Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Disease

509-512

Authors: Ahmed Abdulkarim Ibrahim, Musa Ahmed Mohamed, Babiker Ahmed Babiker, Mohamed Bashir Musa, Hassan Hussein Musa

Objective: To detect serological markers [immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies] of Epstein-Barr virus in renal transplant recipients in Sudan. Methods: A cross sectional study was designed to detect serological markers of Epstein-Barr virus from 152 renal transplant recipients using ELISA. Results: The results showed that the percentage of renal transplant patients was increased with age, 71.05% of the patients were males, and 56.57% were liveing in cities. The most transplant patients were employee (28.95%) and were housewife (26.32%). The numbers of renal transplant patients were increased every year, and 85.53% of the patients had transplantation in Sudan and 14.47% of patients had transplantation in other countries. Diseases associated with renal transplant patient were hypertension 18.42%, infectious diseases 7.24%, renal diseases 3.95%, atrophy 6.58%, gout 2.63% and other diseases 61.18%. Serological test indicated that among the 152 renal transplants recipient 143 (94%) were IgG positive indicating past infection, while 4 (3%) were IgM positive indicating active infection. Most IgG positive patients have hypertension and atrophy diseases, whereas, IgM positive patient have atrophy disease. IgM positive cases were administrated 75% prograf and 25% cyclosporine as an immunosuppressive drug. While IgG positive cases were administrated 83.92% prograf, 13.29% cyclosporine, and 2.79% prograf plus prednisolone as an immunosuppressive drug. Conclusions: Finally we concluded that most Sudanese renal transplants recipient studied were previously infected with Epstein-Barr virus, while few of them were recently infected.

517-520

Authors: Christianah Idowu Ayolabi

Objective: To describe the genetic diversity of rotavirus strains circulating in Lagos, Nigeria. Methods: A total of 302 stool samples were obtained from diarrheic children on admission to four hospitals in Lagos and screened for rotavirus antigen by enzyme immunoassay, while rotavirus VP4 and VP7 genotypes were determined by multiplex semi-nested RT-PCR using recognized primers and methods. Results: Overall, the globally important genotypes, G1, G2, G3, G4 and G9, associated with P[4], P[6] and P[8] were detected. A rotavirus carrying G12 specificity was also detected at low frequency. The different rotavirus strains found in this study were G[2]P[6], G[2]P[8], G[1] P[8], G[1]P[6], G[3]P[6], G[9]P[6], G[2]P[4], G[4]P[4], G[12]P[8] and some mixed infections. Conclusions: The study highlights the wide diversity of rotavirus strains and the potential emergence of unusual rotavirus in this region. It is therefore important to continue the epidemiological studies to monitor rotavirus strains associated with gastroenteritis in hospitals before and after the introduction of rotavirus vaccine.

527-532

Authors: Amina Ibrahim, Albert Wulari Mbaya, Maduka Boniface Anene, Joshua Luka

Objective: To compare parasitaemia and haematological changes of Trypanosoma brucei brucei infection in mice, rats and rabbits and their chemotherapeutic responses to diminazene diaceturate (Veriben®) therapy under the same experimental conditions. Methods: A total of 20 adult BALB/c mice, 20 Wister albino rats and 20 New Zealand rabbits of both sexes were used for this study. Each rodent group was divided into four groups (A, B, C and D) of five animals each. Animals in Groups A and C were individually infected with 0.5 mL of blood from donor rats containing 1.5 × 106 Trypanosoma brucei brucei, while Groups B and D remained uninfected. Experimental animals were treated thus [Group A (infected and untreated control), Group B (uninfected and untreated control), Group C (infected and treated) and Group D (uninfected and treated)]. All treatments commenced 12 days after infection. Parasitaemia and haematological parameters were determined every four days till the end of the experiment. Results: The prepatent period for mice and rats was 4 days while that of rabbits was 8 days. Observed clinical signs consisted of pallor of mucous membranes, lethargy and starry hair coat observed mainly among mice and rats, while the rabbits had mainly mild pallor of the ocular mucous membranes. Parasitaemia in Groups A rose significantly by Day 20 post-infection (p.i.) in the mice, Day 24 in the rats and Day 28 in rabbits. By these respective days, all the infected untreated animals in Group A died of the infection. However in Group C, parasitaemia declined significantly (P < 0.05) among mice, rats and rabbits and were completely eliminated from peripheral circulation by Days 20, 20 and 24 (p.i.) respectively, with no death. An inverse relationship was observed between parasitaemia and the haematological parameters for all the species of the rodents. As parasitaemia increased, the packed cell volume, red blood cell count, haemoglobin concentrations and white blood cell counts of mice, rats and the rabbits experienced a significant decline (P < 0.05) in Group A, leading to anaemia. These decline in haematological parameters were however the most severe in rats and mice than in rabbits. Conclusions: Mice and rats are better animal models for studying the progression of the disease than rabbits and diminazene diaceturate (Veriben®) is capable of eliminating parasitaemia and modulating haematological changes in mice, rats and rabbits.

