Avaliação do efeito da "essência de hormônio natural, almeirão- roxo" produzido pela Pastoral da Saúde de Domingos Martins, ES, em ratas com menopausa cirúrgica8 Evaluation of the effect of "essence of natural hormone, Chicory" produced by the Pastoral of Health Domingos Martins, ES, in rats with...more
Resumo A fitoterapia popular se baseia no conhecimento tradicional de plantas medicinais, muitas vezes sem comprovação de suas propriedades terapêuticas. Diversos estudos têm demonstrado que fitoestrogênios seriam alternativas naturais à... more
Resumo A fitoterapia popular se baseia no conhecimento tradicional de plantas medicinais, muitas vezes sem comprovação de suas propriedades terapêuticas. Diversos estudos têm demonstrado que fitoestrogênios seriam alternativas naturais à terapia de reposição hormonal (TRH). O objetivo do estudo foi avaliar o efeito do "hormônio natural", almeirão-roxo, na TRH em ratas com menopausa cirúrgica. Estas foram divididas em três grupos:
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Increased tea consumption in combination with intensive pesticide use is generating heavy metal contaminations amongst Brazilian tea consumers, causing health concerns. Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES)... more
Increased tea consumption in combination with intensive pesticide use is generating heavy metal contaminations amongst Brazilian tea consumers, causing health concerns. Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) was applied to quantify minerals and heavy metals such as aluminum, barium, cadmium, lead, cobalt, copper, chromium, tin, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, selenium, silver, thallium, vanadium and zinc in Brazilian chamomile, lemongrass, fennel and yerba mate teas. Teas, purchased in local supermarkets, were prepared using infusion and acid digestion. Higher concentrations of Al were present in all samples. In the digested samples, the Al mean concentration was 2.41 μg g(-1) (sd = 0.72) for fennel and 33.42 μg g(-1) (sd = 17.18) for chamomile, whilst the sample C for chamomile tea presented the highest concentration with 51.62 μg g(-1) (sd = 9.17). The safety relation in decreasing order is fennel, lemongrass, chamomile and yerba mate. Chemometric analys...
Hedychium coronarium J. Koenig, Zingiberaceae, is a medicinal plant popularly used to treat inflammatory conditions in different countries. Three labdane diterpenes [isocoronarin D (1), methoxycoronarin D (2), ethoxycoronarin D (3)] and... more
Hedychium coronarium J. Koenig, Zingiberaceae, is a medicinal plant popularly used to treat inflammatory conditions in different countries. Three labdane diterpenes [isocoronarin D (1), methoxycoronarin D (2), ethoxycoronarin D (3)] and benzoyl eugenol (4) were isolated from rhizomes and their chemopreventive potential was evaluated using in vitro assays, namely the inhibition of NF-κB, COX-1 and -2, the induction of antioxidant response element (ARE), and the inhibition of cell proliferation. Diterpene 1 activated ARE (EC50 57.6 ± 2.4 μM), while 2, 3 and 4 significantly inhibited NF-κB (IC50 of 7.3 ± 0.3, 3.2 ± 0.3 and 32.5 ± 4.9 μM, respectively). In addition, 2 and 3 selectively inhibited COX-1 (IC50 values of 0.9 ± 0.0 and 3.8 ± 0.0 μM, respectively). These data support the potential chemopreventive activity of constituents from H. coronarium rhizomes.
ABSTRACT Background: Cellular viability studies are important in many different fields of cell biology research and are based on estimates of live and dead cells from a specific cellular population. Recent progress in technology has... more
ABSTRACT Background: Cellular viability studies are important in many different fields of cell biology research and are based on estimates of live and dead cells from a specific cellular population. Recent progress in technology has brought important advances in the analysis of cellular viability, mainly reducing the time of analysis and sample preparation; however, the costs for equipment and reagents still limit the feasibility of conducting those studies. The purpose of the present study was to use free software, non-specific dyes, and light microscopy to establish a reproducible image analysis test and to compare the results with an established method. Method: 3T3 fibroblast cell line was exposed to different concentrations of dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) for 24 h, and cellular viability was estimated by the proposed technique (image analysis performed with free software) and with the methylthiazol-tetrazolium salt (MTT) assay. A Bland-Altman analysis was applied to compare the methodologies. Results: Image analysis by CellProfiler®/CellProfiler® Analyst was compared to MTT by Bland-Altman test, and the two methodologies were considered equivalent. Cellular viability decreased in a dose-dependent manner with increasing doses of DMSO, and both methodologies were capable of distinguishing between live and dead cells, producing comparable results (with bias = 1.3550) evaluated by the Bland-Altman analysis. Conclusion: The proposed image analysis can be used as a simple, rapid, and low-cost technology for high throughput analysis of live-dead cell differentiation.
