ORIGINAL_ARTICLE
SARS-CoV-2 and Manipulating the Immune System
The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that is induced by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a global pandemic, with more than five million death. Patients can develop pneumonia, severe symptoms of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and multiple organ failure. Similar to other viral respiratory infections, immune responses have a prominent role in SARS-CoV-2 infection. Despite the understanding of the immune response to COVID-19, there are still major gaps in understanding controversial reactions that impact infection fate and it remains unclear to what extent these responses are helpful or harmful in COVID-19. Thus, the purpose of this review is to discuss virology of the SARS-CoV-2, viral infection and immune characteristics, immune escape mechanisms and virus strategies in manipulating immune cells such as NK cells, Dendritic cells, T cells and B cells that converts it to the defective system, particularly in severe disease. Finally, we highlight the relevance of these tactics in determining infection fate.
https://www.bmmj.org/article_251206_9349706a12b84d02001c517104f87db9.pdf
2021-06-01
1
9
Novel coronavirus
COVID-19
SARS-CoV-2
Immune response
Infection fate
Reza
Habibian
reza.hb@gmail.com
1
Immunology and Microbiology Research Center, Tehran, Iran
AUTHOR
Babak
Beikzadeh
b.beikzadeh@bio.ui.ac.ir
2
Department of Cell and Molecular Biology & Microbiology, Faculty of Biological Sciences and Technology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran
LEAD_AUTHOR
ORIGINAL_ARTICLE
Analgesics Candidates for JAK-STAT Pathway Inhibition as a Probable Treat for COVID-19, Bioinformatics Study
The pandemic threat of COVID-19 with more than 160 million cases and with about 5 percent critical cases characterized by cytokine storm and hyperinflammatory conditions. The disease more often leads to intensive care unit admission with a high rate of mortality. Janus kinase enzymes of Jak-1, Jak-2, Jak-3, and Tyk2 seem to be good targets for inhibition and cytokine storm management in these patients. In the present work, the binding ability and the probable inhibitory potential of different analgesics were studied by molecular docking to assess their applicability for clinical traits from different points of view. Our docking results indicated that naproxen, methadone, and amitriptyline considering their higher binding energy, lower variance in binding energy, and higher hydrophobicity, seem to express more inhibitory effects on Janus kinase enzymes than approved inhibitors for these enzymes, i.e. baricitinib and ruxolitinib. Accordingly, we suggest our wide list of candidate analgesics including indomethacin, etodolac, buprenorphine, rofecoxib, duloxetine, valdecoxib, naproxen, methadone, and amitriptyline for clinical assessments to investigate their tentative usefulness for COVID-19 treatment.
https://www.bmmj.org/article_251721_d499d9802c78c7f161f3ba52e70bbad0.pdf
2021-06-01
10
17
COVID-19
Janus kinase
Cytokine storm
Naproxen
Methadone
Amitriptyline
Mohammad Reza
Dayer
mrdayer@scu.ac.ir
1
Department of Biology, Faculy of Science, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran
LEAD_AUTHOR
ORIGINAL_ARTICLE
Conformational Changes of Phenylalanine Dehydrogenase in the Presence of Ionic Gold and Alkaline pH
Phenylalanine dehydrogenase (PheDH) is an important enzyme for determining the serum L-phenylalanine levels to diagnose phenylketonuria (PKU) disease. PheDH enzyme catalyzes the reversible oxidative deamination of L-phenylalanine to phenylpyruvate in the presence of NAD+ as a cofactor. In this study, recombinant histidine-tailed Bacillus badius PheDH was expressed and purified by Ni-Sepharose affinity chromatography column. The kinetic properties of the native enzyme such as Km, kcat, Vmax and kcat/Km values for L-Phenylalanine and NAD+ substrates in the oxidative deamination reaction were determined. Then the effects of the gold salt and pH on the enzyme tertiary structure and enzyme activity was assayed using UV-Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. The activity was decreased in the presence of certain concentrations of gold compared to the native enzyme. Also the results showed that gold or high pH (~12.5) affects the tertiary structure of the PheDH enzyme, because intrinsic fluorescence emission at 340 nm decreased for native enzyme in their presence
