[ effect of MS14 on hematopoiesis and blood cells in BALB/c mice]

Various blood cells with different functions are produced in bone marrow in a process called hematopoiesis. The present study was conducted in order to evaluate the effect[s] of MS14, as an immunomodulator with natural origin [plant -marine] on the hematopoiesis. Eight 6-8 weeks old female BALB/c mice were divided to control group [receiving normal saline] and MS14 group [receiving MS14 at 100 mg/kg]. Administration of MS14 and normal saline prolongs for five days, and then the mice were anaesthetized and killed. Smear of peripheral blood cells was provided and bone marrow cells were counted and cultured for 48 h. Erythropoietin [20 ng/ml] was added to half of samples. 5 days administration of 100 mg/kg MS14 has augmented the percent of red blood cell of bone marrow [about 2 times]. An increase [about 60%] in the percent of peripheral blood neutrophils has been observed as well. Erytroid colonies in bone marrow culture have been increased about 2 times in MS14 group e.i. the mean colony number in each well increased from 7 in control group to 14 in MS14 group and at the presence of erythropoietin from 13 colonies in control to 23 in MS14 group. According to increasing effect of MS14 on the number of erytroid colonies and percent of red blood cells, it can be concluded that hematopoietic processes not only does not adversely affected or inhibited by MS14 but could be significantly augmented when MS14 adminstered

[Study on anti-cancer effect of plant extract ACA-1 on gastric adenocarcinoma cell line]

Apoptosis provides solutions for the treatment of cancers and its induction is used as a strategy for preparing drugs that destroy pre-neoplastic cells. Many plant compounds have anti-tumoral activity. ACA-1 plant product is an aqueous extract and has been used in traditional medicine in Iran and has cytotoxicity effect on melanoma cancer cells. In this study, anti-cancer effect of ACA-1 plant product on gastric adenocarcinoma cells was evaluated and the mechanism of its action was studied. Cytotoxicity of ACA-1 on gastric adenocarcinoma cells [AGS] and fibroblasts [HgF] was determined after 24 hours of incubation by MTT assay. Annexin V-FITC and PI staining method was used for measuring the cell apoptosis. Activity of aspase 8 and 9 was assayed by enzymatic method. An ECMatrix was used for determining invasion ability of AGS cells. ACA-1 showed strong and dose - dependent toxicity on AGS cells by induction of early apoptosis. Increase in caspase 8 and 9 activities was involved in this process. Also, ACA-1 decrease the invasion ability on AGS cells. ACA-1 induced apoptosis in human gastric cancer cells by activating caspase 8 and 9. With respect to decreasing cell invasion of AGS cells, ACA-1 may be considered as a potential candidate against human gastric cancer

Purification of immunomodulator fraction components of garlic [R10] by HPLC

It has been reported that garlic extract and its components show medicinal effects including immunomodulatory activities. We have isolated the immunomodulatory fraction [R10] previously In this study we have proposed to purify the components of R10 using HPLC. Crude garlic extract purchased from Hamadan, Iran. R10 fraction including 10-50 KD molecules have been isolated using ultrafiltration. Further purification has been made using Vaydac 208Tpv10, a semi-preparative HPLC reversphase choromatography column. Tricine SDS-PAGE has been used to determine molecular weight of the samples. 6 major peakes were obtained from HPLC of R10 at gradient of 0.25% of buffer B/min through 60 minute. The molecular weight of 3 peaks [samples 0, 1 and 3] was 12 KD with tricine-SDSPAGE. Using C8 HPLC reversphase choromatography seems to be appropriate tool for purification of R10 components and the purified components at peak 0, 1 and 3 seems to be isotypic molecules

Kinetics of nitric oxide production and MTT reduction by HSV-1 infected macrophages

Macrophages have important role in defense against Herpes Simplex Virus type-1 [HSV-1]. The present study was performed to determine the viability and nitric oxide [NO] production by HSV-1 infected mouse peritoneal macrophages [HIM]. The viability of macrophages was evaluated using MTT reduction assay and the production of nitrite using Griess method. The ability of infected macrophages to reduce Tetrazolium [MTT] was diminished at virus to cell ratios of multiplicity of infection [MOI] of one, three and 10; but not at 0.01 and 0.1. Induction and inhibition of NO production by HIM were MOI dependent. The basal NO production by these cells was inhibited at MOI of three and ten. In contrast virus to cell ratios of 0.01 and 0.1 induced low but significant enhancement in NO production. The inability of HIM to reduce MTT at MOI of three was significant after 12-hrs and inhibition of NO production was initiated between 12-20 hours after infection. High doses of HSV-1 seem to decrease the normal activity of macrophages by inhibiting the production of nitric oxide