BackgroundCurrently, natural products have built a well-recognized role in the management of many degenerative diseases, mainly rheumatoid arthritis. Recent studies suggest that Spirulina, a unicellular blue-green alga, may have a variety of health benefits and curative properties and is also competent of acting as an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and recently anti-angiogenic agent. In the present study, the antioxidant and the immunomodulatory effect of Spirulina platensis as well as its anti-angiogenic effect against complete Freund's adjuvant-induced arthritis (AIA) in rat model were tested.ResultsWe found that the development of arthritis was concealed; moreover it successfully inhibited the development of macroscopic as well as microscopic and histopathological lesions in AIA rats when compared to control. Spirulina treated group showed a higher survival rate and moreover, it reduced the clinical score of RA in a dose dependent manner. Furthermore, Spirulina decreased serum levels of COX-2, TNF-α, IL-6, TBARS, VEGF and increased serum levels of GSH compared to the RA non-treated group.ConclusionsThe present study concluded that Spirulina is able to restrain the changes produced through adjuvant-induced arthritis. The suppressing effect of Spirulina could be attributed, at least in part, to anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-angiogenic properties.

In rats with AIA, current drug combinations provided higher therapeutic benefit compared to monotherapies, however, greater toxicities were observed. Therefore, continuous monitoring of hematologic parameters and liver function will be recommended in clinical settings.

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Doxorubicin (DXR) is a broad-spectrum anti-cancer. Doxorubicin irreversible toxicity resulting from oxidative damage limits its therapeutic use. Boswellic acids (BAs) are inhibitors of 5-lipoxygenase and have been used in traditional medicine for their powerful anti-inflammatory effects and cellular protective effects. This study tested the protecting mechanisms of BAs against nephrotoxicity induced by DXR in mice and explored their antioxidant and antiapoptotic activities in the form of immunohistochemical expression of Bcl2 in the tissue of the kidney. DXR (6 mg/kg) was injected intraperitoneally weekly to mice along with BAs (125, 250 and 500 mg/kg) daily. The experiment continued for three weeks. It was found that the elevated serum urea and creatinine in DXR-treated mice were ameliorated by BAs. Furthermore, BAs decreased malondialdehyde and increased glutathione levels in renal tissues of DXR-treated mice. The immunostained kidney tissue showed an antiapoptotic effect for BAs as it increased expression of Bcl2 in mice co-treated with BAs with DXR compared to the DXR control mice. Western blot analysis demonstrated that DXR control group showed greater expression for renal caspase 3 and mice administered BAs (125-500 mg/kg) along with DXR showed significant downregulations. These findings were supported by the DNA laddering assay and histopathological examination of renal tissues stained with haematoxylin+eosin or periodic acid Schiff. Results suggest BAs for nephroprotection against toxicity induced by DXR.

During march – May 2020, chikungunya (CHIK), an arboviral infection, has spread throughout the all area of Aden and Lahj governorate, infecting thousands of people.The study investigated haematological parameters and Clinical features of CHIK virus infected patients attending outpatient clinic at Al-shafa and Algamaheer medical center, Aden and Lahj, Yemen. 50 selected patients within the age of 14- 60 years were involved in the study according to the clinical features. The most common feature of the CHIKV infection was arthralgia and high fever. Other clinical manifestations reported as, headache, joint pain, redness of joints , swelling of joints vomiting and Fatigue Blood samples were collected and analyzed using Sysmex automated haematology analyzer for CBC test.Results showed the emergence of lymphopenia (15.7 ± 6.18%) , neutrophils (73.8 ± 6.98%) and the complete white blood cell (WBC) counts was 4.8 ± 1.4 103/μL in patients. The platelets (PLT) counts ranged from 92-244 103/μL (mean: 160 ± 47.4x103/μL). The hemoglobin decreased in 30 % of cases and was about (10 ± 1.2 g/dl) in children. By day 5 of illness the neutrophil and lymphocyte count had recovered to normal range, but the arthralgia and joint pain was continued for weeks. In addition of Clinical features, the neutrophils and lymphopenia was the main hematological indices of CHIK, in lack of CHIK antigen detection