https://www.bmmj.org/article_697458_d13480340256daeb0d059fc8e62d9cc5.pdf
2021-06-01
18
24
Phenylalanine dehydrogenase
Phenylketonuria
Gold
affinity chromatography
Mahsa
Shahrashoob
mahsa.shahrashoob@yahoo.com
1
Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
AUTHOR
Hanieh
Jafary
h-jafary@srbiau.ac.ir
2
Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
AUTHOR
Morteza
Hosseini
smhosseini@khayam.ut.ac.ir
3
Department of Life Science Engineering, Faculty of New Sciences & Technologies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
AUTHOR
Fatemeh
Molabasi
molaabasi.fatemeh@yahoo.com
4
Department of Interdisciplinary Technologies, Breast Cancer Research Center, Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Research Group, Motamed Cancer Institute, ACECR, Tehran, Iran
AUTHOR
Saman
Hosseinkhani
saman_h@modares.ac.ir
5
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
LEAD_AUTHOR
ORIGINAL_ARTICLE
LSPR-based Colorimetric Biosensor Design for Effective Immunodetection of Vibrio Cholerae O1
Cholera is a known intestinal infection caused by toxigenic bacteria called Vibrio cholera and is a global threat to public health. Therefore, achieving accurate and affordable diagnostic management is challenging. In this study, a colorimetric-based immunoassay has been developed to direct the detection of V. cholerae O1. Initially, the gold nanoparticles synthesis program and its polyclonal antibody-based electrostatic surface modification were managed by dynamic light scattering (DLS), Zeta potential (Zp), and Ultraviolet (UV)-visible spectroscopy. Finally, Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) monitoring and plasmonic nanoprobes color-changing were evaluated in the presence of different concentrations of V. cholerae O1 and its related bacteria. Accordingly, the detection range of the designed LSPR-biosensor was evaluated by significantly reduced absorption and redshift of 5 nm via increasing the antigen concentration from 10 to 103 CFU/ ml. In addition, the visible color-changing of the nanoprobe suspension was confirmed for all vials containing the target antigen in less than 1 hour. Meanwhile, there was also a significant shift for V. cholerae O1 bacteria via reducing the power of absorbance in comparison to typically intestinal bacteria. In conclusion, we suggest our colorimetric biosensor can enhance the accurate monitoring of V. cholerae O1 to limit the unexpected spread of the cholera epidemic.
https://www.bmmj.org/article_253988_8fae88128033d86484787e764a8faad9.pdf
2021-06-01
25
34
Vibrio cholerae O1
Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance
Colorimetric detection
Biosensor
Immunoassay
Ghazale
Faridfar
ahoo_fafa69@yahoo.com
1
Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Malek Ashtar University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
AUTHOR
Mehdi
Zeinoddini
zeinoddini@yahoo.com
2
Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Mallek Ashtar University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
LEAD_AUTHOR
Shahin
Faridfar
s.faridfar@gmail.com
3
Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Malek Ashtar University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
AUTHOR
Ali Reza
Saeedinia
a.saeedinia@modares.ac.ir
4
Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Malek Ashtar University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.
