Effects of an L-Leucine-Rich Diet on Liver and Kidneys in a Doxorubicin Toxicity Model.

Supplements and diets containing L-leucine, a branched-chain amino acid, have been considered beneficial for controlling oxidative stress and maintaining cardiac tissue in toxicity models using doxorubicin, a drug widely used in cancer treatment. However, there is a lack of studies in the literature that assess the effects of this diet on other organs and tissues, such as the liver and kidneys. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of a leucine-rich diet on the liver and kidneys of healthy rats submitted to the doxorubicin toxicity model by analyzing biomarkers of oxidative stress and histological parameters.

Cardioprotective Effects of the 4-Week Aerobic Running Exercises Before Treatment with Doxorubicin in Rats.

Doxorubicin is associated with cardiotoxicity, and physical exercise seeks to minimize the toxic effects of doxorubicin through physiological cardiac remodeling, as well as the reduction of oxidative stress, evidenced by previous studies. This study aimed to analyze whether running training before treatment with doxorubicin influences tolerance to physical exertion and cardiotoxicity. Thirty-nine male Wistar rats, aged 90 days and weighing between 250 and 300 g, were divided into 4 groups: Control (C), Doxorubicin (D), Trained (T), and Trained + Doxorubicin (TD).

Effects of hyperprotein diet on anxiety, haemodynamics and morphofunctional aspects of the heart of Wistar rats.

New Findings: What is the central question of this study? The consumption of a high-protein diet has been associated with an anxiogenic factor that can influence anxiety and possible cardiovascular changes: does the consumption of a high-protein diet interfere with anxiety, haemodynamics and morphofunctional aspects of the heart of Wistar rats? What is the main finding and its importance? Our study showed that the high-protein diet did not interfere with anxiety and haemodynamics. The animals in the hyperproteic group showed positive heart adaptations characterized by less work and lower heart rate without impairing ejection fraction and systemic blood pressure.

Abstract: Anxiety is a mechanism preparatory to a response in situations of threat and danger, involving behavioural, affective and physiological factors.

α-zingiberene, a sesquiterpene from essential oil from leaves of , suppresses inflammatory angiogenesis and stimulates collagen deposition in subcutaneous implants in mice.

α-zingiberene is a phytochemical of the sesquiterpenes class, the major constituent of the essential oil from the leaves of , a plant widely used in traditional medicine for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, tumours, and bacterial infections. In the present study, we evaluated the effects of daily administration of α-zingiberene (0.01, 0.

Sesquiterpene Polygodial from (Winteraceae) Down-Regulates Implant-Induced Inflammation and Fibrogenesis in Mice.

(Winteraceae) has been investigated in traditional medicine for its anti-inflammatory properties to treat gastric ulcers and allergic and respiratory system diseases as well as for cancer treatment. In this work, we investigate the ability of the sesquiterpene polygodial, isolated from stem barks, to modulate the chronic inflammatory response induced by polyester-polyurethane sponge implants in C57BL/6J mice. Daily treatment with polygodial inhibited the macrophage content in the implants as determined by the activity of the -acetyl-β-d-glucosaminidase enzyme as well as decreased the levels of CXCL1/KC and CCL2/JE/MCP-1 pro-inflammatory chemokines and the presence of mast cells along the formed fibrovascular tissue.

Alternagin-C, a disintegrin-like protein from Bothrops alternatus venom, attenuates inflammation and angiogenesis and stimulates collagen deposition of sponge-induced fibrovascular tissue in mice.

Alternagin-C (ALT-C), a disintegrin-like protein obtained from the venom of Bothrops alternatus, is able to modulate cellular behaviors such as adhesion, migration and proliferation, as well as the production of various growth factors via αβ integrin, important processes during inflammation, angiogenesis and fibrogenesis, which although appear as distinct events, act concomitantly in several chronic inflammatory diseases. Our objective was to investigate the effects of ALT-C on components of the sponge-induced inflammatory response in balb/c mice. The polyester-polyurethane sponges were implanted in mice's subcutaneous layer of the dorsal region and daily injected with saline (control group) or ALT-C (10, 100 or 1000 ng).

