Cobalt exposure triggers impairments in cognitive and anxiety-like behaviors, brain oxidative stress and inflammation, and hippocampo-amygdala histomorphological alterations: Protective role of aqueous Prosopis africana seed extract.

Objectives: Cobalt toxicity has become a health concern in recent years, due to overexposure resulting in neurological impairments. With a growing interest in the therapeutic roles of herbs, in toxicity research, it's worth looking into the curative effects of aqueous Prosopis africana seed extract, a plant rich in flavonoids on cobalt-induced neurotoxicity. Materials and Methods: We treated rats with CoCl2 or CoCl2 in combination with aqueous PA seed extract (PAE) orally for 14 days. Control rats received distilled water for the same period. Following treatments, behavioral experiments, analysis for oxidative stress, inflammation, and histological and immunohistochemical analysis were performed. Results: Results revealed that CoCl2 reduced the exploration time, recognition index in the novel object recognition test, percentage spontaneous alternation in the Y-maze tests, and reduced open arm entry and duration in elevated plus-maze. However, treatment with PAE improved these parameters to levels comparable with those of the control group. Furthermore, PAE therapy reduced CoCl2-induced surge in hydrogen peroxide, malondialdehyde, TNF-α and IL-1ß levels in brain homogenate, while also increasing superoxide dismutase and reduced reduced-glutathione activities. CoCl2 exposure resulted in obvious features of neurodegeneration like nuclear disintegration, nuclear shrinkage, and cytoplasmic vacuolations of the cells of the hippocampus and amygdala, with an increased expression of GFAP. The hippocampal and amygdala histology improved after PAE administration, while exacerbated GFAP expressions were attenuated. Conclusion: These findings imply that PAE may be anxiolytic and can help reduce cognitive impairments and hippocampal damage caused by CoCl2 neurotoxicity, via mechanisms that involve attenuation of oxidative stress and inflammation.

Variation in the lobar pattern of the right and left lungs: A case report.

The right lung has three lobes and two fissures while the left lung has two lobes and one fissure. During a routine dissection we observed a variant complete fissure and three incomplete fissures in the right lung while the left lung presented with a variant transverse fissure separating the superior lingual and anterior bronchopulmonary segments. In the right lung, the incomplete fissures lie between the apical and posterior bronchopulmonary segments; medial and lateral bronchopulmonary segments; apical and basal bronchopulmonary segments. The complete variant fissure separates the medial basal bronchopulmonary segment from the remaining basal segments. Such variant fissures and lobes are clinically important in cases of lobotomy.