Influences of Chlorella vulgaris dietary supplementation on growth performance, hematology, immune response and disease resistance in Oreochromis niloticus exposed to sub-lethal concentrations of penoxsulam herbicide

Little is known regarding the impact of penoxsulam, a fluorinated benzenesulfonamid rice herbicide, on Oreochromis niloticus (O. niloticus). Therefore, the current study was undertaken to highlight the effects of penoxsulam exposure on O. niloticus and to evaluate the advantages of Chlorella vulgaris (CV) dietary supplementation against the induced effects. The 96-h lethal concentration 50 (LC₅₀) penoxsulam value for O. niloticus was estimated at 8.948 mg/L by probit analysis in a static bioassay experiment. Next, 360 healthy fish were randomly allocated into 6 treatment groups. The T1 group served as the negative control and was fed a basal diet. The T2 group served as the positive control and was fed a basal diet supplemented with 10% CV. The fish in the T3 and T4 groups were exposed to 1/10 the 96-h LC₅₀ of penoxsulam (0.8948 mg/L) and were fed the basal diet alone or the basal diet supplemented with 10% CV, respectively. The fish in the T5 and T6 groups were exposed to 1/5 the 96-h LC₅₀ of penoxsulam (1.7896 mg/L) and fed the basal diet alone or the basal diet supplemented with 10% CV, respectively. Sub-acute penoxsulam exposure significantly altered hematological indices, as well as compromised the fish's immune defense mechanisms, including the phagocytic percentage, phagocytic index, nitric oxide production, immunoglobulin M levels and lysozyme, anti-trypsin and bactericidal activities subsequently decreasing O. niloticus's resistance to the Aeromonus sobria challenge and increasing disease symptoms and the mortality rate. Furthermore, sub-chronic penoxsulam exposure markedly altered growth performance, oxidant/antioxidant status and liver status and down-regulated the expression of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis-α (TNF-α). Interestingly, incorporating 10% CV into the diet protects fish against sub-acute penoxsulam-induced immunotoxicity via improvement of immune responses that increases the resistance against bacterial infection. Further, it improved the growth performance, oxidant/antioxidant status, liver status and markedly up-regulated immune-related gene expression, IL-1β and TNF-α, in the spleens of fish sub-chronically exposed to penoxsulam. These outcomes showed that dietary CV supplementation can protect the commercially valuable freshwater fish O. niloticus against penoxsulam toxicity and may be a potential feed supplement for Nile tilapia in aquaculture.

The proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β and TNF-α modulate corneal epithelial wound healing through p16Ink4a suppressing STAT3 activity

The proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) are involved in the corneal inflammatory response and wound healing following corneal injuries. However, the mechanism by which proinflammatory cytokines modulate corneal epithelial wound healing remains unclear. In this study, we found that IL-1β or TNF-α was transiently elevated during corneal epithelial wound healing in mice. After corneal epithelial debridement, persistent treatment with IL-1β or TNF-α restrained the level of phosphorylated signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (p-STAT3) and boosted the level of cell cycle inhibitor p16^Ink4a , resulting in impaired corneal epithelial repair. When p16^Ink4a was deleted, the p-STAT3 level in corneal epithelium was enhanced and corneal epithelial wound healing was clearly accelerated. In diabetic mice, IL-1β, TNF-α, and p16^Ink4a appeared a sustained and strong expression in the corneal epithelium, and p16^Ink4a knockdown partially reverted the defective diabetic corneal epithelial repair. Furthermore, immunoprecipitation proved that p16^Ink4a interacted with p-STAT3 and thus possibly suppressed the STAT3 activity. Our findings revealed a novel mechanism that the proinflammatory cytokines modulate corneal epithelial wound healing via the p16^Ink4a -STAT3 signaling.

Chemical composition and anti-osteoarthritis potential of Lolium perenne L. assisted with computational studies

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a serious health issue that lacks a totally effective treatment. In light of the critical need for alternative therapies to halt osteoarthritis and its progress, This study explores the potential of Lolium perenne as a treatment for osteoarthritis for the first time. The research evaluates the plant's protective effects against monosodium iodoacetate (MIA)-induced OA in rats. 24 rats were assigned into 4 groups, group I (sham control), group II (OA), group III (dichloromethane fraction (FrII) + OA), and group IV (ethyl acetate fraction (FrIII) + OA). For 21 days, the samples were given orally at a dose of 40 mg/kg. The obtained results indicated all treatment groups showed a significant decrease in the severity of articular cartilage degradation and in the concentration of Interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) and Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) cytokines compared to the OA-induced group Moreover, eight structurally varied metabolites were isolated and identified from the FrII and FrIII fractions derived from the methanol extract of the aerial part of L. perenne, which were linked with pro-inflammatory cytokines in the computational docking investigation. Interestingly, salcolin B (2b) and calquiquelignan E (4) isolated from FrII fraction, showed prevalent activity for the two tested receptors [salcolin B, IL-1β (-6.7354 kcal/mol) and calquiquelignan E, TNF-α (-6.2038 kcal/mol)] compared to the reference flurbiprofen drug. Finally, the frontier candidates against IL-1β and TNF-α receptors simulated at 100 ns and the MM-GBSA calculations confirming the docking results. These findings highlight L. perenne's potential as a natural therapeutic for OA.