Biochemical characteristics of plant species of the genus Acer L.

The plants of the genus Acer section Palmata, which grow on the territory of M. M. Gryshko National Botanical Garden of NAS of Ukraine were investigated. It was found that the vast majority of A. palmatum and its cultivars were winter hardy. A study of the content of photosynthetic pigments revealed that the lowest content was in A. palmatum ‘Bloodgood’. The lowest content of malonic dialdehyde and proline was found in the leaves of A. palmatum ‘Dissectum’ and A. palmatum ‘Orange dream’, and the highest — in A. palmatum ‘Atropurpureum’ and A. palmatum. The greatest catalase activity was found in plants of A. palmatum ‘Atropurpureum’, and flavonoids — in A. palmatum.

Protective Potential of Adiponectin and Quercetin on Alleviating Bisphenol-A-Induced Toxicity in Muscle Cells Through the KEAP1/NRF2 Pathway

Background: Bisphenol A (BPA) is a toxic environmental estrogenic compound which exerts its detrimental effects by increasing oxidative stress and decreasing levels of antioxidants. This study aimed to evaluate beneficial effect of adiponectin and quercetin in reducing BPA-induced oxidative stress by assessing the Prooxidant-antioxidant balance (PAB) assay, catalase activity and KEAP1/NRF2 expression in muscle cells.Methods and Results: L6 rat muscle cells were exposed to BPA (50 an100 μM) with and without treatment with different concentrations of adiponectin (10 and 100 ng/ml) and quercetin (10 and 25 ng/ml) for 24 and 48 hours. Cell viability was assessed using MTT assay, and the PAB was evaluated with the ELISA at 540 nm. Catalase level was also evaluated in all groups. Furtheremore, the expression of KEAP1/Nrf2 genes was assessed using qRT-PCR. The results showed a significant reduction in L6 cells survival after being treated with 100 μM BPA. Adiponectin and quercetin treatment also increased cell survival compared to BPA-treated cells. It was also found that PAB increased with BPA exposure, and quercetin treatment significantly reduced it compared to BPA treatment. The catalase activity was reduced in BPA-treated cells, which was significantly increased by treatment with adiponectin and quercetin. A significant decrease in Nrf2 gene expression was observed in BPA-treated cells compared to the control group. It was further found that cell treatment with quercetin and adiponectin significantly increased the expression of Nrf2 gene compared to the control group.Conclusions: Taking together, our results implied that adiponectin and quercetin could modulate BPA-induced oxidative stress in muscle cells through KEAP1/Nrf2 pathway. Accordingly, it can be concluded that adiponectin in low dose and quercetin, may have significant impact in reducing toxicity due to BPA.

Halopriming Imparts Salt Tolerance by Reducing Oxidative, Osmotic Stress and DNA Damage in Five Different Legume Varieties

Background: Salinity challenges legume production worldwide. To maintain the overall legume production, seed halopriming has been adopted as a cost-effective, farmer friendly technique, minimizing noxious effects of NaCl on plant growth. Methods: Nonprimed and haloprimed seeds were grown under different NaCl concentrations and harvested after 21 days. NaCl-induced alterations on physio-biochemical attributes and DNA damage were studied. Result: NaCl exposure in nonprimed seedlings exhibited growth inhibition, depletion in water contents, increased accumulation of H2O2, MDA and proline causing DNA damage. Conversely, in primed seedlings, these toxic effects were altered and extent of DNA damage reduced. Decreased catalase activity in nonprimed seedlings failed to detoxify the ROS generated under salinity inducing DNA damage whereas in NaCl-treated haloprimed seedlings, improved catalase activity helped to overcome such adversities favouring improved growth of all tested legume varieties.

