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Since administration of androgens has been considered appreciable in hair follicle growth and wound healing, therefore the main objective in this study is evaluation the effect of sheep testis extract on improvement and growth of hair follicle and regeneration of injured Wistar rat skin. In this experimental study, rats were randomly divided into 7 groups, control (negative control), sham (treatment with physiologic serum), experimental group 1 (treatment with 100% sheep testis extract), experimental group 2 (treatment with 75% extract), experimental group 3 (treatment with 50% extract), positive control 1 (treatment with honey) for evaluation of wound healing and positive control 2 (treatment with Minoxidil) for evaluation of hair follicle growth. Then, rats were killed after and removed approximate wound skin, fixed in 10% formalin, kept in paraffin block. In addition, it was prepared serial section with 6 µm thickness and performed hematoxylin eosin staining. Then, epidermal thickness, the number of fibroblast, basal cells, inflammatory cells, vessel bud and hair follicle were assessed. Statistical analysis was performed by one way ANOVA, Tukey test at p ˃0.05. The results showed that wound healing process, hair follicle formation, the re-epithelialization, angiogenesis, the number of basal cell, fibroblasts, and the number of follicles was significantly improved in the experimental group 1, 2, rather than control group (p ˃0.05).  Results of this study demonstrated that the sheep testis extract induced improvement in regeneration process, wound healing and hair follicle growth in rats which can be suggested as an appreciable candidate due to rich source of androgen and growth factors in clinical wound healing studies.

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Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is an important crop in the world and increasing its fiber quality is very cr-ucial for textile industries. Spider silk is the strongest and most elastic fiber ever known in the nature. Cotton is one of the main crops in the world and increasing its fiber quality is very important for textile industries. In this regard, a synt-hetic construct has been designed to offer spider silk quality to cotton fibers by fiber-specific expression of Major am-pullate spidroin1 (MaSp1) gene under control of core sequence of GaRD22-like1 promoter. The synthetic construct was double digested by the EcoRI and NheI and sub-cloned in pCAMBIA1304 binary vector. E.coli DH5α was transformed using new plasmid namely pCSP. Ligation and intact backbone of plasmid was conformed using MaSp1 and hygrom-ycin re-sistance genes specific primers and finally with EcoRI/NheI double digestion. Agrobacterium tumefaciens LBA4404 was transformed with pCSP to transform cotton ovules of Varamin cultivar. The expression of MaSp1 in co-tton ovules and fibers showed that this synthetic sequence had been successfully expressed under control of GaRDL1 core promoter and this construct without codon optimization could be used for cotton transformation and its fiber qual-ity manipulation.

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The polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common endocrine disorders in women at childbearing age. Metabolic syndrome is present from 28% to 46% of patients with PCOS. Non-alcoholic fatty liver di-sease (NAFLD) is considered the hepatic expression of metabolic syndrome. In this study Urtica dioica moderator ef-fect on liver function in PCOS rats was examined. 120 adult female Wistar rats were divided into control, PCOS and nettle-treated groups. The PCOS group was injected subcutaneously 2 mg/kg estradiol valerate. After confirmed poly-cystic in ovaries, the experimental group was injected of the nettle extract doses (150,250, 450 mg/kg BW). Then rats were killed and blood samples were evaluated. Data were analyzed using ANOVA one-way and p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. ELISA test showed a decrease in IL-6 level and CRP levels reduced in PCOS rats were treated with various concentrations of nettle. Our results show that nettle due to its antioxidant properties reduce the levels of IL-6 and CRP in nettle extract treated-PCOS compared to the PCOS.

