Acta Biologica Hungarica

In the behavioral science field, many of the oldest tests have still most frequently been used almost in the same way for decades. The subjective influence of human observer and the large inter-observer and interlab differences are substantial among these tests. This necessitates the possibility of using technological innovations for behavioral science to obtain new parameters, results and insights as well. The light-dark box (LDB) test is a characteristic tool used to assess anxiety in rodents. A complete behavioral analysis (including both anxiety and locomotion parameters) is not possible by performing traditional LDB test protocol, as it lacks the usage of a real-time video recording of the test...

The aim of the present study is to extend the applicability of MRI measurements similar to those used in human diagnostics to the examination of water barriers in living plants, thus broadening their use in natural sciences. The cucumber, Cucumis sativus, and Phillyrea angustifolia, or false olive, were chosen as test plants. The MRI measurements were carried out on three samples of each plant in the same position vis-a-vis the MRI apparatus using a Siemens Avanto MRI scanner. Two different relaxation times were employed, T1 , capable of histological mapping, and T2 , used for the examination of water content...

Traditional medicines are composed of herbal formulations and their active ingredients and constituents which play a crucial role in the treatment of various human ailments. Astragalus eremophilus and Melilotus indicus (L.) All. (syn. Melilotus parviflora Desf.) are used traditionally as antiperspirant, tonic, diuretic, laxative and narcotic agents. The current study was designed to investigate the Astragalus eremophilus and Melilotus indicus (L.) All. (syn. Melilotus parviflora Desf.) methanol extracts for their antioxidant, antibacterial and antifungal activities...

Cancer drug resistance and poor selectivity towards cancer cells demand the constant search for new therapeutics. PI3K-Akt-mTOR and RAS-MAPK-ERK signaling pathways are key mechanisms involved in cell survival, proliferation, differentiation, and metabolism and their deregulation in cancer can promote development of therapy resistance. We investigated the effects of targeted inhibitors (wortmannin, GSK690693, AZD2014 and tipifarnib) towards these two pathways on early zebrafish and sea urchin development to assess their toxicity in normal, fast proliferating cells...

During the study of inhibition of amyloid fibril formation, α-chymotrypsin protein was developed in 55% ethanol at pH 7.0. We investigated the inhibitory effect of different spices on amyloid fibril formation using turbidity measurements and Congo red binding assays. We found that all spices except the black pepper and caraway seed prevented fibril formation. The highest inhibition was measured with the clove, which reduced the amount of aggregates by 90%. We studied the inhibitory effect of the cloves at different concentrations on aggregation, it was found that the inhibitory activity of clove is dependent on concentration...

Drought is one the critical abiotic factors that reduces the germination, growth and yield of crops. Therefore the present project was designed with the objective to screen the best drought tolerant hybrid of Vigna radiata. Genetic variations for drought tolerance among these hybrids were assessed by simple and efficient technique. Seven hybrids of V. radiata (9801, 7002, 9706, 08003, 07007, 97012 and 08007) were used for screening against three levels of drought stress (zero, control), 5% (-0.05 MPa) and 10% (-0...

In wheat, Fusarium fungus promotes the appearance of destructive disease named as Fusarium head blight (FHB) that can cause grain yield reduction and mycotoxin accumulation. The focus of this research was to verify the influence of Fusarium graminearum and F. culmorum on wheat genotypes with different susceptibility to FHB: "Super Žitarka" (susceptible), "Lucija" (moderately resistant) and "Apache" (resistant). The experiment was performed under field conditions by artificial spore inoculation of ears at the flowering stage...

We aimed to examine the response of three tomato introgression lines (IL925.3, IL925.5 and IL925.6) to NaCl stress. These lines originated from a cross between M82 (Solanum lycopersicum) and the wild salttolerant tomato Solanum pennellii, each line containing a different fragment of the S.pennellii genome. Salt-sensitive phenotypes related to plant growth and physiology, and the response of antioxidants, pigments and antioxidant enzymes were measured. In general, salt stress decreased the fresh weight of leaves, leaf area and leaf number and an increase of Na+ accumulation in aerial parts was observed, which caused a reduction in the absorption of K+ and Ca2+ ...

Although the participation of glutathione transferases (GSTs) in light-dependent pathways and the circadian changes in the whole detoxification system have been studied, there are fewer results regarding the exact daily fluctuation of GSTs. In the present study, it was demonstrated that light up-regulated, while dark period decreased the plant GST activity and the expression of the selected tau group GST genes in tomato. These findings provide additional information on our current knowledge on the circadian rhythm of GSTs in plants and could help in further defining detoxification processes...

The major aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of juglone (JU; 5-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone) treatments on the expression level of Cat1, Cat2 and Cat3 genes, encoding the respective catalase isozymes in maize (Zea mays L.) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) seeds. In parallel, germination efficiency, catalase (CAT) activity and hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ) content in juglone-exposed cereal seeds were assessed. Juglone applications significantly stimulated abundance of three target catalase transcripts as well as induced CAT activity and generation of H2 O2 in both maize and wheat kernels...

