Salivary enzymes and flow rate: Markers of peptic ulcer

Antioxidant Properties, Phytoactive Compounds and Potential Protective Action of Salvia officinalis Flowers Against Combined Gastro-Intestinal Ulcer and Diarrhea Experimentally Induced in Rat

The present study was conducted to investigate the protective action of Salvia officinalis flowers aqueous extract (SOFAE) against combined gastro-intestinal (GI) disorders-induced by ethanol and castor oil administration in rats. Adult male Wistar rats were divided into seven groups of ten each and various doses of SOFAE (50, 100, and 200 mg kg−1, b.w., p.o.) and sulfasalazine (100 mg kg−1, b.w., p.o.) were daily administrated during 15 days. After, animals were intoxicated with a single oral administration of ethanol (4 g kg−1, b.w., p. o.) and castor oil (5 mL kg−1, b.w., p.o.). We found that SOFAE contains several phytoactive compounds with a strong ABTS scavenging ability. In vivo, we showed that SOFAE protected against EtOH/CO-induced macroscopic and histological alterations in GI tract accompanied by intestinal fluid accumulation and gastric juice decrease. SOFAE significantly counteracted lipoperoxydation increase and reversed the depletion of both enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants. More importantly, SOFAE significantly reduced the levels of inflammatory markers (CRP and ALP) in plasma and mucosal GI tract. In conclusion, our data clearly indicate that the SOFAE exerted a potential protective effect against EtOH-induced peptic ulcer combined with CO-induced diarrhea in rats. These effects could be associated with its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Age and gender characteristics of the biochemical composition of saliva: Correlations with the composition of blood plasma

Background

Recently, the attention of researchers to the study of the properties of human saliva, as a material with unique properties and diagnostic capabilities, has increased.

Research objective

to study the connection of the biochemical composition of saliva and blood plasma in the norm, depending on gender and age.

Methods

107 volunteers took part in the study, including 46 female (37.2 ± 3.9 years old) and 61 male (36.1 ± 2.8 years old). In all samples of saliva and blood plasma, 16 biochemical parameters were determined, including mineral and protein composition, enzyme activity. Non-parametric statistical methods were used to process the data.

Results

It has been shown that it is difficult to establish an unambiguous relation between biochemical parameters of saliva and blood plasma. The calculation of the Spearman correlation coefficients showed that only 7 of the 16 parameters demonstrate the presence of a weak correlation between the content in saliva and plasma.

Conclusion

In general, the determination of the composition of saliva may have an independent diagnostic value; in this case, drawing a parallel with the composition of serum and blood plasma is not advisable. Nevertheless, the use of saliva in clinical laboratory diagnostics is associated with the need to establish criteria for the norm and pathology for each biochemical parameter.

Protective effects of aqueous extracts of some honeys against HCl/ethanol-induced gastric ulceration in rats

This study focused on the concept of the possible protective effect of some honey types against HCl/ethanol-induced gastric ulcers in male Wistar albino rats. Rats were pretreated with rhododendron, chestnut, and oak honey orally with doses of 1.25 and 2.5 g/kg, bw (body weight) for three consecutive days. On fourth day, nothing was applied, and after the administration of anesthesia on the fifth day, their stomachs were surgically removed to investigate the histopathological examinations. Besides analyses of some blood serum profiles and antioxidant parameters of gastric tissue, some biochemical properties of honeys were investigated to support the histopathological results. The degrees of ulcer lesions in all groups revealed a statistically significant difference (p = .011). Although this difference originated from the additional ulcerative inducing effect of some honeys, the lower concentration rhododendron honey indicated more promising data than the positive control group (pantoprazole) in consequence of the microscopic and macroscopic evaluations. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: As being a member of natural products, honey has acquired fame among the studies in recent years due to its versatility as a source of food and complementary medicine. For contributing to this argument, this comprehensive study was performed and results were focused on the lower concentration of rhododendron honey thanks to its clinical potential with protecting the gastric mucosa. According to the obtained results, our suggestion came into prominence that this honey might be protecting the mucosa, better than the different concentrations of chestnut and oak honeys, by being better-absorbed through the gastric mucosa.