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Ferula stenocarpa from Apiaceae family is a perennial plant with about 2 meters height, which grows in the high temperature of sudanian regions. This research was aimed to investigate the autecology of an endemic plant to Iran, Ferula stenocarpa, in Khuzestan province. Initially, the habitat map was prepared and characteristics of the species habitat including topography, climate, soil properties, companion species, palynology, anatomical studies were determined. In addition, the phenology stage and root system was investigated. The results show that this species is distributed in the altitudes ranging from 159 to 850 m.a.s.l., with the mean annual precipitation of 112.4 to 482.9 millimeters and mean annual temperature of 24.47 to 25.93 ºC. This plant species is found in habitats with different topographic aspects and no slope limitations with slopes 40-60% as preferred slopes. Soil texture was loam, clay loam and silty loam, weak alkaline, and poor in phosphorus and nitrogen. Electrical Conductivity is 1-0.72 ds/m and soil pH of 7.47-7.85. The vegetative growth of this species starts from mid-March. The flowers appear in April and seeds ripen in late on May. The plant propagates only by seeds. Pollen is prolate, elliptic and tricolporate. The destruction of natural habitats of this plant due to overgrazing causes that we find this plant as individual and scattered spots in their natural habitat.
 

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Trichoderma species have been famous for production of cellulases with relatively high enzymatic activity. However, attempts to use their cellulolytic enzymes in the bioconversion of cellulosic wastes have not been successful because of high cost of production and low enzymatic yields. This study aimed to obtain gamma-induced mutants of T. viride with enhanced extracellular cellulase production. Spore suspensions were exposed to γ-rays at 250 Gy as optimum dose. After irradiation, all germinated spores were grown onto PDA plates and mutant strains with better sporulation were selected and subcultured five times to test their stability. Cellulase activity was tested using Whatman No. 1 filter paper, carboxymethyl cellulose, avicel, bacterial cellulose and walseth cellulose according to the IUPAC recommendation. Extracellular proteins profiles of mutant strains were studied via SDS-PAGE. The maximum activity of total cellulase and avicelase were observed in the isolate of M21 (92.43 and 74.40 U/mg, respectively) and maximum endo-glucanase activity was observed in M18 mutant. The results of this study showed that the application of gamma ray led to a significant increase in Cellulose activity of 38 percent of mutant strains. Thus, this method could be used as a simple and efficient way to achieve strains with the ability to produce high levels of enzymes and other biological metabolites.
 

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Feeding frequency and stocking density are important factors affecting growth and maturation of cultured fishes. The aims of this investigation were to determine the effects of stocking density (10, 20, 30 and 40 fish per aquarium) and feeding frequency (2, 3 and 4 times per day) on growth parameters and hematocrit of the Rutilus rutilus caspicus. The experiment was continued for 45 days in two replicates. The results of this study showed that growth parameters, including weigh gain (WG), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and specific growth rate (SGR) were affected significantly by stocking density (P<0.05), but not significantly affected by feeding frequency (P>0.05). The highest WG and SGR were recorded with the lowest stocking density (10 fish / aquarium). The least FCR was obtained in density of 10 fish/aquarium, FCR value was significantly higher with high stocking density (P<0.05). Also, interactions between stocking density and feeding frequency were no significant on growth parameters (P>0.05). Density and feeding frequency hand no significant effect of hematocrit concentration (P>0.05). On the other hand, interactions between stocking density and feeding frequency significantly affected hematocrit levels (P<0.05). The lowest level of hematocrit was observed in density of 10 fish/aquarium at two times / day feeding frequency. The results of this study indicated that density is significantly affected the growth, but increasing of feeding frequency there is not effect on growth in the Rutilus rutilus caspicus.
 

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Sex steroid hormones play important roles in many physiological processes, particularly in the reproduction of teleostei. Therefore, study of steroid hormones in fish is one of the important indicators of reproductive biology. In the present research, serum steroid hormones such as testosterone (T), 17β-estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P) in Esox lucius brood stocks, during one year, from autumn 2010 to summer 2011, in five periods (autumn, first half of winter, second half of winter, spring and summer) with three longitudinal classes: 300-360, 360-420 and 420-480 millimeters were studied. The results showed significant difference between levels of steroid hormones in three longitudinal classes and showed an increasing trend by increased length (P<0.05). In addition, there was significant different between levels of gonadal steroid hormones and different seasons (P<0.05). The highest level of 17-β estradiol was observed in autumn season. In the case of testosterone and progesterone hormones, higher levels were recorded in first and second half of winter, respectively.
 

