Food Yellow 4 (FY4) is a lemon-yellow-colored synthetic organic azo dye, which is used widely for imparting pleasant and attractive appearance to foods and cosmetics. The present study aimed at ...evaluating the possible mechanism underlying the FY4-induced reprotoxicity in rats, and the potential supportive role of royal jelly (RJ) or cod liver oil (CLO), which is a natural remedy with several pharmacological benefits, against induced toxicity. Forty-eight male rats were divided into different groups-the control group, the CLO group (0.4 mL/kg), the RJ group (300 mg/kg), the FY4 group (500 mg/kg b.w.), and the co-treated groups (FY4 + CLO or FY4 + RJ). Semen analysis, serum hormones, and enzyme activities were estimated. Immunohistochemical staining was performed using anti-PCNA, anti-Sox 9, anti-STRA8, anti-DMC1, and anti-ssDNA antibody. The FY4 group exhibited a significant decrease in sperm concentration and motility percentage (%) and a substantial reduction in the TES and LH levels. Testicular LDH, ACP, and SDH were observed to be inhibited. Furthermore, co-localization of DMC1 and ssDNA, which reflected apoptotic induction in the leptotene and zygotene spermatocytes, respectively, was observed to have markedly elevated in the FY4 treated rats, with fewer PCNA-positive and SOX9-positive cells and higher ssDNA-positive cells in the seminiferous epithelium in comparison to the control groups. Interestingly, co-treatment with CLO or RJ exhibited healthy sperms and restored their features, activated the enzyme production, and raised the levels of sexual hormones. In addition, both RJ and CLO restored the features of the testicular tissue as observed under a light microscope, and limited the apoptosis as observed through antibody staining. Collectively, the results of the present study revealed that the co-administration of RJ or CLO with FY4 improved the biochemical, hormonal, and structural aspects of the testicular tissue in rats. Therefore, CLO and RJ may be considered promising agents that would be able to improve the testicular structure and function in the FY4-exposed individuals.
Display omitted
•FY4 is a synthetic dye induced harmful effects on testicular tissue of Wistar rats.•Co-localization of DMC1 and ssDNA, and apoptosis are the mechanisms of toxicity.•SOX9-positive reactions of Sertoli cells is observable in FY4 group.•RJ or CLO modulated all characters of toxicity in testicular tissue.
Cisplatin (CP) is a highly effective chemotherapeutic agent against neoplasms, but its clinical utility is limited due to the side effects of its dose-dependent nephrotoxicity. Vitamin E (Vit E) and ...cod liver oil (CLO) are natural substances with chemoprotective effects. The present study was conducted to evaluate the protective effects of Vit E and/or CLO for CP-induced acute kidney injury (AKI) in rats. This study involved 40 mature male Wistar albino rats that were equally allocated into eight groups: Veh, Vit E, CLO, Vit E + CLO, CP, Vit E + CP, CLO + CP, and Vit E + CLO + CP. The co-administration of Vit E and CLO significantly ameliorated CP-induced elevations in serum creatinine (Cr), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β), and interleukin- 6 (IL-6). Further, rats that received Vit E and/or CLO showed significant decrease in malondialdehyde (MDA) and increases in superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione (GSH) levels in renal tissues, compared to CP-intoxicated rats. Additionally, the treatment restored the normal histological architecture (except for few cast formations) and upregulated the immunostaining area% of aquaporin 3 (AQP3) and downregulated the immunostaining area% of Bcl2 associated X protein (BAX) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). The observed effects were stronger in the combination treatment group. The obtained data revealed that Vit E and CLO co-administration protects against the CP-induced AKI more than monotherapy with Vit E or CLO.
The oesophagus is a muscular tube comprised of cervical and thoracic regions. Several studies have clarified the histological structure of the oesophagus. However, its histoarchitecture in relation ...to variable dietary habits of each species is still unclear. In the current study, 21 pigeons, cattle egrets and ducks, n = 7, each was used. Macroscopically, the oesophagus of cattle egrets either the cervical or thoracic parts was the longest among the pigeons and ducks. Histologically, the oesophagus comprised of four distinct tunicae: mucosa, propria submucosa, musculosa and adventitia or serosa. A great structural variation in these layers among the three investigated species was recorded. In the cervical oesophagus of pigeons, the superficial squamous cells showed perinuclear halo zone, the propria submucosa was characteristically lacked any gland. Moreover, its musculosa was very thick. On the other hand, the intraepithelial glands were characteristically distributed along the whole length of the cattle egret’s oesophagus. Interestingly, the cervical esophagus of the ducks showed submucosal associated lymphatic tissue; diffuse and nodular Ultrastructurally, the oesophageal glands showed secretory granules of variable electron densities, electron‐lucent in the pigeons and ducks and electron‐dense in the cattle egrets.
