Chloroquine (CLQ) and Pyrimethamine (PYR) are used for the treatment of malaria and some autoimmune diseases; although their mechanism of action is only partially understood, their therapeutic effectiveness in the second case has been attributed to their ability to increase apoptosis of T lymphocytes. In view of the potential for immunomodulation during malaria chemotherapy, we investigated the effects of CLQ and PYR treatment on lymphocyte apoptosis and cytokine expression during infection with blood‐stage Plasmodium. This work shows that infection of BALB/c mice with Plasmodium yoelii 17XL (Py17XL) reduced apoptosis in spleen cells but when infected mice were treated with CLQ, apoptosis of B and T lymphocytes increased significantly via a Fas‐mRNA expression independent mechanism associated with downregulation of Bcl‐2 expression, whereas treatment with PYR increased apoptosis to a lesser extent and only in B lymphocytes. CLQ treatment of Py17XL infected mice upregulated tumour necrosis factor‐α mRNA expression, while PYR treatment increased interferon‐γ mRNA expression. In infected mice, treatment with CLQ downregulated expression of the anti‐inflammatory cytokines, interleukin‐10 and transforming growth factor‐β (TGF‐β), while PYR treatment upregulated TGF‐β. Thus, in addition to their anti‐malarial effects, both drugs modulate the immune response in malaria by increasing apoptosis and modulating the mRNA expression of cytokines involved in parasite elimination and regulation of inflammatory responses.

Tissue storage is a medical process that is in the regulation and homogenisation phase in the scientific world. The international standards require the need to ensure safety and efficacy of human allografts such as skin and other tissues. The activities of skin and tissues banks currently involve their recovery, processing, storage and distribution, which are positively correlated with technological and scientific advances present in current biomedical sciences. A description is presented of the operational model of Skin and Tissue Bank at INR as successful case for procurement, recovery and preservation of skin and tissues for therapeutic uses, with high safety and biological quality. The essential and standard guidelines are presented as keystones for a tissue recovery program based on scientific evidence, and within an ethical and legal framework, as well as to propose a model for complete overview of the donation of tissues and organ programs in Mexico. Finally, it concludes with essential proposals for improving the efficacy of transplantation of organs and tissue programs.

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Abstract:The production of free radicals is a natural process in aerobic organisms due to the mitochondrial activity. Usually the cells have several mechanisms for scavenging those free radicals, but, in several pathologic processes, such as cancer, those free radicals increase their production, making it impossible to sustain the system stable, generating the condition called oxidative stress. Ruta graveolens L. (Rue) is a plant commonly used in traditional medicine, mainly as antiinflamatory; this has been related to some organic components, such as Rutin, but there hasn't been any lectin studies in Rue stem. Lectins are glycoproteins of non-enzymatic and no immune origin, able to bind to simple carbohydrates, which lets them bind selectively to malignant cells against normal cells, killing them via apoptosis and reducing the free radicals level. In this study we intended to characterize rue stem lectins as those weren't reported yet. Also, the anticancer and antioxidant activity of these lectins was evaluated, Rue stem lectins were extracted using a saline solution and semipurified to obtain an enriched extract and administrated to nickel oxide treated mice. Oxidative stress was cuantified using the tiobarbituric acid (TBARS) method to quantify Malondialdehyde (MDA), the Griess method to cuantify Nitrites and enzymatic activity of catalase were cuantified in liver. In this study was found that rue stem lectins are useful as a therapeutic auxiliar, considering that its ratio of antioxidant activity is limited, being a prooxidant agent at high concentrations.