ABSTRACT
Some polymers and bioactive compounds derived from Styela clava tunic (SCT) have been reported as traditional medicine for the treatment of inflammation, oxidative stress and surgical wounds although there is little scientific evidence of their liver and kidney toxicity. To investigate the toxicity of ethanol extracts of SCT (EtSCT) in the liver and kidney of ICR mice, alterations in related markers including body weight, organ weight, urine composition, liver pathology and kidney pathology were analyzed following oral administration of 50 and 100 mg/kg body weight/day of EtSCT for 14 days. EtSCT showed a high level of free radical scavenging activity for DPPH (93.1%) and NO (16.2%) as well as the presence of 14.8 mg/mL of flavonoids and 36.2 mg/mL of phenolics, while EtSCT treated groups did not show any significant alterations in the body and organ weight, clinical phenotypes, urine parameters or mice mortality when compared with the vehicle treated group. In addition, constant levels of serum biochemical markers including alanine phosphatase (ALP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine (CRE) were maintained. Moreover, no specific histopathological features induced by most toxic compounds were observed in liver and kidney sections stained with hematoxilin and eosin. Therefore, the present results indicate that EtSCT with strong antioxidant activity cannot induce any specific toxicity in liver and kidney organs of ICR at doses of 100 mg/kg body weight/day.
Subject(s)
Animals , Mice , Administration, Oral , Alanine , Alanine Transaminase , Aspartate Aminotransferases , Biomarkers , Blood Urea Nitrogen , Body Weight , Creatinine , Eosine Yellowish-(YS) , Ethanol , Flavonoids , Inflammation , Kidney , Liver , Medicine, Traditional , Mice, Inbred ICR , Mortality , Organ Size , Oxidative Stress , Pathology , Phenol , Phenotype , Polymers , Wounds and InjuriesABSTRACT
Styela clava, called non-native tunicate or sea squirt, is habitat which include bays and harbors in Korea and several sites in the sea faced world. We fabricate cellulose membrane nerve conduit (CMNC) from this native sea squirt skin, and evaluate the capacity of promoting peripheral nerve regeneration in the rat sciatic nerve defect model. After processing the pure cellulose membrane from the sea squirt skin as we already published before, CMNC was designed as a non-tubular sheet with 14 mm length and 4 mm width. Total eleven male Spraque-Dawley rats (12 weeks, weighing 250 to 300g) were divided into sham group (n=2), silicone tube grafted control group (n=3) and experimental group (n=6). Each CMNC grafted nerve was evaluated after 4, 8 and 12 weeks in the experimental group, and after 12 weeks, sciatic function was evaluated with sciatic function index (SFI) and gait analysis, and histomorphology of nerve conduit and the innervated tissues of sciatic nerve were all examined using image analyzer and electromicroscopic methods in the all groups. The regenerated axon and nerve sheath were found only in the inner surface of the CMNC after 4 weeks and became more thicker after 8 and 12 weeks. In the TEM study, CMNC grafted group showed more abundant organized myelinated nerve fibers with thickened extracellular matrix than silicone conduit grafted group after 12 weeks. The sciatic function index (SFI) and ankle stance angle (ASA) in the functional evaluation were -47.2+/-3.9, 35.5.+/-4.9.in CMNC grafted group (n=2) and -80.4+/-7.4, 29.2.+/-5.3.in silicone conduit grafted group (n=3), respectively. And the myelinated axon was 41.59% in CMNC group and 9.51% in silicone conduit group to the sham group. The development of a bioactive CMNC to replace autogenous nerve grafts offers a potential and available approach to improved peripheral nerve regeneration. As we already published before, small peptide fragment derived from the basement membrane matrix proteins of squirt skin, which is a kind of anchoring protein composed of glycocalyx, induced the effective axonal regeneration with rapid growth of Schwann cells beneath the inner surface of CMNC. So the possibilities of clinical application as a peripheral nerve regeneration will be able to be suggested.
Subject(s)
Animals , Humans , Male , Rats , Ankle , Axons , Basement Membrane , Bays , Cellulose , Ecosystem , Extracellular Matrix , Gait , Glycocalyx , Korea , Membranes , Myelin Sheath , Nerve Fibers, Myelinated , Peripheral Nerves , Regeneration , Schwann Cells , Sciatic Nerve , Silicones , Skin , Transplants , UrochordataABSTRACT
From 95% alcohol extract of Ascidian Styela clava, collected from the shallow bay near Qingdao City, Shandong Province, six compounds, named, isovaleramide (1), thymine (2), thymidine (3), uracil (4), 2'-deoxyuridine (5) and ?-palmityl glycerin ether (6) were isolated,. Their structures were elucidated by various spectral analysis (IR, MS, ~1HNMR, ~(13)CNMR) and comparison of chemical and physical data with authentic samples reported in literatures. All of these compounds are first reported to be isolated from Ascidian Styela clava.
ABSTRACT
To provide necessary evidence for studying the pharmacological and clinical effectiveness of Styela clava,the quantities of 21 chemical elements in Styela clava were analysised.It was found that the quantities of several mineral elements in it were higher than that in sea water,which indicated Styela clava had a relatively high ability to concentrate mineral elements.