Little is known about the protective effects of carvacrol on the symptoms of streptozotocin induced diabetes in rats. Hence, this present study was designed to evaluate the protective effect of the strong antioxidant, carvacrol, on the symptoms of streptozotocin induced diabetes in rats. Carvacrol at the doses of 25 and 50 mg/kg body weight were orally administered to diabetic rats for a period of 7 days after the onset of diabetes. Food-water intake and body weight changes were daily recorded. Biochemical parameters such as serum glucose, insulin, total cholesterol, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase and lactate dehydrogenase were measured. Although treatment of diabetic rats with oral administration of carvacrol resulted in a slight reduction in serum glucose level and significant reduction in serum total cholesterol, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase and lactate dehydrogenase in comparison with diabetic control rats, there were no significant differences in serum insulin levels, food-water intake values and body weight changes. Despite the inadequacy of carvacrol on diabetes treatments, it was determined to have at least a partially protective role on liver enzymes.

Aim: To investigate the association of gene expression of MMP-2 and -9, and TIMP-1, -2, -3, and -4 and polymorphism frequencies of MMP-9 C1562T and plasma MMP-9 enzyme activity in lung cancer patients. Methods: In this study, DNA and RNA samples were extracted from peripheral blood of 300 subjects (200 lung cancer patients and 100 controls). MMP-9 C1562T polymorphism was determined using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method, and expression of MMP-2 and -9, TIMP-1, -2, -3, and -4 was determined using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Plasma MMP-9 enzyme activity levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results and Conclusion: The frequencies of C1562T genotypes were found to be CC 67%, CT 30%, and TT 3% in the control group and CC 75%, CT 24%, and TT 1% in the patient group. It was determined that CC genotype frequency increases significantly in patients according to control group. Plasma MMP-9 enzyme activity levels increased in patients with lung cancer compared to the control group. The cut-off value of MMP-9 enzyme activity was determined as 7.76 ng/mL by receiver operating characteristics curve analysis. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 77%, 51%, 75.9%, and 52.6%, respectively. The expression of MMP-2 and TIMP-1 was found to be higher in lung cancer patients. Finally, we claim that determination of MMP-9 enzyme levels and expression of MMP-2 and -9 and TIMP-1 can be used as a marker in lung cancer.

There is little information about the hepatoprotective effects of gallic acid against ischemia–reperfusion (I/R) damage. Animals were subjected to I/R. Gallic acid at doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg body weight (bw) were injected as a single dose prior to ischemia. Liver tissue homogenates were used for the measurement of malondialdehyde (MDA), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) levels. At the same time alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were assayed in serum samples and compared statistically. While the ALT, AST, LDH activities and MDA levels were significantly increased, CAT and GPx activities significantly decreased in only I/R-induced control rats compared to normal control rats (P < 0.05). Treatment with gallic acid at a dose of 100 mg/kg bw significantly decreased the ALT, AST, LDH activities and MDA levels, and markedly increased activities of CAT and GPx in tissue homogenates compared to I/R-induced rats with no treatment group (P < 0.05). In oxidative stress generated by hepatic ischemia–reperfusion, gallic acid contributes partially an alteration in the delicate balance between the scavenging capacity of antioxidant defense systems and free radicals in favour of the antioxidant defense systems in the body.