•Lambada-cyhalothrin (LCT) and methomyl suppressed antioxidants and altered fish behavior.•LCT and MTM induced stress and histological architectural lesions in O. niloticus after 60 days ...exposure.•LCT and MTM enhanced the apoptosis in kidney and liver tissues and altered their implementation and capacity.•Taurine (TUR) supplementation in diet rescued the toxicological consequences of pesticides.•TUR-Supplemented diet is a natural promising candidate for aquaculture production.
The existing study was designed to inspect the toxicological consequences of two pesticides; lambda-cyhalothrin (LCT) and methomyl (MTM) and their combination on Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) behaviors, oxidative stress, hepato-renal function indices and microarchitectural alterations. In addition, the efficiency of taurine (TUR) to rescue their toxicity was also considered. Juvenile O. niloticus were assigned into eight groups. The control and TUR groups were fed on a basal diet and TUR-enriched (10 g kg1) diet, respectively. The other groups were fed on a basal diet, and exposed to LCT (0.079 µg L–1), MTM (20.39 µg L–1 and (LCT + MTM). The last three groups were (LCT + TUR), (MTM + TUR), and (LCT + MTM + TUR) and fed on a TUR-enriched diet during exposure to LCT and/or MTM for 60 days. The exposure to LCT and/or MTM resulted in several behavioral alterations and stress via enhanced cortisol and nor-epinephrine levels. A significant elevation of serum 8-hydroxy-2- deoxyguanosine, aspartate and alanine aminotransferases, lactate dehydrogenase, Alkaline phosphatase, urea, creatinine was also observed in these groups. Furthermore, reduced antioxidant enzymes activities, including (catlase, glutathione peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase) with marked histopathological lesions in both liver and kidney tissues were detected. The up-regulated Bax and down-regulated Bcl-2 proteins were expressed in the liver and kidney tissues of LCT and/or MTM -exposed groups. Interestingly, all the observed alterations in behaviors, biochemical indices, and histo-architecture of renal and hepatic tissues were mitigated by TUR supplementation. The findings suggest that feeding O. niloticus dietary TUR may help to reduce the negative effects of LCT and/or MTM, and can also support kidney and liver health in O. niloticus, making it a promising aquaculture feed supplement.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most widespread inflammatory arthropathy, which causes severe disability. It is highly important to ameliorate the side effects caused by different drugs used to ...treat RA. Therefore, this study assessed the potential role of β-caryophyllene (BCP) in treating adjuvant-induced arthritis (AIA), increasing the efficacy of methotrexate (MTX) and/or leflunomide (LEF), and ameliorating their side effects.
AIA was induced in rats by injecting complete Freund's adjuvant. The rats were divided into different groups such as sham group; control group; monotherapy groups, including BCP (300 mg/kg), MTX (1 mg/kg), and LEF (10 mg/kg); and combined groups, including MTX + BCP, LEF + BCP, MTX + LEF, and MTX + LEF + BCP groups.
Monotherapy with BCP or MTX or LEF as well as MTX + LEF significantly reduced paw thickness and arthritic index; the histopathological changes in hind paw joints were recovered; and oxidative stress and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) levels in arthritic rats were reduced. The co-administration of BCP and MTX and/or LEF significantly improved the therapeutic efficacy of MTX and/or LEF and significantly reduced the myelosuppressive and hepatotoxic effects of MTX and/or LEF. Taken together, BCP could be used with MTX and/or LEF for the treatment of RA to reduce the side effects of the drugs and increase their efficacy.
Cadmium (Cd) is an environmental pollutant known as endocrine disruptor . Cd has been reported to induce perturbations of the testicular functions and the subsequent decline of the male fertility of ...both animals and humans.
