Zebra blenny protein hydrolysates as a source of bioactive peptides with prevention effect against oxidative dysfunctions and DNA damage in heart tissues of rats fed a cholesterol-rich diet.

High-cholesterol diet (HCD) is suspected to produce in excess free radicals having adverse effects on human health and causing atherosclerosis damage in heart tissues. In our study, the effects of zebra blenny protein hydrolysates (ZBPHs) were investigated on cardiac oxidant/antioxidant status as well as DNA damage and histopathological disorders in rats, fed with a hypercholesterolemic diet. The molecular weight distribution of the hydrolysates was determined by size exclusion chromatography, which analyzed a representative hydrolysate type with a weight range of 3-20kDa. ZBPHs effectively protected heart genomic DNA against oxidative damage induced by Fenton's reagent. HCD promoted oxidative stress with a rise in serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activities and thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS), advanced oxidation protein product (AOPP) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) levels in heart tissues. An increase in glutathione peroxidase (GPx), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) activities as well as a fall in ATPase activities and glutathione (GSH) level was also noted in heart of hypercholesterolemic rats. Treatment with ZBPHs ameliorated the biochemical parameters cited above. In addition, pre-treatment with ZBPHs prevented DNA fragmentation. The histopathological findings confirmed the biochemical results and the potential antioxidant activities of ZBPHs which can help the cure and management of cardiovascular diseases induced by high-cholesterol levels.

Antioxidant and hemolytic activities, and effects in rat cutaneous wound healing of a novel polysaccharide from fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) seeds.

The aim of this work was to evaluate the antioxidant and hemolytic activities as well as the in vivo wound healing performance of a novel polysaccharide (FWEP) extracted from fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) seeds. The antioxidant activity was evaluated in vivo and in vitro using various assays. Results showed that FWEP exhibited strong antioxidant activities but no hemolytic activity was observed towards bovine erythrocytes. The application of FWEP hydrogel on the wound site in a rat model enhanced significantly wound healing activity and accelerated the wound closure after 14days of wound induction. Histological examination also demonstrated fully re-epithelialized wound with a complete epidermal regeneration. Altogether, these evidences demonstrated that FWEP had strong wound healing potential presumably achieved through its antioxidant activities.