Hypoglycaemic effects of fermented mycelium of Paecilomyces farinosus (G30801) on high-fat fed rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes.

Background & objectives: Paceilomyces farinosus is an entomogenous fungus with a powerful insecticidal activity against the larvae of Lipidoptera, Coleoptera and Hymenoptera. However, the hypoglycaemic activity of P. farinosus extract has not been studied. This study was undertaken to investigate the hypoglycaemic and anti-diabetic effects of P. farinosus (G30801) in rats with streptozotocin (STZ)- induced diabetes given a high-fat and compared with normal rats. Methods: Rats fed with high fat diet for 2 months and injected with (30 or 50 mg STZ/kg bw) showed raised level of plasma triglyceride (TG), cholesterol, D-glucose concentration and glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1C) %. The STZ-induced type 1 (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in rats was further confirmed using glucose tolerance test and insulin-glucose tolerance test. P. farinosus (G30801) was fermented in different media [soybean (S), black bean (B), and rice (R)] and their extracts were tested for hypoglycaemic effect using T1DM and T2DM rats. Results: STZ (30 and 50 mg/kg bw) could successfully induce T2DM and T1DM in rats, respectively. No change in blood glucose levels were noted in P. farinosus (R medium) treated normal rats (P  <   0.05). In addition, STZ-high fat fed diabetic (T1DM and T2DM) rats when treated with P. farinosus (R medium) showed decreased blood glucose level as compared with P. farinosus extracted from B and S medium. Interpretation & conclusions: Our findings showed hypoglycaemic effect of fermented P. farinosus (G30801) in experimental diabetes rat model fed with high fat diet.

Sequential anaerobic and aerobic treatment of pulp and paper mill effluent in pilot scale bioreactor.

In the present study sequential anaerobic and aerobic treatment in two step bioreactor was performed for removal of colour in the pulp and paper mill effluent. In anaerobic treatment, colour 50%, lignin 62%, COD 29%, absordable organic halides (AOX) 25% and phenol 29% were reduced in eight days. The anaerobically treated effluent was separately applied in bioreactor in presence of fungal strain, Paecilomyces sp., and bacterial strain, Microbrevis luteum. Data of study indicated reduction in colour 80%, AOX 74%, lignin 81%, COD 93% and phenol 76 per cent by Paecilomyces sp. where as Microbrevis luteum showed removal in colour 59%, lignin 71%, COD 86%, AOX 84% and phenol 88% by day third when 7 days anaerobically treated effluent was further treated by aerobic microorganisms. Change in pH of the effluent and increase in biomass of microorganism's substantiated results of the study, which was concomitant to the treatment method.