AUTHOR
ORIGINAL_ARTICLE
Myrcene Consumption and Restrain Stress: An In Vivo Comparative Study on an Alzheimer’s Disease Model and In Vitro Investigation on Abeta Fibrils
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by amyloid plaques and neuronal death. Natural therapies have always attracted attention against AD. Herein, Myrcene, as a natural monoterpene, was applied to examine its protective and therapeutic effects on a rat model of AD along with short-term restraint stress. In order to create Alzheimer’s rat model, bilateral injection of Amyloid β1–42 was performed into rats’ hippocampus. Both therapeutic (post-AD induction) and preventive effects of Myrcene consumption (100 mg/kg) were investigated on the antioxidant and behavioral parameters as well as neurogenesis and brain amyloid plaque formation. Meanwhile, the effects of restraint stress was observed. Moreover, the effect of Myrcene (100 µM) was observed on Aβ1–42 fibrils in vitro. Alzheimer’s-induced group showed impairment in the memory and antioxidant parameters along with amyloid plaque formation and loss of neuronal cells. Administration of Myrcene, in both treatment and protective modes increased neurogenesis, reduced amyloid plaques, and improved antioxidant parameters as well as memory even during applying restraint stress. Therefore, Myrcene showed capability of improving AD signs in vivo as well as direct anti-fibril effect in vitro and therefore could be considered as neuroprotective agent.
https://www.bmmj.org/article_253990_f586ea99dcd35e7aad3fa11b89666f0a.pdf
2021-06-01
35
43
Myrcene
Restraint stress
Aβ42
Memory
Amyloid plaques
Neurogenesis
Hamid-Reza
Alipour
alipor.hamidreza@yahoo.com
1
Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
AUTHOR
Maryam
Ghobeh
ghobeh@srbiau.ac.ir
2
Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
AUTHOR
Shahin
Ahmadian
sh.ahmadian@ut.ac.ir
3
Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
AUTHOR
Azadeh
Ebrahim-Habibi
aehabibi@sina.tums.ac.ir
4
Biosensor Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Molecular-Cellular Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinical Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
AUTHOR
Parichehreh
Yaghmaei
yaghmaei_p@srbiau.ac.ir
5
Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
LEAD_AUTHOR
ORIGINAL_ARTICLE
Synthesis of Highly Fluorescent Copper Nanoclusters: Box-Behnken Design Based Statistical Modeling and Optimization
Copper nanoclusters (CuNCs) due to their fascinating physical and chemical properties and unique fluorescence characteristics have attracted great attention in the past decade. Compared to gold and silver NCs, CuNCs are relatively cheaper which makes them more attractive in development of sensing platforms. However, they still have limitations such as low quantum yield and susceptibility to oxidation. Herein, BSA as a scaffold, stabilizer, and protective agent has been used for CuNCs synthesis via a bottom-up approach. The effects of synthesis time, copper salt and BSA concentration in fluorescence intensities of the NCs were studied, modeled, and optimized in the form of Box-Behnken design. Finally, to validate the model, CuNCs were synthesized by the predicted optimal conditions and their optical properties were compared with the model predictions. The BSA/CuNCs synthesized in this work showed two fluorescence peaks at 400 nm and 670 nm relating to NCs with different sizes. The model proposed the optimal conditions for synthesis of 400nm emitting CuNCs as copper salt concentration of 10.05 mM, BSA concentration of 27.69 mg/ml and synthesis time of 3.3h. The optimal condition for production of 670nm emitting CuNCs was determined as copper salt concentration of 19.97mM, BSA concentration of 10.1 mg/ml and synthesis time of 3.61h. CuNCs were then synthesized for validation of the model, and their emission at 400 nm and 670 nm were 90.6% and 94.9% in agreement with the model predictions, respectively.