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This study evaluated the effects of nandrolone associated with resistance training (RT) on cardiac cytokines, angiotensin-converting enzyme activity (ACEA), and the sensitivity of the Bezold-Jarisch reflex (BJR). Male Wistar rats were... more
This study evaluated the effects of nandrolone associated with resistance training (RT) on cardiac cytokines, angiotensin-converting enzyme activity (ACEA), and the sensitivity of the Bezold-Jarisch reflex (BJR). Male Wistar rats were divided into 3 groups: CONT (received vehicle, no training); EXERC (RT: after one week of water adaptation, rats were exercised by jumping into water twice a week for 4 weeks), and ND+EXERC (received nandrolone decanoate 10 mg/kg, twice/week, i.m, associated with RT). The BJR was analysed by measuring bradycardic and hypotensive responses elicited by serotonin administration. Myocyte hypertrophy and matrix collagen deposition were determined by morphometric analysis of H&E and picrosirius red-stained samples, respectively. TNF-α and ACEA were also studied. RT promoted physiological myocyte hyrpertrophy but did not cause changes in the other parameters. The association of ND with RT increased myocyte hypertrophy, deposition of matrix type I collagen, TNF-α and ACEA; decreased IL-10, and impairment in the BJR were observed in ND+EXERC compared with CONT and EXERC. ND is associated with alterations in cardiac structure and function as a result of the development of pathological cardiac hypertrophy (cardiac cytokine imbalance, elevation of ACEA) and cardiac injury, even when combined with resistance training.
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The objective of the present study was to employ high throughput image analysis to detect necrosis and apoptosis. Specific markers were replaced by morphological parameters of cells and nuclei. Fresh blood was taken from a healthy female... more
The objective of the present study was to employ high throughput image analysis to detect necrosis and apoptosis. Specific markers were replaced by morphological parameters of cells and nuclei. Fresh blood was taken from a healthy female and given a treatment to induce cell necrosis and apoptosis. Afterward, the samples were stained with AnnexinV-FITC, DRAQ5 and DAPI. Slides were made and analyzed using the cytometer iCys. Pictures were scanned. The analyzed sample consisted of 73 sets of images of DAPI, DRAQ5 and AnnexinV-FITC, respectively. For image analysis and subsequent statistical processing, the CellProfiler and CellProfilerAnalyst were used. Each sample was analyzed twice. The first analysis was conducted using the markers (DAPI, DRAQ5 and Annexin) for an unequivocal identification and subsequent count of necrotic, apoptotic and live cells (gold standard). Thereafter, a second analysis was performed for the nuclear morphology and texture (morphometric analysis). After the m...
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An efficient and economical synthesis of the naturally occurring aromatase inhibitor abyssinone II was performed. The synthesis features an optimized aromatic prenylation reaction in which an arylcopper intermediate is reacted with prenyl... more
An efficient and economical synthesis of the naturally occurring aromatase inhibitor abyssinone II was performed. The synthesis features an optimized aromatic prenylation reaction in which an arylcopper intermediate is reacted with prenyl bromide to afford a key intermediate that was converted to a prenylated aromatic aldehyde. Condensation of the aldehyde with an o-hydroxyacetophenone under Claisen-Schmidt conditions afforded a chalcone that was deprotected and cyclized in the presence of sodium acetate in refluxing ethanol to afford (+/-)-abyssinone II. The synthesis proved to be versatile enough to provide an array of abyssinone II derivatives that were evaluated as aromatase inhibitors. Methylation of the 4'-hydroxyl group of (+/-)-abyssinone II resulted in a significant increase in aromatase inhibitory activity, and further smaller increases in activity resulted from the methylation of the 7-hydroxyl group and removal of the prenyl side chain. As a result of these structural changes, the most active flavanone of the series was 20 times more potent than (+/-)-abyssinone II (IC50 40.95 microM).
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ABSTRACT The olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) is globally distributed. However, the species is considered vulnerable. Additionally, hematological and biochemical data for this species are seldom published in the scientific... more
ABSTRACT The olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) is globally distributed. However, the species is considered vulnerable. Additionally, hematological and biochemical data for this species are seldom published in the scientific literature. The aim of this study was to gather hematological and biochemical data on young L. olivacea, drawing comparisons with hematological and biochemical data already published for sea turtles. Blood samples from 23 olive ridley sea turtles were collected, and hematological and biochemical parameters were determined. Mean and standard deviation values were determined for the hematological and biochemical results. From these results, a comparison with the published results for other turtles was performed using a two-way ANOVA and a Bonferroni post-test. The results of this study are consistent with previous findings in other sea turtles. No differences were found between genders. The results of the present study could be used as reference values by veterinarians in the treatment of olive ridley turtles as well as other species of sea turtles. There is a need to standardize the samples and analyses used to determine the parameters evaluated here to allow the determination of reference values for marine turtles and more comparable results.