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Nowadays natural compounds are increasingly used in various fields since they cause fewer adverse side effects than their chemical counterparts. In addition, preparation and production of natural compounds are comparatively simple. The present study aimed to evaluate the anti-cancer effects of brittle star methanol extract on MCF-7 cells. Anti-cancer effects of brittle star methanol extract were examined on the MCF-7 cell line. Moreover, the toxicity of this compound was assessed using cell apoptosis methods, ethidium bromide/acridine orange (EB/AO) staining and Annexin V Apoptosis Detection Kit. According to the MTT assay, the methanolic extract of brittle star could prevent proliferation in a time- and dose-dependent manner. The calculated inhibitory concentration that decreased the cell-viability by half (IC₅₀) was estimated at 150 µg/ml. On the other hand, results of EB/AO staining were indicative of increased apoptotic cells in the treatment group. In addition, results of Annexin V/PI protocol demonstrated a significant enhancement in the percentage of late apoptotic cells (29.02%) in the treatment groups (150 µg/ml) and the percentage of necrotic cells were 2.77% for a period of 24 hours. According to the results, the methanolic extract of Persian Gulf brittle star induced apoptosis in the MCF-7 cell line. These effects could be attributed to the presence of certain active biological compounds, such as Saponins, Naphthoquinones and Carotenoids. Furthermore, our findings suggested that brittle star might have beneficial effects on cancer management. Therefore, this natural marine compound could be used as a complementary element in the prevention and treatment of cancer.

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The flowering process in plants proceeds through the induction of an inflorescence meristem triggered by several pathways. Many of the genes associated with these pathways encode transcription factors of the MADS domain family. The MADS-domain transcription factor APETALA1 (AP1) is a key regulator of flower development. The first step to understand the molecular mechanisms under the function of each gene in a plant is identification, sequencing and phylogeny analysis of that gene. For this purpose, total RNA was isolated from flower bud of garden cress (Lepidium sativum L.) and was used for cDNA synthesis. The specific primers were designed based on nucleotide sequence alignment of AP1 homologus genes from plants of the same family Brassicaceae and were used in RT-PCR. After observing its electrophoretic pattern and ensuring the quality of PCR product, the amplicon was sent for sequencing. After receiving the results of sequencing, the sequence examined with BLAST, MUSCLE, Gene Runner and MEGA6 softwares. The results indicated amplification of 787 nucleotides fragment that named LsAP1 and was recorded by accession number KP070728 in NCBI database. The studies show high similarity and overlapping of gene bank sequences with LsAP1 illative protein. According to these results, LsAP1 may play a similar role as AP1 in flower induction and could act as a flower meristem identity gene in Lepidium sativum L.

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Plant peroxidase (EC: 1.11.1.7) a heme-containing protein which is widely used in plants, microorganisms and animals. This two - substrate enzyme, catalyze the hydrogen peroxide into water with   oxidation of many organic and inorganic substrates that all of them can be used to measure enzyme activity. Although it’s specific substrate is hydrogen peroxide. Calcium and at least four disulfide bonds in the protein structure lead the formation and strength of three-dimensional structure of the molecule. Plant peroxidase has several roles including, involvement in lignin biosynthesis, auxin metabolism, cell growth, cell wall cross linking and respond to environmental stress. So peroxidase, considered as a good point to pursue the cell deal with stress factors such as oxidative stress. These days according to produce the pure samples of this molecule, peroxidase also used in ligand-protein studies in pharmaceutical research. So in this brief overview, in addition to introducing plant peroxidase we have had a brief look to measure the enzyme activity, the number of isoenzymes in a cell and the ensuing conformational changes of peroxidase.

