International Journal of Biochemistry Research & Review

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder characterized by hyperglycaemia with disturbances of carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism. Scientific evidences suggest that high iron storage may play a role in pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. Excess iron accumulation induces organ damage due to the overproduction of ROS through Fenton reaction. Thus, the aim of this study was to find out the relation between serum iron, total iron binding capacity (TIBC) and oxidative stress (OS) with glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients.

The study consisted of 90 subjects, which were divided into 3 different groups; Group 1 compromised of 30 healthy individuals, Group 2 included 30 T2DM patients with normal glycemic control and Group 3 included 30 T2DM patients with poor glycemic control. Blood samples were collected from the three groups and fasting plasma glucose (FPG), post-prandial plasma glucose (PPPG), HbA1c, Iron, TIBC, Hemoglobin (HB), Malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) levels were analysed.

We found, that mean levels of FPG, PPPG, HbA1c, Iron and MDA were significantly higher (p < 0.05) and mean levels of TIBC, SOD and CAT were significantly decreased (p < 0.05) in group 3 as compared to group 2 and group 1. There was no significant difference (p > 0.05) observed in iron, TIBC and Hb levels between group 1 and group 2. We found a significant positive correlation of Iron and MDA with HbA1c and significant negative correlation of TIBC, SOD and CAT with HbA1c in group 3.

In our study we found significant positive correlation of HbA1c with MDA and iron that indicates poor glycemic control leads to increased glycation of haemoglobin and other heme containing proteins. It causes more release of iron that leading to production of oxidative stress and thereby it might plays significant role in early appearance of diabetic complications.

This study was aimed to investigate the effect of high sub-chronic doses of the aqueous and methanol leaf extracts of Loranthus micranthus on biochemical parameters of albino rats. Acute toxicity studies were performed according to standard methods. The animals were divided into 5 groups (n = 5). Aqueous and methanol extracts of L. micranthus leaves were administered in doses of 1000 and 2000 mg/kg body weight to four groups of rats respectively for 30 days through the intraperitoneal route. The fifth group served as control and received saline (5 ml/kg b.w, i.p). Blood samples were collected by retrorbital puncture and analyzed for biochemical and haematological parameters using assay kits. Acute toxicity studies indicated that both extracts had an LD₅₀ >           5000 mg/kg. The results indicated significant (p<0.001) increases in alkaline phosphatase serum levels in both extract treated groups. The extracts also produced significant elevation in serum bilirubin levels when compared with normal control (p<0.05). Both extracts did not affect the levels of alanine and aspartate transaminases significantly (p>0.05). There were significant increase in the serum levels of urea in the extracts treated rats (p<0.05; p<0.01). The 2000 mg/kg aqueous extract produced significant increases in mean serum chloride and bicarbonate levels of treated rats when compared with control (p<0.01). The extracts produced significant decrease in the serum creatine kinase levels of treated rats in a non-dose related manner when compared with control (p<0.05). There were no significant changes in sodium and potassium levels of treated rats. The methanol extract had no significant effect on the haematological indices studied. The aqueous extract produced significant reductions in the haemoglobin and PCV of treated rats (p< 0.01). The total and differential leucocyte counts were not affected by extract treatment (p>0.05). From these results, the extracts caused significant biochemical changes but were not cytotoxic to leucocyte cell lines. Therefore, there should be caution in the long term use of these extracts.

Aims: This study was designed to evaluate the antidiabetic effects of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Trichilia emetica (TE) stem bark in albinos rats.

Methodology: 24 rats of comparable weight were divided into 2 lots, including a control lot of 3 rats and a test lot of 21 rats. Diabetes was induced by injecting Alloxan® intraperitoneally (125 mg/kg bw) for 7 days. After the onset of diabetes, the animals were divided into several groups and given the extracts of Trichilia emetica and Diastabol® orally for 6 days according to the following protocol: Normal Control (NC) received normal saline, group diabetic control (DC) it consists of untreated diabetic, group DD10 and DD20 was comprised of diabetic animals treated  with Diastabol® at a doses of 10  and 20 mg/kg bw respectively , group DTEE100 and DTEE200 it consists of diabetic animals treated with ethanolic extract at a doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg bw respectively, group DTEA100 and DDTEA 200 was comprised of diabetic animals treated with aqueous extract at a same dose (100 and 200 mg/kg bw). At the end of experimentation, some blood was collected for the determination of some biochemical parameters such as insulin, blood glucose, AST, ALT, urea and creatinine. Systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), cardiac frequency (CF) were also recorded. 

