ABSTRACT
Cholesterol-lowering activity of probiotic strains of lactic acid bacteria genera Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium in the in vivo experiments on the model of experimental hypercholesterolemia in mice was studied. It is established that the prophylactic scheme of introduction of probiotic cultures is more effective than therapeutic one for the manifestation of cholesteraze activity of probiotic cultures. The most effective were the cultures: L. acidophilus and B. bifidum, as well as the composition B. bifidum + B. longum. Cholesterol-lowering activity of the studied strains and their compositions in this experiment ranged between 40-78%. It is noted that cholesteraze activity of other studied strains was not lower and in some cases, higher than that of most of the drugs currently used in cholesterinozis.
Subject(s)
Bifidobacterium/enzymology , Cholesterol/blood , Hypercholesterolemia , Lactic Acid/metabolism , Lactobacillus/enzymology , Probiotics/metabolism , Animals , Cholesterol/administration & dosage , Female , Food, Formulated , Hypercholesterolemia/blood , Hypercholesterolemia/diet therapy , Hypercholesterolemia/prevention & control , Mice , Mice, Inbred BALB C , Probiotics/administration & dosageABSTRACT
Human interferon alpha2b gene was transiently expressed in Nicotiana excelsior plants. Fusion with N. plumbaginifolia calreticulin signal peptide for improved apoplast targeting and carrying out the expression under optimized conditions resulted in maximal interferon activity of 3.2 x 10(3) IU/g fresh weight (FW) with an average of 2.1 +/- 0.8 x 10(3) IU/g FW. It proves that N. excelsior is a suitable host for Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression of genes encoding physiologically active human proteins. The transient expression conditions optimized for GFP marker protein were confirmed to be preferable for hIFN alpha2b.
Subject(s)
Biotechnology/methods , Interferon-alpha/biosynthesis , Nicotiana/genetics , Plants, Genetically Modified , Recombinant Fusion Proteins/biosynthesis , Rhizobium/genetics , Animals , Cells, Cultured , Cytopathogenic Effect, Viral/drug effects , Genes, Reporter , Genetic Vectors , Green Fluorescent Proteins/genetics , Humans , Interferon alpha-2 , Interferon-alpha/isolation & purification , Interferon-alpha/pharmacology , Plant Leaves/genetics , Plant Leaves/metabolism , Plasmids , Recombinant Fusion Proteins/isolation & purification , Recombinant Fusion Proteins/pharmacology , Recombinant Proteins , Swine , Nicotiana/metabolism , Vesiculovirus/drug effectsABSTRACT
The virus-inhibitory activity of a molecular complex (MC) of tilorone and yeast RNA was studied in vitro on three virus-cell systems: vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) - murine fibroblast L929 cells, Venezuelan equine encephalittis virus (VEEV) - swine embryo kidney (SEK) cells and encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV) - established piglet testicular (EPT) cells. In all these systems the MC exerted an antiviral effect similar to that of polynucleotide interferon (IFN) inducers such as poly(I)-poly(C), larifan and ridostin. The antiviral effect of the MC was similar when the compound was applied before or after virus adsorption to cells. The MC may be regarded as a perspective antiviral agent of common use.
Subject(s)
Interferon Inducers/pharmacology , RNA, Fungal/pharmacology , Tilorone/pharmacology , Cells, Cultured , Macromolecular Substances , Organic Chemicals , RNA, Double-Stranded/pharmacology , Virus Replication/drug effects , Yeasts/geneticsABSTRACT
The sensitivity and specificity of the developed anti-HIV1/2 third generation enzyme immunoassay, the IEA-HIV1/2-III, was examined. The test system for the detection of anti-HIV antibodies included peroxidase-conjugated HIV-specific recombinant Gag protein fragments (epitopes of p24 and p17 proteins), Env-1 (epitopes of p41 and p120 proteins), and Env-2 (p36 epitopes). Sensitivity was evaluated with 346 sera from HIV1-seropositive subjects, Anti-HIV1 Low Titer panels no. 10 and PRB-106 and seropositive panel PRB-931 in comparison with other third- and second-generation assays. The IEA-HIV1/2-III assays are characterized with high sensitivity comparable to the other third generation assays and the better sensitivity with respect to the second generation test-kit to determine HIV-specific antibodies in human sera. The specificity was determined using three hundred sixty-seven potentially cross-reactive samples (but negative for anti-HIV1/2). Only one specimen among them was reactive by IEA-HIV1/2-III.
