ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE To investigates the effects of imperatorin on the oxidative stress in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus after focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury. METHODS Transient focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion model in male Sprague-Dawley rats was induced by 2 h middle cerebral artery occlusion followed by 24 h reperfusion. Imperatorin (1.25 and 2.5 mg·kg- 1) or vehicle were administered intraperitoneally at 1, 5 and 9 h after the onset of ischemia. At 24 h after reperfusion, the biomarkers of oxidative stress such as the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), lipid peroxidation products malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide (NO) and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), the activities of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus were observed. We also assessed the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), and the NAD(P)H-quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO-1) protein expression by Western blot. RESULTS As compared to vehicle-treated animals, imperatorin treatment significantly reduced the ROS, MDA, NO levels and iNOS activity, increased T-AOC and the activities of SOD and CAT. Furthermore, imperatorin treatment also significantly induced the nuclear translocation of Nrf2, enhanced the protein expression of HO-1 and NQO-1 in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. CONCLUSION Our findings indicate that imperatorin can protect the brain against the excessive oxidative stress induced by cerebral ischemia/reperfusion through activation of Nrf2 signaling pathway.
ABSTRACT
Human bocavirus (HBoV) is a parvovirus whose association with respiratory disease is currently under investigation. OBJECTIVE: To determine HBoV prevalence in children with lower acute respiratory infection. METHODS: We investigated HBoV in 433 nasopharyngeal aspirates collected in 2007-2009 from children 0 to 5 years old hospitalized with bronchiolitis or pneumonia in Córdoba, Argentina. RESULTS: The general prevalence of HBoV was 21.5 percent and the positive cases (HBoV+) were more frequent during winter and spring. The mean age of HBoV+ patients was 6.9 months, with 87.1 percent of the detections corresponding to infants less than 1 year old (among which the prevalence of HBoV was 26.3 percent in patients < 3 months of age, 22.1 percent in 3 to 6 months, 25.3 percent in 6 to 9 months, and 18.8 percent in 9 to 12 months). The sequence analysis of the NP1 coding region of 15 isolates showed that all isolates from Cordoba were HBoV1 which exhibited a homology of nearly 100 percent both among themselves and with the originally discovered virus from 2005. CONCLUSION: Overall, our results indicate that HBoV is a significant pathogen that contributes to acute respiratory infection both on its own and during coinfection with other viruses.