This document contains the presentation by Swapnil G Sanmukh et al, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur on “The phage-host interaction as a model for studying carbon regulation in aquatic system” during Second National Research Conference on Climate Change, organized by the Centre for Science and Environment, IIT Delhi and IIT Madras on November 5-6, 2011 at New Delhi.
NFκB, a transcription factor, regulates the expression of a number of genes involved in carcinogenesis. Thus, agents that can suppress NFκB activation have the potential to suppress carcinogenesis. In the present investigation, gallic acid was isolated from Alchornea glandulosa (Euphorbiaceae) and eight semi-synthetic alkyl gallates were prepared from the reaction of the corresponding alcohols with gallic acid at 80oC for 48 h in good yields (70-97%). All the compounds were evaluated against TNF-α-induced NFκB activation with stable transfected 293/NFκB-Luc human embryonic kidney cells. Treatment of cells with gallic acid and the gallate esters (20 µg/ml) significantly reduced TNF-α induced NFκB activation. With IC50 values in a range of 10 to 50 µM, gallic acid esters mediated inhibitory activity greater than that of gallic acid (IC50 76 µM). In addition to the inhibition of NFκB activation, gallic acid mediated a modest cytotoxic effect, but none of the gallate esters affected cell viability at the tested concentrations. Based on these encouraging intracellular responses, we suggest suppression of NFκB activation by gallate esters could play a chemopreventive role in carcinogenesis, and further investigations are warranted.
Abstract effect of a synthetic Aluminium - Magnesium Silicate (AMS) on antiplasmodial activity of chloroquine was tested. Plasmodium berghei-infected mice were treated with 7 mg/kg, 5 mg/kg and 3 mg/kg chloroquine, respectively. The two subgroups in each experiment were treated with chloroquine alone and with chloroquine in AMS respectively. Parasitaemia (%) of the group treated with 7 mg/kg was higher than that of the control. At 5 mg/kg, chloroquine treatment significantly reduced parasitaemia from 3.60 to 2.46 (P =0.01). Incorporating chloroquine in AMS significantly improved its ability to reduce P. berghei parasitaemia at 5 mgkg and at 3 mg/kg, from 2.46 0.21 to 1.57 0.25 (P = 0.01) and from 3.82 0.06 to 2.12 0.08 (P =0.01 ). It also increased mortality of mice treated at 7 mg/kg from 20 to 80 %.