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In this study, the cytotoxic effects of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Sedum album L. on human stomach cancer cell line (AGS) and breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) were evaluated by MTT, BrdU and TUNEL assays. The results demonstrated that both extracts had antiproliferative and apoptotic effects in a dose-dependent manner. The MTT assay data revealed that the AGS cell underwent more cytotoxicity in comparison with the MCF-7 cell. It also revealed that ethanolic extract was more potent than aqueous extract. The BrdU assay results showed that the proliferation of AGS and MCF-7 cells was reduced to 50% and 43%, respectively, at the highest concentration of the aqueous extract. In addition, the ethanolic extract reduced the proliferation of AGS and MCF-7 cells to 75% and 60%, respectively. The AGS and MCF-7 cells underwent 52% and 12% apoptotic death upon treatment by the ethanolic extract as TUNEL assay showed. The aqueous extract induced 28% and 25% apoptosis in the AGS and MCF-7 cells, respectively. Both inhibition of proliferation and induction of apoptosis are desirable strategies for cancer treatment among researchers. Identification of S. album compounds and analyzing their effects in animal model of cancer can help us with understanding its anti-cancer properties.
 

 

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In recent years using of silver nanoparticles due to its unique properties was increased. Medical plant, the Achillea biebersteinii is rich in anti-cancers compounds. The aim of this study was to investigate the cytotoxicity effects of AgNPs synthesized using Achillea biebersteinii extract on human ovarian cancer A2780 cells. Cytotoxic effects of AgNPs with MTT test was performed at 48 hours in concentration of 2, 4, 6, 8, 16 and 32 µg/ml. To study the cell death induced by AgNPs DAPI, acridine orange (AO)/ Propidium iodide (PI) staining and Annexin v/ Propidium iodide assay and activation of caspase 3 and 9 were assessed. Results: The results showed that the synthesized AgNPs decreased cell viability dose dependently, calculated inhibitory concentration of 50 % (IC50) was 4 µg/ml.  The results from AO / PI, DAPI staining, Annexin V / PI showed that in treated cells the percentage of apoptotic cells compared with control increased. In addition, the treated cells showed increased activation of caspase 3/9. Hence silver nanoparticles induced cell death through the caspase dependent pathway. The results suggest that AgNPs synthesized using Achillea biebersteinii   extract exert their cytotoxic effect by inducing apoptosis.

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Catechin, epicatechin gallate (ECG) and quercetin, as bioactive flavonoids, have been shown to possess anticarcinogenic effects. Ceramide plays an important role in killing tumor cells. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to clarify the involvement of these compounds in ceramide metabolism in A549 cancerous cell line. Spectrophotometer, cell culture and HPLC methods were used. Cell viability index showed different potential of cytotoxicity effect for each of the studied agents, among which ECG was more potent. This index decreased significantly over 100 to 250 µM concentrations of treatment with respect to control. Cell treatments also caused considerable increase in ceramide level within cells in a dose-dependent manner. Sphingomyelinase activity increased significantly in treatment with quercetin and catechin. There was significant inhibition in acid ceramidase activity of cell extract in response to each of the three compounds, particularly over 100 µM in comparison with control. Data also showed no significant variation in glycosyl ceramide synthase activity in treated cells with quercetin, whereas the activity decreased significantly by Catechin and/or ECG. It is our conviction that different effects on ceramide metabolism enzymes may be related to various chemical groups on the common structure of the studied compounds. Due to structure-function relationship, these compounds had different effects on ceramide generation. Elevation in ceramide content in A549 cancer cell line induced apoptosis, which led to anti-cancerous effects, as observed in this study.

