Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine

285-297

Authors: Heba M.I. Abdallah

Acute kidney injury, previously known as acute renal failure (AKI), is defined as an abrupt decrease in kidney function that occurs within hours or days. This new nomenclature opens a new door for possibility of treatment of developing renal injury before progression to unresolved renal failure. AKI arises due to diverse etiologic factors that rely mainly on three categories namely, pre-renal, intrinsic renal, and post-renal factors with different clinical pictures, and confers a spectrum of injury ranging from mild to severe and sometimes leads to end-stage renal disease. Complexity of pathogenesis and other factors generate barriers to developing effective treatments despite a large number of experimental and clinical studies. In this review, recent advances in the potential of the currently used drugs for renoprotection, novel pharmacological targets, and prospective therapeutics for AKI are discussed. The information in this review was extracted from electronic resources (PubMed, Google Scholar, Wiley, Science Direct, Springer), and English scientific books by using keywords including kidney, injury, recent therapy, and pharmacological targets. The articles were carefully checked for their relevance to the current manuscript. Recent targets of cellular repair or regenerative processes involved in AKI such as autophagy, ferroptosis inhibition, and p53 antagonism seem to be effective in disease control. This may help researchers and clinicians to understand how to target the interrelated molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of AKI.

308-316

Authors: Reem Al Monla, Yahya Salma, Achraf Kouzayha, Hala Gali-Muhtasib, Zeina Dassouki, Hiba Mawlawi

Objective: To investigate the antioxidant and cytotoxic properties of the most active extracts from Ulva lactuca and Laurencia obtusa against colon and cervical cancer cell lines. Methods: The antioxidant radical scavenging activity of the algal extracts was estimated using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl colorimetric assay. Moreover, the cytotoxic potential of these bioactive extracts was studied against HCT-116 and HeLa cells by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. Wound healing analysis was adopted to evaluate the anti-metastatic effects of protein extracts from both algae. Cell cycle analysis was performed by flow cytometry, and apoptotic bodies were detected using 4’,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole fluorescent staining. Amino acids of hydrolyzed protein extract were separated and identified chromatographically by high performance liquid chromatography. Results: The green algae Ulva lactuca had higher lipid content than Laurencia obtusa, whereas the latter had higher protein content with high antioxidant capacity. Protein extracts had significant dose- and time-dependent cytotoxicity and anti-metastatic activity against HCT-116 cells. Protein b extracts of both algae obtained from the chloroform:hexane solvent lipid-free residue caused morphological changes and induced apoptosis of HCT-116 cells. Further analysis revealed that apoptosis induced upon Laurencia obtusa protein b treatment was triggered via the ROS pathway, causing a significant increase in the sub-G1 population. Glycine and arginine (5.94 and 5.47 μM, respectively) were the most common amino acids in Laurencia obtusa protein b extract. Conclusions: Proteins of Laurencia obtusa and Ulva lactuca could be considered as an adjuvant nutraceutical source of pro-apoptotic and anti-metastatic biomolecules against colon cancer.