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Browsing Conference papers (B&N) by Author "Asha, K.K."
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- ItemBiomedical applications of collagen and chitosan(Society of Fisheries Technologists (India), 2010) Mathew, S.; Asha, K.K.; Anandan, R.; Sankar, T.V.Biopolymer is a term used to refer to the polymers which are biologically synthesized by nature. Polysaccharides are one such class of polymers comprising of simple monosaccharide molecules connected by ether type linkage to give a high molecular weight polymer. Among the different polysaccharides, cellulose and chitin are the most abundant biopolymers. Professor Henri Braconnot, Director of the Botanical Garden in Nancy, France isolated a fraction called fungine in 1 811 from the cell walls of mushrooms (Madhavan, 1992). Odier (1823) found similar material in the cuticle of beetles and re-named fungine as chitin after the Greek word chiton. The discovery of chitosan is ascribed to Rouget in 1859 (Sambasivan, 1992) and he, by boiling chitin in KOH, produced chitosan soluble in organic acids. Now it is understood that chitin is soluble in dimethyl acetamide containing 5% lithium chloride (Rutherford and Austin, 1978) and insoluble in aqueous acetic acid and chitosan's solubility is reverse to that of chitin in these two solvents. The nitrogen content of chitin is usually less than 7%, while that of chitosan is more than 7%. It was only in 1950, the structure of chitosan was resolved. Collagen is produced from air bladder of fish and chitosan from prawn shell.
- ItemEffect of red mangrove (rhizophora apiculata) root extract on sodium nitrite-induced oxidative stress in rats(Society of Fisheries Technologists (India), 2010) Asha, K.K.; Mathew, S.; Remyakumari, K.R.Oxidative stress arising from an imbalance in the antioxidant system is responsible for the ailments of the heart, brain dysfunction, immune system decline and also for aging. Thus there has been an increasing interest in recent years in healthy life styles and interest in antioxidants and food supplements has grown remarkably. The role of natural products as a source for remedies has been recognized since ancient times (de Pasquale, 1984). An analysis of a number of chemotherapeutic agents and their sources indicates that over 60% of approved drugs are derived from natural compounds (Cragg et at., 1997). With a proven record of natural products in drug discovery, there is a compelling need for expanding exploration of nature as a source of novel healing agents. Besides the endogenous antioxidant defenses that combat the oxidative stress, consumption of antioxidants appears to be important. Antioxidants can be either synthetic or of natural origin. The use of synthetic antioxidants in food is being discouraged by many health regulating agencies in recent times. Plants are good sources of natural antioxidants (Shahidi, 2000), which has been the basis of numerous studies in the last decade. Among these, flavonoids and related phenolics have gained importance. Unpublished data on mangrove plant, Rhizophora apiculata or red mangrove, from GIFT, Cochin and earlier studies have established that the root of this plant is a rich source of flavonoids and has several low molecular weight compounds like glucosides, fatty acids, sterols and hydrocarbons (Sharaf et at., 2000). Perera et at. (2008) extracted polyphenolic compounds and flavonoids from root and bark of RhIzophora mangle, a species closely related to R. apiculata. Several investigators have established that mangroves are also rich in polyphenols, among which flavonoids are a significant group (Kathiresan and Ravi, 1990; Ravi and Kathiresan, 1990; Achmadi et al., 1994). The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of the ethanolic root extract of the mangrove plant Rhizophora apiculata on experimentally induced oxidative stress in brain tissue of male albino rats.
- ItemEffect of taurine on glucose metabolism in experimentally-induced fulminant hepatic failure in rats(Society of Fisheries Technologists (India), 2010) Asha, K.K.; Devadasan, K.Fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) is a devastating illness that has a high mortality rate and affects patients with previously healthy livers (Moreno- Gonzalez etal. 1995). Although an uncommon disorder, it is usually fatal and is defined as the occurrence of encephalopathy in a previously healthy person, within eight weeks from onset of severe liver disease. Although the etiology of FHF remains unclear, viral hepatitis and drug-induced liver injury account for the majority of causes. FHF caused by viral hepatitis is a national health problem in the developing countries. Hepatitis E causes large-scale epidemics of hepatitis in the Indian subcontinent, involving hundreds of thousands of cases with high mortality (Acharya et at., 2000; Khan et al., 2006) Clinical features of FHF can be divided into two broad groups: (i) manifestations of acute hepatic injury, namely, jaundice, shrunken liver, high liver enzymes, deficiency of clotting factors and other synthetic functions of the liver; and (U) multi-organ failure and a wide range of metabolic disturbances. All patients should be managed in an intensive care setting pending transfer to a liver transplantation center. Several issues namely selection of patients, appropriate timing of the transplant, the difficulty of making donor liver available within a short period of time, and postoperative course of these sick patients, and the fact that liver transplant should take place before severe irreversible brain damage has made transplantation for FHF a very challenging field (Turchetti, 2003). Despite this complexity, impressive recent progress has been achieved in advancing our understanding and appreciation of the cellular processes and mechanistic bases underlying fulminate hepatic failure. Effective clinical application of hepatoprotective and cytotrophic drugs may offer valuable time to provide a donor liver, or alternatively, to allow the native liver to regenerate.
- ItemEffects of peroxidised PUFA on tissue defence system in experimentally induced myocardial infraction in rats(Society of Fisheries Technologists(India),Cochin, 2003) Anandan, R.; Mathew, S.; Asha, K.K.; Ammu, K.; Nair, P.G.V.In the present study, the administration of peroxidised PUFA was found to aggravate the isoproterenol-induced myocardial infraction in rats, which was evident from the increased level protein and enhanced the release of marker enzymes in the serum of rats given PUFA and isoproterenol. It was also observed that oxidized PUFA in the diet resulted in higher levels of peroxidation and lower levels of antiperoxidative enzymes.