International Journal of Biochemistry Research & Review

The presence of fat, beyond physiological limits, in organs, other than the adipose tissue, like the liver, the skeletal muscle, the heart and the pancreas etc is called ectopic fat. It causes specific organ dysfunction in the tissues concerned. The importance of the ectopic fat is that it is connected to peripheral tissue insulin resistance, obesity, metabolic syndrome etc. Though the molecular mechanisms underlying the specific organ dysfunctions are understood, still grey areas exists as to the source of the ectopic fat and how it finds it’s way to the specific sites of the target organs (intra- myocellular in skeletal muscle, hepatocyte cytoplasm of liver, epicardial surface and coronary arteries of heart etc.).  The molecular mechanisms involving the actual ectopic deposition fat, are not clear. This article focuses on some of the grey areas in the pathogenesis of the ectopic fat deposition, besides reviewing briefly the facts    already known in the literature about ectopic fat deposition.

Background: Black currant (Ribes nigrum L. Grossulariceae) promotes good health. A lot of researches have been carried out on common fruits but little attention is given to indigenous fruits such as Ribes nigrum which promotes good health with its high content of phytochemicals that influences its antioxidant activity in neutralizing free radicals as well as its iron chelating property.

Aim of this Study: To compare the phytochemical composition, iron-chelating and the free radical scavenging activity of fresh Ribes nigrum and Nutraceutical C24/7.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nasarawa State, Nigeria between June 2017 and January 2019.

Methodology: Fleshy parts of fresh Ribes nigrum fruit was homogenized using an electrical blender and was macerated with70% ethanol (Sigma Aldrich, 99.8%) for 72 hours and then filtered. The filtrate was condensed using a rotary evaporator and the extract was stored at 4°C. Preliminary phytochemical screening was carried out on the extract and the nutraceutical C24/7 caplets using standard procedures and the identified phytochemicals: saponins, tannins, alkaloids and steroids were quantitatively estimated. Iron chelating and total antioxidant activity assay was conducted using the DPPH radical scavenging and spectrophotometric methods respectively on the extract and the nutraceutical C24/7. Values were analyzed using One way analysis of Variance (ANOVA).Values of P<0.05 were considered significant.

Results and Conclusion: The findings of this study show that the hydro-ethanol extract of Ribes nigrum contains a large amount of flavonoids, saponins tannins, alkaloids and steroids compounds and exhibits iron chelating and high antioxidant (free radical scavenging) activity compared to nutraceutical-C24/7 caplets.

Aims: Lipids serve several important physiologic functions like energy homeostasis or biosynthesis of hormone within the human body. The deterioration of lipid metabolism which is favoured by menopause is the source of cardiovascular diseases. This study aimed to determine the plasma lipid profile and dyslipidemia prevalence of some Cameroonian women.

Study Design: This was a cross-sectional study.

Place and Duration of Study: The enrollment took place at the Yaounde Military Hospital from November 2016 to July 2017.

Methodology: To achieve this goal, two sets of 105 postmenopausal and 127 premenopausal participants were enrolled in this study. 5ml of blood were collected on EDTA coated tubes from each participant. Enzymatic methods were used to evaluate total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and triglyceride, while LDL cholesterol was determined using the Friedewald equation. These biological parameters were used to determine dyslipidemia. Thereafter, they were compared within age and year since menopause subgroups.

Results: There was no significant difference in the mean values of total cholesterol, HDL-C, LDL-C as well as triglyceride between premenopausal and postmenopausal women. The mean HDL-C concentration was stable in the age subgroups while the mean total cholesterol and LDL-C were slightly increasing as postmenopausal participants got older. LDL-C level was significantly higher in women who had been in menopause for more than 15 years. The overall dyslipidemia prevalence was 53%. Dyslipidemia was significantly higher in the subgroup of women who had freshly entered menopause.