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Yarrowia lipolytica, as a good cell factory to speed up the production of plant pharmaceutical components, has been considered to be one of the most important and attractive micro-organisms in recent years, due to its high secretion capacity, limited glycosylation, large range of genetic markers and molecular tools. Naringenin, as a central core of flavonoids production, plays important roles both in plants and in the treatment of different types of human diseases. For this purpose, specific naringenin biosynthesis genes from different origins were selected and introduced after comparative expression profiling in Y. lipolytica. This research indicated that chs plays the main role in the production of naringenin, so the increase copy number of this gene in each construct was investigated. The HPLC results confirmed that the construct with 5 copy numbers of chs resulted in 7.14 fold increase of naringenin extracellular titer to 90.16 mg/L in shake flask cultures. The results reported in this study demonstrated that sufficient knowledge of genes involved in the specific biosynthesis pathway, synthetic gene pathway and using Y. lipolytica as a capable and cheap host could help bioengineers to produce significant amounts of pharmaceutical components.
 
 

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Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) have made extensive advances in nanotechnology. The unique properties of these particles have expanded their application in various fields, including medicine. One of these applications is non-invasive analysis for cell tracking. However, the possibility of toxicity in cells is reported by these nanoparticles. Due to the fact that cellular damage caused by iron oxide nanoparticles is concentration-dependent, the determination of the appropriate  concentration of iron oxide nanoparticles is very important to prevent cell damage or cell death due to apoptosis. The aim of this study was to find a concentration of SPIONs which does not result in apoptosis. Therefore, the effects of different concentrations of iron oxide nanoparticles on cell survival were investigated, and the their effects on increased gene expression involved in apoptosis (p53) in human amniotic membrane derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAMSCs) were evaluated. First, stem cells were extracted from human amniotic membrane tissue and cultured. To demonstrate the multipotent characteristic of hAMSCs, these cells were differentiated into adipose, bone, and chondrocyte cell lines. Then, the viability of the cells treated with different concentrations of iron oxide nanoparticles (200, 150, 100, 50, 0 μg / ml) over a period of 24 and 48 hours was evaluated by MTT method. The effect of the concentrations of 0, 100,150 and 200 μg / ml of nanoparticles after 24 hours in hAMSCs was investigated for the expression of p53 gene by Real-Time PCR. hAMSCs were spindle-shaped in a two-dimensional culture. Flow cytometry examination of surface markers revealed that these cells were able to express CD 29, CD90 and CD105 but they were unable to express CD34 and CD45. The results of the multi-potency assay of hAMSCs showed that these cells were capable of being differentiated into adipocyte, bone and chondrocyte cell lines. Iron oxide nanoparticles had no significant effect on cell survival at the concentrations of 50 and 100 μg / ml in 24 hours. However, cell viability decreased significantly after the concentration of 150 μg / ml (42 ± 1.4%, p<0. 001. The results of Real-Time PCR  analysis showed that the expression of p53 gene significantly increased at concentrations of 150 (2.4±0.1, P < 0. 001) and 200 μg / ml (4.1 ± 0.11, P < 0. 001). According to the results, the nanoparticles used in this study were appropriate at concentrations ≥ 100 μg / ml for cell tracking.

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Tetanus is caused by the toxin secreted by Clostridium tetani. Due to the rapid infection with this bacterium, it is so important to investigate the tetanus immunity of people. Therefore, electrochemical biosensors, as one of the most effective tools in this regard, have demanded characteristics such as being fast, simple, cost-effective and portable. However, their detection sensitivity is not sufficient. Hereon, silver enhancement of gold-nanoparticles was proposed for the improvement of detection. Hence, the current study applied gold-nanoparticles as label, following with silver enhancement, to investigate the yes/no electrochemical detection of anti-tetanus toxoid antibodies in the indirect immunoassay utilizing glassy-carbon electrodes modified by carbon nanotubes. The analytical procedure consists of the reactions of the tetanus toxoid with the antibody at electrode, so that followed by the interaction of gold-labeled secondary antibody and then silver enhancement process. In this study, the cyclic-voltammeter variation and difference of gold to silver signal based on silver ions fluctuations were also investigated. The results indicated that ∆E_p increased from 0.24 V before silver enhancement reaction to 0.57 V after the silver enhancement. The results also demonstrated that after silver enhancement, current significantly increased and current plot at E^c_p transferred to positive potentials and at E^a_p moved to negative potentials. In conclusion, this method increases the detection sensitivity and can simply use to other bio-molecules detection.
 
