Chicken egg yolk antibody (IgY) as diagnostics and therapeutics in parasitic infections - A review.

Early diagnosis and treatment of parasitic diseases are indispensable to combat parasites mediated morbidity and mortality in humans and animals. Mammalian sourced antibodies are being successfully used in immunotherapy and immunoassays. However, their increased conservation amongst mammals, involves them in unnecessary interaction and immune mediated pathologies, obstructing their applications in certain approaches in immunoassays. Further, the high production cost and difficulty to achieve high and stable antibody titer hampers their utility for therapeutic purposes. In recent years, chicken egg yolk immunoglobulin, termed as immunoglobulin Y (IgY) has attracted noticeable consideration since it poses greater advantages than mammalian IgG including high yield, low cost and convenience. IgY has unique properties which are being exploited in different aspects for its applications in research, diagnosis and therapy. This review gives an overview of the research outcomes pertaining to chicken IgY as diagnostics and therapeutics in parasitology.

Amelioration of oxidative stress in differentiated neuronal cells by rutin regulated by a concentration switch.

Increasing studies have implicated superfluous production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as a significant factor in the progress of neurodegenerative disorders ranging from ischemic stroke to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The possible mechanisms relating to oxidative stress and neurodegeneration are yet to be thoroughly understood. Rutin, a flavonoid, has been well documented for its beneficial and pharmacological activities against diverse targets. However, the mechanism involved in the beneficial effects of rutin against neurodegeneration still remains unclear. Our study investigates the concentration switch effects of rutin on differentiated human neuroblastoma cells (IMR32) in vitro to unveil the possible mechanism of its action. IMR32 cells were differentiated using retinoic acid and challenged with different doses of rutin for 24 h duration to study the influence of ROS on differentiated neuronal cells and ROS-mediated apoptosis. The study showed that the high (100 µM) and low (100 nM and 10µM) rutin concentrations significantly avert ROS generation by two different mechanisms, by enhancing apoptosis through the modulation of levels of Bcl2, Caspase-3, survivin and its antioxidant activity via stress-related proteins, JNK and p38 MAPK. Our study suggests that rutin is a multi-targeted therapeutic and preventive agent that may act as an adjuvant complementary therapeutic molecule to treat oxidative stress-mediated neurodegeneration.

Scientific Insights in the Preparation and Characterisation of a Lead-based Naga Bhasma.

Naga bhasma is one of the herbo-metallic preparations used in Ayurveda, a traditional Indian System of Medicine. The preparation of Naga bhasma involves thermal treatment of 'Naga' (metallic lead) in a series of quenching liquids, followed by reaction with realgar and herbal constituents, before calcination to prepare a fine product. We have analysed the intermediates obtained during different stages of preparation to understand the relevance and importance of different steps involved in the preparation. Our results show that 'Sodhana' (purification process) removes heavy metals other than lead, apart from making it soft and amenable for trituration. The use of powders of tamarind bark and peepal bark maintains the oxidation state of lead in Jarita Naga (lead oxide) as Pb(2+). The repeated calcination steps result in the formation of nano-crystalline lead sulphide, the main chemical species present in Naga bhasma.