Results: The results showed a significant (P<0.05) decrease in insulin levels in diabetic rats compared with NC. In addition, diabetes caused a significant increase (P<0.05) in blood glucose, urea, creatinine levels, transaminase activity, and in blood pressure numbers (DBP, SBP and CF) still in comparison with NC. However, the treatment of sick animals with the extracts and the Diastabol at the doses listed above significantly (P <0.05) increased insulin levels and reduced the sames biochemical parameters levels as well as the blood pressure numbers compared with DC.

Conclusion: The data obtained showed that this part of the plant would have antidiabetic effects with ethanolic extract at the dose of 200 mg/kg bw had the highest pronounced effect and could be used as a good alternative for diabetes management, thus justifying its use in traditional medicine.

Problem: Kavuni is a traditional black rice variety of Tamil Nadu, India it rich in nutritional and therapeutic properties.  These traits it is not being cultivated widely, due to long duration, poor tillering and low yielding agronomic characters.

Objectives: In the  study, twenty three breeding rice lines from the cross between black kavuni and Co 50  were investigated for colour values and phytochemical viz., total phenols content (TPC), total flavonoids content (TFC) and total anthocyanin content (TAC).

Methods: Twenty five rice samples were grouped as black and white rice based on colour of aleuronic layer by visual inspection. The color values expressed as L* (lightness), a* (redness), b* (yellowness), H° (hue) and C (chroma). TPC by the Folin–Ciocalteu method and expressed as milligram of gallic acid equivalent (mg GAE/g) per g. TFC by aluminum chloride method and expressed as mg catechin equivalent (mg CATE) per 100 g. TAC was measured by pH differential method, expressed as mg cyaniding 3-glucoside per 100 g (c3-glucoside/100 g).

Main results: The black phenotype rice had low value in L*, b*, C, H° and high values in a* than the white color rice. In the black rice group, 145-6 breeding line had darker black aleuronic layer than other black rice. The TPC, TFC and TAC ranged between 0.74 -3.24 mg GAE/g, 12.79 – 82.58 mg CATE/100 g and 0.4-223.76 mg c3-glucoside/100 g, respectively.  High level of TPC, TFC and TAC were recorded in black phenotypic rice, where as lower levels in white rice. The maximum amount of TPC and TAC were observed in 145-6 rice line, which on par with parent black kavuni rice.  The maximum level TFC was observed in 144-2 rice line than the parent rice kavuni. The TPC, TFC and TAC were negatively correlated with L*, b*, C and H° values and positively correlated with a* values at 0.01 probability level. Among the 23 rice lines, based on TPC, TAC and TFC the superior breeding rice lines were 145-6 and 144-2 respectively. The results showed that dark black grain has higher phytochemicals than white grain.

Main recommendation:  The results indicate provide the opportunities to further increase the nutritional benefits of some food products from black rice in terms of therapeutic properties.

Alzheimer's (AD) disease is foremost of the neurodegenerative diseases affecting cognition. Though memory, out of all cognitive functions of the brain, received much attention, the nonmemory cognitive functions including the higher brain functions, are equally important. In fact what is perceived by the five senses is the basis of our learning, what is learned thus, is stored in the brain as memory of various types and the retrieved memory appropriate to the situation is the basis for higher brain functions.Thus all are interconnected when overall cognitivefunctions of the brain are considered. This article focuses on the nonmemory functions of the brain (like attention, perception, language and learning) as well as higher brain functions like (thinking. planning, execution, judgement, emotional and social behaviour etc). Their physiological basis as well as how they are affected in AD are discussed in this article.

Snakebite is a frequent accident faced by rural community's dwellers, and it has remained a neglected public health problem in many countries. Snake venom is a complex mixture of proteins, and they participate to envenomation through a diverse array of bioactivities, such as bleeding, inflammation, and pain, cytotoxic, cardiotoxic or neurotoxic effects. The only approved and accepted treatment for snakebite envenoming is the use of antivenoms produced by the purification of IgG immunoglobulins immunized against specific snake venom. However, various technological approaches are being pursued by different research groups, including the use of small-molecule inhibitors, antibody-based bio-therapeutics and peptide-based aptamer against enzymatic toxins and non-enzymatic toxins in snake venom. Modern bioinformatics tools have been recently developed to mine snake venoms, helping focus experimental research on the most potentially interesting toxins. Some computational techniques predict toxin molecular targets, and the binding mode to these targets. This review presents molecular docking studies of potential targeted key enzymes in snake venom.