Bifidobacteria are one of the main microbial inhabitants of the human colon. Usually administered in fermented dairy products as beneficial microorganisms, they have to overcome the acidic pH found in the stomach during the gastrointestinal transit to be able to colonize the lower parts of the intestine. The mechanisms underlying acid response and adaptation in Bifidobacterium longum biotype lo...

We constructed a deletion mutant of the pyrE gene in Bifidobacterium longum 105-A. A pyrE knockout cassette was cloned into pKKT427, a Bifidobacterium-Escherichia coli shuttle vector, and then introduced into B. longum 105-A by electroporation. The transformants were propagated and spread onto MRS plates containing 5-fluoroorotic acid (5-FOA) and uracil. 5-FOA-resistant mutants were obtained at...

The Bifidobacteria show great diversity in the cell surface architecture which may influence the physicochemical properties of the bacterial cell and strain specific properties. The immunomodulatory role of bifidobacteria has been extensively studied, however studies on the immunoreactivity of their protein molecules are very limited. Here, we compared six different methods of protein isolation...

Probiotics are live microorganisms that exert beneficial effects on the host, when administered in adequate amounts. Mostly, probiotics affect the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of the host and alter the composition of gut microbiota. Nowadays, the incidence of hip fractures due to osteoporosis is increasing worldwide. Ovariectomized (OVX) rats have fragile bone due to estrogen deficiency and mimi...

Butea monosperma popularly known as Flame of the Forest, Dhak, Palash or ‘Bastard teak’ which has immense potential and appears to have a broad spectrum of activity on several ailments. Previous phytochemical examination of this plant indicated the presence of various constituents some of these are Cajanin and isoformononetin; Stigmasterol; Butin; two known flavonoids, isobutrin (3, 4, 2', 4'-t...

Epilepsy is a brain disorder which affects about 50 million people worldwide. Ineffectiveness of the drugs in some cases and the serious side effects and chronic toxicity of the antiepileptic drugs lead to use of herbal medicine as a form of complementary and alternative medicine. In this review modern evidences for the efficacy of antiepileptic medicinal plants in Traditional Iranian Medicine ...

The radioprotective efficacy of the ethanolic extract of Amalakyadi churna (an Ayurvedic formulation) was studied against the induction of micronuclei in the bone marrow cells of whole body irradiated (4Gy γ-rays) Swiss albino mice. Amalakyadi churna (AC) is a powdered mixture of equiproportions of fruits of Phyllanthus emblica L (Euphorbiaceae), Piper longum L (Piperaceae), Terminalia chebula ...

freckles and pigmented acne scars, are of serious concern to women. Their treatment usually involves the use of medicines or medicinal cosmetics containing depigmenting agents or skin-whitening agents. For example, hydroquinone and 4methoxyphenol are used as topical therapies for hyperpigmentation disorders. Active ingredients available for medicated whitening cosmetics in Japan include vitamin...

Piper longum L. is a well-known traditional antihyperlipidemic medicine in China, containing medicinal constituents of piperine, pipernonaline and piperlonguminine in its fruit. However, the antitumor properties of these constituents have not yet been studied. We found that potassium piperate (GBK), a derivative of piperine, inhibited proliferation of cancer cells. GBK selectively inhibited the...

BACKGROUND Piperlongumine (PL) is a compound isolated from the piper longum plant. It possesses anti-cancer activities through blocking the transcription factor STAT3 and by inducing reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cancer, but not normal cells. It also inhibits platelet aggregation induced by collagen, but the underlying mechanism is not known. OBJECTIVE We conducted in vitro experiments to ...