Nova Biologica Reperta

Abstract In the research project performed, the effects of different levels of hydro-alcoholic extract Vitex agnus-castus were investigated as nutritional supplement on growth parameters of Danio rerio for 4 months. Since the beginning of the feeding phase up to the age of 4 months (average weight: 2.1±0.1g, length: 5.2±0.3 cm), larvae were fed with expe-rimental diets. Fish treated with diets containing plant extracts had higher growth and survival rate than the control gr-oup (p<0.05). Differences in the level of the extract had no significant effect on the survival rate (p<0.05). The results revealed that the diet containing 15 gr of the extract resulted in the best FCR significantly (p<0.05). By increasing the extract in the diet during the experiment, SGR increased. The highest and the lowest %BWG were observed in treatm-ents T3 and T0 respectively (p<0.05). The highest CF was observed in T3 and the lowest was obtained in T0. All in all, this study proposed that the addition of 15 gr of hydro-alcoholic extract of Vitex agnus-castus in the diet of zebrafish could improve the performance of the growth indices and increase the final biomass. In addition, this extract could be considered as a suitable supplement for Cyprinidae diet.

Abstract Chemical pesticides possess toxic and destructive impacts on the reproductive system and disrupt endocrine function. In this experimental study, the effect of movento, as a chemical pesticide, was investigated in comparison with chitosan, a biological pesticide, on the female reproductive system in vivo. In this study, 56 mice were randomly dived into 7 groups including control and experimental groups treated with movento and chitosan. After a 21-day treatment, mice were killed and their ovaries and blood being collected. In addition, the samples were fixed and stained with H & E method. The results exhibited that treatment with 2.5 and 5 mg/kg chitosan had no significant effect on the number and diameter of primary, secondary and antral follicles, while these items were significantly reduced in 10 mg/kg ch-itosan group and all movento-treated groups as well. In addition, the level of sexual hormones, such as estradiol, FSH and LH, was decreased in 10 mg/kg chitosan group and all movento-treated groups in comparison with the control gr-oup. The findings showed that movento affected the sexual hormone levels, ovary and ovarian follicle structure and in-duced abnormality in female reproductive system, while chitosan, as a biological pesticide, should be used due to its minimum effects on female reproductive system

Abstract Lipase is one of the most important hydrolytic enzymes widely used in various commercial activities such as food, dairy, pharmaceutical and detergent inducteries. In this experiment, Taguchi method was attempted as a powerful method to optimize the factors affecting enzyme production and to investigate the interactions among these factors and their optimum combination in Salinivibrio sp. SA2. The optimum conditions for pH, temperature, shaker's rpm, olive oil concentration and salt type turned out to be 8, 35 °C, 100 rpm, 2% and sodium chloride 1 M, respectively. Significant factors influencing on the lipase production proved to be pH, agitation and Salt type. The maximum lipase activity in optimum condition and at the 5% significance level (p< 0.05) was 120.4 U/mg.

Abstract The effects of some pretreatments including blue-green and green algae and minerals on the induction of me-tabolic and biochemical process of germination were studied in Dracocephalum kotschyi Boiss. seeds. The seeds were pretreated with green algae Spirulina platensis, Chlorella vulgaris and Dunaliella bardawil or D. IR-1 (Isolated from Gave-Khooni-salt marsh) and modified Johnson nutrient medium. Dunaliella species belong to salt marshs and waters, hence their medium was prepared by means of 0.6 % NaCl. Spirulina's nutrient medium (NM) included 0.1% NaCl. The activities of α-amylase, ß-amylase, dehydrogenase, content of total sugar, reducing sugars and total protein (all we-re measured after priming) increased in comarsion with control. Treatment without NaCl and the treatment with 0.1 % NaCl caused the highest amount of the parameters mentioned. In the presence of salt (often at 0.6 % NaCl), algae could not improve and increase the parameters. In contrast, in the absence of salt, the positive effects of algae increased. Ge-rmination indices and length of shoots and roots which were measured after sowing the seeds into Petri-dishes, showed some positive effects regarding the pretreatments. Spirulina cells filteration with or without NM (including 0.1% NaCl) caused the highest activities in α-amylase and ß-amylase and the highest amount of total sugar and FGP. Chlorella filt-eration led to the increment of dehydrogenase activity and also the root's lenght. Dunaliella cells filteration in NM (without salt) increased α-amylase and ß-amylase activities and the reducing sugars.

Abstract Application of some chemical components including plant hormones such as methyl jasmonate causes resi-stance to increase in environmental stresses. In this study, the effect of metyl jasmonate in different concentrations (10, 20 and 30 uM) on the elevation of the plant resistance was investigated in drouht stress. Tobacco seedlings were studied under drought stress caused by polyethylene glycol (20%) during periods of 3, 6 and 9 days. The results revealed that the imposed stress significantly increased soluble sugar content, MDA and non-enzymatic defense factors such as ant-hocyanin and proline. In contrast, it is reduced the amount of photosynthetic pigments, carotenoids and flavonoids. On the other hand, the use of methyl jasmonate decreased malondialdehyde as a marker of lipid peroxidation and values of some detent factors such as proline, beta-carotene and MDA. Meanwhile, it increased the amount of soluble sugars and photosynthetic pigments, anthocyanins, flavonoids and flavonols. As a result of the simultaneous reduction of lipid pe-roxidation and some antioxidants, it seems that using exogenous methyl jasmonate can help the plant withstand against drought stress conditions.