539-548

Authors: Ezzat El-Sayed Abdel-Lateef, Olfat Ali Hammam, Faten Salah Mahmoud, Shimaa Attia Atta, Mortada Mohamed El-Sayed, Hanaa Ismail Hassenein

Objective: To evaluate the cytotoxic activity and cytopathological changes of Vitex agnuscastus L. (V. agnus-castus) leaves extracts and characterize their bioactive chemical constituents. Methods: The dried leaves powder of V. agnus-castus was extracted using 85% methanol (MeOH). The methanolic extract was defatted using petroleum ether and fractionated using ethyl acetate (EtOAc) and butanol (BuOH). The anticancer potential of different extracts was evaluated by neutral red assay, cytopathological changes of apoptosis and caspase-3 expression in hepatoma cell line (HepG2). The chemical constituents of most active extracts were identified using liquid chromatography-electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry analysis. Results: The butanolic fraction was the most active in inhibiting the proliferation of HepG2 cells [IC50 = (13.42 ± 0.17) mg/mL] compared with MeOH extract [IC50 = (17.61 ± 0.15) mg/ mL) and EtOAc fraction [IC50= (22.51 ± 0.26) mg/mL]. The cytopathological examinations demonstrated the morphology of apoptosis and caspase-3 expression was more evident in HepG2 cells treated with BuOH than cells treated with MeOH and EtOAc. The liquid chromatography-electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry analysis exhibited that the defatted MeOH extract and BuOH fraction had different bioactive secondary metabolites, such as phenolic acids, flavonoids, and iridoids. Conclusions: The butanolic fraction has higher contents of secondary metabolites than the defatted methanolic extract. The cytotoxic activities, apoptotic changes, and caspase-3 activation may be due to the presence of these bioactive secondary metabolites (iridoids, flavonoid, and phenolic acids) in these extracts. These results would suggest V. agnus-castus to be used as an adjuvant in cancer therapy.

557-563

Authors: Cédric Sima Obiang, Joseph-Privat Ondo, Guy-Roger Ndong Atome, Louis-Clément Obame Engonga, Joel-Fleury Djoba Siawaya, Edouard Nsi Emvo

Objective: To evaluate the phytochemical constituents, antioxidant and antimicrobial potential of water-acetone, water-ethanol and water extracts of Coula edulis (C. edulis), Pseudospondia longifolia (P. longifolia) and Carapa klaineana (C. klaineana). Methods: Presence of total phenols, flavonoids, tannins and proanthocyanidins was evaluated to estimate the effects of plants on microbial diseases. Water-acetone, water-ethanol and water extracts were examined for antioxidant activities. All plant extracts were evaluated against six reference strains, eleven clinical isolates and two fungal strains. Results: The contents of total phenols [(12 857.56 ± 1.00) mg gallic acid equivalent/100 g], flavonoids [(1 634.13 ± 1.88) mg quercetin equivalent/100 g], tannins [(2 672.00 ± 1.59) mg tannic acid equivalent/100 g] and proanthocyanidins [(395.11 ± 0.83) mg apple procyanidin equivalent/100 g] were highest in the water-acetone and water-ethanol extracts from C. edulis in comparison with P. longifolia and C. klaineana. The water-acetone, water-ethanol and water extracts from C. edulis presented the highest antimicrobial activities against Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Enterococcus faecalis CIP 103907, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella sp. The tested microorganisms showed sensitivity to all extracts of P. longifolia and C. klaineana with the exception of Shigella dysenteriae CIP 5451, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella typhi. Conclusions: Our results suggest that C. edulis extracts contain greater antioxidant and antimicrobial properties than P. longifolia and C. klaineana extracts.

567-572

Authors: Aamir Rana, Syed Sajjad Sattar, Afshann Shahzad, Ghulam Muhammad Ali, Yasir Waheed

Evidences have been increasingly provided to comfirm that lipid accumulation in cells contributes to the progression of pathogeneses. The receptor-mediated lipid uptake is the crucial step for lipid retention as scavenger receptors class-A (SR-A) is not controlled via negative feedback by cytoplasmic cholesterol and therefore it plays a fundamental role in the formation of foam cells. Along with participation in apoptosis, SR-A presents very deceitful characteristics to control immune responses during age-related degenerative pathologies such as atherosclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease. It is henceforth undeniable that targeted inhibition of these receptors will be helpful in getting a step closer to individualized medicine. This review unfolds current understanding of SR-A signaling with a focus on its role in apoptosis and immune regulation during different pathologies.

581-588

Authors: Arnish Chakraborty

Malaria is a life-threatening, highly infectious parasitic disease caused by the intracellular, protozoan parasites of Plasmodium species. The most severe form of the disease is caused by Plasmodium falciparum, an Apicomplexa parasite with a remarkable ability to acquire resistance to antimalarial medications. Drug resistant malaria is a serious public health concern in the tropical and sub-tropical nations of the world, rendering conventional antimalarial medication ineffective in several regions. Since an effective malaria vaccine is not yet available to the masses, novel antimalarial drugs need to be developed to control the disease on the face of ever increasing reports of drug resistance. The review acquaints the readers to the current situation of chemotherapy and drug resistance in malaria across the globe, the existing antimalarial medications in use, their mechanism of action and how the malaria parasite evolves resistance to them. The review also focuses on the identification, characterization and validation of a plethora of novel drug targets in Plasmodium falciparum from the oxidoreductase, hydrolase and protein kinase groups of enzymes. The work highlights the importance of these drug targets in Plasmodium biology and shines a spotlight on novel inhibitors which have the potential to be developed as future antimalarial drugs. The review ends with a detailed discussion on the prospects and challenges in antimalarial drug discovery.