Chlorella vulgaris
(ChV) a species of green microalga has been reported to have multiple beneficial activities such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antiapoptotic effects. Thus, this work was conducted to declare the benefits of
Chlorella vulgaris
(ChV) (500 mg/kg doses) against cadmium chloride CdCl
2
(2 mg/kg doses) toxicity on the main and accessory reproductive organs’ weight, structure, and function of male rats. Briefly, 40 adult male rats in 4 groups (
n
= 10) were used as follows; control, ChV, CdCl2, and CdCl2+ChV. (i) The 1st group was kept as control fed on pellet chow and water
ad libitum
. (ii) The second group is
Chlorella vulgaris
(ChV) group fed with
C. vulgaris
alga for 10 days (500 mg/kg BW). (iii) The third group was administrated CdCl
2
(2mg/kg BW) via subcutaneous injection (S/C) daily for 10 days. (iv) The fourth group administered both CdCl
2
and ChV with the abovementioned doses daily for successive 10 days. Our observations declared that cadmium exhibited an adverse influence on the testes and prostate gland architecture indicated by seminiferous tubule destruction, testicular edema, degeneration of Leydig cells, and prostate acini damage. All together affect the epididymal semen quality and quantity including sperm viability, motility, and count. Interestingly, ChV could restore the testicular architecture and spermatozoa regeneration accompanied by semen quality improvement and increased reproductive hormones including testosterone. On the other side, ChV suppresses reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation via enhancement the antioxidant-related genes in the testicular tissue including SOD, CAT, GSH, and MDA and maintaining spermatocyte survival via suppression of apoptotic related genes including
caspase3
and activating steroidogenic related genes including
StAR
and
HSD17β3
in the cadmium-treated testes. In this study, ChV could enhance male fertility under normal or stressful conditions and ameliorate the adverse effects of hazardous heavy metals that are widely distributed in our environment.
Functional hematopoiesis is governed by the bone marrow (BM) niche, which is compromised by radiotherapy, leading to radiation induced BM failure. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the ...radiation induced pathological remodeling of the niche and the efficacy of human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUCB-MSCs) in restoring hematopoiesis via improvement of the niche.
Thirty male Wistar rats were equally assigned to three groups: control (CON), irradiated (IR), and IR+hUCB‐MSCs. Biochemical, histopathological and immunohistochemical analyses were performed to detect collagen type III and IV, Aquaporin 1+ sinusoidal endothelial cells and immature hematopoietic cells, CD11c+ dendritic cells, Iba1+ macrophages, CD9+ megakaryocytes, Sca-1+, cKit+, CD133 and N-cadherin+ hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells, CD20+, Gr1+ mature hematopoietic cells, in addition to ki67+ proliferation, Bcl-2+ anti-apoptotic, caspase-3+ apoptotic, TNF-α+ inflammatory cells. Histoplanimetry data were statistically analyzed using the one-way analysis of variance followed by the post hoc Duncan’s test. Moreover, Pearson’s correlation was used to assess the correlation between various parameters.
In comparison to the IR group, the IR+hUCB-MSCs group showed restored cell populations and extracellular collagen components of the BM niche with significant increase in hematopoietic stem, progenitor, mature and proliferating cells, and a considerable decrease in apoptotic and inflammatory cells. Furthermore, highly significant correlations between BM niche and blood biochemical, histopathological, and immunohistochemical parameters were observed.
hUCB-MSCs restored functional hematopoiesis through amelioration of the BM niche components via reduction of oxidative stress, DNA damage, inflammation, and apoptosis with upregulation of cellular proliferation.
Display omitted
Immunosenescence is the decline of the host immune system due to aging, resulting in various complications. The splenic lymphoid nodule is the pivotal compartment involved in immunosenescence. In ...this study, we investigated the important changes in the splenic immune cell populations of aged rats (18–24 months) in comparison with young rats (3–5 months).
We, also, studied the effects of aging on the activities of total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in spleen of both groups, besides the changes of the splenic architecture. Furthermore, immunohistochemical staining was performed to detect the aging effects in T cells, B cells, macrophages, granulocytes, mast cells, proliferating cells, apoptotic cells, and cells positive for interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4).
The aged rats had significantly lower spleen/body weight ratios and smaller splenic nodules, indicating a decline in general immunity in them. With aging, T-SOD activities were decreased, while MDA levels were increased, exhibiting that oxidative stress increases in spleens. In addition, the aged group also had significantly fewer T and B cells, macrophages, granulocytes, IL-6 and TLR4 immuno-positive cells, and proliferating cells in the periarterial lymphatic sheaths, marginal zone, and lymphoid follicles compared with the young group. On the other hand, the number of mast cells and apoptotic cells was significantly increased with age. Therefore, we can conclude that cellular immunity and humoral immunity were crumpled with age.
