Sahar Moghbelinejad; Ghazaleh Mohammadi; Fatemeh Khodabandehloo; Reza Najafipour; Taghi Naserpour; Zahra Rashvand; Marjan Nassiri-Asl
Volume 19, Issue 5 , May 2017, , Pages 1-5
Abstract
Background: Flavonoids are recently being recognized for their important biological effects. Quercetin is a flavonoid that has several pharmacological properties including anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, and anticonvulsant effects.Objectives: This study was designed to elucidate the role of quercetin ...
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Background: Flavonoids are recently being recognized for their important biological effects. Quercetin is a flavonoid that has several pharmacological properties including anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, and anticonvulsant effects.Objectives: This study was designed to elucidate the role of quercetin in the gene expression of ionotropic glutamate receptor subunits in kainic acid (KA)-induced seizure in mice.Methods: This experimental study was conducted on 56 male BALB/c mice. Quercetin (50 and 100 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) was administered 7 days before administration of KA. The hippocampi of the animals were removed and used for molecular analysis 2 hours and 7 days after KA administration.Results: Pretreatment of mice with quercetin (100 mg/kg) significantly enhanced the gene expression of GluR1 subunit of AMPA and NR2A and NR2B subunits of NMDA only 7 days after KA administration compared to the control and KA groups in the mice hippocampus (P < 0.001, P < 0.001, and P < 0.05, respectively).Conclusions: Increment of gene expression of subunits of AMPA and NMDA receptors by quercetin might explain its protective effect on synaptic plasticity and memory.
Mohammad Deihimi; Sahar Moghbelinejad; Reza Najafipour; Kazem Parivar; Marjan Nassiri-Asl
Volume 19, Issue 4 , April 2017, , Pages 1-5
Abstract
Background: Idarubicin (IDA), as a chemotherapeutic drug, has side effects on testicular tissue; different studies have shown the protective and antioxidant effects of rutin.Objectives: The current study aimed at investigating the protective effects of rutin on damages induced by IDA in the testes of ...
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Background: Idarubicin (IDA), as a chemotherapeutic drug, has side effects on testicular tissue; different studies have shown the protective and antioxidant effects of rutin.Objectives: The current study aimed at investigating the protective effects of rutin on damages induced by IDA in the testes of mice.Methods: In the current experimental study, Balb/c mice were divided into 8 groups, including saline (10 mL/kg), rutin (single doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg via intraperitoneal (i.p) as the control groups, saline-IDA group (saline for 7 days, IDA, 10 mg/kg, i.p), rutin 50 and 100 mg/kg for 7 days before IDA, and rutin (single doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg) before IDA. The expression of Bcl2, Caspase3 and Dazl at the mRNA level was assessed.Results: Administration of rutin 100 mg/kg for 7 days before IDA could significantly downregulate Caspase3 expression by 45% compared with saline-7d-IDA (P < 0.001). Also, in the R100-7d-IDA group, the expression level of Dazl (12.4 ± 3.50), Bcl2 (2.5 ± 0.5) significantly increased compared to those of the saline-7d-IDA group (0.84 ± 0.5, 0.12 ± 0.001, respectively) (P < 0.001).Conclusions: It seems that the preventive effects of rutin against damages caused by IDA can be attributed to its ability to reduce apoptosis, which may be mediated by underexpression of Caspase3 and overexpression of Bcl2 genes. Also, it could increase the expression of Dazl that may be important in spermatogenesis.
Samiie Pouragahi; Marjan Nassiri-Asl; Mohammad Ali Sahraian; Mehdi Sadeghi; Abdolali Banki; Mitra Ataei; Mohammad Hossein Sanati
Volume 19, Issue 3 , March 2017, , Pages 1-10
Abstract
Background: Myelin basic protein (MBP), a crucial neuro-autoantigen involved in the maintenance of the myelin sheath, is one of the biomarkers of therapeutic response in multiple sclerosis (MS).Objectives: The study examines prognostic biomarker and molecular mimicry hypothesis MS etiology by MBP.Methods: ...
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Background: Myelin basic protein (MBP), a crucial neuro-autoantigen involved in the maintenance of the myelin sheath, is one of the biomarkers of therapeutic response in multiple sclerosis (MS).Objectives: The study examines prognostic biomarker and molecular mimicry hypothesis MS etiology by MBP.Methods: This study is convergence of three arms including in silico and in vitro (bioinformatics) with the in vivo (experimental). A novel methodology combining molecular techniques was used to confirm the antigenic properties of MBP and study its efficiency in increasing the susceptibility to MS. One hundred eighty MS patients and healthy subjects were recruited for the study from Jan 2013 to Feb 2016 in Iran. Age and sex-matched healthy volunteers and patients were analyzed using various quantitative and qualitative molecular laboratory techniques. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and plasma was used for the retrieval of MBP and IgG assay, respectively.Results: The optimum concentration of the MBP epitope for the immune system to react and facilitate prognostication was found to be 50 and 150 µg/mL in MS patients and healthy individuals, respectively (P < 0.0001****). Combined results from ELISA and realtime PCR showed that the total IgG and the ratio of gene expression for candidate human MBP epitope was higher in MS patients in all the three groups compared to that in healthy controls P < 0.0001****).Conclusions: Molecular assays in the early stages of the disease could help in elucidating the effectiveness of the MBP as a prognostic factor in MS.
