ABSTRACT
Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira affecting humans and animals. Untreated leptospirosis may result in severe kidney damage, meningitis, liver failure, respiratory distress, and even death. Virulent leptospirosis can rapidly enter kidney fibroblasts and induce a programmed cell death. Thus, it is a challenge for immunologists to develop an effective and safe leptospirosis vaccine.Here, we compared the commercial canine leptospira vaccine and recombinant proteins (OmpL1 and LipL41) with and without adjuvant in terms of immune response and challenge studies in hamsters and immune response studies alone in experimental dogs. The outer membrane proteins viz., lipL41 and OmpL1 of leptospira interrogans serovars icterohaemorrhagiae were amplified. The primers were designed in such a way that amplified products of OmpL1 and lipL41 were ligated and cloned simultaneously into a single vector. The cloned products were expressed in E.coli BL21 cells. The immunoprotection studies were conducted for both recombinant proteins and commercial vaccine. The challenge experiment studies revealed that combination of both rLip41 and rOmpL1 and commercial vaccine gave 83% and 87% protection, respectively. Histopathological investigation revealed mild sub lethal changes were noticed in liver and kidney in commercially vaccinated group alone. The immune responses against recombinant leptospiral proteins were also demonstrated in dogs.
ABSTRACT
The present investigation has been undertaken to evaluate role of Wheat grass extract in modifying mercuryinduced biochemical alterations in albino rats. Mercuric chloride 5 mg/kg body weight i.p. was given on 11, 13 & 15th day of the experiment. Wheat grass extract (400 mg/kg) and Quercetin (10 mg/kg) were administered 10 days before mercuric chloride administration and continued up to 30 days after mercuric chloride administration. The animals were sacrificed on 1, 15 and 30 days, the activity of serum alkaline and acid phosphatase and the iron, calcium, BUN, creatinine, SGPT, SGOT, total bilirubin, total protein levels were measured. Tissue lipid peroxidation content, glutathione (GSH) level, anti-oxidant enzymes- CAT and GR were measured. Hematological indices were also estimated. Mercury intoxication causes significant increase (P<0.001) in calcium level, acid phosphatase, BUN, creatinine, SGOT, SGPT, total bilirubin, lipid peroxidation content and significant decrease in iron level, alkaline phosphatase, total protein, and CAT, GR and glutathione level. Wheat grass extract pre- and post-treatment ameliorated mercury-induced alterations in terms of biochemical and hematological parameters. Concomitant treatment of Wheatgrass extract with Mercury showed prominent recovery and normal architecture with mild residual degeneration in the tissues. Thus from present investigation, it can be concluded that Wheat grass extract pre- and post-treatment with HgCl2 significantly modulate or modify mercury-induced biochemical alteration in albino rats.