Melatonin Mediates Cardiac Tissue Damage under Septic Conditions Induced by Lipopolysaccharide.

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is known to induce oxidative stress and inflammation, leading to significant damage in cardiac tissues. This study investigates the protective effects of melatonin (MLT) against LPS-induced oxidative damage, inflammation, and apoptosis in rat heart tissue. Rats were divided into four groups ( = 6 per group): control, melatonin-treated, LPS-treated, and LPS + melatonin-treated.

Melatonin as a Promising Anti-Inflammatory Agent in an In Vivo Animal Model of Sepsis-Induced Rat Liver Damage.

Melatonin (MLT), earlier described as an effective anti-inflammatory agent, could be a beneficial adjunctive drug for sepsis treatment. This study aimed to determine the effects of MLT application in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced sepsis in Wistar rats by determining the levels of liver tissue pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6) and NF-κB as well as hematological parameters indicating the state of sepsis. Additionally, an immunohistological analysis of CD14 molecule expression was conducted.

Melatonin treatment prevents carbon tetrachloride-induced acute lung injury in rats by mitigating tissue antioxidant capacity and inflammatory response.

Aim: Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) is an organic chemical that produces different tissue‑damaging effects when ingested or inhaled. Present study aims to determine whether the application of exogenous melatonin, a neurohormone with numerous biological properties, can prevent disturbances in lung tissue antioxidative capacities and arginine metabolism, tissue inflammation and oxidative damage induced by exposure to CCl4 in rats.

Methods: The effects of melatonin on the changes occurring in rat lung tissue after an acute exposure to CCl4 were studied by monitoring alterations in antioxidant capacities, inflammatory parameters, parameters of arginine metabolism, and lipid and protein oxidative damage.

Anthocyanins Protect Hepatocytes against CCl-Induced Acute Liver Injury in Rats by Inhibiting Pro-inflammatory mediators, Polyamine Catabolism, Lipocalin-2, and Excessive Proliferation of Kupffer Cells.

This study examined the hepatoprotective and anti-inflammatory effects of anthocyanins from Vaccinim myrtillus (bilberry) fruit extract on the acute liver failure caused by carbon tetrachloride-CCl (3 mL/kg, i.p.).

Comorbidities in children with intellectual disabilities.

Background: Intellectual disability (ID) is registered in 2%-3% of newborns. In most cases, the causes are not identifiable.

Objective: We explored the correlation between the intellectual disability and gestational age, birth weight, Apgar score, familial diseases, congenital anomalies, and acquired medical disorders, with the aim to estimate the prevalence and severity of comorbidities in the affected children.

Design and development of novel therapeutics for brucellosis treatment based on carbonic anhydrase inhibition.

Carbonic anhydrase is a metalloprotein, an enzyme with strong inhibition in antibacterial treatment. This study presents QSAR modeling for a series of 41 chemical compounds, 40 sulfonamides and one sulfamate, including 13 clinically tested drugs as carbonic anhydrase inhibitors based on the Monte Carlo optimization with molecular descriptors based on the SMILES notation and local invariants of the molecular graph, and field 3D based methods. Conformation independent QSAR models were developed for three random splits and a 3D QSAR model for one random split into the training and test sets.

Two different melatonin treatment regimens prevent an increase in kidney injury marker-1 induced by carbon tetrachloride in rat kidneys.

Acute kidney injury is a frequent disorder that can be mimicked by the application of different nephrotoxic agents, including carbon tetrachloride (CCl), where kidney injury marker-1 (KIM-1) has been recognized as a highly specific marker. Melatonin is one of the most powerful natural antioxidants and has numerous beneficial properties. We evaluated the nephroprotective potential of 2 melatonin treatment regimens (pre- and post-intoxication) in a CCl-induced acute kidney injury model based on the standard serum parameters, kidney tissue antioxidative capacity, KIM-1 levels, and kidney tissue morphological changes.

Supplementation with L-arginine affects its metabolizing pathways in rat liver subjected to bile duct ligation.

Liver cholestasis is known to accompany several major liver disorders and is adequately mimicked in rats by ligation of the bile duct (BDL). L-arginine is a semi-essential amino acid which is involved in several important metabolic pathways that are significantly affected during cholestasis. This study was conducted in order to contribute to the understanding of the enrolment of L-arginine supplementation in cholestatic liver function.

Exogenous putrescine affects polyamine and arginine metabolism in rat liver following bile ductus ligation.

Rat bile duct ligation (BDL) represents a useful method that mimics obstructive extrahepatic cholestasis, which is known to be a frequent disorder in humans. Polyamines (putrescine, spermidine, and spermine) are one of the key molecules regulating cell proliferation and differentiation. This work aimed to evaluate the potential beneficial properties of putrescine in rat BDL model by studying several biochemical parameters reflecting liver function and polyamine metabolism.

Oxidative stress, NOx/l-arginine ratio and glutathione/glutathione S-transferase ratio as predictors of 'sterile inflammation' in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis and hepatorenal syndrome type II.

Continuous intake of alcohol leads to liver cirrhosis because of imbalance of oxidative stress/antioxidative defense and chronic 'sterile inflammation'. Hepatorenal syndrome (HRS) is the most severe complication of liver cirrhosis. The aim of our study was to assess: (1) the oxidative stress/antioxidative defense markers such as malondialdehyde (MDA), oxidative glutathione (GSH) and glutathione S-transferase (GST), (2) inflammation [C-reactive protein (CRP)], and (3) nitrate/nitrite levels (NOx) and its substrate L-arginine level.

Pre- vs. post-treatment with melatonin in CCl-induced liver damage: Oxidative stress inferred from biochemical and pathohistological studies.

Aims: The present study was designed to compare the ameliorating potential of pre- and post-treatments with melatonin, a potent natural antioxidant, in the carbon tetrachloride-induced rat liver damage model by tracking changes in enzymatic and non-enzymatic liver tissue defense parameters, as well as in the occurring pathohistological changes.

Main Methods: Rats from two experimental groups were treated with melatonin before and after CCl administration, while the controls, negative and positive, received vehicle/melatonin and CCl, respectively. Serum levels of transaminases, alkaline phosphates, γ-GT, bilirubin, and albumin, as well as a wide panel of oxidative stress-related parameters in liver tissue, were determined in all experimental animals.

Diagnostic significance of nitrates and nitrites and L-arginine, in development of hepatorenal syndrome in patients with end stage alcoholic liver cirrhosis.

Hepatorenal syndrome (HRS) represents a complication of the end-stage liver cirrhosis. The aim of the present study was to analyze concentrations of nitrates and nitrites (NO2 + NO3) and L-arginine in patients with liver cirrhosis and HRS as a possible predictive marker for the development of HRS. The research was performed in a group of 28 patients with cirrhosis and HRS, a group of 22 patients suffering from cirrhosis without HRS and a control group comprised of 42 healthy voluntary blood donors.

Diagnostical significance of dimethylarginine in the development of hepatorenal syndrome in patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis.

Background/aim: Chronic consumption of alcohol during a longer period of time leads to the development of cirrhosis with the reduction in metabolic liver function and disorders in arginine metabolism. Hepatorenal syndrome (HRS) is the most severe complication of alcoholic liver cirrhosis. The aim of the study was to analyze disorders in arginine metabolism by monitoring concentrations of asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) in patients with liver cirrhosis and HRS.