Research on biomodulatory effect of natural compounds.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine whether the extract isolated from the artichoke Cynara cardunculus L. (ECC) had antimutagenic effect and was able to enhance the therapeutic effect of cytostatic drug cis-platinum (cis-Pt). METHODS: The potential antimutagenic activity of ECC was assayed by a test on sex-linked recessive lethal mutations detection in Drosophila melanogaster males treated with ethylmethane sulfonate (EMS). The possible enhancement of cytostatic/cytotoxic effect of cis-Pt by ECC was evaluated in the cell revitalization assay by measuring cell viability via Trypan blue exclusive assay using mouse leukemia cells L1210. RESULTS: EMS was both toxic and genotoxic in D. melanogaster males. It statistically significantly increased the frequency of sex-linked recessive lethal mutations in comparison to the negative control. Furthermore, ECC statistically significantly reduced the genotoxic effect of EMS. It acted in a desmutagenic manner via EMS inactivation. In the cell revitalization assay, ECC enhanced the cytotoxic/cytostatic effect of cis-Pt. The therapeutic potential of ECC was established on the basis of statistically significantly lowered recovery of cis-Pt pre-treated mouse leukemia cells in the presence of ECC. CONCLUSIONS: The results imply that the extract isolated from artichoke C. cardunculus L. has marked beneficial activities antimutagenic and therapeutic effect enhancing) and its potential biomedical application in the combination therapy of cancer and some neurodegenerative diseases may be suggested.

Occurrence of enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus aureus in food.

Gastroenteritis is one of the most frequent microbial diseases, which is caused by the ingestion of food contaminated with staphylococcal enterotoxins. In our study, the production of staphylococcal enterotoxins A, B (SEA, SEB) and the presence of respective staphylococcal enterotoxin genes were investigated in the field S. aureus isolates obtained from foods and food industry manufactures in East Slovakia. Radioimmunoassay (RIA), polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and dot-blot hybridisation were used for examination. The ability to synthesise enterotoxins was found in 20 (39.2%) of the total number of 51 isolates. Production of SEA was recorded in 3 (5.9%), production of SEB in 12 (23.5%) and production SEA together with SEB in 5 (9.8%) staphylococcal isolates. Nine (47.4%) sheep cheese isolates of the total number of 19 produced enterotoxins, especially SEB (36.8%). S. aureus isolates from pasta were enterotoxigenic in 6 cases (33.3%). The synthesis of enterotoxins was not detected in Bryndza cheese and sausages isolates. One enterotoxigenic isolate was obtained from smears of technological equipment and 4 isolates from throat and nasal swabs. No differences in results were recorded between RIA and PCR as well as PCR and dot-blot hybridisation. Our results suggest that it is of special importance to follow the presence of enterotoxigenic S. aureus strains in foodstuffs, especially for protecting the consumers from food poisoning.