Ameliorating orthodontic relapse using laser bio-stimulation and mesenchymal stem cells in rats.

BACKGROUND: Orthodontic relapse is a frequent problem that many patients experience. Although orthodontic therapy has advanced, recurrence rates can still reach 90%. We undertook a study to look at the possibilities of laser bio-stimulation and stem cells because they have showed promising outcomes in lowering recurrence rates. OBJECTIVES: Our objective was to analyze the effects of Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) and Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) alone and collectively on the rate of orthodontic relapse in rats radiographically and histologically. METHODS: Rat maxillary central incisors were moved distally for two weeks. One week later, the incisors were retained. Animals (n = 40) were split into four groups. Control group (C); laser treatment Group (L), Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells Group (BMSCs) and combination of Stem cells and laser-irradiation group (BMSCs-L). Removed retainer permitted relapse. Before stem cell application or laser irradiation, each animal underwent two CBCT scans. Rat maxillae were stained with Hx&E, Masson trichrome, and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase antibody for histology, histochemistry, and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: LLLT could reduce the relapse tendency, as shown by increased bone density and enhanced remodeling of hetero-formed periodontal ligament (PDL). Furthermore, the transfer of BMMSCs on the pressure side had positive effects on PDL remodeling and decreased, but did not inhibit, the relapse rate. Finally, the synergistic effects of the application of LLLT and BMMSC were better than the control but still moderate and long-lasting. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Based on the improved relapse rate as proven in the present study, the Application of both LLLT and stem cells can be adopted to reduce the relapse tendency either lonely or collectively.

Detection of artemisinin effect on macrophage inducible nitric oxide gene expression in macrophage infected with Leishmania donovani.

Leishmaniosis is a parasitic infection spreads to humans by sand flies. Over 20 different species of Leishmania are responsible for the disease, which infect over 14 million people around the world. Chemotherapy is one of the most effective treatments for leishmaniosis, however it is restricted by the high cost and/or toxicity. In this study, the possible effect of artemisinin (ART) was detected on intracellular amastigotes of Iraqi strain of Leishmania donovani in ex vivo condition in U937 macrophage cell line. Gene expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in U937 macrophage was investigated, before and after treatment with artemisinin. Kinetic result by real-time PCR demonstrated that the iNOS expression folding reached the maximum at concentration of 500 µM after 24 hours, at 750 µM after 48 hours and at 1000 µM after 72 hours, which was 56, 11, and 6, respectively. The copy number of iNOS gene expression was also significantly higher in treated infected U937 cells compared to both non-treated-infected cells and intact macrophages, under different concentration of ART along the three times of follow-up. Moreover, stained macrophages with fluorescent DAPI proved that the percentage of intracellular infective amastigotes was decreased to the minimum in treated U937 cells, in comparison to non-treated cells. The minimal amastigote-invasion percentage was recorded at 1000 µM, which was 26%, 27%, 21% compared to 61%, 87%, 75% in untreated cells after 24, 48, 72 hours respectively. These findings demonstrated ART positive efficacy against iNOS expression and this compound can be further studied as novel therapeutic rather than toxic available chemotherapies.

Bioactive Levan-Type Exopolysaccharide Produced by Pantoea agglomerans ZMR7: Characterization and Optimization for Enhanced Production.

Levan is an industrially important, functional biopolymer with considerable applications in the food and pharmaceutical fields owing to its safety and biocompatibility. Here, levan-type exopolysaccharide produced by Pantoea agglomerans ZMR7 was purified by cold ethanol precipitation and characterized using TLC, FTIR, 1H, and 13C NMR spectroscopy. The maximum production of levan (28.4 g/l) was achieved when sucrose and ammonium chloride were used as carbon and nitrogen sources, respectively, at 35°C and an initial pH of 8.0. Some biomedical applications of levan like antitumor, antiparasitic, and antioxidant activities were investigated in vitro. The results revealed the ability of levan at different concentrations to decrease the viability of rhabdomyosarcoma and breast cancer cells compared with untreated cancer cells. Levan appeared also to have high antiparasitic activity against the promastigote of Leishmania tropica. Furthermore, levan had strong DPPH radical scavenging (antioxidant) activity. These findings suggest that levan produced by P. agglomerans ZMR7 can serve as a natural biopolymer candidate for the pharmaceutical and medical fields.