Theoretical and Experimental Considerations for a Rapid and High Throughput Measurement of Catalase In Vitro

A rapid and high throughput protocol to measure the catalase activity in vitro has been designed. Catalase is an enzyme with unusual kinetic properties because it does not follow the standard Michaelis–Menten model and is inactivated by H2O2. This makes the analysis of the two rate equations of the second-ordered reactions of the kinetic model rather complex. A two-degree polynomial fitting of the experimental data is proposed after transforming the exponential form of the integrated rate equation of the [H2O2] into a polynomial using the Taylor series. The fitting is validated by establishing an experimental linear relationship between the initial rate of the H2O2 decomposition and the protein concentration, regardless of the suicide inactivation that catalase might undergo beyond t > 0. In addition, experimental considerations are taken into account to avoid statistical bias in the analysis of the catalase activity. ANOVA analyses show that the proposed protocol can be utilized to measure the initial rate of the H2O2 decomposition by catalase in 32 samples in triplicates if kept below 8 mM min−1 in the microplate wells. These kinetic and statistical analyses can pave the way for other antioxidant enzyme activity assays in microplate readers at small scale and low cost.

Screening of cultivation media for LDPE biodegradation by Penicillium verrucosum CNM-FP-02

The paper’s aim was to select the optimal mineral medium for LDPE biodegradation by the strain Penicillium verrucosum CNM-FP-02. It was selected 5 mineral salt media (MSM), which differed in salt content and N/P ratio. After 40 days of submerged cultivation, the following parameters were determined: catalase activity and pH of cultural media, biomass accumulation, rate of LDPE degradation, optical microscopy and the tensile testing of polyethylene. It was observed that catalase activity on all media, except MSM 4, was higher in the presence of LDPE. The addition of polyethylene to the growth media stimulated the fungal biomass accumulation by 19.3-93.1% (4 media out of 5 tested). The percentage of degradation of LDPE films was different, depending on the culture medium, from 0.41% to 0.92%. The most active LDPE films were degraded on medium MSM 2. Visualization of plastic strips under an optical microscope revealed the immobilization of the microorganism and the damage on the polyethylene surface. The tensile test showed increased elasticity of the plastic in the variants treated with fungal strain. In conclusion, in order to stimulate the biodegradation of LDPE by the strain P. verrucosum CNM-FP-02, the medium MSM 2 (N/P ratio 1:1) was selected.

Research on Some Freshwater Fish Catalase Activity - As a Potential Biomarker for Environmental Pollution

In the last decade studies show that water pollution is a very serious problem, especially since the degree of water pollution plays a key role in the growth and fish multiplication. As a biomarker of environmental pollution, antioxidant enzymes such as catalase (CAT; EC 1.11.1.6) play an essential role in preventing the harmful effects of heavy metals in the tissues of fish. These researches were carried out to investigate the effect of various environment conditions and some pollutant agents on oxidative stress in some aquatic organisms. The enzymatic assay of CAT (in fish organs, e.g., liver, kidney, gill, intestine and brain, as well as in mixture of these organs) was carried out according to standard enzyme assay protocol. The results showed decrease of CAT activity: the enzymatic activity was 35.89 ± 1.02 µmol H2O2/min/mg protein to pH 7 and 6.59 ± 0.47 µmol H2O2/min/mg protein to pH 12. More, the enzymatic activity was 38.1 ± 0.3 µmol H2O2/min/mg protein to pH 3. Also, the catalase activity increased with 23 enzymatic units to a less dissolved oxygen concentration (6.2877 mg/L). Furthermore, this study indicated that heavy metals, such as Cr, Cu and Zn can inhibit biochemical reactions in various organs of fish. During exposure duration of the fish to a mixture of metal ions the catalase activity decreases from 35.89 ± 1.02 µmol H2O2/min/mg protein to 23.51 ± 2.85 µmol H2O2/min/mg protein. On the other hand, as a result of the response of the enzyme system, the catalase activity increases to 36.25 ± 3.22 µmol H2O2/min/mg protein.

