A 39-year-old female presented with a mobile 1.5 cm nodule in the right breast. Fine needle aspiration cytology smears stained with May Grunwald Giemsa were highly cellular with a monotonous population of dissociated and clustered tumour cells that showed a bland cytological appearance with cytoplasmic vacuolation and occasional signet ring forms. Intracellular and extracellular mucus was present. Histological study of the excised breast mass showed a secretory carcinoma. This is a rare breast neoplasm in which cytological features are characteristic enough to permit a specific diagnosis on needle aspirates.
The discus fish (Symphysodon aequifasciata) is a cichlid demonstrating advanced mode of parental care towards fry. Both male and female fish utilized epidermal mucus secreted from specialized epidermal cells to feed developing fry. We utilized proteomics to compare protein profile from parental and nonparental fish. Gel analysis revealed a total of 35 spots that were up-regulated in parental mucus. In tandem, another 18 spots were uniquely expressed in parental mucus. MS analysis of these spots identified proteins such as fructose biphosphate aldolase, nucleoside diphosphate kinase, and heat shock proteins, which are essential to support energy provision, cell repair and proliferation, stress mediation, and defense mechanism in parental fish during parental-care period. Concurrently, the detection of several antioxidant-related proteins such as thioredoxin peroxidase and hemopexin suggests a need to overcome oxidative stress during hypermucosal production in parental-care behavior. A C-type lectin was also found to be uniquely expressed in parental mucus and could have important role in providing antimicrobial defense to both parental fish and fry. In summary, our study shows that discus mucus proteome undergoes changes in protein expression during parental-care period.
Orthosiphon stamineus Benth., which is used as a gastroprotective herbal remedy in Malaysia, was assessed for its anti-ulcerogenic activity against ethanol-induced ulcers in rats. Fifty percent methanol was used to extract the oven-dried O. stamineus leaves. The extract was then lyophilized with a rotary evaporator and freeze-dried. Oral administration of O. stamineus methanolic extract (OSME) (125, 250, 500, and 1,000 mg/kg) was found to significantly decrease the ulcer index (P < .01, P < .001, P < .001, and P < .001, respectively). Histological study of a section of the rat stomach also showed a marked improvement in the gastric mucosal damage in groups receiving OSME. In order to further investigate the gastroprotective mechanism of OSME, mucus secretion and lipid peroxidation level were estimated in vitro and ex vivo. OSME exhibited dose-dependent stimulation of mucus secretion (r = 0.718, P < .001) and inhibition of lipid peroxidation in rat gastric mucosal homogenates (both in vitro [r = 0.819, P < .05] and ex vivo [r = 0.981, P < .05]). It was concluded that the gastroprotective mechanism of OSME was partly due to its ability to inhibit lipid peroxidation and stimulate gastric mucus secretion.
Current anti-gastric ulcer agents have side effects, despite the progression and expansion of advances in treatment. This study aimed to investigate the gastroprotective mechanisms of Pithecellobium jiringa ethanol extract against ethanol-induced gastric mucosal ulcers in rats. For this purpose, Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups: Group 1 (normal control) rats were orally administered with vehicle (carboxymethyl cellulose), Group 2 (ulcer control) rats were also orally administered with vehicle. Group 3 (positive control) rats were orally administered with 20 mg/kg omeprazole, Groups 4 and 5 (experimental groups) received ethanol extract of Pithecellobium jiringa ethanol extract at a concentration of 250 and 500 mg/kg, respectively. Sixty minutes later, vehicle was given orally to the normal control group, and absolute ethanol was given orally to the ulcer control, positive control and experimental groups to generate gastric mucosal injury. The rats were sacrificed an hour later. The effect of oral administration of plant extract on ethanol-induced gastric mucosal injury was studied grossly and histology. The level of lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde-MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and gastric wall mucus were measured from gastric mucosal homogenate. The ulcer control group exhibited severe gastric mucosal injury, and this finding was also confirmed by histology of gastric mucosa which showed severe damage to the gastric mucosa with edema and leucocyte infiltration of the submucosal layer. Pre-treatment with plant extract significantly reduced the formation of ethanol-induced gastric lesions, and gastric wall mucus was significantly preserved. The study also indicated a significant increase in SOD activity in gastric mucosal homogenate, whereas a significant decrease in MDA was observed. Acute toxicity tests did not show any signs of toxicity and mortality up to 5 g/kg. The ulcer protective effect of this plant may possibly be due to its preservation of gastric wall mucus along with increased SOD activity and reduction of oxidative stress (MDA). The extract is non-toxic, even at relatively high concentrations.