Possible adverse effect of high δ-alpha-tocopherol intake on hepatic iron overload: Enhanced production of vitamin C and the genotoxin, 8-hydroxy-2′- deoxyguanosine

Effect of earthworms on growth, photosynthetic efficiency and metal uptake in Brassica juncea L. plants grown in cadmium-polluted soils

The present study has been carried out to examine the role of earthworms in phytoremediation of Cd and its effect on growth, pigment content, expression of genes coding key enzymes of pigments, photosynthetic efficiency and osmoprotectants in Brassica juncea L. plants grown under cadmium (Cd) metal stress. The effect of different Cd concentrations (0.50, 0.75, 1.0, 1.25 mM) was studied in 30 and 60-day-old plants grown in soils containing earthworms. It was observed that earthworm inoculation showed stimulatory effect on phytoremediation capacity and Cd uptake has increased by 49% (in 30-day-old plants) and 35% (in 60-day-old plants) in shoots and 13.3% (in 30-day-old plants) and 10% (in 60-day-old plants) in roots in 30 and 60-day-old plants in Cd (1.25 mM) treatments. Plant growth parameters such as root and shoot length, relative water content and tolerance index were found to increase in the presence of earthworms. Recovery in photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll and carotenoid) and gas exchange parameters, i.e. net photosynthetic rate (P _n ), stomatal conductance (G _s ), intercellular CO₂ concentration (C _i ) and transpiration rate (E _t ), was observed after earthworm's supplementation. Modulation in expression of key enzymes for pigment synthesis, i.e. chlorophyllase, phytoene synthase, chalcone synthase and phenylalanine ammonia lyase, was also observed. The results of our study revealed that earthworms help to mitigate the toxic effects produced by Cd on plant growth and photosynthetic efficiency along with enhanced phytoremediation capacity when co-inoculated with Cd in soil.

Beneficial effect of refined red palm oil on lipid peroxidation and monocyte tissue factor in HCV-related liver disease: a randomized controlled study

BACKGROUND

A large amount of endotoxin can be detected in the peripheral venous blood of patients with liver cirrhosis, contributing to the pathogenesis of hepatotoxicity because of its role in oxidative stress. The present study aimed to test the effect of the supplementation with red palm oil (RPO), which is a natural oil obtained from oil palm fruit (Elaeis guineensis) rich in natural fat-soluble tocopherols, tocotrienols and carotenoids, on lipid peroxidation and endotoxemia with plasma endotoxin-inactivating capacity, proinflammatory cytokines profile, and monocyte tissue factor in patients with chronic liver disease.

METHODS

The study group consisted of sixty patients (34 males and 26 females; mean age 62 years, range 54-75) with Child A/B, genotype 1 HCV-related cirrhosis without a history of ethanol consumption, randomly enrolled into an 8-week oral daily treatment with either vitamin E or RPO. All patients had undergone an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy 8 months before, and 13 out of them showed esophageal varices.

RESULTS

Both treatments significantly decreased erythrocyte malondialdehyde and urinary isoprostane output, only RPO significantly affected macrophage-colony stimulating factor and monocyte tissue factor. Liver ultrasound imaging did not show any change.

CONCLUSIONS

RPO beneficially modulates oxidative stress and, not least, downregulates macrophage/monocyte inflammatory parameters. RPO can be safely advised as a valuable nutritional implementation tool in the management of chronic liver diseases.

Alleviation of cadmium toxicity in Brassica juncea L. (Czern. & Coss.) by calcium application involves various physiological and biochemical strategies

Calcium (Ca) plays important role in plant development and response to various environmental stresses. However, its involvement in mitigation of heavy metal stress in plants remains elusive. In this study, we examined the effect of Ca (50 mM) in controlling cadmium (Cd) uptake in mustard (Brassica juncea L.) plants exposed to toxic levels of Cd (200 mg L(-1) and 300 mg L(-1)). The Cd treatment showed substantial decrease in plant height, root length, dry weight, pigments and protein content. Application of Ca improved the growth and biomass yield of the Cd-stressed mustard seedlings. More importantly, the oil content of mustard seeds of Cd-stressed plants was also enhanced with Ca treatment. Proline was significantly increased in mustard plants under Cd stress, and exogenously sprayed Ca was found to have a positive impact on proline content in Cd-stressed plants. Different concentrations of Cd increased lipid peroxidation but the application of Ca minimized it to appreciable level in Cd-treated plants. Excessive Cd treatment enhanced the activities of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase and glutathione reductase, which were further enhanced by the addition of Ca. Additionally, Cd stress caused reduced uptake of essential elements and increased Cd accumulation in roots and shoots. However, application of Ca enhanced the concentration of essential elements and decreased Cd accumulation in Cd-stressed plants. Our results indicated that application of Ca enables mustard plant to withstand the deleterious effect of Cd, resulting in improved growth and seed quality of mustard plants.