Anti-arthritic activity of cell wall content of Lactobacillus plantarum in freund's adjuvant-induced arthritic rats: involvement of cellular inflammatory mediators and other biomarkers.

Alteration of microbiota is related with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and administration of certain probiotics showed an improvement in RA. The present study was designed to find out the anti-arthritic activity of cell wall content of Lactobacillus plantarum in complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA)-induced arthritis in rats. Freund's adjuvant was injected into the left footpad in female rats on day 0 and dexamethasone (1 mg kg-1, s.c.) & cell wall content of L. plantarum (105, 107, and 109 cfu/animal, s.c.) treatment were given from day 7 to 21. The change in body weight, paw volume and arthritic index, joint stiffness, gait test, mobility test, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), serum C-reactive protein (CRP) level, serum rheumatoid factor (RF), and serum TNF-α was measured on day 21. Cell wall content of L. plantarum treated animals showed improvement in all the parameters as compared to that in CFA-treated animals and exert anti-arthritic activity.

Preliminary studies on the effect of rebamipide against the trypsin and egg-albumin induced experimental model of asthma.

The present investigation was carried out to study the effect of rebamipide in experimentally induced bronchial asthma in mice. Trypsin and egg-albumin induced chronic model of asthma was used and various parameters were measured on the 35th day. The asthmatic control group showed lower level of haemoglobin saturation with oxygen, tidal volume, airflow rate and higher respiratory rate, serum bicarbonate level, eosinophil count in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and histamine level compared to the normal control group. Dexamethasone and rebamipide treated groups showed the return of all the above parameters towards normal values. Histopathological examination of lungs showed more prominent alveolar and muscular layer destruction in the asthmatic control group than in dexamethasone and rebamipide treated groups. Rebamipide showed a beneficial effect and might be used for the treatment of bronchial asthma.

Role of estrogen receptor- α in an experimental model of bronchial asthma.

BACKGROUND: Use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may increase the risk of adult-onset asthma in women. Various in vitro studies have reported that estradiol stimulates human mast cell lines causing release of allergic mediators which was not observed in estrogen receptor-alpha (ER-alpha) knockout mice. Thus, estrogen might be a key element in occurrence of asthma. In the present study, we proposed to determine the role of ER-alpha in an experimental model of bronchial asthma. METHODS: Trypsin and egg albumin induced chronic model of asthma were used. On the 28th day, various parameters such as pO2 level, serum bicarbonate level, tidal volume, respiratory rate, air flow rate, differential white blood cells count in the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid and serum cholesterol level were measured as well as lung histopathological examination and uterine weight measurement were carried out. RESULTS: Estradiol treatment resulted in lower pO2 level, tidal volume and air flow rate. Also, serum bicarbonate level, respiratory rate and eosinophil rate and eosinophil count in BAL fluid were higher as compared to asthmatic control group. These effects were not observed in methyl-piperidino-pyrazole (MPP) co-treated group. Histopathological data suggested that the destruction of alveolar and muscular layers was more prominent in estradiol-treated group than asthmatic control and MPP co-treated groups. Estradiol-treated group showed lower total serum cholesterol levels and higher uterine weight as compared to asthmatic control group which was not observed in MPP co-treated group; indicating antagonism of estradiol by MPP at ER-alpha receptor. CONCLUSION: Estrogen seems to have a strong promoting effect on pathogenesis of bronchial asthma via ER-alpha receptors.

Immunostimulant activity of n-butanol fraction of root bark of Oroxylum indicum, vent.

In the present study, the immunomodulatory activity and the mechanism of action of the n-butanol fraction (100 mg/kg body weight, per os, once daily for 22 consecutive days) of the root bark of Oroxylum indicum, vent. (Bignoniaceae) was evaluated in rats using measures of immune responses to sheep red blood cells (SRBC haemagglutinating antibody [HA] titer) and delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reactions. In response to SRBC, treatment with the n-butanol fraction caused a significant rise in circulating HA titers during secondary antibody responses, indicating a potentiation of certain aspects of the humoral response. The treatment also resulted in a significant rise in paw edema formation, indicating increased host DTH response. Additionally, the antioxidant potential of the drug was exhibited by significant reductions in whole blood malondialdehyde (MDA) content along with a rise in the activities/levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and reduced glutathione (GSH). Furthermore, histopathologic analysis of lymphoid tissues showed an increase in cellularity, e.g., T-lymphocytes and sinusoids, in the treatment group. In contrast, dexamethasone treatment caused significant reduction in the HA titer, DTH responses, and antioxidant potential. In a triple antigen-mediated immunological edema model, the extent of edema raised in drug-treated rats was greater compared to that in control rats, thus confirming enhanced DTH reactions in response to the drug treatment. Based on the above findings, the reported immunomodulatory activity of an active fraction of O. indicum might be attributed to its ability to enhance specific immune responses (both humoral and cell-mediated) as well as its antioxidant potential.