Journal of Cell and Molecular Research

43-50

Authors: Sasan Mohsenzadeh, Kolsoum Abdolahi and Hassan Mohabatkar

Asafoetida is the dried latex exuded from the living underground rhizome or tap root of Ferula assafoetida. Antibacterial characteristic of asafoetida was shown using the circular zone diameter of bacterial growth inhibition by disk-diffusion method on two gram positive and three gram negative bacteria. Then, the bacterial genomic DNA damage, induced by F. assafoetida latex, was demonstrated using the comparison of random amplification of polymorphic DNA profiles generated by polymerase chain reaction of control and treated bacterial genomes. The results showed that the number of primers that produced bands in each bacterium were higher in control samples compared to those treated with asafoetida. This and the absence or presence of bands between controls and treatments confirm rearrangements and DNA damage in the priming binding sites of bacterial genome.

57-65

Authors: Soraya Abbasi Habashi, Farzaneh Sabouni, Ali Moghimi, Saeed Ansari Majd and Azita Parvaneh Tafreshi

Microglia, the sentries of the brain, is highly implicated in neurodegeneration as in neuroprotection. Chronic microglial activation endangers neuronal survival through the release of various potentially neurotoxic mediators including Nitric Oxide (NO). Thus, negative regulators of microglial activation have been considered as potential therapeutic candidates to target neurodegeneration, such as those in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and even in chronic epileptic syndromes. Bromelain, a mixture of cysteine proteases, derived from pineapple stem, has been reported to have anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects. Neonatal rat primary microglial cells were isolated from the brain according to the Floden’s method. The purity of the cultures was determined by immunostaining with an OX-42 antibody which showed a purity greater than 95%.The activation profile of microglia was investigated by determining the effects of Bromelain (1, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 µg/ml) on the level of neurotoxin, NO, mitochondrial activity and morphological changes in treated microglia with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (1µg/ml), as an endotoxin. Our results showed that pretreatment of primary rat microglia with bomelain (30 µg/ml), decreased the production of NO induced by LPS (1µg/ml) treatment in a dose-dependent manner, which prevented the deramification of microglia and its phagocytic morphology. Moreover, bromelain does not show cytotoxicity at any of the applied doses, suggesting that the anti-inflammatory effects of bromelain are not due to the cell death. In conclusion, Bromelain reduces the NO synthesis in vitro by potentially exerting its anti-inflammatory effects. Bromelain naturally found in pineapple stem, can be considered as a useful agent for neuroprotection and alleviation of symptoms in neurodegenerative diseases.

75-80

Authors: Jalil Abbaspour, Ali Akbar Ehsanpour and Fariba Amini

Transgenic and non transgenic Nicotiana tabacum L (cultivar Wisconsin) containing Ri T-DNA were treated with 0, 0.2 and 0.4 mgL-1 GA3 in Murashig and Skoog medium. Some physiological parameters including shoot length, leaf area, number of auxiliary bud, fresh and dry weight, number and length of trichomes were measured. Shoot length, fresh weight and dry weight were increased but number of trichome did not change by GA3 treatment. Chlorophyll, carotenoid and anthocyanin pigments of leaf were decreased. Auxin and gibberellic acid content of leaf and root were also measured. Exogenous GA3 increased root auxin in the transgenic plants while it did not change in shoot. GA3 treatment increased gibberellin content in both of root and shoot.