, and demonstrated a significant hydrolase synergy in co-culture fermentation. In vitro biodegradation analysis of both autoclaved and non-autoclaved FW revealed that the HPB inoculation was effective to degrade total solids (>62%), protein (>19%), total fat (>51), total sugar (>86%), reducing sugar (>38%) and starch (>50%) after 8-day incubation. All co-culture treatments were recorded superior to the respective monocultures and the uninoculated control. The results of FW biodegradation using batch-biodigester trial indicated that the 1500 mL and 1000 mL inoculum size of HPB inoculant reached a plateau on the 4th day, with gross biodegradation percentage (GBP) of >85% as compared to control (66.4%). The 1000 mL inoculum was sufficient to achieve the maximum GBP (>90%) of FW after an 8-day biodigestion in a FWB.
  12. Fulltext Anti-aging and antioxidant of four traditional malaysian plants using simplex centroid mixture design approach
    Ranneh Y, Abu Bakar MF, Ismail NA, Kormin F, Mohamed M, Md Akim A, et al.
    Saudi J Biol Sci, 2021 Dec;28(12):6711-6720.
    PMID: 34866970 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.07.048
    Aging is a naturally biological process with adverse effects. The continuous accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) trigger cellular and tissue damage by activating several aging enzymes. The antioxidant properties of traditional medicinal plants used by Jakun aborigine's community are a promising approach to alleviate aging process and prevent Alzheimer. The aim of the current investigation was to optimize a novel anti-aging formulation from traditional plants (Cnestis palala stem, Urceola micrantha stem, Marantodes pumilum stem and Microporus xanthopus fruiting bodies) using simplex centroid mixture design (SCMD). After selecting the optimal formulations based on desirability function of antioxidant activity (DPPḢ, ABTS ˙ + and FRAP), they were further examined against the activity of aging-related-enzymes (collagenase, tyrosinase, acetyl- and butyrylcholinesterase). The single extracts of C. palala, U. micrantha and the binary mixture of C. palala and U. micrantha were the optimal formulations with high antioxidant activities. Single extract of U. micrantha showed the highest inhibition towards matrix metalloproteinase-1 (49.44 ± 4.11 %), while C. palala water extract showed highest inhibitions towards tyrosinase (14.06 ± 0.31%), acetylcholinesterase (32.92 ± 2.13%) and butyrylcholinesterase (34.89 ± 2.84%) enzymes. The single extracts of C. palala and U. micrantha displayed better activity as compared to the binary mixture formulation. In conclusion, these findings could be a baseline for further exploration of novel anti-aging agents from natural resources.
  13. Fulltext Nesting biology of Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus caeruleus) in oil palm landscape in Carey Island, Peninsular Malaysia
    Ramli R, Fauzi A
    Saudi J Biol Sci, 2018 Mar;25(3):513-519.
    PMID: 29686514 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2016.01.017
    Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus caeruleus) is a well-known raptor that inhabits open areas such as oil palm plantation or paddy field. To determine preferable habitat and nesting site of Black-shouldered Kite in oil palm landscape, we conducted a study on Black-shouldered Kite's nesting biology in Carey Island, Selangor, Malaysia. We divided the island into six types of habitat and conducted road-side count of Black-shouldered Kite from April 2009 to February 2011. Whenever the Black-shouldered Kite was detected, we thoroughly searched the surrounding area for their nest. In total, we have recorded forty nests. The nests were built on 15 species of trees but most of the trees shared common physical characteristics. Some novice breeders also used oil palm tree as their nesting site. Structure and building materials of nests constructed on oil palm trees were different from nests built on other trees. Of all breeding attempts, only four nests which were located in residential area adjacent to young oil palm habitat were successful. Among important characteristics of successful nesting site include taller trees with strong branches and good leaf coverage. These trees not only protect nests from predator detection (except from other predatory birds) and physical environment but also facilitate Black-shouldered Kite's foraging activities by providing good vantage point.
  14. Fulltext Botanicals against some important nematodal diseases: Ascariasis and hookworm infections
    Ramlal A, Nautiyal A, Kumar J, Mishra V, Sogan N, Nasser B Singab A
    Saudi J Biol Sci, 2023 Nov;30(11):103814.
    PMID: 37841664 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2023.103814
    Ascariasis and intestinal parasitic nematodes are the leading cause of mass mortality infecting many people across the globe. In light of the various deleterious side effects of modern chemical-based allopathic drugs, our preferences have currently shifted towards the use of traditional plant-based drugs or botanicals for treating diseases. The defensive propensities in the botanicals against parasites have probably evolved during their co-habitation with parasites, humans and plants in nature and hence their combative interference in one another's defensive mechanisms has occurred naturally ultimately being very effective in treating diseases. This article broadly outlines the utility of plant-based compounds or botanicals prepared from various medicinal herbs that have the potential to be developed as effective therapies against the important parasites causing ascariasis and intestinal hookworm infections leading to ascariasis & infections and thereby human mortality, wherein allopathic treatments are less effective and causes enormous side-effects.
