Abstract Mitoxantrone is an antitumor agent used in the treatment of breast and prostate cancer, acute leukemia, lymphoma, and also in the treatment of multiple sclerosis due to its immunosuppressive properties. The mitoxantrone's cardiotoxicity is irreversible, dose-dependent, and it may occur years after treatment. Zinc is considered as an essential mineral for cell division and the synthesis of DNA and protein; furthermore, such mineral has an important role in states of cardiovascular diseases; and may have protective effects in coronary artery disease and cardiomyopathy. Objective: The current study is designed to investigate effects of two different doses of zinc sulfate on mitoxantrone-induced cardiotoxicity in rats. Methods: Forty-eight (48) adult rats of both sexes were utilized in this study; the animals were randomly divided into six groups of 8 animals each. Group I: distilled water (negative control). Group II: orally-administered zinc sulfate (15mg/kg/day) Group III: orally-administered zinc sulfate (30mg/kg/day) Group IV: Intraperitoneally injected with a mitoxantrone at a dose (2.5 mg/kg) to reach total cumulative dose of 7.5 mg/kg on day 20. Group V: Orally-administered zinc sulfate at a dose (15mg/kg/day) and an intraperitoneal injection of mitoxantrone at a dose (2.5 mg/kg) was administered to reach total cumulative dose of 7.5 mg/kg on day 20. Group VI: Orally-administered zinc sulfate at a dose (30 mg/kg/day), and an intraperitoneal injection of mitoxantrone at a dose (2.5 mg/kg) to reach total cumulative dose of 7.5 mg/kg on day 20. Forty-eight (48) hr after the end of treatment duration (i.e. at day 22 nd), each animal was euthanized by diethyl ether and ketamine. Then, after cervical dislocation, blood was obtained by intracardiac puncture and then serum was prepared to estimate cardiac troponin I 3 enzyme activity levels; and the heart of each animal was excised for homogenate preparation to estimate of malondialdehyde contents. Results: Oral administration of zinc sulfate [(15mg/kg/day with total cumulative dose (7.5 mg/kg) of mitoxantrone] (Group V) resulted in a non-significant (P>0.05) difference in serum activity level of troponin I 3 enzyme and malondialdehyde contents in cardiac tissue homogenate compared to the corresponding serum enzyme activity level and contents in group of rats intraperitoneally injected with total cumulative dose of 7.5 mg/kg of mitoxantrone (Group IV). In contrast, there were significant reduction (P<0.05) in serum activity level of troponin I 3 enzyme and malondialdehyde contents in cardiac tissue homogenate of rats orally-administered zinc sulfate [(30 mg/kg/day) with total cumulative dose (7.5mg/kg) of mitoxantrone] (Group VI) compared to the corresponding enzyme activity levels and contents in group of rats intraperitoneally-injected with total cumulative dose of 7.5mg/kg of mitoxantrone (Group IV). Conclusion: zinc sulfate at a dose (30 mg/kg/day) diminishes the cardiotoxicity induced by mitoxantrone via a free radical scavenger property but it is non signifant compared to (15 mg/kg/day) .
Psoriasis is a common chronic skin condition characterized by infiltration of inflammatory cells into the epidermis and altered keratinocyte differentiation.
In this work, psoriasis was induced by an imiquimod 5% cream, an immune response modifier that can induce psoriasis-like skin inflammation when applied topically in mice. Guggulsterone prepared as a suspension and has been orally given to mice before imiquimod application. The results of the current study showed that guggulsterone suspension can significantly reduce psoriasis area and severity index in (guggul suspension+imiquimod group as compared with both control group and (vehicle suspension+imiquimod ) group.
