The in vivo effect of L-arginine on skin elasticity in mice

Nitric oxide and hormesis

This present paper provides an assessment of the occurrence of nitric oxide (NO)-induced hormetic-biphasic dose/concentration relationships in biomedical research. A substantial reporting of such NO-induced hormetic effects was identified with particular focus on wound healing, tumor promotion, and sperm biology, including mechanistic assessment and potential for translational applications. Numerous other NO-induced hormetic effects have been reported, but require more development prior to translational applications. The extensive documentation of NO-induced biphasic responses, across numerous organs (e.g., bone, cardiovascular, immune, intestine, and neuronal) and cell types, suggests that NO-induced biological activities are substantially mediated via hormetic processes. These observations are particularly important because broad areas of NO biology are constrained by the quantitative features of the hormetic response. This determines the amplitude and width of the low dose stimulation, affecting numerous biomedical implications, study design features (e.g., number of doses, dose spacing, sample sizes, statistical power), and the potential success of clinical trials.

Metagenomic Study of the Community Structure and Functional Potentials in Maize Rhizosphere Microbiome: Elucidation of Mechanisms behind the Improvement in Plants under Normal and Stress Conditions

The community of microbes in the rhizosphere region is diverse and contributes significantly to plant growth and crop production. Being an important staple and economic crop, the maize rhizosphere microbiota has been studied in the past using culture-dependent techniques. However, these limited culturing methods often do not help in understanding the complex community of microbes in the rhizosphere. Moreover, the vital biogeochemical processes carried out by these organisms are yet to be fully characterized. Herein, shotgun metagenomics, which enables the holistic study of several microbial environments, was employed to examine the community structure and functional potentials of microbes in the maize rhizosphere and to assess the influence of environmental variables on these. The dominant microbial phyla found in the soil environments include Actinobacteria, Microsporidia, Bacteroidetes, Thaumarchaeota, Proteobacteria and Firmicutes. Carbohydrate metabolism, protein metabolism and stress metabolism constitute the major functional categories in the environments. The beta diversity analysis indicated significant differences (p = 0.01) in the community structure and functional categories across the samples. A correlation was seen between the physical and chemical properties of the soil, and the structural and functional diversities. The canonical correspondence analysis carried out showed that phosphorus, N-NO3, potassium and organic matter were the soil properties that best influenced the structural and functional diversities of the soil microbes. It can be inferred from this study that the maize rhizosphere is a hotspot for microorganisms of agricultural and biotechnological importance which can be used as bioinoculants for sustainable agriculture.