ABSTRACT
Objective: To investigate the effect of intra-peritoneal injection of purified exudates of axenic Spirulina platensis on the mammalian endocrine and nervous systems. Methods: The intra-peritoneal injection of the cyanobacterial exudates in mice was applied. Sex hormonal levels of testosterone and progesterone were measured using radioimmunoassay while the follicular stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone were evaluated by direct chemiluminescence. In addition, superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase were monitored in the hippocampus region using spectrophotometric method. The levels of the hippocampal monoamines, dopamine, noradrenaline and serotonin were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography while the acetyl choline neurotransmitter was measured by colorimetric method using choline/ acetylcholine assay kit. Results: A sharp disruption in the sex hormones levels of testosterone, progesterone, follicular stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone was demonstrated in the serum of the treated mice. At the same time, a significant reduction in the endogenous antioxidant defense enzymes, superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase was observed in the hippocampus region of the injected mice. Moreover, levels of dopamine, noradrenaline, serotonin and acetyl choline neurotransmitter in the same region were significantly affected as a result of the treatment with Spirulina filtrate. The gas chromatography- mass spectrometer and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry analysis showed the presence of some sterol-like compounds in the cyanobacterial filtrate. Conclusions: This study demonstrated the capability of Spirulina to release detrimental bioactive metabolites into their surrounding that can disrupt the mammalian endocrine and nervous systems.
ABSTRACT
A rapid,sensitive and simple spectrofluorimetric method was developed for the estimation of atorvastatin.In this method,the native fluorescence characteristics of atorvastatin have been studied in both acidic and basic media.High sensitivity was obtained with 5％ acetic acid at 389 nm using 276 nm for excitation.Regression analysis showed a good correlation coefficient (r=0.9995) between fluorescence intensity and concentration over the range of 1.5-4 μg/mL with detection limit of 0.012 μg/mL.The proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of atorvastatin in pure and pharmaceutical dosage forms with average recovery of 100.29±0.47％.The results were compared favorably with those of the reported method.
Subject(s)
Lipids , Amino Acids , Proteins , Chromatography , Anthelmintics , Anticarcinogenic AgentsABSTRACT
The macro- and micromorphological characters of the stem and leaf of Eugenia supraxillaris Spring are described and illustrated with the aim to aid in their identification in the entire and powdered forms
ABSTRACT
The thalli of the red alga: Laurencia papillosa [Forssk.] Grev. yield 0.18% of lipids. Cholesterol was isolated and identified in the unsaponifiable fraction. Arachidic, arachidonic, heptadecanoic, lauric, myristoleic, palmitic, oleic or linoleic, stearic, tridecanoic and undecanoic acids were identified among 21 components of the saponifiable fraction by GLC technique. The total protein content in the thalli amounted 9.2%. Paper and two dimensional TLC techniques of the free amino acids and protein hydrolysate prepared from algal thalli showed the presence of alanine, aspartic and glutamic acids, leucine, serine, threonine, and tryptophan. While arginine, cystine, phenyl alanine, and valine were only noticed in the protein hydrolysate. Quantitative analysis of each of the amino acids in each fraction was carried out. The alga yielded 19.75% of neutral mucilage when extracted successively with cold and hot water. Xylose, mannose, glucose, galactose and galacturonic acid were detected in both cold and hot water mucilage hydrolysates by paper and TLC techniques