Project description:Mucuna pruriens extract MPE pretreatment may have a direct protective effect on heart (other than immunological neutralization of the venom neurotoxin and phospholipase A2 by the anti-MPE antibodies) that renders the heart more resistant to the toxic action of the venom The direct protective effect probably involves functional changes to the cardiac tissue that enable the heart to resist the reduction of contractility and rate induced by the cobra venom.To explore the possibility of the direct action of MPE pretreatment on heart and to understand the molecular events involved in the protection of MPE pretreatment against the lethal action of Naja sputatrix venom, gene expression studies were carried out using microarray analysis. Rats were divided into four groups (n=6): negative control (abbreviated as ‘negative’ group), MPE pretreated group (abbreviated as ‘MPE’ group), N. sputatrix venom-challenge group (abbreviated as ‘NS’ group) and N. sputatrix venom-challenge to MPE pretreated animals group (abbreviated as ‘MPE-NS’ group). In the ‘MPE’ group, rats were injected with MPE at a dose of 21 mg/kg (i.p.), on day 0, 7 and 14, and sacrificed on day 21. In the ‘negative’ group (the untreated, control group), rats were injected with saline of the same volume and sacrificed also on day 21. Hearts were then harvested immediately. In the N. sputatrix venom-challenge group (‘NS’ group), untreated rats were challenged with 1.5 LD50 (1.25 ?g/g) of N. sputatrix venom whereas in the venom challenge to MPE pretreated animals group (the ‘MPE-NS’ group), MPE pretreated rats were challenged with 1.5 LD50 (1.25 ?g/g) of N. sputatrix venom, both on day 21. For the ‘NS’ and ‘MPE-NS’ group, the rats were observed for 24 h after venom challenged and hearts were harvested as soon as death occurred or 24 h after the venom injection, whichever occurred first.

2014-12-22 | E-GEOD-46610 | biostudies-arrayexpress