Arshad Jamal

Sesamin attenuates neurotoxicity in mouse model of ischemic brain stroke

Stroke is a severe neurological disorder characterized by the abrupt loss of blood circulation into the brain resulting into wide ranging brain and behavior abnormalities. The present study was designed to evaluate molecular mechanism by which sesamin (SES) induces neuroprotection in mouse model of ischemic stroke. The results of this study demonstrate that SES treatment (30 mg/kg bwt) significantly reduced infarction volume, lipid per-oxidation, cleaved-caspase-3 activation, and increased GSH activity following MCAO in adult male mouse. SES treatment also diminished iNOS and COX-2 protein expression, and significantly restored SOD activity and protein expression level in the ischemic cortex of the MCAO animals. Furthermore, SES treatment also significantly reduced inflammatory and oxidative stress markers including Iba1, Nox-2, Cox-2, peroxynitrite compared to placebo MCAO animals. Superoxide radical production, as studied by DHE staining method, was also significantly reduced in the ischemic cortex of SES treated compared to placebo MCAO animals. Likewise, downstream effects of superoxide free radicals i.e. MAPK/ERK and P38 activation was also significantly attenuated in SES treated compared to placebo MCAO animals. In conclusion, these results suggest that SES induces significant neuroprotection, by ameliorating many signaling pathways activated/deactivated following cerebral ischemia in adult mouse.

Comparison of total soluble protein in various horticultural crops and evaluation of its quantification methods

Various horticultural crops have been considered as potential heterologous expression systems for plant-made recombinant pharmaceutical proteins. However, there is little information concerning the total soluble protein (TSP) levels of major horticultural crops. Ten major horticultural crops-Chinese cabbage, broccoli, garlic, onion, cabbage, bunching onion, cucumber, zucchini, radish, and carrot, along with tobacco and Arabidopsis, were selected to investigate the TSP levels in their individual tissues. In tobacco, SDS-PAGE assay showed that leaf tissues had stronger protein bands than stem tissues, and freshly harvested samples had slightly stronger band density than the −70°C frozen samples, suggesting that fresh leaf should be used to measure the total soluble proteins without any protein loss or degradation. Bicinchoninic acid (BCA) protein assay revealed that among various horticultural crops, garlic (41.4 mg·g−1 FW), broccoli (21.9 mg·g−1 FW), and Chinese cabbage (11.9 mg·g−1 FW) had the highest TSP levels suggesting that these horticultural crops could be good candidates for plant molecular biofarming to produce highly valuable recombinant proteins. The inner clove tissue in garlic, the flower tissue in broccoli, and the green leaf tissue in Chinese cabbage showed the strongest protein band density as compared to other tissues. The TSP of Arabidopsis tissues was quantified by SDS-PAGE, BCA, and Nano-drop methods. In general, the middle leaf tissue showed the highest TSP levels. To evaluate TSP levels of various horticultural crops, these three different methods were compared. The correlation and regression analyses between SDS-PAGE and BCA, and SDS-PAGE and Nano-drop suggested that there were significant correlations between SDS-PAGE and BCA protein assays as compared to SDS-PAGE and Nano-drop assays, indicating that BCA assay is reliable to quantify TSP levels. In conclusion, the TSP levels varied depending on the horticultural crops and their tissue types, and BCA assay could be applied to quantify the TSP.

Chimerism of multiple monoclonal antibodies expressed in a single plant

Transgenic plants offer a source for the sustainable, safe, and large-scale production of therapeutic recombinant proteins. In this study, both murine anti-colorectal cancer mAb (mAbMC) and human anti-rabies mAb 57 (mAbHR), expressed in a single plant were investigated for their cancer cell binding activity and rabies virus neutralization activity, respectively. Transgenic plants, expressing murine anti-colorectal cancer mAb CO17-1A (mAbMC) and human anti-rabies mAb 57 (mAbHR), respectively, were crossed to reproduce F1 transgenic plant, expressing both mAbs. PCR and immunoblot analyses demonstrated that heavy (HC) and light chain (LC) genes of mAbMC and mAbHR were present, and that both mAbs were expressed in F1 transgenic lines, respectively. Quantitative immunoblot for purified mAb also showed the presence of both mAbs in F1 transgenic lines. However, Cell ELISA analysis showed that in mAbPC and mAbPR purified from the F1 transgenic lines (mAbPC×R), the binding activity to SW948 human colorectal carcinoma cells was lower than mAbMC, and in vitro mAbMC, mixed with mAbHR (mAbMHC+R). The in vitro rabies virus neutralization assay demonstrated that the mAbPC×R, from the F1 transgenic plants, had lower bioactivity against rabies virus than mAbH57, and mAbMHC+R. N-glycan structure analysis revealed that mAbMC and mAbHR had Golgi type (94 and 14%) and ER type (6 and 86%), respectively, and the purified mAbs from the F1 transgenic plants had Golgi type (75%) and ER type (25%). These results indicate that the F1 transgenic plant produced both mAbPC and mAbPR; however, the HC and LC proteins of each anti-rabies virus and anti-colorectal cancer mAbs were assembled randomly, resulting in chimerism in HC and LC assembly for mAb.