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Showing 5 results for Toxins
Effect of solvents on microalbuminuria among automobile painters
Sharifian S A, Shushtarizadeh T, Aminian O,
Volume 66, Issue 3 (6-2008)
Abstract

Background: The health risk associated with chronic exposure to organic solvents investigated in several epidemiologic studies indicates a significant relationship between solvent exposure and glomerulonephritis. Solvents are the most commonly used chemicals in industry. According to European statistics 43% of all solvent consumption takes place in the painting industry, 10% in metal cleansing, 6.7% in adhesives and 3.9 percent in the laundry (dry cleaning) industries. Although BUN and creatinine indicate massive loss of glomerular function, microalbumin is a sensitive urinary marker for nephrotoxins in the early detection of solvent-induced effects on the glomerulus. The purpose of our study was to use microalbumin, serum BUN and serum creatinine levels to identify occupational solvent-induced effects on the glomerulus.
Methods: Renal dysfunction was monitored by microalbumin, BUN and creatinine serum levels in a cohort study of 92 workers currently exposed to solvents (solvent group). A control group of 92 individuals were selected from parts of the same factory not exposed to solvents. All individuals in the study were men, without diabetes or hypertension. The percentage of smokers was equal between the two groups. The solvent group was selected using environmental monitoring of organic solvents in different parts of the painting room. The individuals were chosen by simple random selection. Exclusion factors included less than one year of work in the painting room, use analgesic or aminoglycoside one month before the study and medically diagnosed renal disease, such as glomerulonephritis or renal failure. Data was gathered using a questionnaire requesting demographic information, history of present and past diseases, present and past occupational history, drug history, history of illness in their colleagues and safety conditions at work (use of safety gloves, masks, clothing, goggles and general and local ventilation). The results analyzed with SPSS 11.5.
Results: Several studies showed that solvents cause renal disorder (tubular and glomerular), although glomerulonephritis is more prevalent. The mean age of the solvent group was 28.6 ±2.7 years and was 33.7 ±7 years in control group (p<0.05). The mean duration of solvent exposure was 4.8 ±1.5 years. Statistically meaningful differences were found between solvent and control groups for microalbuminuria, increased serum BUN and creatinine levels (p<0.05), although there was no significant correlation between these parameters and the duration of exposure (p>0.05).
Conclusion: The results suggest that kidney dysfunction results from chronic occupational exposure to solvents at levels found in automobile painting rooms in Iran. We recommend increased monitoring of workers using solvents and increased review and enforcement of safety regulations regarding such use of solvents.


The effect of garlic extract on the expression of genes elastase and exotoxin A in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Batoul Kavyani , Mohammad Yousef Alikhani , Mohammad Reza Arabestani , Shirin Moradkhani , Mohammad Taheri ,
Volume 74, Issue 8 (11-2016)
Abstract

Background: Multidrug-resistant bacteria make many problems in clinical therapy, design and manufacture of synthetic drugs. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the most important multidrug-resistance bacteria leads to variety infections in human especially in immunocompromised, patients with severe burns, and nosocomial infections. It Recent years, this organism makes a big challenge in clinical treatment of infections using a wide range of antibiotics. Medicinal herbs for thousands of years to prevent or treat infectious diseases were considered. Today, pharmacists have high interest of using medicinal herbs to prepare a new antimicrobial compounds. The goal of this study was to investigation the effect of aqueous and alcoholic extract of fresh garlic on the expression of genes encoding elastase and exotoxin A virulence factors, in P. aeruginosa PAO1 strain.

Methods: Present study was an experimental study and performed from 2015 to 2016 in Hamadan University of Medical Science, Iran. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) of aqueous and alcoholic extract of garlic was determined. Then in order to investigation the gene expression of elastase and exotoxin A genes, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) method was performed at sub-MBC concentrations.

Results: According to the results aqueous extracts of garlic had better impact in comparison with alcoholic alone. At concentration of 64 and 8 mg/ml of aqueous extract the expression of both elastase and exotoxin A genes were decreased. Although, the expression of elastase gene was most affected by garlic at different concentrations than exotoxin A.

Conclusion: The results suggested that the compositions of garlic extracts can inhibit the production of virulence factors in P. aeruginosa. So in order to treat infectious diseases in the near future, medicinal plants known as new antimicrobial drugs can be used alone or with antibiotic drugs against pathogenic bacteria.