Hyoscyamus reticulatus L. is a herbaceous biennial belonging to the solanaceae family. Hyoscyamine and scopolamine as main tropane alkaloids accumulated in henbane are widely used in medicine to treat diseases such as parkinson's or to calm schizoid patients. Hairy roots media manipulation which uses elicitors to activate defense mechanisms is one of the main strategies for inducing secondary metabolism as well as increasing the production of valuable metabolites. Cotyledon-derived hairy root cultures were transformed by Agrobacterium rhizogenes...

The objectives of this study were to isolate, purify and determine host range of lytic bacteriophages infecting foodborne the pathogen Salmonella Typhimurium and S. Enteritidis. River/stream water, sewage, raw foods, wastewater from food processing plants, slaughterhouse and fish farms and water from troughs were used for the screening of bacteriophages. The richest sources in terms of phages infecting S. Typhimurium and Enteritidis were found to be sewage, wastewaters of slaughterhouse, food processing and fisheries and streams...

Copper cause oxidative damage in plant cells, and plant extracts are the sources of free radical scavengers. We tested the hypothesis that whether Corchorus olitorius (jute) and Urtica pilulifera (Roman nettle) seed extract treatments of germinated seeds affect copper induced oxidative and genotoxic damage or antioxidant response in tomato. Seedlings were exposed to toxic copper concentration (30 ppm) for 7 days. In one experimental group (treatment 1), extract (100 μg mL-1 ) was added to media. In the other group (treatment 2), tomato seeds were pre-soaked by the extract (100 μg mL-1 ) prior to germination and copper application...

A pot experiment was performed as factorial based on randomized complete block design with three replications, to assess the effects of 1 mM spermidine (SPD) and 1 mM putrescine (PUT) on Indian mustard (Brassica Juncea L.) under different levels of watering (100, 75, 50 and 25% of field capacity). Chlorophyll a and b contents decreased, but the ratio of Chl a/b and carotenoid content increased with decreasing water supply. Foliar sprays of polyamines improved chlorophylls a and b and carotenoid contents, while the ratio of Chl a/b was reduced by these growth regulators...

This study was aimed to examine the effects of seaweed extract (SW) and humic acid on the fruit yield, dry weight (DW%), protein, proline, lipid peroxidation (LPO) and antioxidative enzyme activity of pepper plants (Capsicum annuum L.) grown under saline conditions (100 mM). The obtained results indicated that salinity stress affected deleteriously plant growth and all other parameters. Besides, the treatment of seaweed (SW) and humic acid (HA) improved vegetative growth in the plant at all concentration levels applied under salinity conditions...

Seeds of snail medic (Medicago scutellata L.) were assessed for their response to salt at the germination and seedling stages. NaCl at concentrations 86 and 170 mM decreased the final germination percentage. Embryonic axis length, water content and dry weight of embryonic axis and cotyledons were also reduced by salt treatment. Furthermore, 28-d-old plants were grown hydroponically with different NaCl concentrations (0, 86 and 170 mM). After 7 days of treatment, growth, water content and development of the different organs of M...

There is an evident relationship between the fertilizing capacity of sperm and the normal morphology, quality chromatin, and motility of sperm. It is well known that thyroid hormones are the important regulators of testicular function. A correlation was found between the hypothyroidism and sperm damages. The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of hypothyroidism on sperm morphology, chromatin quality, and motility. For this purpose, 20 male mice were divided into the control and the hypothyroid groups that received 0...

Heliotropium indicum L. belongs to the family Boraginaceae. The plant has been used as a folk medicine because it contains substances of various biological activities. It is also identified as a common weed which grows wildly in crop fields in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. However, there is little information on the allelopathic effect in this plant. Therefore, this study was undertaken to investigate the growth inhibitory effect and to identify the growth inhibitory substances in H. indicum...

Late embryonic proteins (LEA) gene family was abundant mainly in higher plant embryos, which could protect the embryos from the damage caused by abiotic stress, especially drought and salt stresses. In the present study, GmLEA2-1 was cloned from soybean leaf tissue treated by 10% polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG6000). The results of quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) revealed a variety of expression patterns of GmLEA2-1 in various tissues of soybean (root, stem, leaf, flower, pod, early embryo and late embryo)...

ABA regulation of antioxidant activity during post-germination desiccation and subsequent rehydration was studied in two wheat cultivars PBW 644 (ABA-higher sensitive and drought tolerant) and PBW 343 (ABA-lesser sensitive and drought susceptible) where 1 d-germinated seeds were exposed to ABA/ PEG- 6000 for next 1 d, desiccated for 4 d and subsequently rehydrated for 4 d. Ascorbate, dehydrascorbate to ascorbate ratio, malondialdehyde (MDA), hydroxyl radicals, and activities of monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDHAR), dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR), alcohol dehydrogenase (AlcDH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (AldDH) were measured in seedlings just before desiccation (2 d old), desiccated (6 d old) and rehydrated (10 d old) stages...