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The objectives were to evaluate clinical and histopathological aspects of topical application of sunflower-seed oil (Helianthus annuus) on the healing process of experimentally induced wounds in lumbar and metacarpal areas of healthy... more
The objectives were to evaluate clinical and histopathological aspects of topical application of sunflower-seed oil (Helianthus annuus) on the healing process of experimentally induced wounds in lumbar and metacarpal areas of healthy horses. Six adult horses were used. Eight wounds were surgically produced on each horse: two 6.25-cm2 wounds cranial to the sacrum on each side of the lumbar region
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ABSTRACT The production of counterfeit drugs is a criminal problem that carries serious risks to public health worldwide. Herein, the chemical fingerprinting of blister packaging using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) of... more
ABSTRACT The production of counterfeit drugs is a criminal problem that carries serious risks to public health worldwide. Herein, the chemical fingerprinting of blister packaging using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) of authentic and counterfeit samples of Viagra® and Cialis® is demonstrated. Fifteen commercial samples (Viagra® and Cialis®) and thirty two counterfeit samples (Viagra and Cialis) were analyzed, and the FTIR data was subjected to chemometric treatment via unsupervised pattern recognition methods (principal component analysis, and hierarchical cluster analysis) and a supervised pattern recognition method (partial least squares discriminant analysis). ATR-FTIR spectra of the blister packaging of authentic Cialis® and counterfeit Cialis samples showed bands at 2976, 2904, 1431, 1326, 1243, 973, 691 and 608 cm−1, suggesting the presence of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in its chemical composition. For authentic Viagra® and counterfeit Viagra samples, several distinct chemical profiles were observed in the ATR-FTIR spectra. Using unsupervised methods, samples were separated into three large groups: (i) counterfeit Viagra (seven samples made of PVC); (ii) authentic Viagra® (three samples made of poly(ethylene terephthalate)); (iii) Cialis (authentic and counterfeit) and some samples of Viagra (thirty seven made of PVC with additives of stearic acid derivatives, butyl hydroxy toluene or bisphenol A). Therefore, this suggests that three different types of forming films are used in the market for blister packaging used to contain inhibitors of PDE-5. Using supervised methods, all samples were correctly classified into their respective classes.
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ABSTRACT Fifteen carbohydrates (d-mannose, d-glucose, d-galactose, methyl-α-d-glucose, l-rhamnose, d-xylose, d-fructose, d-arabinose, dulcitol, mannitol, β-maltose, α-lactose, melibiose, sucrose, and raffinose) and four cyclitols... more
ABSTRACT Fifteen carbohydrates (d-mannose, d-glucose, d-galactose, methyl-α-d-glucose, l-rhamnose, d-xylose, d-fructose, d-arabinose, dulcitol, mannitol, β-maltose, α-lactose, melibiose, sucrose, and raffinose) and four cyclitols [l-(+)-bornesitol, myo-inositol, per-O-acetyl-1-l-(+)-bornesitol, and quinic acid] were assayed for in vitro ACE inhibition. Of these molecules, per-O-Acetyl-1-l-(+)-bornesitol, quinic acid, methyl-α-d-glucose, d-rhamnose, raffinose, and the disaccharides were determined to be either inactive or weak ACE inhibitors, whereas l-(+)-bornesitol, d-galactose, d-glucose, and myo-inositol exhibited significant ACE inhibition. Molecular docking studies were performed to investigate interactions between active compounds and human ACE (Protein Data Bank, PDB 1O83). The results of various calculations showed that all active sugars bind to the same enzyme region, which is a tunnel directed towards the active site. With the exception of myo-inositol (K i = 13.95 μM, IC50 = 449.2 μM), the active compounds presented similar K i and IC50 values. d-Galactose (K i = 19.6 μM, IC50 = 35.7 μM) and l-(+)-bornesitol (K i = 25.3 μM, IC50 = 41.4 μM) were the most active compounds, followed by d-glucose (K i = 32.9 μM, IC50 = 85.7 μM). Our docking calculations are in agreement with the experimental data and show a new binding region for sugar-like molecules, which may be explored for the development of new ACE inhibitors.