Purpose: Proteoglycans (PGs) are negatively charged macromolecules containing a core protein and single or several glycosaminoglycan chains attached by covalent bond.They are distributed in all tissues, including extracellular matrix (ECM), cell surface, and basement membrane. They are involved in major pathways and cell signalling cascades which modulate several vital physiological functions of the body. They have also emerged as a target molecule for cancer treatment and as possible biomarkers for early cancer detection. Among cancers, breast cancer is a highly invasive and heterogenous type and has become the major cause of mortality especially among women. So, this review revisits the studies on PGs characterization in breast cancer using LC-MS/MSbased proteomics approach, which will be further helpful for identification of potential PGs-based biomarkers or therapeutic targets.Experimental design: There is a lack of comprehensive knowledge on the use of LC-MS/MS-based proteomics approaches to identify and characterize PGs in breast cancer. Results: LC-MS/MS assisted PGs characterization in breast cancer revealed the vitalPGs in breast cancer invasion and progression. In addition, comprehensive profiling and characterization of PGs in breast cancer are efficiently carried out by this approach. Conclusions: Proteomics techniques including LC-MS/MS-based identification of proteoglycans is effectively carried out in breast cancer research. Identification of expression at different stages of breast cancer is a major challenge, and LC-MS/MSbased profiling of PGs can boost novel strategies to treat breast cancer, which involve targeting PGs, and also aid early diagnosis using PGs as biomarkers.

Essential oils, which are the plant derived secondary metabolites have been reported for various traditional medicinal applications. Amongst them, lemongrass oil (LGO) derived from Cymbopogon spp. as well as its major constituent citral possess a myriad of therapeutic potentials. The present study has been undertaken to study the adverse effects of LGO and citral on acute oral exposure to Sprague Dawley rats to establish the preliminary safety of these compounds prior to their efficacy evaluation against fatty liver disease. The toxicity study was conducted as per OECD guidelines No. 420. The LGO and citral were solubilized in 1% tween 80 and administered orally in a sequential manner in one animal at 2000 mg/kg (sighting study) followed by four animals (main study). The animals were then monitored for any clinical abnormalities or mortality and body weight gain during the observational period of 14- days, after which the animals were sacrificed and examined for abnormal lesions. LGO was further subjected to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis to characterize its chemical constituents, which revealed alpha and beta citral as the two major constituents. The rats treated with LGO and citral survived throughout the study period and didn’t exhibit any clinical abnormalities. Moreover, body weight gain was comparable to the vehicle treated rats and necropsy revealed no pathological alterations. Thus, the present study indicated LGO and citral as safe compounds with an LD50 greater than 2000 mg/kg and could be labelled as category 5/unclassified in hazard category of Globally harmonized system for classification of chemicals.

There is a widespread agreement to lower the quantity of animals used in the scientific research and education. Fewer animals should be used in the scientific and educational research practices. Major alternative to in-vivo trails are the encouragement in the use of in-vitro techniques. In late 1950,s it was proposed to decrease the number of animals in in-vivo studies. Efforts should be made to decrease and substitute them with non-sentimental alternatives. The public concerns about animal use, and ethical issues in scientific trails were seen due to the increased use of animal models in scientific research and education. The learning goals of these laboratory works need careful considerations which may lead to an idea of using the alternative methods in research. It will also help to standardise the use of animals in the in vivo experimentation. In this review the overall types of alternatives and standardization in the use of animals in scientific research and education are discussed.