Potential role of noninvasive biomarkers during liver fibrosis.

Various types of liver disease exist, such as hepatitis and alcoholic liver disease. These liver diseases can result in scarring of liver tissue, cirrhosis, and finally liver failure. During liver fibrosis, there is an excess and disorganized accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) components which cause the loss of normal liver cell functions. For patients with chronic liver disease, fibrosis prediction is an essential part of the assessment and management. To diagnose liver fibrosis, several invasive and noninvasive markers have been proposed. However, the adoption of invasive markers remains limited due to their inherent characteristics and poor patient acceptance rate. In contrast, noninvasive markers can expedite the clinical decision through informed judgment about disease stage and prognosis. These noninvasive markers are classified into two types: Imaging techniques and serum biomarkers. However, the diagnostic values of biomarkers associated with liver fibrosis have also been analyzed. For example, the serum levels of ECM proteins can react to either matrix accumulation or degradation. During virus-host interactions, several regulatory steps take place to control gene expression, such as the change in cellular microRNA expression profiles. MicroRNAs are a class of non-coding RNAs (18-20 long nucleotides) that function by post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Although various noninvasive markers have been suggested in recent years, certain limitations have restricted their clinical applications. Understanding the potential of non-invasive biomarkers as a therapeutic option to treat liver fibrosis is still in progress.

Studies on effect of stress preconditioning in restrain stress-induced behavioral alterations.

Stress preconditioning has been documented to confer on gastroprotective effects on stress-induced gastric ulcerations. However, the effects of prior exposure of stress preconditioning episodes on stress-induced behavioral changes have not been explored yet. Therefore the present study was designed to investigate the ameliorative effects of stress preconditioning in immobilization stress-induced behavioral alterations in rats. The rats were subjected to restrain stress by placing in restrainer (5.5 cm in diameter and 18 cm in length) for 3.5 h. Stress preconditioning was induced by subjecting the rats to two cycles of restraint and restrain-free periods of 15 min each. Furthermore, a similar type of stress preconditioning was induced using different time cycles of 30 and 45 min. The extent and severity of the stress-induced behavioral alterations were assessed using different behavioral tests such as hole-board test, social interaction test, open field test, and actophotometer. Restrain stress resulted in decrease in locomotor activity, frequency of head dips and rearing in hole board, line crossing and rearing in open field, and decreased following and increased avoidance in social interaction test. Stress preconditioning with two cycles of 15, 30 or 45 min respectively, did not attenuate stress-induced behavioral changes to any extent. It may be concluded that stress preconditioning does not seem to confer any protective effect in modulating restrain stress-induced behavioral alterations.