  15. Fulltext Identification of key biomarkers and associated pathways of pancreatic cancer using integrated transcriptomic and gene network analysis
    Rambabu M, Konageni N, Vasudevan K, Dasegowda KR, Gokul A, Jayanthi S, et al.
    Saudi J Biol Sci, 2023 Nov;30(11):103819.
    PMID: 37860809 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2023.103819
    Pancreatic cancer shows malignancy around the world standing in 4th position for causing death globally. This cancer is majorly divided into exocrine and neuroendocrine where exocrine pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is observed to be nearly 85% of cases. The lack of diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is considered to be one of the major drawbacks to the prognosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer patients. The survival rate after diagnosis is very low, due to the higher incidence of drug resistance to cancer which leads to an increase in the mortality rate. The transcriptome analysis for pancreatic cancer involves dataset collection from the ENA database, incorporating them into quality control analysis to the quantification process to get the summarized read counts present in collected samples and used for further differential gene expression analysis using the DESeq2 package. Additionally, explore the enriched pathways using GSEA software and represented them by utilizing the enrichment map finally, the gene network has been constructed by Cytoscape software. Furthermore, explored the hub genes that are present in the particular pathways and how they are interconnected from one pathway to another has been analyzed. Finally, we identified the CDKN1A, IL6, and MYC genes and their associated pathways can be better biomarker for the clinical processes to increase the survival rate of of pancreatic cancer.
  16. Fulltext Hepatitis E Virus: An emerging enigmatic and underestimated pathogen
    Raji YE, Toung OP, Taib NM, Sekawi ZB
    Saudi J Biol Sci, 2022 Jan;29(1):499-512.
    PMID: 35002446 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.09.003
    Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an RNA virus causing hepatitis E disease. The virus is of one serotype but has diverse genotypes infecting both humans and animals. Based on evidence from seroprevalence studies, about 2 billion people are estimated to have been infected with HEV globally. HEV, therefore, poses a significant public health and economic challenge worldwide. HEV was discovered in the 1980s and was traced back to the 1955 - 1956 outbreak of hepatitis that occurred in India. Subsequently, several HEV epidemics involving thousands of individuals have occurred nearly annually in different countries in Asia and Africa. Initially, the virus was thought to be only enterically transmitted, and endemic in developing countries. Due to the environmental hygiene and sanitation challenges in those parts of the world. However, recent studies have suggested otherwise with the report of autochthonous cases in industrialised countries with no history of travel to the so-called endemic countries. Thus, suggesting that HEV has a global distribution with endemicity in both developing and industrialised nations. Studies have also revealed that HEV has multiple risk factors, and modes of transmission as well as zoonotic potentials. Additionally, recent findings have shown that HEV leads to severe disease, particularly among pregnant women. In contrast to the previous narration of a strictly mild and self-limiting infection. Studies have likewise demonstrated chronic HEV infection among immunocompromised persons. Consequent to these recent discoveries, this pathogen is considered a re - emerging virus, particularly in the developed nations. However, despite the growing public health challenges of this pathogen, the burden is still underestimated. The underestimation is often attributed to poor awareness among clinicians and a lack of routine checks for the disease in the hospitals. Thus, leading to misdiagnosis and underdiagnosis. Hence, this review provides a concise overview of epidemiology, diagnosis, and prevention of hepatitis E.
  17. Fulltext Lentinula edodes (shiitake mushroom): An assessment of in vitro anti-atherosclerotic bio-functionality
    Rahman MA, Abdullah N, Aminudin N
    Saudi J Biol Sci, 2018 Dec;25(8):1515-1523.
    PMID: 30581314 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2016.01.021
    Mushrooms have been highly regarded as possessing enormous nutritive and medicinal values. In the present study, we evaluated the anti-oxidative and anti-atherosclerotic potential of shiitake mushroom (Lentinula edodes) using its solvent-solvent partitioned fractions that consisted of methanol:dichloromethane (M:DCM), hexane (HEX), dichloromethane (DCM), ethyl acetate (EA) and aqueous residue (AQ). The hexane fraction (1 mg/mL) mostly scavenged (67.38%, IC50 0.55 mg/mL) the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) free radical, contained the highest reducing capacity (60.16 mg gallic acid equivalents/g fraction), and most potently inhibited lipid peroxidation (67.07%), low density lipo-protein oxidation and the activity of 3-hydroxy 3-methyl glutaryl co-enzyme A reductase (HMGR). GC-MS analyses of the hexane fraction identified α-tocopherol (vitamin E), oleic acid, linoleic acid, ergosterol and butyric acid as the bio-functional components present in L. edodes. Our findings suggest that L. edodes possesses anti-atherosclerotic bio-functionality that can be applied as functional food-based therapeutics against cardiovascular diseases.