Dynamics Variation of Soil Labile Organic Carbon Fractions in Different Wetland Types of Dongting Lake under Seasonal Water Level Fluctuation

Soil labile organic carbon (LOC) fractions are very sensitive to environmental change and closely related to soil quality. They play an important role in the study of terrestrial carbon cycles. This study aimed to explore the sensitivity of soil LOC fractions to environmental changes and analyze their main influencing factors during three seasonal water level periods for scientific management of Dongting Lake wetlands. Soil under three typical wetland types (Carextristachya wetland (CTW), Phragmites australis wetland (PAW) and Salix babylonica (SBW)) in East Dongting Lake in China were collected during the normal season (May), rainy season (August) and dry season (December). Seasonal dynamics of soil LOC fractions (i.e., dissolved organic carbon (DOC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and easily oxidized carbon (EOC)) within these wetlands and their relationship to soil nutrients and carbon-cycle enzyme activity were analyzed. The results showed that the soil DOC contents of the three wetlands first increased and then decreased, with the exception of CTW from the normal season to the dry season, while the seasonal changes of soil MBC and EOC for all wetlands followed an opposite pattern. CTW had the largest DOC concentration (228.29 mg·kg−1) during dry season, while the highest contents of soil DOC, MBC and EOC were found in PAW during the three observed seasons, which ranged from 82.05 to 203.60 mg·kg−1, 262.54 to 325.74 mg·kg−1 and 3.30 to 4.61 g·kg−1, respectively. However, the contents of soil DOC and their proportions to soil organic carbon (SOC) of all wetlands during the normal season were 56.58~82.05 mg·kg−1 and 0.41~0.47%, respectively, which were the lowest among the three seasons. Nevertheless, the contents of both MBC and EOC as well as their ratios to SOC in these wetlands showed similar seasonal dynamics, with the lowest values recorded in the rainy season. From the normal season to the dry season, invertase activity in all wetlands increased, while cellulase activity decreased by 12.5–31.3%. The seasonal variation of catalase activity for all wetlands was less distinctive, and the highest enzyme activity was during the rainy season. Correlation analysis revealed that soil LOC fractions for all wetlands were closely related to SOC, TN, TP and invertase for the three seasons, especially during the rainy season, but were negatively correlated with TK, cellulase and catalase activity. Generally, soil LOC fractions of the three wetlands were affected by the seasonal fluctuations of water levels and presented different distribution characteristics.

Effects of Organophosphorus and Pyrethroid Pesticides on Antioxidant Enzymes and Reactivation Effects of Pralidoxime: In vitro Studies

The present study was aimed to assess the inhibition effects of organophosphate pesticides, malathionR, dichlorvosR; pyrethroid pesticides, deltamethrinR, λ-cyhalothrinR on antioxidantenzymes and reactivation ability of pralidoxime against pesticide inhibited-antioxidant enzymes. Oximes were reported by reactivation ability against organophosphate inhibited- acetylcholinesterase and we focused to investigate the reactivation effect of pralidoxime against organophosphate inhibited–antioxidant enzymes. IC50 values were determined by means of activity percentage diagrams. The concentrations of deltamethrinR, malathionR,dichlorvosR, λ-cyhalothrinR that inhibited 50% of catalase were 5.2 μM, 158 μM, 133 μM,320 μM, respectively, inhibited 50% of superoxide dismutase were 62 μM, 240 μM, 328 μM, 2320 μM, respectively and inhibited 50% of glutathione peroxidase were 0.7 μM, 1198 μM, 1638 μM, 98 μM, respectively. All pesticide doses showed inhibition effect on antioxidant enzymes. DeltamethrinR was found to be a more potent inhibitor for the antioxidant enzymesfollowed by the rest of pesticides used in this study. Reactivation effect of pralidoxime was determined for organophosphate inhibited-enzymes. Reactivation results showed that only catalase is reactivated by pralidoxime against dichlorvosR and malathionR. Under the exposureof 50-800 μM malathionR concentrations, catalase activity % was calculated as 72-11%,respectively. After inhibited catalase by malathionR incubated with 1 mM and 10 mMpralidoxime, catalase activity % was calculated as 92-31% and 98-39%, respectively. Under the exposure of 100-1500 μM dichlorvosR concentrations, catalase activity % was calculatedas 50-6%, respectively. After inhibited catalase by dichlorvosR incubated with 1 mM and 10mM pralidoxime, catalase activity % was calculated as 95-30% and 93-28%, respectively. When the results are examined, it is seen that increasing the pralidoxime concentration does not significantly affect the reactivation percentage of the catalase enzyme.