Protective efficacy of Coriandrum sativum seeds against arsenic induced toxicity in Swiss albino mice.

Arsenic poisoning in ground water is one of the most sensitive environmental pollutant causing serious pollution all over the world. Chronic arsenic exposure through drinking water to humans leads to major public health related issues. There have been very meagre studies which reported that, the plant constituents proved to exhibit protective effect from arsenicosis. Therefore, the present study aims to evaluate the protective efficacy of Coriandrum sativum seeds extract against sodium arsenite induced toxicity in Swiss albino mice. In the present study twenty-four male healthy Swiss albino mice (30 ± 5 g) were divided into four groups (n = 6), where the control group received normal diet and water; group II and group III treated with sodium arsenite (2 mg per kg body weight per day) for 2 and 4 weeks respectively. The group IV mice were administered with C.sativum seeds extract at the dose of 150 mg per kg body weight per day for 4 weeks upon sodium arsenite pretreated (2 mg/kg body weight for 4 weeks per day) mice. After the complete dose duration, all the treatment group animals were sacrificed same day for haematological, biochemical and histopathological study. In the arsenic treated mice, there were significant (p < 0.0001) changes in the serum levels of ALT, AST, ALP, urea, uric acid and creatinine as well as in the haematological parameters. In contrast, after the administration with C.sativum seeds extract upon arsenic pretreated mice, there was significant (p < 0.0001) improvement observed in the hepatic and renal biomarker parameters as well as haematological variables. In the arsenic intoxicated mice,  after administration with C.sativum seeds extract there was significant (p < 0.0001) reduction in the arsenic concentration in blood, liver and kidney tissues as well as in the serum LPO levels. Furthermore, the histopathological study showed that, C.sativum seeds extract administrated group of mice significantly restored the liver and kidney at cellular level against arsenic induced toxicity. The entire study concludes that C.sativum seeds extract possesses the ameliorative effect against arsenic induced liver and kidney intoxication.

Molecular assessment of proteins encoded by the mitochondrial genome of Clarias batrachus and Clarias gariepinus.

The population of catfish, Clarias batrachus has substantially diminished in various countries and studies show that another related species Clarias gariepinus is replacing it. The better adaptability and survivability of C. gariepinus over C. batrachus could be attributed to the metabolic differences between these two species, which is primarily regulated by mitochondrial activities. To understand the reasons behind this phenomenon, we performed in silico analyses to decipher the differences between the proteins encoded by the mitochondrial genome of these two related species. Our analysis revealed that out of thirteen, twelve proteins encoded by the mitochondrial genome of these two species have substantial variations between them. We characterised these variations by analysing their effect on secondary structure, intrinsic disorder predisposition, and functional impact on protein and stability parameters. Our data show that most of the parameters are changing between these two closely related species. Altogether, we demonstrate the molecular insights into the mitochondrial genome-encoded proteins of these two species and predict their effect on protein function and stability that might be helping C. gariepinus to gain survivability better than the C. batrachus.

Assessment of arsenic exposure in the population of Sabalpur village of Saran District of Bihar with mitigation approach.

Arsenic poisoning through groundwater is the world's greatest normal groundwater catastrophe which got an immense effect on worldwide general wellbeing. India is confronting the outcomes of arsenic poisoning in the zone of Ganga Brahmaputra alluvial plains. In Bihar, out of 38 districts, 18 districts are exceptionally influenced with groundwater arsenic defilement. In the present study, we have assessed the current situation of arsenic exposure in Sabalpur village of Saran district of Bihar after reporting of breast, renal, skin and thyroid cancer cases from this village along with typical symptoms of arsenicosis. Such cancer patients were identified at our institute and were taken for the study. The present investigation deals with the quantification of arsenic in groundwater, hair and nail samples of subjects as well as the survey of entire village to know the overall health status of the village people. A total of n=128 household handpump water samples as well as n=128 human hair and nail samples were collected from over n=520 households. Using the graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometer (GF-AAS), all the samples were analysed. The investigation resulted that the 61% of the analysed samples particularly the groundwater had the arsenic levels more than the permissible limit of WHO (> 10 µg/L) with 244.20 µg/L as the highest arsenic contamination in one of the handpump water sample. The exposure effect of hair sample was worst as 88% of all the collected samples were having high arsenic levels more than the permissible limit (> 0.2 mg/Kg). In case of nail samples, 92% of the samples were having high arsenic concentration more than the permissible limit (> 0.5 mg/Kg). The health survey study revealed high magnitude of disease burden in the exposed population with symptoms such as asthma, anaemia, hepatomegaly, diabetes, cardiac problem, skin fungal infections, breathlessness and mental disability. Few cancer cases of renal, skin, breast and cervix were also found among the exposed population of this village. The percentage of cancer cases in this village was 0.94% that was low, but it would be an aggravated situation in the near future if people will continue drinking arsenic-contaminated water. Therefore, a mitigation intervention was carried out in March 2020 by installing an arsenic filter plant. The health situation in the village in the present scenario is hope to improve in the coming years. However, motivation and awareness among the village population are still required.

Identification of twenty-five mutations in surface glycoprotein (Spike) of SARS-CoV-2 among Indian isolates and their impact on protein dynamics.

SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of the COVID-19 pandemic, is an RNA virus that has inherent high rate of mutation. Due to the mutations, the virus evolves at a rapid pace that helps them to survive better inside the host. One of the hotspots of pharmacological interventions is to inhibit binding of virus with the host cells, which is mediated by Spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 and ACE2 receptors present on the human cells. This study was conducted with an aim to identify and characterise the mutation (s) present in the Spike glycoprotein of the SARS-CoV-2. Towards this, an in silico methodology was used, and the mutations on Spike glycoprotein were identified by comparing the Spike glycoprotein of first reported sequence from Wuhan wet seafood market virus with the available sequences of SARS-CoV-2 from Indian isolates. Our analysis revealed the presence of twenty-five mutations in Spike glycoprotein among Indian SARS-CoV-2 isolates. These mutations spread all over the protein and can be clustered at least into four distinct positions. Further, mutations at eleven positions exhibited alterations in the secondary structure of the polypeptide chain. We also investigated the influence of these mutations on overall protein dynamics and have shown that they affect the dynamic stability of the Spike glycoprotein.

Identification of novel mutations in RNA-dependent RNA polymerases of SARS-CoV-2 and their implications on its protein structure.

The rapid development of the SARS-CoV-2 mediated COVID-19 pandemic has been the cause of significant health concern, highlighting the immediate need for effective antivirals. SARS-CoV-2 is an RNA virus that has an inherently high mutation rate. These mutations drive viral evolution and genome variability, thereby facilitating viruses to have rapid antigenic shifting to evade host immunity and to develop drug resistance. Viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerases (RdRp) perform viral genome duplication and RNA synthesis. Therefore, we compared the available RdRp sequences of SARS-CoV-2 from Indian isolates and the 'Wuhan wet sea food market virus' sequence to identify, if any, variation between them. Our data revealed the occurrence of seven mutations in Indian isolates of SARS-CoV-2. The secondary structure prediction analysis of these seven mutations shows that three of them cause alteration in the structure of RdRp. Furthermore, we did protein modelling studies to show that these mutations can potentially alter the stability of the RdRp protein. Therefore, we propose that RdRp mutations in Indian SARS-CoV-2 isolates might have functional consequences that can interfere with RdRp targeting pharmacological agents.