Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the most common endocrinal diseases characterized by hyperglycemia and altered metabolism of lipids, carbohydrates, and proteins with an increased risk of many complications. Bioactive drugs extracted from natural sources had been used in a wide range of treatment for many diseases. This work aimed to investigate the potential antidiabetic effect of Egyptian honey bee venom (BV) in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Subjects and methods: Forty adult male albino rats (140-180 g) were used in the study and divided into five groups each of eight rats. The normal control group, diabetic group, high-and low-dose BV-treated groups, and vildagliptintreated group. Blood samples and pancreases were collected after 6 weeks of the experiment. Results: Treatment of diabetic rats with BV revealed a significant decrease in serum glucose level accompanied by a significant increase in insulin level. Malondialdehyde (MDA), cholesterol, triglycerides, creatinine, and aminotransferases (ALT and AST) levels were significantly decreased after BV treatment in comparison with diabetic animals. Total antioxidant capacity (TAC), glutathione (GSH) contents, and catalase (CAT) activity had improved. Histological examination of the pancreas indicated a marked improvement in the islet architecture and marked regeneration of insulin-secreting β-cell in diabetic BV-treated rats. Conclusion: The study concluded that BV could have the ability to lower glucose level in diabetic rats and enhance insulin secretion, and relieved the various biochemical and histological abnormalities resulted due to diabetes metabolic disorders.

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Pollution of the environment with heavy metals is a serious problem that is recognized in most countries in the world. Lake Timsah as an important lake in Suez Canal is highly polluted and receiving different sources of contaminations. However, attention and alarm thresholds of these parameters only concern the toxic effects of the polluting substances studied and do not take into consideration the question of chronic exposure at low doses of noxious chemicals. The physico-chemical parameters only provide snapshots of the condition of a water body and don't provide the integrative measure of overall health of any water body. On the other hand, crustaceans are used as bio-indicators in various aquatic systems in bio-accumulation experiments and in field studies. The crustacean isopod, Sphaeroma serratum which is found in large numbers at Lake Timsah was used for further investigation for detecting its DNA damages cause by the pollution. The comet assay technique which derives its name from the comet-like shape that cells with damaged DNA acquire was applied in this study in order to investigate on what level such poor water conditions in Lake Timsah can deform the DNA of its biota. It is recommended than other tests as it requires only a very small number of cells and these cells do not need to be undergoing active division. The present study confirmed the applicability of the alkaline comet assay technique as a sensitive tool for environmental monitoring. Also, it can be suggested that aquatic S. serratum which is a very tolerant species can resist pollution and can be used as a reliable bio-indicator of DNA damage.

The ISSR-PCR and karyological analysis methods are successfully used to detect the genetic variations between the different species of fishes, especially these belonging to the same family. The aim of this study was to determine the karyotypes and molecular genetic variations of three species of family Osphronemidae, Trichogaster trichopterus, Trichogaster leeri and Colisa laliaby using ISSR-PCR and chromosomal analysis. Samples were collected from ornamental fish farms in Egypt. The diploid chromosome numbers and Fundamental numbers for species under study were 2n = 46 and FN = 46, 2n = 46 and FN = 46, 2n = 46 and FN = 70 respectively, the first two species have same karyotype but the third species was different. The ISSR-PCR analysis was carried out using ten primers. All primers were successfully amplified on the genomic DNA extracted from all studied fish species. These findings indicate that ISSR-PCR and cytogenetic analysis are very useful in determination of genetic molecular variations and relationship degree between the species which belong to same family.

Pollinator declines have raised major concerns for the maintenance of biodiversity and food security, calling for a better understanding of environmental factors that affect their health. Here we used hemolymph analysis, a cheap, simple, yet powerful approach, to monitor the health state of Western honey bees Apis mellifera. We evaluated the intraspecific proteomic variations and the biological activities of hemolymph of bees collected from four Egyptian localities characterized by different food diversities and abundances. Lowest protein concentrations and the weakest bioactivities were recorded in hemolymph of bees artificially fed sucrose solution and no pollen. By contrast, highest protein concentrations and activities were recorded in bees that had the opportunity to feed on various natural resources. While future studies should expand comparisons to honey bee populations exposed to more different diets, our results strongly suggest hemolymph samples can be used as reliable indicators of bee nutrition and health.