Impact of Saliva Collection and Processing Methods on Aspartate Aminotransferase, Creatin Kinase and Lactate Dehydrogenase Activities

We aimed to investigate the impact of saliva collection and processing methods on AST, CK and LDH. Saliva was collected from 17 healthy participants by a passive drool. Each saliva sample was distributed into 3 aliquots: not treated, centrifuged, and passed through cotton. Centrifugation improved the precision of assays and produced lower values of AST and CK. The use of cotton resulted in decreased levels of LDH. This data stress the importance of the standardization of sample processing to measure enzymes in saliva.

The effects of storage time and temperature on the stability of salivary phosphatases, transaminases and dehydrogenase

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the influence of temperature and storage time on salivary acid phosphatase (ACP), tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH).

DESIGN

Unstimulated whole expectorated saliva was collected from healthy men and women subjects (n=26) between 8 and 10a.m. The saliva samples were centrifuged, and the supernatants were measured for ACP, TRAP, ALP, AST, ALT and LDH activities immediately (without freezing) [baseline values] and after time intervals of 3, 7, 14 and 28days (d) of storage at -20°C and -80°C using spectrophotometric methods The influence of storage time was analyzed by one-way ANOVA followed by the Dunnett post-test, while the paired Student's-t-test was used to compare the differences between the temperature (p<0.05).

RESULTS

There was significant decline in the activities of all enzymes at -20°C with increasing storage time. This decrease was relevant from day 14 onward for the majority of the enzymes, with the exception of AST. After day 28, the more sensitive enzymes were ALP and LDH, which showed residual activity of 39% and 16%, respectively, compared with baseline values. There were considerable, but insignificant changes, in the activities of all enzymes after storage at -80°C for 28days.

CONCLUSIONS

Frozen samples should be kept at -80°C to preserve these activities, but there are restrictions for the enzymes ALP, ALT and LDH. Storage of samples at -20°C could introduce high error variance in measured activities.

Hepatic dysfunction induced by 7, 12-dimethylbenz(α)anthracene and its obviation with erucin using enzymatic and histological changes as indicators

The toxicity induced by 7, 12-dimethylbenz(α)anthracene (DMBA) has been widely delineated by a number of researchers. This potent chemical damages many internal organs including liver, by inducing the production of reactive oxygen species, DNA-adduct formation and affecting the activities of phase I, II, antioxidant and serum enzymes. Glucosinolate hydrolytic products like isothiocyanates (ITCs) are well known for inhibiting the DNA-adduct formation and modulating phase I, II enzymes. Sulforaphane is ITC, currently under phase trials, is readily metabolized and inter-converted into erucin upon ingestion. We isolated erucin from Eruca sativa (Mill.) Thell. evaluated its hepatoprotective role in DMBA induced toxicity in male wistar rats. The rats were subjected to hepatic damage by five day regular intraperitoneal doses of DMBA. At the end of the protocol, the rats were euthanized, their blood was collected and livers were processed. The liver homogenate was analyzed for phase I (NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase, NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase, cytochrome P450, cytochrome P420 and cytochrome b5), phase II (DT diaphorase, glutathione-S-transferase and γ-glutamyl transpeptidase) and antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, guaiacol peroxidise, ascorbate peroxidise, glutathione reductase and lactate dehydrogenase). The level of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, lipid hydroperoxides, conjugated dienes and reduced glutathione in the liver homogenate was also analyzed. The serum was also analyzed for markers indicating hepatic damage (alkaline phosphatase, serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase, direct bilirubin and total bilirubin). Erucin provided significant protection against DMBA induced damage by modulating the phase I, II and antioxidant enzymes. The histological evaluation of liver tissue was also conducted, which showed the hepatoprotective role of erucin.