A review on the types of immunotoxins and their use in cancer treatment: review article
Saber Soltani , Abolfazl Davoodabadi, Abbas Farahani, Mahsa Dastranj , Masomeh Amini , Navid Momenifar , Shirin Poorabdi , Hojat Veisi ,
Volume 76, Issue 1 (4-2018)
Abstract
Immunotoxins such as pseudomonas exotoxin are Molecules with a unique structure like toxin-antibody part. These immunotoxins are two functional which crossing the cell membrane and enters the target cell and destroy the cell. Toxin-based treatments are a widespread research field and can have broad applications in the biology and public health. Immunotoxins act selectively against cancer cells and have a good potential for detecting and targeting cancer cells. Specific immunotoxins to target immune cells due to the selection type antibody and antibodies are responsible for the identification of the target cells. Cancer is becoming a major cause of death in most developed countries. In order to have a strong factor in cancer repression, that agent must target the cancer cells directly and specifically. Often, but not always, immunotoxins are produced for disabling and killing cancer cells, that this issue is one of new therapeutic approaches in recently. Clinical aims to designing and create new cancer therapies focused with this approach, a lot of information about the toxin and intracellular pathways have been obtained. So, toxins in medicine are useful for the treatment of human disease and study of professional cellular functions. So, immunotoxins have a high potential for cancer treatment. Other applications of immunotoxins, including immune system regulation and treatment of viral diseases and parasites diseases. More research is needed to improve the immunotoxin effects and to reduce their side effects. On the whole, with design creative, clever and experienced programs, many human diseases, particularly cancers can be in a short period of time and faster than other methods of treatment that the treatment of long, to be treated. Following the design and implementation of clinical trials, the effects of immunotoxins on animal tumorigenic models were performed. In fact, in this study, we focus on the use of protein-bound toxins with bacterial and herbal sources and more specifically Pseudomonas immunotoxins which attached to antibodies to target cancer cells.

Type A botulism outbreak in members of a family following consumption of homemade whey: brief report
Ahdie Karbalaei Shabani , Fares Najari , Alireza Jannani , Khadijeh Ezoji , Mohammad Reza Montazer Khorasan , Hossein Masoumi , Mohammad Mehdi Soltan Dallal ,
Volume 77, Issue 11 (2-2020)
Abstract
Background: Botulism is mostly caused by Clostridium botulinum neurotoxin which has been described as a bilateral symmetric descending flaccid paralysis. Preventing and responding to botulism outbreaks is a public health emergency. In this study, the disease is reported in a family.
Methods: In a case series study, during an outbreak, four members of a family with symptoms including paralysis, ptosis, blurred vision, diplopia, weakness, dysphagia, dry mouth, respiratory problems, vertigo, and lethargy, referred to Loghman Hospital of Tehran. Among the patients was an elderly woman and a pregnant woman. All clinical signs and symptoms of the patients were recorded daily in a researcher-made questionnaire from 27 August to 3 September 2018. At the time of admission, vital signs (pulse rate, respiration rate, and body temperature) of patients were stable and within normal limits. Following clinical suspicion of food-borne botulism in these patients, samples of the first two patients, including serum, stool, gastric secretions, and homemade whey were sent to the Botulism Laboratory of Microbiology Department of Pasteur Institute of Iran for the mouse bioassay.
Results: Type A neurotoxin was detected in homemade whey after the mouse bioassay. Therefore, foodborne botulism was confirmed in patients with laboratory results. Patients included two men and two women with a mean age of 52.7 years old. The length of hospitalized days was between 2 and 6 days. Two of the patients were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). Patients under study were fully recovered with timely diagnosis of the disease, treatment with antitoxin, and supportive care.
Conclusion: When conscious patients referred to the hospital with symptoms of paralysis, foodborne botulism is an important differential diagnosis. On-time diagnosis and antitoxin treatment can prevent serious complications.

Evaluation of the role of TLR4 in endotoxin-induced hepatic encephalopathy in rats with biliary cirrhosis
Razieh Mohammad Jafari , Farahnaz Jazaeri ,
Volume 78, Issue 2 (5-2020)
Abstract
Background: Hepatic encephalopathy is defined as a neuropsychiatric brain dysfunction in acute or chronic liver failure. Infection and inflammation have crucial role in its pathophysiology. The purpose of our study was to demonstrate the relationship between toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) expression and the encephalopathy induced with endotoxin in biliary cirrhotic rats.
Methods: The present study was conducted experimentally on male adult Wistar albino rats from May to January 2018 at the Pharmacology Department of Medical Faculty, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. The animals were divided into two groups, cirrhotic vs sham-operated. Cirrhosis was induced by surgical ligation of the bile duct in male Wistar rats but in sham group the bile duct was not ligated during abdominal surgery (control). The animals in each group were divided to two subgroups that half of them were given intraperitoneally saline or low dose of endotoxin (0.1 mg/kg) on day 29. Then animal behavior study was done on the clinical sign of hepatic encephalopathy. Also, the histopathology of brain cortex and the expression of brain cortex toll-like receptor four protein were evaluated.
Results: Our results showed that endotoxin treatment decreased the patient's level of alertness and produced hepatic encephalopathy signs in cirrhotic rats and control groups. Cirrhosis increases toll-like receptor four expression in brain and acute endotoxin treatment increases toll-like receptor four expression in this group still more. It means that acute endotoxin treatment-induced clinical signs of acute encephalopathy in sham and cirrhotic rats and significant toll-like receptor four overexpression in cirrhotic animals. The histopathological assessment did not show a significant difference between the groups and did not show any changes after induction of cirrhosis and/or acute endotoxin treatment.
Conclusion: Cirrhosis and acute low dose endotoxin injection in cirrhotic rats induced hepatic encephalopathy signs that parallels with significant increased toll-like receptor 4 protein expression in brain cortex. Since the severity of the signs of encephalopathy was the same as intact animals, based on the definitions in pharmacology, in the cells of cirrhotic groups endotoxin tolerance has developed.

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