Abstract Garra rufa is one of the 73 Garra species of the family Cyprinidae. Scales are used more commonly than any other structure in population dynamic studies, because of their transparency, ease of sampling, and the minimal in-juries caused to the fish during their removal. To discriminate fish from different rivers including Bashar, Behbahan, Gerdab, Kheirabad, Kooshk-e-Bahram, Mazoo, Palangan, Sendegan, Shoor-Abad, and Sirvan Rivers using geometric morphometric analyses of the scale shape, landmark based geometric morphometrics method was used. Seven landmark points were depicted on each scale using the software TpsDig2. After procrustes analyses, landmark data were exposed to principle component analysis (PCA), CVA, and cluster analyses using the past software. The results showed that th-ere were significant scale shape differences among some populations, but most of the samples showed overlapping sh-ape distribution and could not be separated robustly. Among the samples which were analyzed, only the Sendegan and Gerdab river samples did not show significant difference in scale shape compared to all other samples.

Abstract The evolutionary trend of the morphological characters of the genus Stachys in Iran, on the basis of nrITS se-quence data, was investigated. A total of 28 nrITS sequences, representing 26 species of Stachys as well as Betonica of-ficinalis and Melittis mellisophyllum, were obtained from GenBank. Patterns of character evolution were assessed for 10 vegetative and reproductive characters with emphasis on taxonomic treatments of Stachys performed earlier to infer its history and interpret processes of change. The most important characters included habitat, growth form, leaf morp-hology, inflorescence, calyx and corolla as well as trichome morphology. Phylogenetic tree, based on the nrITS dataset, were constructed by Bayesian analysis. Parsimony mapping was performed in Mesquite v. 1.12. The present analysis revealed that the state of symmetrical calyx, the presence of basal leaves as well as the presence of glandular trichomes were not in agreement with the results of molecular data, which indicated the artificial nature of these characters in pr-evious classification. The presence of simple trichomes as well as the growth forms were consistent with phylogeny ba-sed on nrITS sequences. Evolutionary trend of morphological characters demonstrated that the sect. Eriostomum and sect. Fragilicaulis were the most primitive and the most advanced sections in Iran, respectively.

Abstract Heavy metals reduce the plant growth and adversely affect plant performance potential. Heavy metals also induce the formation of reactive oxygen species leading to cell damage. Plants deal with heavy metal stress by activating enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant systems such as Superoxide Dismutase which converts superoxide anion to hydrogen peroxide. Then Peroxidase and Catalase convert hydrogen peroxide to water. Another method employed by pl-ants to deal with heavy metals is mycorrhizal symbiosis. In this study, mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal barley seedlings (Hordeum vulgar), var. Rayhan, grown in a greenhouse were treated with four concentrations of nickel (0,100,200 and 400 µg/g). Results showed greater antioxidant activity in mycorrhizal plants compared with non-mycorrhizal plants. Also, it was determined that the accumulation of nickel in roots of mycorrhizal plants was greater compared with non-mycorrhizal plants.

Abstract The study attempts to evaluate the effects of silver nanoparticles on preventing the destruction of ovarian tissue in mice treated with isoniazid. In this experiment, 40 adult female rats were randomly divided into 5 groups (n=8) including: control group (no treatment), sham group (0.2 mg / kg normal saline), experimental group 1 (50mg / kg Ison-iazid), experimental group 2 (50mg / kg Isoniazid and 0.25mg/kg silver nanoparticles) and the experimental group 3 (50mg / kg isoniazid and 0.50mg / kg silver nanoparticles). All injections were prescribed for 15 days and Isoniazid and silver nano-particles were received orally and intraperitoneally, respectively. All the animals were operated on and their ovarian tissues were removed and placed in 10% formalin solution. Then H & E staining was performed for histological studies. In experimental groups 1, 2 and 3, reduction in the number of secondary follicles and corpus luteum was obse-rved in comparison with the control group. There was a significant increase in the number of primordial and graafian follicles in experimental group 3 when it was compared with isoniazid group. In addition, a significant increase was observed in the number of primary monolayer follicles in experimental groups 2 and 3 in comparison with the experi-mental group 1. It should be assumed that by the utilization of the minimum dose of the silver nanoparticles, its toxic effects on the ovarian tissue could be ignored. Therefore, the minimum dose of the silver nanoparticles can reduce the isoniazid effects on ovarian tissue.

Abstract With 29 species in Iran, Polygonum L. is comprised of annual and perennial plants in different habitats. P. aviculare makes a species complex, hardly distinguished from P. arenastrum and P. patulum. In the present study, po-llen grains, fruit surface and petals and leaves epidermis features were used to provide diagnostic features in order to se-parate species from one another. In Total, 33 populations of 6 annual species, including P. aviculare, P. arenastrum, P. patulum, P. argyrocoleon, P. polycnemoides and P. olivascens were studied. Specimens were gathered during field trips and studied by means of light and scanning electron microscopes. The Pollen grains of all the species which were stud-ied were monad, subprolate or prolate spheroidal and tricolpate. Main differences were also observed in their surface ornamentations. Length of equatorial and polar axes and colpus, granules diameters and the average distance between granules were other diagnostic features of the pollen grains. Statistical analysis of epidermis features revealed that the length and width of epidermis cells and stomata length varied in the species studied. A close relationship was found between P. aviculare and P. arenastrum on the one hand and P. argyrocoleon and P. olivascens on the other. The sepa-ration of P. polycnemoides could be attributed to differences in epidermis features. Results showed that a selected set of these features to be of taxonomic importance.