Üstündaǧ, Hilal; Doǧanay, Songül; Öztürk, Büşra; Köse, Fadime; Kurt, Nezahat; Aydemir Celep, Nevra; Huyut, Mehmet Tahir; Özgerş, Fatma Betül

This study aimed to investigate the effects of ketogenic diet (KD), intermittent fasting (IF), and their combination on testicular tissue and hormonal changes in adult male rats. Twenty-eight adult male rats were randomly divided into four groups: control diet (CD), KD, IF, and KD combined with IF (IF + KD). Body and testicular weights were recorded, serum estradiol and testosterone levels were analyzed, and oxidative stress parameters and nitric oxide (NO) in testicular tissue were assessed. Furthermore, histopathological analysis of testicular tissue was conducted. KD notably enhanced body and testis weights and testosterone levels and reduced estradiol levels. Additionally, KD and IF + KD improved oxidative status by decreasing malondialdehyde and myeloperoxidase and increasing glutathione, catalase, and NO in testicular tissue. Histopathological examination showed enhanced spermatogenesis in KD and IF + KD groups. These findings suggest KD and IF may enhance male fertility via hormonal, oxidative, and histological improvements.

Toktay, Erdem; Yayla, Muhammed; Sahin, Levent; Harmankaya, Ahmet; Ozic, Cem; Aksu Kilicle, Pinar; Gurbuz, Muhammet Ali; Erbas, Elif; Demir, Ozlem; Bayram, Pinar

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of red dragon fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus) extract (DFE) on the stomach in ulcer model induced by indomethacin in rats. Effects of DFE were evaluated in indomethacin-induced gastric damage model on Sprague–Dawley rats. Experimental model: all rats were fasted for 24 h. At the end of this period, DFE was administered to the ulcer-induced groups. One hour after this application, a dose of 25 mg/kg of indomethacin was applied by oral gavage to all groups except the HEALTHY and DFE1000 groups. Six hours after indomethacin administration, the rats were euthanized with high-dose anesthesia and the experiment was terminated. Macroscopic and microscopic analyses for investigating ulcerative area, molecular and biochemical analyses for oxidative damages investigation and molecular analyses for the effect mechanism of indomethacin and DFE were conducted on stomach tissues in the study. While oxidative stress-associated markers such as MDA, BAX, and Caspase 3 increased dramatically in the indomethacin group, GSH antioxidant levels decreased. It was observed that these parameters were significantly improved in DFE 500 mg/kg and DFE 1000 mg/kg groups compared to ulcer group, and the results of especially DFE 1000 mg/kg group were similar to famotidine group. We observed that our histopathological findings also supported all our other findings. Dragon fruit extract was protected against indomethacin-induced ulcer damage by decreased MDA levels, increased GSH levels, and inhibition of Caspase 3, BAX, and Cox-2, and activation of Cox-1. Practical applications: People of all ages around the world suffer from gastric ulcer which is one of the most common gastrointestinal ailments. The etiological factors of the disease are using of cigarette and alcohol, nutritional deficiencies, infections, and using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs which use frequent and indiscriminate. Indomethacin is one of the NSAIDs and is commonly preferred to induce ulcer modeling in rats due to its gastric toxicity potential. Current anti-ulcer drugs have many serious side effects. Patients who suffered from gastric ulcer tend to discontinue the drug because of side effects. Therefore, patients need new agents that are non-toxic, have few side effects, and are easily accessible anti-ulcer drugs. Dragon fruit, as a medicinal herb, is highly valuable and widely used in traditional medicine, and may provide gastroprotective activity. Studies have shown that H. polyrhizus has antioxidant activities. We consider the effects of dragon fruit extract (DFE) to be a therapeutic drug for an indomethacin-induced ulcer model.

Altay, Ahmet; Tohma, Hatice; Durmaz, Lokman; Taslimi, Parham; Korkmaz, Mustafa; Gulcin, Ilhami; Koksal, Ekrem

The phenolic contents and antioxidant, anticancer, antidiabetic, and anticholinergic potentials of four endemic Gysophila taxa (G. pallida, G. arrosti, G. tuberculosa, and G. eriocalyx) were investigated. The HPLC analysis showed that methanol extracts of all the tested species were richer in phenolics than water extracts. 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, vanillin, syringic acid, and p-coumaric acid were detected in all extracts. In parallel to the phenolic contents, methanol extracts displayed comparatively higher antioxidant activity than water extracts. Additionally, all extracts exhibited dose-dependent antiproliferative activity on the cancer cell lines with lower IC50 values changing from 0.170 to 1.805 mg/ml. Moreover, the extracts impressively inhibited the acetylcholinesterase (0.63–26.04), butyrylcholinesterase (3.66–10.73), and α-glycosidase (98.52–235.55) enzymes with very low IC50 (mg/ml) values. Together, the present results indicate that Gysophila taxa have various biological activities together with higher phenolic contents. Hence, these species hold good potential for use in the pharmaceutical industry. Practical applications: Gypsophila taxa having numerous biological activities have been used for different purpose in folk medicine as well as their use in the food industry. The obtained results of the current study indicated that the extracts of Gypsophila taxa are rich in phenolics and flavonoids with powerful antioxidant and antiproliferative activity against different type of cancer cell lines. In addition, the extracts obtained from these taxa showed notable antidiabetic and anticholinergics effects. Gypsophila taxa could be used as a natural material to develop anticancer, antidiabetic, and anticholinergic drugs.