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Background:Lipases (acylglycerol acylhydrolase, E. C. 3. 1. 1. 3) are widely distributed among microorganisms, animals and plants, catalyzing the hydrolysis of triglycerides to free fatty acids and glycerol. Their commercial application includes pharmaceutical, chemical, and paper industries.Objectives:This study aimed to isolate and screen lipolytic fungi from coastal waters of the southern Caspian Sea by Internal Transcribed Spacer-Polymerase Chain Reaction (ITS-PCR), and to optimize their lipolytic activity, pH and temperature. The ITS regions possess a high variation among taxonomically distinct fungal species and even within species.Materials and Methods:All fungal were tested to determine their lipolytic activity by the Tributyrin agar plate assay. After DNA extraction, lipase-producing fungi were identified via ITS-PCR of rDNA region with ITS1 and ITS4 primers.Results:Four fungal species were isolated from water samples of the Caspian Sea (north of Iran) between February and June 2011. The nucleotide sequences reported for three of these isolates have been assigned accession numbers from NCBI Gene Bank database. Among these species, Cladosporium langeronii showed maximum lipolytic activity (34 U/mL) and maximum clear zone formation (6 mm) on the Tributyrin agar plates. The optimum pH and temperature for activity were 8.0 and 35°C, respectively.Conclusions:The findings of this study indicated that these isolates were plant pathogenic fungi, which entered seawater from the environment, and were likely to have a suitable lipase activity on plant oils.

Background: Echium amoenum (E. amoenum), as one of the most popular plants in Iran, is traditionally used to treat different types of disorders. Objectives: This experimental study aimed to evaluate the modulatory effects of E. amoenum on permethrin (PMN)-induced oxidative stress in rats and to determine the cytoprotective effect of E. amoenum on PMN in SK-Hep-1 cells. Methods: Twenty-four male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four equal groups, including the control (normal saline), orally treated PMN (125 mg/kg of PMN), E. amoenum (100 mg/kg), and E. amoenum + PMN groups for 28 days. The levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), lipid peroxidation (LPO), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx), as well as the expression of catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx), were measured in the liver of all rats. Also, the cytoprotective effect of E. amoenum against PMN was evaluated in the treated SK-Hep-1 cells. Results: The results indicated that LPO increased significantly in the PMN-treated group, as evidenced by the high concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA) in the liver. Alterations of the antioxidant system were also confirmed by the significant decline in CAT and GPx activities (2.9 ± 0.14 and 0.5 ± 0.03, respectively; P < 0.05) and the significant downregulation of CAT (0.4 ± 0.02 folds) and GPx (0.3 ± 0.01 folds) mRNA expression in the liver (P < 0.05). PMN also stimulated significant changes in hepatic biomarkers and induced pathological changes in the liver. On the other hand, administration of E. amoenum significantly reduced abnormalities in biochemical markers, LPO, antioxidant enzymes, gene expression, and pathological complications induced by PMN (P < 0.05). E. amoenum also exhibited cytoprotective effects against cytotoxicity induced by PMN in SK-Hep-1 cells. Conclusions: The present results demonstrated that E. amoenum has significant antioxidant, gene-regulating, and cytoprotective effects.

Introduction: Bacillus thuringiensis var kurstaki is one of the best known biological insecticide which is used extensively in the world. This biopesticide has been broadly used against important insect pests and vectors of animals and humans. However, the controversial data was published to date considering toxicological studies on non-target species are urgent to determine probable adverse effects and risk assessment of this biopesticide. In this research, histopathological changes, hematological and some biochemical factors were evaluated following the single dose oral administration of B. thuringiensis in rats. Materials and Methods: Twelve Wistar rats were randomly divided into 2 groups including experimental and control groups. Animals were treated orally by gavage to single dose of sub-lethal dose (5000 mg/kg) of B. thuringiensis suspension. Finally, hematological factors (WBC, RBC, Hb, HCT, MCV, MCH, MCHC and PLT), some biochemical parameters (ALT, AST, ALP, BUN and Cr) and histopathological observations were evaluated. Results: The results demonstrated that oral administration of high dose of B. thuringiensis biopesticide induced some pathological complications including congestion and inflammation in vital organs of rats such as liver, heart, lung and kidney. It also caused hematological abnormalities and biochemical alterations in the experimental animals group. Conclusions: According to the findings, it can be concluded that high dose of B. thuringiensis biopesticide can induce toxicity in rats. Therefore, further investigations including subacute and chronic are recommended.