Usman A, et al. Infect Chemother. 2023 Dec;55:e55. https://doi.org/10.3947/ic.2023.0080

Wound healing potential of Nuclea latifolia and Manihot esculenta leaf extracts in Type 1 diabetic rats

The modulatory effect of different concentrations of ethanol extract of matured leaves of M. esculenta, Crantz at 200, 600, 1000 and 1400 µg/ml was investigated in vitro on mitochondrial membrane permeability transition pore in liver, kidney and heart of diabetic animals in the absence and presence of 20 µM exogenous Ca²⁺. The extract at these concentrations had no significant (p< 0.05) effect on mitochondrial membrane permeability transition (MPT) pore of the three organs in the absence of Ca²⁺. However, in the presence of Ca²⁺, the extract exhibited significant (p< 0.05) inhibition of mitochondrial membrane transition pore opening: liver by 62.66%, 42.47%, 22.44% and 17.63% at 1400, 1000, 600, and 200 µg/ml, respectively. In the heart, inhibition of MMPT pore opening was by 92.86%, 71.43%, 64.29% and 57.14% at 200, 600, 1400, and 1000 µg/ml, respectively. In the kidney, the extract also inhibited mitochondrial membrane transition pore opening in a concentration-dependent manner by 92.65%, 91.18%, 89.71% and 72.06% at 1400, 1000, 600, and 200 µg/ml, respectively. Caspase-3 activity in vitro was also reduced with increasing extract concentrations; thus confirming that the extract inhibits MMPT pore opening in the presence of Ca²⁺. The extract may be able to protect these organs against damage, resulting from Ca²⁺ overload that may trigger cell death, and as such it may be useful in the management of diseases related to tissue wastage such as cardiomyopathy and nephropathy which are associated with Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

The host genetic factors play important role in determining the outcome of visceral leishmaniasis (VL). Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is an important host cytokine, which is a key regulator of innate immune system. Genetic variants in MIF gene have been found to be associated with several inflammatory and infectious diseases. Role of MIF is well documented in leishmaniasis diseases, including Indian visceral leishmaniasis, where elevated level of serum MIF has been associated with VL phenotypes. However, there was no genetic study to correlate MIF variants in VL, therefore, we aimed to study the possible association of three reported MIF gene variants -794 CATT, -173G > C and non-coding RNA gene LOC284889 in Indian VL phenotype. Study subjects comprised of 214 VL patients along with ethnically and demographically matched 220 controls from VL endemic regions of Bihar state in India. We found no significant difference between cases and controls in allelic, genotypic and haplotype frequency of the markers analysed [-794 CATT repeats (χ2=0.86; p=0.35; OR=0.85; 95% CI=0.61-1.19); -173 G>C polymorphism (χ2=1.11; p=0.29; OR=0.83; 95% CI=0.59-1.16); and LOC284889 (χ2=0.78; p=0.37; OR=0.86; 95% CI=0.61-1.20)]. Since we did not find any significant differences between case and control groups, we conclude that sequencing of complete MIF gene and extensive study on innate and adaptive immunity genes may help in identifying genetic variations that are associated with VL susceptibility/resistance among Indians.