This study investigates the effect and mechanisms of low pressure dielectric barrier discharge (LPDBD) produced with Ar/O2 and Ar/Air technique causing biological stimulation leading to improved germination and growth in wheat. Both plasma treatments caused rougher and chapped seed surface along with noticeable improvement in seed germination in wheat. Beside this, seed H2O2 concentration significantly increased compared to controls subjected to Ar/O2 and Ar/Air while this phenomenon was more pronounced due to Ar/Air plasma. Analysis of plants grown from the plasma treated seeds showed significant improvement in shoot characteristics, iron concentration, total soluble protein and sugar concentration in comparison with the controls more efficiently due to Ar/O2 plasma than that of Ar/Air. Further, none of the plasma treatments caused membrane damage or cell death in root and shoot of wheat. Interestingly, Ar/O2 treated plants showed a significant increase (2-fold) of H2O2 compared to controls in both root and shoot, while Ar/Air plasma caused no changes in H2O2. This phenomenon was supported by the biochemical and molecular evidence of SOD, APX and CAT in wheat plants. Plants derived from Ar/O2 treated seeds demonstrated a significant increase in SOD activity and TaSOD expression in roots of wheat, while APX and CAT activities along with TaCAT and TaAPX expression showed no significant changes. In contrast, Ar/Air plasma caused a significant increase only in APX activity in the shoot. This suggests that Ar/O2 plasma caused a slight induction in H2O2 accumulation without triggering the H2O2 scavengers (APX and CAT) and thus, efficiency affect growth and development in wheat plants. Further, grafting of control and Ar/O2 treated plants showed a significant increase in shoot biomass and H2O2 concentration in grafts having Ar/O2 rootstock regardless of the type scion attached to it. It indicates that signal driving Ar/O2 plasma mediated growth improvement in wheat is possibly originated in roots. Taken together, this paper delivers new insight into the mechanistic basis for growth improvement by LPDBD technique.

Cancer is a class of diseases characterized by uncontrolled cell growth. The current treatment options of cancer are radiotherapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and surgery, where all of them have unpleasant side effects. Due to their adverse side effects, it is challenging to develop new drug for cancer treatment. Hence, the scientists are trying to seek for noble compounds from natural sources to treat cancer. Therefore, in the present investigation, a widely consumable vegetable Basella alba was subjected to evaluate its antiproliferative effect along with molecular signaling of apoptosis in Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) cell line. Cell growth inhibition was determined by haemocytometer whereas apoptosis of cancer cells were studied by florescence microscope using Hoechst-33342 stain and result was supported by DNA fragmentation and certain cancer related genes expression through PCR analysis. B. alba leaf and seed extract exhibit a considerable scavenging activity in comparison to a standard antioxidant BHT. Moreover, the leaf and seed extracts were able to agglutinate 2% RBC of goat blood at minimum 12.5μg/ml and 50.0μg/ml concentration, respectively. A significant cytotoxic activity was also found in both leaf and seed extract. In haemocytometic observation, the leaf and seed extracts exhibit about 62.54±2.41% and 53.96±2.34% cell growth inhibition, respectively, whereas standard anticancer drug Bleomycin showed 79.43±1.92% growth inhibition. Morphological alteration under fluorescence microscope showed nuclear condensation and fragmentation which is the sign of apoptosis. Apoptosis induction was also confirmed by DNA laddering in leaf and seed treated EAC cells. Upregulation of the tumor suppressor gene P53 and downregulation of antiapoptotic gene Bcl-2 enumerate apoptosis induction. Therefore, current study manifested that leaf and seed extracts of B. alba have antiproliferative activity against EAC cell line and can be a potent source of anticancer agents to treat cancer.

No abstract

Nickel is a fundamental element for healthy life for human and higher animals. For biological importance, its complexation with bioactive ligand is worth to be studied with the aim to understand its function. Using mouse peritoneal cancer model, MTT colorimetric assay and anticancer activity analysis, we examined the role of nickel(ll) complex in growth inhibition of cancer cells. A novel nickel(ll) complex was synthesized and characterized using physico‐chemical and spectroscopic techniques. The study indicated that both the ligand and complex were capable of inhibiting Ehrlich Ascites Carcinoma (EAC) cells growth by 28.21% and 44.52%, respectively, when administered 0.3 mg/kg/day body weight intraperitoneally for five consecutive days in Swiss Webstar mice. Determination the LD50 of the complex (55 mg/kg) allowed adjusting the dose as 2.75 mg/kg and upon administration, inhibition increased to 69.36%. The ligand and complex have shown an inhibitory effect in the range of 4.86%–67.3% and 6.1%‐ 89.37%, respectively, against EAC cells (concentration range of 31.25–500 μg/ml) in RPMI‐1640 medium as determined by MTT colorimetric assay. Apoptotic cell morphological alteration was determined through optical and fluorescence microscopy. Up regulation of P53, Bax, Cas‐8, Cas‐3 and Fas and down regulation of NF‐kB and Bcl‐2 gene expression were observed in the cells treated with the nickel(ll) complex for five consecutive days. In conclusion, the newly synthesized nickel(ll) complex has shown anti‐proliferative activity and can further be optimized to be used as a lead molecule for anticancer drug.

Excessive use of pesticides in agricultural fields is a matter of great concern for living beings as well as the environment across the world, in particular, the third world countries. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find out an effective way to degrade these hazardous chemicals from the soil in an environment-friendly way. In the current project, a bacterial species were isolated through enrichment culture from carbofuran-supplemented rice-field soil and identified as a carbofuran degrader. The rate of carbofuran degradation by this bacterial species was evaluated using reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), which confirmed the ability to utilize as a carbon source up to 4 µg/ml of 99% technical grade carbofuran. The morphological, physiological, biochemical characteristics and phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA sequence showed that this strain belongs to the genus of Enterobacter sp. (sequence accession number LC368285 in DDBJ), and the optimum growth condition for the isolated strain was 37°C at pH 7.0. Moreover, an antibiotic sensitivity test showed that it was susceptible to azithromycin, penicillin, ceftazidime, ciprofloxacin, and gentamycin, and the minimal inhibitory concentration value of gentamycin was 400 μg/ml against the bacteria. It shows beyond doubt from the RP-HPLC quantification that the isolated bacterium has the ability to detoxify carbofuran (99% pure).Finally, the obtained results imply that the isolated strain of Enterobacter can be used as a potential and effective carbofuran degrader for bioremediation of contaminated sites through bioaugmentation. K E Y W O R D S antibiotic sensitivity, biodegradation, carbofuran, cytotoxicity, RP-HPLC How to cite this article: Ekram MA-E, Sarker I, Rahi MS, Rahman MA, Saha AK, Reza MA. Efficacy of soil-borne Enterobacter sp. for carbofuran degradation: HPLC quantitation of degradation rate.