Lactoferrin is an 80 kDa bilobal, iron binding glycoprotein which is primarily antimicrobial in nature. The hydrolysis of lactoferrin by various proteases in the gut produces several functional fragments of lactoferrin which have varying molecular sizes and properties. Here, bovine lactoferrin has been hydrolyzed by trypsin, the major enzyme present in the gut, to produce three functional molecules of sizes approximately 21 kDa, 38 kDa and 45 kDa. The molecules have been purified using ion exchange and gel filtration chromatography and identified using N-terminal sequencing, which reveals that while the 21 kDa molecule corresponds to the N2 domain (21LF), the 38 kDa represents the whole C-lobe (38LF) and the 45 kDa is a portion of N1 domain of N-lobe attached to the C-lobe (45LF). The iron binding and release properties of 21LF, 38LF and 45LF have been studied and compared. The sequence and structure analysis of the portions of the excision sites of LF from various species have been done. The antibacterial properties of these three molecules against bacterial strains, Streptococcus pyogenes, Escherichia coli, Yersinia enterocolitica and Listeria monocytogenes were investigated. The antifungal action of the molecules was also evaluated against Candida albicans. This is the first report on the antimicrobial actions of the trypsin cleaved functional molecules of lactoferrin from any species.

Succinylcholine apnea happens in cases of null butyrylcholinesterase activity after administration of preintubation succinylcholine. So far, there is no such popular test that can rapidly screen null butyrylcholinesterase activity from plasma. Development of a novel method for rapid screening of null butyrylcholinesterase activity of plasma samples was the objective of the current work. Dichromate reagent was added to 1-naphthol, 2-naphthol, phenol, and para-nitrophenol in separate aliquots and watched for the color formation. Plasma samples preincubated with and without selective butyrylcholinesterase inhibitor were mixed with 1-naphthylacetate and watched for color development after addition of dichromate reagent. Fitting of 1-naphthylacetate at the active site of butyrylcholinesterase was analyzed by using tools of computational biology. It was seen that 1-naphthol formed color with dichromate reagent in a concentration-dependent manner. Other phenols did not form color with dichromate reagent even at 500-µm concentrations. Plasma sample with and without selective butyrylcholinesterase inhibitor (tetra isopropyl pyrophosphoramide) was distinguishable by color formation when incubated with 1-naphthylacetate, followed by the addition of dichromate reagent. In silico analysis also showed that 1-naphthylacetate fitted well at the active site of butyrylcholinesterase. The developed method may be used for rapid screening for null butyrylcholinesterase activity at point of care.

Hepatic venous outflow tract obstruction, Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS), leads to portal hypertension and to the development of collaterals that bypass the obstruction. Described here is a BCS patient with an unusually large transdiaphragmatic collateral between the left hepatic and left innominate veins, which decompressed the oesophageal varices. This has not been reported earlier in the literature.