Toxicity with advanced glycation end products (AGEs) is a major problem in uremic patients. Treatment with peritoneal dialysis (PD) exacerbates AGE formation as a result of bioincompatibility of the conventional peritoneal dialysis fluid (PDF). The presence of glucose degradation products (GDPs) in PDF is the main cause of its bioincompatibility. Carnosine is an endogenous dipeptide with a powerful antiglycation/antioxidant activity. In an attempt to improve PDF biocompatibility, we evaluated the effect of carnosine in human peritoneal mesothelial cells (HPMC) incubated with PDF or GDPs in vitro. Methods: HPMC were incubated for short or prolonged time with PDF in the presence or absence of carnosine. Similarly, HPMC were incubated in the same condition but with a combination of GDPs. Following the incubation, cells were tested for their viability, protein carbonyl content and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Results: Results demonstrated a significant protective effect of carnosine to HPMC in both acute and chronic conditions with PDF or GDPs as judged by the enhance-
Various assays are used to determine the toxic effects of drugs at cellular levels in vitro. One of these methods is the dye exclusion assay, which measures membrane integrity in the presence of Trypan blue. Trypan blue the dye which was used in this study to investigate cytotoxic effect of a new Cis –dichloroplatinum (II) complex [(Qu)2PtCl2] on the viability of polymorphonuclear cells (PMNs). Three concentrations of platinum complex were prepared (70, 35and 17.5 µg/ ml) and the results revealed that the percentage of cell viability decreased as the platinum complex concentration increased in comparison with control.
... Show MoreBiotreatment using immobilized cells (IC) technology has proved to be the most promising and most economical approach for the removal of many toxic organic pollutants found in petroleum-refinery wastewater (PRW) such as phenol. This study was undertaken to evaluate the degradation of phenol by Pseudomonas cells individually immobilized in two different bio-carrier matrices including polyvinyl alcohol-guar gum (PVA-GG) and polyvinyl alcohol-agar agar (PVA-AA). Results of batch experiments revealed that complete removal of phenol was attained in the first cycle after 150 min using immobilized cells (IC) in both PVA-GG and PVA-AA. Additional cycles were confirmed to evaluate the validity of recycling beads of immob
... Show MoreObjective: The present study investigates whether the exposure to low-power diode laser induces denaturation in red blood cell (RBC) membrane protein composition, and determines the irradiation time for when denaturation of membrane protein process begins. Background: A low-energy laser has been used extensively in medical applications. Several studies indicated significant positive effects of laser therapy on biological systems. In contrast, other studies reported that laser induced unwanted changes in cell structure and biological systems. The present work studied the effect of irradiation time of low-power diode laser on the structure of membrane proteins of human RBCs. Materials and methods: The RBC suspension was divided into five equa
... Show MoreObjective: To study the protective eff ects of cinnamic acid on dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) induced ulcerative colitis (UC) in mice. Materials and methods. Forty adult male mice were randomLy divided into fi ve groups, control group, an induction group received 3% DSS in drinking water for 7 consecutive days. Two treatment groups received oral suspension of cinnamic acid 50 and 25 mg/kg, respectively and 3% DSS in drinking water, for 7 consecutive days. The fi nal group received oral suspension of cinnamic acid 50 mg/kg for the latter 7 days without DSS in drinking water. All the animals were euthanized on day eight. The colon of animals was extracted and divided into two sections, the middle was homogenized and biochemically analy
... Show MoreDipeptidyl peptidase-4 DPP-4 inhibition has remained one of the most established ways in treating type 2 diabetes mellitus. Therefore, the development of improved DPP-4 inhibiters is consideredan essential strategy in the design of antidiabetic drugs. In the present study, a structure-based virtual approach was considered to design and evaluate new sitagliptin analogues with improved binding stability and pharmacokinetic properties. A virtual library consisting of 15,034 different compounds was created and then screened using a hierarchical Glide docking protocol (HTVS, SP, and XP). Using integrated computational analyses, the top ranked compounds were further assessed. Based on ADMET predictions, MM-GBSA binding free energy
... Show MoreTitanium dioxide nanorods have been prepared by sol-gel template
method. The structural and surface morphology of the TiO2 nanorods was
investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy
(AFM), it was found that the nanorods produced were anatase TiO2 phase.
The photocatalytic activity of the TiO2 nanorods was evaluated by the
photo degradation of methyl orange (MO). The relatively higher
degradation efficiency for MO (D%=78.2) was obtained after 6h of exposed
to UV irradiation.