  18. Fulltext Edible bird's nest protects histomorphology of rat's uterus against cadmium (Cd) toxicity through a reduction of Cd deposition and enhanced antioxidant activity
    Quddus A, Yimer N, Jesse FFA, Basit MA, Amir M, Islam MS
    Saudi J Biol Sci, 2021 Dec;28(12):7068-7076.
    PMID: 34867008 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.08.012
    Cadmium (Cd) is often associated with reproductive disorders of mammals. Edible bird's nest (EBN) is a natural food product made of swiftlet's salivary secretion used to make their nests and it has been consumed as a tonic food for decades. This research aimed to study the protective effects of EBN against Cd-induced uterine toxicity in Sprague Dawley rats. Thirty (30) female Sprague Dawley rats were assigned into five groups as follows: group 1- negative control (NC) received distilled water; group 2 - positive control (PC) administered with CdCl2, 5 mg/kg BW; while groups EBN-1, EBN-2, and EBN-3 received CdCl2 (5 mg/kg BW) plus graded concentrations of 60, 90 and 120 mg/kg BW of EBN, respectively. After four weeks of daily oral treatment, rats were euthanized to collect the uterus for evluations of histopathological changes, Cd concentrations and Metallothionein (MT) expressions using H&E stain, inductive coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and immunohistochemistry, respectively. Blood samples were collected for superoxide dismutase (SOD) analysis using SOD assay kit. Results revealed that the CdCl2 without EBN supplement (PC) group had elevated levels of Cd in the uterus along with increased MT expressions and decreased SOD enzyme activity as compared to the NC group. Moreover, uterine histopathological changes, including glandular cysts and loss of normal structure of luminal epithelium (LE) and glandular epithelium (GE) were found in the PC group. Interestingly, groups treated with CdCl2 along with EBN (EBN1, EBN2, EBN3) showed lower levels of uterine tissue Cd deposition and MT expression, lower degenerative changes with normal histomorphology of glands, and increased SOD activity as compared to the PC group. Overall, the findings revealed that oral exposure to Cd at a dose of 5 mg/kg BW resulted in significant alterations in the rat's uterus. However, the toxicity effect was averted by EBN treatment in a dose dependant manner; highest protection achieved with EBN 120 mg/kg BW, through a possible detoxification mechanism and prevention of Cd deposition.
  19. Fulltext Efficacy of choline and DHA supplements or enriched environment exposure during early adult obesity in mitigating its adverse impact through aging in rats
    Prabhu GS, Prasad K, K G MR, Rai KS
    Saudi J Biol Sci, 2021 Apr;28(4):2396-2407.
    PMID: 33911955 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.01.037
    Introduction: The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of choline and DHA or exposure to environmental enrichment in obese adult and aging rats on alterations in body mass index, serum lipid profile and arterial wall changes, despite stopping high fat diet consumption and interventions during adulthood.

    Methods: 21 day old male Sprague Dawley rats were assigned as Experiment-1 & 2 - PND rats were divided into 4 groups with interventions for 7 months (n = 8/group). NC- Normal control fed normal chow diet; OB- Obese group, fed high fat diet; OB + CHO + DHA- fed high fat diet and oral supplementation of choline, DHA. OB + EE- fed high fat diet along with exposure to enriched environment .Experiment-2 had similar groups and interventions as experiment 1 but for next 5 months were fed normal chow diet without any interventions. Body mass index was assessed and blood was analyzed for serum lipid profile. Common Carotid Artery (CCA) was processed for Haematoxylin and eosin, Verhoff Vangeison stains. Images of tissue sections were analyzed and quantified using image J and tissue quant software.

    Results: In experiment.1, mean body mass index (p 

  20. Fulltext Inhibitory effects of tangeretin and trans-ethyl caffeate on the HMG-CoA reductase activity: Potential agents for reducing cholesterol levels
    Pangestika I, Oksal E, Tengku Muhammad TS, Amir H, Syamsumir DF, Wahid MEA, et al.
    Saudi J Biol Sci, 2020 Aug;27(8):1947-1960.
    PMID: 32714018 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2020.06.010
    One of the pathways to reduce cholesterol production in the liver is through the inhibition of HMG-Coa reductase (HMGCR) by current drugs, statins. However, these have side effects if consumed in prolonged periods. Tangeretin and trans-ethyl caffeate as alternative drugs in reducing hypercholesterolemia and preventing atherosclerosis have never been reported. Their effects on inhibiting HMGCR activity were investigated through enzymatic method (in vitro and in vivo). The toxicity property was analyzed on the Serum Glutamate Oxalate Transaminase (SGOT)/Serum Glutamate Piruvate Transaminase (SGPT) levels and rat liver histology. The results showed that both compounds inhibited HMGCR activity significantly compare to the control simvastatin (p 
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