Testicular impairment is a common complication of Diabetes mellitus (DM). Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) are a novel agent for Zn delivery with antidiabetic and antioxidant activities. However, ...few reports were recorded on it. The current study aimed to investigate the possible ameliorating effect of ZnO NPs treatment on testicular tissues alterations in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Therefore, thirty mature male Wistar rats were divided into three main groups: Control group (n = 18) was subdivided equally into three subgroups (negative control, vehicle and ZnO NPs), Diabetic group (n = 6) and ZnO NPs-treated diabetic group (n = 6). Induction of diabetes was done by a single intraperitoneal injection of STZ (60 mg/kg bw). The rats were orally treated by ZnO NPs (10 mg/kg bw) for 30 constitutive days. At the end of the experiment, blood glucose and serum testosterone levels were measured. Also, testicular tissues were obtained for histopathological investigations and immunohistochemical staining with anti-PCNA (proliferating cell marker), anti-ssDNA (apoptotic cell marker), anti-SOX9 (Sertoli cell marker), anti-Stella (spermatogonia marker), anti-STRA8 (preleptotene and early-leptotene spermatocytes marker), anti-DMC1 (leptotene and zygotene spermatocytes marker), anti-Dnmt3a (a marker for cells under DNA methylation) and anti-α-SMA (peritubular myoid cell marker). The biochemical analysis revealed that diabetes resulted in a significant elevation in blood glucose level and a reduction in serum testosterone level. Moreover, histopathological investigations revealed disorganized seminiferous epithelium and sever hyalinization with vacuolization of the testicular interstitium containing Leydig cells. The immunohistochemical findings support spermatogenesis impairment in the diabetic group. However, ZnO NPs treatment restores architecture of seminiferous epithelium and Leydig cells. Furthermore, more PCNA, SOX9, Stella, STRA8, DMC1 and Dnmt3a immunopositive cells with an improvement of peritubular α-SMA immunopositive expression, as well as few ssDNA-immunopositive cells were detected in the seminiferous epithelium. This study suggested the possible protective role of orally administered ZnO NPs on testicular alterations in the STZ-induced diabetic group via steroidogenesis and spermatogenesis enhancement. In addition, further researches are acquired for evaluation mechanism of ZnO NPs treatment via oral or parenteral routes in a dose-dependent manner to identify the more effective route and dose in the treatment of testicular diabetic complications.
Display omitted
Ovariectomized menopausal rat model was used to investigate the effects of menopause on the sublingual salivary gland (SSG) and the potential therapeutic effect of human umbilical ...cord blood mesenchymal stem cells (hUCB-MSCs).
Thirty rats were equally divided into three groups: sham-operated (SHAM), ovariectomized (OVX), and ovariectomized stem cells injected (OVX+ hUCB-MSCs). Expressions of α-SMA, AQP1, Sca-1, PCNA, ssDNA, and caspase-3 were determined. Homing of hUCB-MSCs was detected by fluorescence microscopy and examination of immunostained sections for human CD105 and CD34 was performed. Morphometric data were statistically analyzed using the Kruskal–Wallis test followed by Scheffé’s method. Correlation of AQP1 with Sca-1-positive sublingual stem cells was also analyzed.
In the SSGs of the OVX group, ballooned mucus acinar cells, atrophied serous cells, and a decreased number and height of duct lining cells were observed. The interstitial spaces were edematous, and the blood vessels were congested. The significant decrease in the positive area % of α-SMA and AQP1, the number of Sca-1-positive sublingual stem cells, and proliferating cells was associated with a significant increase in apoptotic cells. The OVX+hUCB-MSCs group showed significant structural improvement, manifested by the normal appearance of mucus and serous acini, as well as the number and height of striated duct cells. A significant increase in the positive area % of α-SMA and AQP1 and the number of proliferating and Sca-1-positive sublingual stem cells was observed. Interestingly, a significantly positive Pearson’s correlation between the area % of AQP1 and the number of Sca-1-positive sublingual stem cells was also recorded.
Our results indicated a positive effect of hUCB-MSCs therapy for SSG pathology in a post ovariectomy rat model as evidenced by an improvement in the histologic architecture, upregulation of the immunostained area % of α-SMA and AQP1, increase in the number of Sca-1-positive sublingual stem cells and proliferating cells, and downregulation of apoptotic cells.
