Dietary Fats and Oxidative Stress: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Coronary Artery Disease Subjects Consuming Coconut Oil/Sunflower Oil

Coconut oil has been used by the people of Kerala as a cooking medium for several decades. Due to its alleged hypercholesterolemic activity, general population in recent times is shifting to cooking oils rich in polyunsaturated fats, the most popular being sunflower oil. The effect of long-term consumption of sunflower oil on oxidative stress in humans is not well investigated. We studied oxidative stress among coronary artery disease (CAD) patients who were consuming coconut oil or sunflower oil as a part of their routine diet. Men, aged 35–70 years, with established CAD, who presented to the hospital for routine cardiac evaluations, were enrolled in this observational study. Group 1 and 2 consisted of 73 and 80 subjects consuming coconut oil and sunflower oil respectively for over a period of 2 years. Lipid profile and parameters for oxidative stress were evaluated among them. Conventional lipid parameters did not differ significantly between the two groups. Mean vitamin C concentration was significantly reduced for subjects on sunflower oil compared to those consuming coconut oil (P = 0.044). Malondialdehyde was higher for sunflower oil consumers compared to coconut oil consumers (P < 0.0001). Other parameters such as oxidized LDL, GSH, GPx and SOD were not found to be significantly different between the two groups. The results of the present study show that coconut oil did not induce hypercholesterolemia compared to sunflower oil. On the other hand, sunflower oil group had elevated oxidative stress compared to coconut oil group.     

A Narrative Review of Potential Future Antidiabetic Drugs: Should We Expect More?

Prevalence of diabetes mellitus, a chronic metabolic disease characterized by hyperglycemia, is growing worldwide. The majority of the cases belong to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Globally, India ranks second in terms of diabetes prevalence among adults. Currently available classes of therapeutic agents are used alone or in combinations but seldom achieve treatment targets. Diverse pathophysiology and the need of therapeutic agents with more favourable pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamics profile make newer drug discoveries in the field of T2DM essential. A large number of molecules, some with novel mechanisms, are in pipeline. The essence of this review is to track and discuss these potential agents, based on their developmental stages, especially those in phase 3 or phase 2. Unique molecules are being developed for existing drug classes like insulins, DPP-4 inhibitors, GLP-1 analogues; and under newer classes like dual/pan PPAR agonists, dual SGLT1/SGLT2 inhibitors, glimins, anti-inflammatory agents, glucokinase activators, G-protein coupled receptor agonists, hybrid peptide agonists, apical sodium-dependent bile acid transporter (ASBT) inhibitors, glucagon receptor antagonists etc. The heterogeneous clinical presentation and therapeutic outcomes in phenotypically similar patients is a clue to think beyond the standard treatment strategy.     

A Microarray Immunoassay for Serum Thyrotropin and Thyroglobulin Using Antibodies Immobilized on Track-Etched Membranes

Serum thyroglobulin (Tg) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) measurements have evolved as important analytes for monitoring the prognosis of patients with differentiated thyroid cancer, post-thyroidectomy. Individual analyte immunoassay is the current practice in clinical pathology, but the simultaneous assay for all relevant analytes for a given disease, can reduce assay costs, improve patient compliance and give the clinician more information for an unequivocal diagnosis. Microarray immunoassay (MI) can achieve this goal and, hence, we have developed and validated a immuno-radiometric MI for quantitation of serum TSH and Tg by using highly micro-porous polycarbonate (PC) track-etched membranes (TEM) to immobilize the monoclonal anti-TSH and polyclonal anti-Tg antibodies in ~1 mm diameter spots. Non-competitive immunoassays were performed using mixture of ¹²⁵I labeled monoclonal anti-TSH and anti-Tg antibodies. Phosphorimager was used to quantify the bound radioactivity. TSH and Tg were detected with detection limit of 0.07 µIU/ml and 0.13 ng/ml respectively, which is lower than the clinically required cut-off level. The assay showed: acceptable intra-assay precision within 20 % and recovery in the range of 76–111.2 %. MI compared well with the established immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) with r = 0.98, p < 0.01 (n = 41). No cross-reactivity was seen between the immobilized antibodies. Although two hormones are addressed in this report, MI using PC TEM and isotopic/non-isotopic tracers has the potential for highly automated multiplexed analysis.     

Status and Interrelationship of Zinc,Copper, Iron,Calcium and Selenium in Prostate Cancer

Deficiency or excess of certain trace elements has been considered as risk factor for prostate cancer. This study was aimed to detect differential changes and mutual correlations of selected trace elements in prostate cancer tissue versus benign prostatic hyperplasia tissue. Zinc, copper, iron, calcium and selenium were analysed in histologically proven 15 prostate cancer tissues and 15 benign prostatic hyperplasia tissues using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Unpaired two tailed t test/Mann–Whitney U test and Pearson correlation coefficient were used to compare the level of trace elements, elemental ratios and their interrelations. As compared to benign prostatic tissue, malignant prostatic tissue had significantly lower selenium (p = 0.038) and zinc (p = 0.043) concentrations, a lower zinc/iron ratio (p = 0.04) and positive correlation of selenium with zinc (r = 0.71, p = 0.02) and iron (r = 0.76, p = 0.009). Considerably divergent interrelationship of elements and elemental ratios in prostate cancer versus benign prostatic hyperplasia was noted. Understanding of differential elemental changes and their interdependence may be useful in defining the complex metabolic alterations in prostate carcinogenesis with potential for development of element based newer diagnostic, preventive and therapeutic strategies. Further studies may be needed to elucidate this complex relationship between trace elements and prostate carcinogenesis.     

Regional Distribution of Copper,Zinc and Iron in Brain of Wistar Rat Model for Non-Wilsonian Brain Copper Toxicosis

In previous studies, we have reported first in vivo evidence of copper deposition in the choroid plexus, cognitive impairments, astrocytes swelling (Alzheimer type II cells) and astrogliosis (increase in number of astrocytes), and degenerated neurons coupled with significant increase in the hippocampus copper and zinc content in copper-intoxicated Wistar rats. Nonetheless, hippocampus iron levels were not affected by chronic copper-intoxication. Notwithstanding information on distribution of copper, zinc and iron status in different regions of brain due to chronic copper exposure remains fragmentary. In continuation with our previous study, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of intraperitoneally injected copper lactate (0.15 mg Cu/100 g body weight) daily for 90 days on copper, zinc and iron levels in different regions of the brain using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Copper-intoxicated group showed significantly increased cortex, cerebellum and striatum copper content (76, 46.8 and 80.7 % increase, respectively) compared to control group. However, non-significant changes were observed for the zinc and iron content in cortex, cerebellum and striatum due to chronic copper exposure. In conclusion, the current study demonstrates that chronic copper toxicity causes differential copper buildup in cortex, cerebellum and striatum region of central nervous system of male Wistar rats; signifying the critical requirement to discretely evaluate the effect of copper neurotoxicity in different brain regions, and ensuing neuropathological and cognitive dysfunctions.