Artemisinin efficacy against old world Leishmania donovani: in vitro and ex vivo study.

Visceral leishmaniosis is one of the most fatal old-world neglected disease with estimated 90 thousand worldwide cases emerge each year. In Iraq, the cutaneous and visceral form are endemic but available chemotherapies are either toxic with diverse side effects, expensive available drugs or parasite resistant is arising. Artemisinin (ART) is a semi-synthetic compound which proved its effectiveness against protozoan parasites, such as malaria and Leishmania. In this study, the efficacy of different concentrations of pure artemisinin was screened in vitro against promastigotes and axenic amastigotes by MTT assay after 24, 48 and 27 hours follow up. In addition, the infectivity ability and number was investigated of intra-cellular Leishman bodies in treated murine peritoneal macrophages after 24 and 48 hours ART treatment. The results verified ART efficacy against the promastigotes and axenic amastigotes viability with IC50 measured after 24, 48- and 72-hours treatment. Infectivity percentage of murine macrophages and parasite burden were significantly reduced in treated cells. These findings indicate the leishmanicidal activity of ART against the Iraqi isolate of L. donovani and further in vivo study is recommended for assigning ART as a natural anti visceral leishmaniosis compound.

Fabrication of hesperidin nanoparticles loaded by poly lactic co-Glycolic acid for improved therapeutic efficiency and cytotoxicity.

Hesperidin, as a flavonone, is recognized as promising anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticancer agent. Its poor bioavailability is crucial bottleneck for therapeutic efficacy. To enhance the stability and bioactive potentials, hesperidin -PLGA-Poloxamer 407 was successfully prepared to minimize or overcome problems associated with hesperidin absorption. The characteristics of nanohesperidin were testing by in vitro dissolution study, XRD, FTIR, PSA and SEM. Antioxidant effects of nanohesperidin were studied. The structure-activity relationship analysis with antioxidant pharmacophore has been performed by using density functional theory method and quantum chemical calculations. The structural properties were investigated using Becke three-parameter hybrid exchange and the Lee-Yang-Parr correction functional methods. Nanohesperidin was found to decrease the H2O2 activity-induced DNA instability. Blood compatibility on human erythrocytes was confirmed by haemolytic and in vitro toxicity assessments. The in vitro anticancer activity of nanohesperidin towards MCF-7 cells using various parameters was carried out. The nanohesperidin was found to exert cell growth arrest, activated DNA fragmentation and induced apoptotic cell death through caspase-3 and p53-dependent pathways. These findings showed that nanohesperidin play an important role in its anticancer effects, suggesting might be used for clinical trials and can represent driving formulation for novel chemotherapeutic agents.

Synthesis and characterization of small-sized gold nanoparticles coated by bovine serum albumin (BSA) for cancer photothermal therapy.

In the present study, small gold nanoparticles <5 nm coated with natural protein Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) was synthesized and characterized using UV-vis spectrophotometer, Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), zeta potential and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Three types of cancer cell lines; Rhabdomyosarcoma (RD), Murine fibroblast (L20B) and RAW 264.7 monocyte-macrophage (MQ) were tested and treated by photothermal strategy, in vitro, by conjugating BSA-AuNPs complex of (0.125, 0.25, 0.5 and 1 mg/ml) concentrations with continuous low power laser irradiation, green (532 nm) and near-infrared (NIR) (800 nm) at 0.5, 1, 2 and 3 min, separately. Cytotoxicity effect was determined by MTT assay. The vital impact of photothermal technique has investigated at 1 mg/ml and 3 min irradiation period as identified in RD cell line in comparison with other types; where cytotoxicity more than 74% was reached. Prominent results were demonstrated in the green and NIR region by pH -induced aggregation effect of small nanoparticles inside the cancer cells, which make the small-sized BSA-AuNPs are promising agents for cancer photothermal therapy.