Protective Effects of Alpha-lipoic Acid, Resveratrol, and Apigenin against Oxidative Damages, Histopathological Changes, and Mortality Induced by Lung Irradiation in Rats.

AIM: This study investigated the protective effects of three antioxidants on radiationinduced lung injury. BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress is one of the key outcomes of radiotherapy in normal tissues. It can induce severe injuries in lung tissue, which may lead to pneumonitis and fibrosis. Recently, interest in natural chemicals as possible radioprotectors has increased due to their reduced toxicity, cheaper price, and other advantages. OBJECTIVE: The present study was undertaken to evaluate the radioprotective effect of Alpha-lipoic Acid (LA), Resveratrol (RVT), and Apigenin (APG) against histopathological changes and oxidative damage and survival induced by ionizing radiation (IR) in the lung tissues of rats. METHODS: First, the lung tissue of 50 mature male Wistar rats underwent an 18 Gy gamma irradiation. Next, the rats were sacrificed and transverse sections were obtained from the lung tissues and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H and E) and Mason trichrome (MTC) for histopathological evaluation. Then, the activity of Glutathione peroxidase (GPx), Superoxide Dismutase (SOD), and Malondialdehyde (MDA) was measured by an ELISA reader at 340, 405, and 550 nm. RESULTS: Based on the results of this study, IR led to a remarkable increase in morphological changes in the lung. However, APG, RVT, and LA could ameliorate the deleterious effects of IR in lung tissue. IR causes an increase in GPX level, and APG+IR administration causes a decrease in the level of GPX compared to the control group. Also, the results of this study showed that RVT has significant effects in reducing MDA levels in the short term. In addition, compared to the control group, IR and RVT+IR decrease the activity of SOD in the long term in the lung tissues of rats. Also, the analysis of results showed that weight changes in IR, LA+IR, APG+IR, and control groups were statistically significant. CONCLUSION: APG and RVT could prevent tissue damage induced by radiation effects in rat lung tissues. Hence, APG, LA, and RVT could provide a novel preventive action with their potential antioxidant anti-inflammatory properties, as well as their great safety characteristic.

A multifunctional fusion peptide for tethering to hydroxyapatite and selective capture of bone morphogenetic protein from extracellular milieu.

PURPOSE: The present study sought to design a multi-functional fusion peptide with hydroxyapatite (HA) binding domain (HABD) and heparin binding domain (HBD). METHODS: The 74 amino acid fusion peptide contained N-terminus of the fibrinogen ß chain (ß 15-66), double G4S-linker and 12 residues with HA affinity. This construct was designed, synthesized and cloned into pET21a(+) vector and expressed in E. coli. RESULTS: HABD facilitated purification of the fusion peptide by HA affinity chromatography. Kinetic peptide binding and release on HA scaffold showed sustained release of peptide for up to 16 days. Competitive ELISA and intrinsic fluorescence assays were applied to determine HBD affinity to bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2). The disassociation rate constant (Kd ) for HBD and rhBMP-2 was approximately 9.2-12 nM. CONCLUSION: The fusion peptide developed in the present study, allowed for streamlined purification on HA affinity chromatography, as well as sustained release from HA scaffold, attributed to its HABD. HBD mediated binding to BMP-2, which may be potentially useful for bone repair. Additional studies, including in vivo investigation will be required to assess the efficacy of the fusion peptide in bone tissue engineering.

CXC chemokines CXCL1, CXCL9, CXCL10 and CXCL12 are variably expressed in patients with sickle cell disease and carriers: are they predictive tools for disease complications?

BACKGROUND: Sickle cell hemoglobinopathies are amongst a group of genetic disorders resulting from a single base-pair DNA mutation at the beta chain of hemoglobin. Chemokines and cytokines play a part in the pathogenesis of inflammatory and infectious diseases. They are also involved in balancing angiogenesis/angiostasis processes to form new vascular networks. We aimed the present study to measure the circulating CXC chemokines CXCL1, CXCL9, CXCL10, and CXCL12 in the plasma of sickle cell patients (SCD). METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Kerman Special Disease Center and Rafsanjan Molecular Medicine Research Center during 2010 to 2011. Peripheral blood specimens were collected from 77 children with SCD and 70 controls. Serum samples were isolated and CXCL1, CXCL9, CXCL10, and CXCL12 were measured using ELISA. RESULTS: The findings of this study demonstrated that serum concentrations of CXCL1 and CXCL12 were elevated in SCD patients when compared with controls. Results also showed that the circulating levels of CXCL9 and CXCL10 were decreased in SCD patients in comparison to control subjects. However, we found increased levels of CXC chemokines in SCD patients suffering from pain crisis but the difference was not significant. CONCLUSIONS: According to the results of this study it can probably be concluded that the balance between angiogenesis/angiostasis CXC chemokines is an important predictive factor for initiation of complications in SCD patients. The elevated level of pro-inflammatory CXC chemokines may also be related to inflammatory responses associated with SCD complication.