Hypertrophic scars are fibroproliferative illnesses caused by improper wound healing, during that, excessive inflammation, angiogenesis, and differentiated human dermal fibroblast (HDF ) function contribute to scarring, whereas hyperpigmentation negatively affects scar quality. Over 100 million patients heal with a scar every year. To investigate the role of the beta 2 adrenergic receptor (β2AR); Ritodrine, in wound scarring, the ability of beta 2 adrenergic receptor agonist (β2ARag) to alter HDF differentiation and function, wound inflammation, angiogenesis, and wound scarring was explored in HDFs, zebrafish, chick chorioallantoic membrane assay (CAM), and a porcine skin wound model, respectively. A study identify a β2AR-mediated m
... Show MoreA study of the effects of the discharge (sputtering) currents (60-75 mA) and the thickness of copper target (0.037, 0.055 and 0.085 mm) on the prepared samples was performed. These samples were deposited with pure copper on a glass substrate using dc magnetron sputtering with a magnetic flux density of 150 gauss at the center. The effects of these two parameters were studied on the height, diameter, and size of the deposition copper grains as well as the roughness of surface samples using atomic force microscopy (AFM).The results of this study showed that it is possible to control the specifications of copper grains by changing the discharge currents and the thickness of the target material. The increase in discharge curre
... Show MoreProgesterone is highly used in pregnant women as therapeutic agent to maintain and support pregnancy. To explore the effects of progesterone usage allover gestation till 7days postnatally on mice offspring ovaries development and anogenital distance. Ten pregnant mice were equally divide into control group that was injected with sesame oil which is used as a solvent for progesterone and treated group that is daily intraperitoneally injected with progesterone (dissolved in sesame oil 1: 10) at dose 10.2 mg/kg (the equivalent human dose) all through gestation till7day postnatal then sacrificed and measuring the anogenital distance (the distance between anus and genital papilla). Histological slides were prepared, and Diameters of the ovary, p
... Show MoreThe present study was set to demonstrate the prevalence of toxoplasmosis infection and its effects on patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) through determining their serum levels of anti-dsDNA and IL-18 antibodies. For this purpose, the sera from 132 SLE and/or toxoplasmosis patients and 30 healthy women, were collected. The study sample was divided into four groups of SLE, toxoplasmosis, SLE coinfected with toxoplasmosis, and healthy control. Anti-Toxoplasma IgG antibodies were examined for all the samples using ELISA kit. The results showed a high mean level of anti-Toxoplasma IgG among SLE patients coinfected with toxoplasmosis (104.8792±12.31585pg/ml) in comparison to that in toxoplasmosis patients (91.1705±12.577
... Show MoreThe effects of temperature on an exotic aquatic snail Pomacea canaliculata (Lamarck, 1819) collected from the Shatt Al-Arab intertidal zone were investigated. A series of laboratory experiments were conducted during the summer period of 2017. Individuals of new born snails hatched in the laboratory from adult snails were collected from Shatt Al-Arab intertidal zone, and subjected to five fixed temperatures: 15, 25, 35, 40 and 45 Cº, after short term thermal acclimation. The heartbeats (HB) were counted at each temperature level. The results showed significant direct increase of HB from 15 Cº (19.8 HB/min) up to 25 Cº (76 HB/min) (P<0.05) as well as from 25 Cº to 35 Cº (93 HB/min). At 40 Cº the snail HB
... Show MoreThis study was conducted to determine the role of Phoenix dactylifera pollen grains suspension in improving reproductive efficiency of white male rats. In thisexperiment 40 adult male rats were divided randomly into five equal groups and by following oral administration:the first group was given Phoenix d. pollen grains suspension with concentration 18 mg/kg body weight daily, the second group was given 54 mg/kg, the third group was given 108 mg/kg and fourth group 216 mg/kg body weight, and the last group which represented a control group administrated distilled water only, the administration continued for 40 consecutive days. The effect of Phoenix d. pollen grains in reproductive efficiency was evaluated depending on some parameters such
... Show MoreA lot of previous studies are concerned with the evaluation of the anti-inflammatory activity of medicinal plants because it considered cheap and are believed to possess minimal side effects. Leucaena leucocephala didn’t evaluate globally for its anti-inflammatory effect yet though some of it’s already separated and identified secondary metabolites were studied and proved to exert many pharmacological activities besides their effect on lowering the pro-inflammatory cytokines like TNF-α and IL-6. So, there was an interest to evaluate the biological effect of Leucaena leucocephala as a novel anti-inflammatory agent was the first motivation to start an in vivo study using a rat population. The N-butanol and ethyl acetate extracts were cho
... Show More