No abstract

Acid phosphatase activity has been studied in hepatopancreas and foot tissues of the Indian apple snail, Pila globosa (Swainson), with reference to aestiva. tion and starvation. The enzyme activity in the tissues of control snails is higher in hepatopancreas, than in foot. The activity of acid phosphatase increased in hepatopancreas and decreased in foot during starvation while it decreased in both the tissues during aestivation. The significance of these findings is discussed.

Essential hypertension (EH) is a multifactorial and complex disease with high rate of incidence and associated co-morbidities. Previous studies do not provide unanimous results for the risk of hypertension and association with Fok I genotype frequency and serum vitamin D levels. Hence, this study was undertaken to determine the status of Fok I vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphism along with vitamin D levels and blood pressure in patients with EH. Four hundred (200 controls and 200 cases of essential hypertension) participants from general Indian population were enrolled in this study. Peripheral blood samples were collected for genotyping Fok I-VDR gene polymorphism using PCR–RFLP method whereas 25-OH vitamin D levels in serum were quantified using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Significantly reduced 25-OH vitamin D levels were observed in patients with EH (24.04 ± 8.62 vs 50.46 ± 15.46) compared to control subjects ( p = 0.0001). Homozygous recessive genotype ‘ff’ frequency was increased by 8.06 fold (CI: 3.71–17.47, p = 0.0001) in patients with EH compared to dominant ‘FF’ genotype frequency. In conclusion, recessive ‘ff’ genotype frequency correlates with reduced serum vitamin D levels and results in significantly increased systolic and diastolic blood pressures leading to predisposition of EH.

Uric acid, the end product of purine catabolism in humans and is known for its crystal deposition at higher concentrations (>7 mg/dl) in gout. Less is known about its antioxidant property and the beneficial effects in various diseases. It is thought that high concentration of uric acid in humans is an evolutionary advantage and it is also hypothesized that high concentration of uric acid is to compensate the antioxidant capacity of ascorbic acid which is lost in humans during the course of evolution. In the extracelluar environment, uric acid can scavenge free radicals like hydroxyl radical, singlet oxygen and peroxynitrite radical therefore, it is considered as a powerful antioxidant. On the other hand uric acid depending upon the chemical milieu, changing its property and at times it acts as pro oxidant and is associated with the pathobiochemistry in developing various diseases like hypertension, cardio vascular diseases, ischemia reperfusion injury, diabetes mellitus, non alcoholic fatty liver disorders etc. In this review, we tried to summarize the evolutionary advantages of hyperuricaemia, effects of both antioxidant property and pro-oxidant nature of uric acid in various disease conditions.

No abstract