 

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Exosomes are secreted by different types of cells and known as biological packages. Exosomes have significant role in intercellular communications and involved in the development and progression of various diseases such as cancer. Inhibin B and anti-mullerian hormone (AMH) are markers of granulosa cell tumors (GCT) and due to the role of exosomes in the progression of cancer, in this experimental study, the effect of exosomes derived from human ovarian cancer cells on the secretion of Inhibin B and antimullerian hormone (AMH) by granulosa cells was investigated. First, A2780 human ovarian cancer cells were cultured, then the supernatant was collected to extract the exosomes by ultracentrifugation and subsequently, the extracted exosomes were checked out using dynamic light scattering (DLS) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In addition, granulosa cells were isolated and cultured from the ovaries immature female Balb / C mice and treated with 25 μg/ml of exosomes derived from the ovarian cancer cell-line. Inhibin B and AMH hormones levels were then measured. The results showed the significant (P<0/05) increase of the level of inhibin B and AMH hormones in the treated cells in comparison with the control group. According to the results, exosomes increased the secretion of Inhibin B and AMH hormones and seems to be effective in the proliferation of granulosa cell tumors.
 
 

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Nanotechnology-based targeting drug delivery systems have a considerable potential in medicine. Therefore, the present study aimed to designe, synthesise and characterize a nanodrug with beta lactoglobulin coating including oxali-palladium with and without folate and to compare their anti-cancer effects. The physicochemical properties of nanocapsules were studied by Dynamic light scattering (DLS), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Finally, the anticancer activities of nanodrugs were investigated against human colorectal cancer cell line of HCT116 by MTT and flowcytometry methods. The results of Dynamic light scattering (DLS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) showed that the average size of nanocapsules with folate were less than 40 nm. Cytotoxicity results proved the dose- and time-dependent antiproliferation and anicancer activities of nanocapsules (with folate) against HCT116. Finally, it could be concluded that folate increase anticancer activity of nanodrugs and it might be considered as a new candidate in the design and synthesis of new drugs in cancer treatment.


 

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Lung carcinoma is the second most common type of cancer. Inefficiency of the current treatments and the undesirable side effects of chemotherapy drugs made the know-how of the treatment important. The purpose of this study is to investigate the synergic effect of curcumin and Cisplatin in comparison with the sole application of each treatment on Calu-6 cell line, an epithelial cell line of human lung carcinoma, and the expression of Cdc42 gene. The viability of Calu-6 was examined after 24- or 48-hour treatment with doses of 0.5 to 8 µg/ml of curcumin, 0.1 to 50 µg/ml of cisplatin and combined doses of curcumin and Cisplatin by MTT assay. To measure apoptosis and the expression of Cdc42 gene, flow cytometry and Real-Time PCR were utilized. Decrease of cell viability and induction of cell death were observed in the cells treated with 0.67 µg/ml of curcumin and 1.7 µg/ml of cisplatin (the lowest effective dose) and the combined treatment with the same doses of each drug after 24-hour treatments. The maximum rates of early and late apoptosis were related to treatment with curcumin and the combined treatment. The gene expression analysis results indicated that both Curcumin and Cisplatin decrease the expression of Cdc42 gene, moreover, their co-administration showed synergic effects. Therefore, Curcumin could be an appropriate option for complementary administration with other chemotherapy agents in order to reduce their efficient dose, and to reduce their side effects.