Studies on Reference Values of Serum Biochemical Profile in Khillar Breed of Cattle

The Study was conducted on serum samples collected from a total of 329 normal healthy adult Khillar cattle, which includes 251 Khillar bulls reared for bullock cart racing by bull owners and 78 Khillar cows from various villages of central western Maharashtra.  Blood samples were collected over the period of two years, covering different seasons. A total 25 serum biochemical parameters were estimated, which include serum lipid profile, liver function parameters, serum enzymes, kidney function profile, electrolyte and mineral profile. Mean reference values of estimated parameters were expressed as mean, standard deviation, range and reference interval (5th to 95th percentile) and as 95 % confidence interval of mean. The reference interval of the tested biochemistry parameters of indigenous Khillar cattle were found to have variation from earlier cited study reports of other descript and exotic breeds of cattle. Further sex differences in the reference interval were compared between Khillar bulls and cows. There was variation the the Reference interval established following the study Reference intervals for certain biochemical parameters, viz. Creatinine, BUN, LDH, ALP, SGPT and SGOT were found to have significant differences. This study is useful for the establishment of normal reference range for various test serum biochemical parameters and can be used for the interpretation of results of serum metabolic and biochemical profile tests for the clinical diagnosis and health management of Khillar bulls and Cows

Evaluation of Cytotoxicity and Genotoxicity of Water from Nag River, Nagpur, India

The pollution of the river by man-made sewage and waste disposal is not only harmful to animals and plants in it but also for animals higher in the food chain including those close to the food chain. Water is the most vital natural substance, as it plays a role in nearly every aspect of human life. Therefore, there is a great need to ensure that the water used by humans should not contain hazardous substances. Water quality is directly linked to biological life. The Nag River flows from the Lava village of north Ambazari Lake and flows into the center of Nagpur city. As a result of rapid and unstoppable development, significant changes have taken place in the water quality of the Nag River. Because the Nag River’s water is frequently used for irrigation, it should be tested for cytotoxicity and genotoxicity. Since the rate of cancer and genetic disorders has recently increased in the Nagpur region, the Nag River’s water could be a source of carcinogens in the food chain, affecting the population. This study was conducted to analyze the impact of water collected from various points of the Nag River using Allium cepa as a model organism. The results of this study showed that all water samples from the Nag River cause a cytotoxic effect (20-23%) and genotoxic effects (23-28%) in Allium cepa cells. Therefore, before the use of Nag River water, it must be treated to diminish its harmful effect. </jats:p

4-(2-chloroacetamido) Benzoic Acid Derivatives as Local Anesthetic Agents: Design, Synthesis, and Characterization

Local anesthetic activity was investigated with an assumed hypothesis that the essential alkyl substituted nitrogen having strong ionization characteristics (pKa in basic side) generally found in local anesthetics can be replaced by amide nitrogen, having chloro methyl group attached to the carbonyl carbon of amide. In this type of arrangement, the inductive effect exerted by chlorine provided enough ionization character to amide nitrogen. Eight esters, ten amides and one imidazole derivatives of 4-(2-chloroacetamido) benzoic acid were synthesized by Fischer’s esterification, Schotten-Baumann and substitution reactions. The synthesized derivatives (A1–A18 and A.im) were characterized by various instrumental techniques.ACD Lab Suite® was used to determine various physiochemical properties of synthesized molecules. Initially, infiltration local anesthetic activity was determined by Bianchi’s method. Five compounds (A1, A2, A4, A10, and A.im) showed promising local anesthetic activity, where the comparison was made with lignocaine HCl, thus conforming assumed hypothesis. However, the studied compounds have potency lower than that of lignocaine HCl. Compounds showing promising activity with low toxicity were studied further by in-vivo rat sciatic nerve block method using increasing doses. A.im was studied for topological similarity with lignocaine HCl where it showed good local anesthetic activity and was relatively very less toxicity. The reduced toxicity of these molecules may be attributed due to the carbonyl chloro methyl side chain. Further structural advancement may be done by researchers to increase the potency of these compounds since they are relatively less toxic than lignocaine.</jats:p

Identification of aaNAT5b as a spermine N-acetyltransferase in the mosquito, Aedes aegypti

Mosquitoes transmit a number of diseases in animals and humans, including Dengue, Chikungunya and Zika viruses that affect millions of people each year. Controlling the disease-transmitting mosquitoes has proven to be a successful strategy to reduce the viruses transmission. Polyamines are required for the life cycle of the RNA viruses, Chikungunya virus and Zika virus, and a depletion of spermidine and spermine in the host via induction of spermine N-acetyltransferase restricts their replication. Spermine N-acetyltransferase is a key catabolic enzyme in the polyamine pathway, however there is no information of the enzyme identification in any insects. Aliphatic polyamines play a fundamental role in tissue growth and development in organisms. They are acetylated by spermidine/spermine N1-acetyltransferase (SAT). In this study we provided a molecular and biochemical identification of SAT from Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Screening of purified recombinant proteins against polyamines established that aaNAT5b, named previously based on sequence similarity with identified aaNAT1 in insects, is active to spermine and spermidine. A crystal structure was determined and used in molecular docking in this study. Key residues were identified to be involved in spermine binding using molecular docking and simulation. In addition, SAT transcript was down regulated by blood feeding using a real time PCR test. Based on its substrate profile and transcriptional levels after blood feeding, together with previous reports for polyamines required in arboviruses replication, SAT might be potentially used as a target to control arboviruses with human interference

Relaxed Evolution in the Tyrosine Aminotransferase Gene Tat in Old World Fruit Bats (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae)

Frugivorous and nectarivorous bats fuel their metabolism mostly by using carbohydrates and allocate the restricted amounts of ingested proteins mainly for anabolic protein syntheses rather than for catabolic energy production. Thus, it is possible that genes involved in protein (amino acid) catabolism may have undergone relaxed evolution in these fruit- and nectar-eating bats. The tyrosine aminotransferase (TAT, encoded by the Tat gene) is the rate-limiting enzyme in the tyrosine catabolic pathway. To test whether the Tat gene has undergone relaxed evolution in the fruit- and nectar-eating bats, we obtained the Tat coding region from 20 bat species including four Old World fruit bats (Pteropodidae) and two New World fruit bats (Phyllostomidae). Phylogenetic reconstructions revealed a gene tree in which all echolocating bats (including the New World fruit bats) formed a monophyletic group. The phylogenetic conflict appears to stem from accelerated TAT protein sequence evolution in the Old World fruit bats. Our molecular evolutionary analyses confirmed a change in the selection pressure acting on Tat, which was likely caused by a relaxation of the evolutionary constraints on the Tat gene in the Old World fruit bats. Hepatic TAT activity assays showed that TAT activities in species of the Old World fruit bats are significantly lower than those of insectivorous bats and omnivorous mice, which was not caused by a change in TAT protein levels in the liver. Our study provides unambiguous evidence that the Tat gene has undergone relaxed evolution in the Old World fruit bats in response to changes in their metabolism due to the evolution of their special diet