Conclusion: Even though there was no change in the mean concentration of the plasma lipid parameters, of pre- and postmenopausal participants there was a general need to improve their lifestyle in order to reduce dyslipidemia prevalence.

The proximate and phytochemical composition of Melanthera biflora was investigated, using standard methods. From the obtained results the leaves had high moisture contents (71.1± 0.2%) and crude fiber (3.91 ± 0.5) while containing moderate protein (7.0 ± 0.03%), while containing lipid (1.10 ± 4%), ash (2.8 ± 0.2%), total carbohydrate (6.09 ± 0.2%) and caloric value (62.26±0.14 kcal/100g). Eleven Phytochemical families were detected with tannin as the most abundant (27.82%) consisting 100% tannic acid. Thirteen alkaloids (13.65%) were detected consisting mainly of morphine (28.05%), methylmorphine (16.22%), dephnoline (12.02%) biflorin, (20.63%), aromoline (12.61%) homoaromaline (7.79%). Twenty-three flavonoid (5.71%) chief among which were quercetin (44.21%), kaemferol (28.94%), dandzein (7.20%), letuolin (10.17%), salvagenin (6.76%), sinensetin 8.20% were detected. The most prominent of the ten carotenoids (2.48%), is lutein (40.76%), followed by carotene (17.90%), malvidin 5.63%, zeaxanthin (16.5%), viola-xanthin (9.5%). Sixty one terpenoid including linalool (40.98%), germacrene (12.74%), Alpha-terpineal 6.40%, terpinen – 4-01 (5.62%), and Gamma terpine were found in the leaves Of the six phenolic acids (16.26%) the highest was ferulic acid (53.94%), followed closely by vanilic acid (45.8%). Seven phytosterol (2.25%), consisting of sitosterol (65.3%), savenasterol (14.19%) stigmasterol (12.70%), and others were detected. The leaves had very a low hydroxycinnamic acid content (8.93x10^-4%) content, consisting of eight known compounds of which caffeic acid (71.93%) and p-coumaric acid (27.91%) were the most abundant. They also had very a low allicins (1.94x10^-4%) content, consisting of daillylthiosulphunate (97.05%), and methyl thiosulphinate (2.6%) and allylthiosulphin and allylthiosulphinate (0.3%). The leaves had a very low content of glycosides consisting of eight known compounds of which quabain (78.54%) were detected and they include gitogenin (22.04%), diosgenin (20.02), neohegen (20.79%). Their rich contents of nutrients and many bioactive molecules suggest strong nutraceutical potential of these leaves, further suggesting their likely use as functional a food and therapeutic uses in the management and prevention of diseases.

This study was carried out to determine the antimicrobial activity of silver nanoparticles synthesized using goat milk against pathogens of selected vegetables. Synthesis of Silver nanoparticles was done using Goat milk, and characterized using Ultra Violet-Visible absorption spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X- ray diffraction (XRD) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Maximum absorbance of Goat milk synthesized AgNPs was observed at 417 nm, with FTIR peaks at 3455 cm⁻¹, 1628 cm^−1, 1402 cm⁻¹, 1081 cm⁻¹ and 517 cm⁻¹, indicating that proteins in Goat milk (GM) were the capping and stabilization molecules involved the synthesis of AgNPs. Transmission electron microscopy analysis showed that the biosynthesized particles were spherical in shape having a size of 10-100 nm, X- ray diffraction (XRD) pattern agreed with the crystalline nature and face-centered cubic phase of AgNPs. Evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of AgNPs synthesized using GM against the indicator strains (Staphylococcus aureus CIP 9973, Pectobacterium carotovorum Pec1, Enterobacter cloacae AS10, Klebsiella aerogenes OFM28, Proteus mirabilis UPMSD3 and Escherichia coli 2013C-3342) isolated from selected vegetables, was carried out using the Agar diffusion assay at different concentrations of 25, 75 and 100 µl/ml. The present study demonstrated that the AgNPs synthesized using Goat milk have potent biological activities, which can find applications in diverse areas.