Alcohol use is contributing to an unprecedented decline in life expectancy. Damage to the liver after ethanol administration is a well-known phenomenon. Free radical mechanisms have been proposed to play a part in ethanol-induced liver toxicity. Ingestion of diets rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) along with alcohol is known to result in enhanced liver damage. The present work is aimed at evaluating the protective role of ferulic acid, a naturally occurring plant component, on alcohol- and PUFA-induced liver toxicity. Three different doses of ferulic acid (10, 20, and 40 mg/kg of body weight) were administered to rats given alcohol, heated PUFA (DeltaPUFA), and alcohol + DeltaPUFA. Influence of ferulic acid on alcohol-and PUFA-induced liver damage was evaluated by analyzing the activities of the liver marker enzymes alkaline phosphatase, gamma-glutamyl transferase, alanine transaminase, and aspartate transaminase. The activities of these liver marker enzymes were increased in the alcohol, DeltaPUFA, and alcohol + DeltaPUFA groups but were decreased significantly on treatment with ferulic acid. The low dose (10 mg/kg of body weight) was not effective, but both 20 mg and 40 mg/kg of body weight were found to be effective. The 20 mg/kg of body weight dose was found to be more effective than 40 mg/kg of body weight (the high dose). The administration of ferulic acid to normal rats did not produce any harmful effects. Thus our results show that ferulic acid is an effective anti-hepatotoxic agent without side effects and may be a good candidate in the current search for a natural hepatoprotective agent.

Abstract:We have evaluated the comparative effect of curcumin (diferuloyl methane) and its analogue [bis-1,7-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-hepta-1,6-diene-3,5-dione] (BDMC-A) on carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. Administration of carbon tetrachloride (3 ml/kg/week) for three months significantly (PϽ0.05) increased the levels of marker enzymes such as aspartate transaminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and g-glutamyl transferase (GGT). The levels of plasma thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and lipid hydroperoxides were also significantly (PϽ0.05) increased. We have observed a significant (PϽ0.05) decrease in the levels of plasma reduced glutathione (GSH), vitamin C and vitamin E. There was a significant (PϽ0.05) increase in the levels of TBARS and hydroperoxides in liver and kidney and a significant (PϽ0.05) decrease in the activities of enzymic antioxidants-superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase and GSH peroxidase along with GSH in CCl 4 -treated rats. Oral administration of curcumin and BDMC-A to CCl 4 -induced rats for a period of three months significantly (PϽ0.05) decreased the levels of marker enzymes, plasma TBARS and hydroperoxides and increased the levels of plasma and tissue antioxidants. Histopathological studies of liver also showed protective effect of curcumin and BDMC-A. We have observed thickening of blood vessels and microvesicular fatty changes around the portal triad in CCl 4 -treated rat liver. Treatment with curcumin showed only mild sinusoidal dilatation while with BDMC-A there was only mild portal inflammation. The effect exerted by BDMC-A was found to be more promising than curcumin.

Ethanol is one of the most widely used and abused drugs, increasing lipid levels in humans and experimental animals. Heating of oil rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) produces various lipid peroxidative end products that can aggravate the pathological changes produced by ethanol. In the present communication, the effect of Cuminum cyminum was investigated on alcohol and thermally oxidized oil induced hyperlipidaemia. The results showed increased activity of aspartate transaminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) and increased levels of cholesterol, triglycerides and phospholipids in the plasma of rats given alcohol, thermally oxidized oil and alcohol+thermally oxidized oil when compared with the normal control group. The levels of tissue (liver and kidney) cholesterol and triglycerides were increased significantly in rats groups given alcohol, thermally oxidized oil and alcohol+thermally oxidized oil when compared with the normal control rats. The levels were decreased when cumin was given along with alcohol and thermally oxidized oil. The level of phospholipids decreased significantly in the liver and kidney of groups given alcohol, thermally oxidized oil and alcohol+thermally oridized oil when compared with the normal control rats. The level increased when cumin was administered along with alcohol and thermally oxidized oil. The activity of phospholipase A and C increased significantly in the liver of groups given alcohol, thermally oxidized oil and alcohol+thermally oxidized oil when compared with the normal control rats, whereas the activity was decreased with the cumin treatment. The results obtained indicate that cumin can decrease the lipid levels in alcohol and thermally oxidized oil induced hepatotoxicity.

A Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) is a collection of autonomous self-organized nodes. They use wireless mediu m for co mmunicat ion, thus two nodes can communicate directly if and only if they are within each other"s transmission radius in a mu lti-hop fashion. Many conventional routing algorithms have been proposed for MANETs. An emerg ing area that has recently captured much attention in network routing researches is Swarm Intelligence (SI). Besides conventional approaches, many new researches have proposed the adoption of Swarm Intelligence for MANET routing. Swarm Intelligence (SI) refers to complex behaviors that arise fro m very simp le individual behaviors and interactions, which is often observed in nature, especially among social insects such as ants, bees, fishes etc. Although each individual has little intelligence and simp ly follows basic rules using local in formation obtained fro m the environ ment. Ants routing resembles basic mechanisms fro m distributed Swarm Intelligence (SI) in b iological systems and turns out to become an interesting solution where routing is a problem. Ants based routing is gaining more popularity because of its adaptive and dynamic nature. A nu mber of Swarm Intelligence (SI) based algorithms were p roposed by researchers. In this paper, we study bio-inspired routing protocols for MANETs.

Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) is an autonomous collection of mobile nodes that form a temporary network without of any existing network infrastructure or central access point. The popularity of these networks created security challenges as an important issue. The traditional routing protocols perform well with dynamically changing topology but are not designed to defense against security challenges. In this paper we discuss about current challenges in an ad hoc environment which includes the different types of potential attacks that are possible in the Mobile Ad hoc Networks that can harm its working and operation. We have done literature study and gathered information relating to various types of attacks. In our study, we have found that there is no general algorithm that suits well against the most commonly known attacks. But the complete security solution requires the prevention, detection and reaction mechanisms applied in MANET. To develop suitable security solutions for such environments, we must first understand how MANETs can be attacked. This paper provides a comprehensive study of attacks against mobile ad hoc networks. We present a detailed classification of the attacks against MANETs