https://www.bmmj.org/article_254004_376ff19d6209a2ea97af619cd9270d25.pdf
2021-06-01
44
54
Copper nanocluster
BSA
Fluorescence
Box-Behnken
Optimization
Hamed
Sabzalipoor
h.sabzalipoor@modares.ac.ir
1
Department of Nanobiotechnology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
AUTHOR
Elham
Karimi
elhamkarimi859@gmail.com
2
Department of Nanobiotechnology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
AUTHOR
Maryam
Nikkhah
m_nikkhah@modares.ac.ir
3
Department of Nanobiotechnology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
LEAD_AUTHOR
ORIGINAL_ARTICLE
Evaluation of Vitamin B2 Production by Lactobacilli Isolated from Local Iranian Cheeses
In general, vitamin B plays an important role in the cell's metabolic cycle. It stimulates and promotes cell growth and division. Lactobacillus is valued today for its important role in gastrointestinal health and its ability to produce vitamins, including the vitamins B group. These probiotic bacteria are used as initiators in dairy products, especially traditional cheeses. In this study, 16 cheese samples were collected from Markazi province in Iran and their lactobacilli bacteria were isolated. Molecular identification of Lactobacillus species was performed by the 16S rRNA method using specific primers. The identified bacteria (five species of Lactobacillus) were examined for production of vitamin B2. All isolates were able to produce vitamin B2, the highest level by the L. fermentum strain SK152 was 285.8 µg/ml, while the lowest level was 21.42 µg/ml produced by L. delbruckeii subsp strain: YIT 0080. According to our results based on the differences in vitamin B2 production on isolated bacteria from local cheeses and the important role of these micronutrients in human life, it is recommended to consume traditional cheeses as a good source of vitamin B groups in daily regimen.
https://www.bmmj.org/article_254053_a9057d92d157b8ddfa2cc829960fcb5f.pdf
2021-06-01
55
59
Vitamin B2
HPLC
Lactobacillus
Native cheeses
Iraj
Hasani
ihassani42@yahoo.com
1
Department of Food Science and Technology, Sciences and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
AUTHOR
Abbas
Akhavan Sepahi
akhavansepahy@gmail.com
2
Department of Biology (Microbiology), Tehran North Branch., Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
AUTHOR
Shahram
Shoeibi
shoeibi@yahoo.com
3
Food and Drug Laboratory Research Center (FDLRC), Iran Food and Drug Administration (IFDA), MOHME, Tehran, Iran
LEAD_AUTHOR
Gholamhassan
Asadi
asadi@srbaiu.ac.ir
4
Food Science and Technology Dept., Sciences and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
AUTHOR
ORIGINAL_ARTICLE
The Effect of 3-Carene on Memory, Histological, and Biochemical Parameters in Male Wistar Alzheimer's Rats
Alzheimer's disease (AD), as the most common type of dementia, gradually leads to a decrease in memory, speech, and other cognitive skills that affect a person's ability to perform daily activities. With the increase in the incidence of this disease, especially in old ages, there is a need to identify factors and drugs for prevention or treatment. In the present study, the effect of 3-Carene was investigated on behavioral, biochemical and histological parameters in Alzheimer’s-induced Wistar male rats by beta-amyloid (Aβ42) injection. Forty two Wistar male rats were randomly assigned to 7 groups (n= 6 rats/group), including control group without any treatments; PBS group receiving phosphate buffer (Aβ42 solvent); AD group with Aβ42 injection into rats’ hippocampus; sham group receiving corn oil (3-Carene solvent); two treatment groups receiving 3-Carene at 200 and 400 μg/kg after being injected with Aβ42; the protective group receiving 3-Carene (400μg/kg) before beta-amyloid injection in a protective mode. The results demonstrated that 3-Carene improved the memory, lipid profile, amyloid plaques, and superoxide dismutase activity and malondialdehyde level, whereas Alzheimer’s-induced group showed impairment in all examined parameters. Protection with 3-Carene also demonstrated similar improvements against AD. Hence, 3-Carene has shown capability of improving the amyloid plaques, memory as well as biochemical factors associated with AD.
https://www.bmmj.org/article_254871_587d4c52fe7a16731ebb4363e2374f4c.pdf
2021-06-01
60
69
Alzheimer's disease
3-Carene
Amyloid plaques
Memory
Biochemical parameters
Reza
Valian
rezavalian.r@gmail.com
1
Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
AUTHOR
Maryam
Ghobeh
ghobeh@srbiau.ac.ir
2
Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
LEAD_AUTHOR
Parichehreh
Yaghmaei
yaghmaei_p@yahoo.com
3
Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
AUTHOR