Inflammation, angiogenesis and fibrogenesis are differentially modulated by distinct domains of the snake venom metalloproteinase jararhagin.

Jararhagin, a metalloprotease from Bothrops jararaca snake venom, is a toxin containing the metalloproteinase, disintegrin-like and cysteine-rich domains; it causes acute inflammation and damage to vascular tissue. However, the actions of these domains on key components of chronic inflammation have not been determined. Our aim was to investigate the effects of jararhagin (Jar), jararhagin-C (Jar-C) and o-phenantrolin-treated jararhagin (Jar-Phe), on inflammatory response, blood vessel formation and extracellular matrix deposition in the murine sponge model.

Metformin attenuates the TLR4 inflammatory pathway in skeletal muscle of diabetic rats.

Aims: Inflammation induced by hyperglycemia triggers the toll-like receptor (TLR) pathway into cells. Our hypothesis was that metformin treatment attenuates the TLR signaling pathways triggered by inflammation in skeletal muscle of hypoinsulinemic/hyperglycemic STZ-induced rats. Thus, we examined TLR signaling under hypoinsulinemia and hyperglycemia conditions and its correlation with insulin resistance in muscle of diabetic rats treated with metformin.

Angiogenenic effects of BpLec, a C-type lectin isolated from Bothrops pauloensis snake venom.

The present work reports the effects of a C-type lectin (BpLec) isolated from Bothrops pauloensis snake venom upon in vitro and in vivo angiogenesis models. Initially, we noted that BpLec was not cytotoxic to endothelial cells (tEnd) in doses up to 40μg/mL, but lower doses (2.5μg/mL, 5μg/mL, 10μg/mL and 20μg/mL) reduced tEnd cells adhesion to some extracellular matrix proteins and inhibited the in vitro vessel formation in Matrigel assay stimulated by bFGF.

Trypanosoma cruzi P21: a potential novel target for chagasic cardiomyopathy therapy.

Chagas disease, which is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, is an important cause of cardiomyopathy in Latin America. It is estimated that 10%-30% of all infected individuals will acquire chronic chagasic cardiomyopathy (CCC). The etiology of CCC is multifactorial and involves parasite genotype, host genetic polymorphisms, immune response, signaling pathways and autoimmune progression.

DisBa-01 inhibits angiogenesis, inflammation and fibrogenesis of sponge-induced-fibrovascular tissue in mice.

Integrins are involved in a number of physio-pathological processes including wound healing, chronic inflammation and neoplasias. Blocking its activity is potentially of therapeutic value in these conditions. We investigated whether DisBa-01, a recombinant His-tag RGD-disintegrin from Bothrops alternatus snake venom, could modulate key events (inflammatory cell recruitment/activation, neovascularization and extracellular matrix deposition) of the proliferative fibrovascular tissue induced by polyether polyurethane sponge implants in mice.

Myosins Are Differentially Expressed under Oxidative Stress in Chronic Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rat Brains.

Diabetes mellitus is a disease characterized by persistent hyperglycemia, which may lead to brain tissue damage due to oxidative stress and also contributes to neuronal death and changes in synaptic transmission. This study evaluated the effect of oxidative stress and the use of antioxidants supplementation on myosins expression levels in the brains of chronic diabetic rats induced by streptozotocin. Lipid peroxidation, antioxidant enzymes activities, and myosins-IIB and -Va expressions at transcriptional and translational levels were examined after 90 days induction.

Alterations of antioxidant biomarkers and type I collagen deposition in the parotid gland of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

Background And Objective: Acarbose is a competitive inhibitor of intestinal alpha-glycosidases that slows the breakdown of sucrose and starch, thereby reducing glucose and fructose absorption. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of acarbose treatment on antioxidant parameters and deposition of type I collagen in the parotid glands of diabetic rats.

Methods: Diabetes mellitus was induced by intravenous injection of streptozotocin, and rats were divided into four groups: non-diabetic (NDM), diabetic (DM), diabetic treated with 25mg/kg acarbose (DMA) and non-diabetic treated with acarbose (NDMA).