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Summary Objective Dermatophytes are resistant to some available antibiotics. Development of new plant drugs to control drug resistant microbes is urgently needed. This study evaluates the antidermatophytic potential of 18 selected medicinal plants used by traditional healers in Theni and Virudhunagar Districts of Tamil Nadu, India. Materials and methods Selected plant parts were collected, shade dried and powdered. Plant powders were extracted with ethanol and their antifungal potency was investigated against and clinical dermatophytes. The antioxidant effect of the extracts was screened using DPPH assay. Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimal Fungicidal Concentration (MFC) were estimated for the extracts. Ten plant extracts showed maximum MFC and they were selected to study their efficacy in interfering with ergosterol biosynthesis. Fluconazole-35 μg/mL known fungicide was used as control. The most active extracts were taken for biocompatibility studies using 3T3-L1 fibroblast cell lines. Results The ethanol extract of Phyllanthus reticulates leaves showed good antifungal activity compared to other plant extracts. The MIC and MFC for Phyllanthus reticulatus were 62.5 and 250 μg/mL against M. pachydermatitis and T. rubrum respectively. The ethanol extracts of Phyllanthus reticulatus, Coldenia procumbens, Thespesia populnea and Senna alata significantly lowered the release of ergosterol by 16.37, 19.53, 24.79, and 21.44%, respectively. The ethanol extract of Phyllanthus reticulatus leaves was more biocompatible to host cells than other active extracts. Conclusion Our study indicated that the ethanol extract of Phyllanthus reticulates leaves showed promising activity against dermatophytes. It could be a potential material for future development of antidermatophytic agents.

The hydrodistillated essential oil of Atalantia monophylla was subjected to GC-MS. Forty compounds were presented in the essential oil. Eugenol (19.76 %), sabinene (19.57 %), 1,2-dimethoxy-4-(2-methoxyethenyl) benzene (9.84 %), beta-asarone (7.02 %) and methyl eugenol (5.52 %) were found the predominant compounds. The oil was tested for fumigant toxicity and repellent activity against Callosobruchus maculatus and Sitophilus oryzae. The development stage of C. maculatus fecundity, adult emergence and also ovicidal activities were studied by the treatment of A. monophylla oil. The oil exhibited considerable fumigation toxicity (70.22 %), repellent activity (85.24 %) and ovicidal activity (100 %) against C. maculatus. The oil significantly reduced the protein, esterase, acetylcholinesterase and glutathione S-transferase on C. maculatus and S. oryzae. It can be considered that A. monophylla has a potential insecticide against stored product pests.

Display Omitted Twenty four pre-miRNAs were reported from Momordica charantia developing seed transcriptome.Phylogeny analysis with binary data were unreliable.Identified miRNAs held sequence conservation in mature miRNAs.Phylogeny analysis of pre-miRNA sequences revealed genus specific segregation.Predicted targets revealed role of miRNAs in regulation of developmental process. Momordica charantia (bitter gourd, bitter melon) is a monoecious Cucurbitaceae with anti-oxidant, anti-microbial, anti-viral and anti-diabetic potential. Molecular studies on this economically valuable plant are very essential to understand its phylogeny and evolution. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are conserved, small, non-coding RNA with ability to regulate gene expression by bind the 3' UTR region of target mRNA and are evolved at different rates in different plant species. In this study we have utilized homology based computational approach and identified 27 mature miRNAs for the first time from this bio-medically important plant. The phylogenetic tree developed from binary data derived from the data on presence/absence of the identified miRNAs were noticed to be uncertain and biased. Most of the identified miRNAs were highly conserved among the plant species and sequence based phylogeny analysis of miRNAs resolved the above difficulties in phylogeny approach using miRNA. Predicted gene targets of the identified miRNAs revealed their importance in regulation of plant developmental process. Reported miRNAs held sequence conservation in mature miRNAs and the detailed phylogeny analysis of pre-miRNA sequences revealed genus specific segregation of clusters.

Aim: Ferulic acid, a well known dietary phenolic antioxidant, possesses diverse pharmacological and biochemical effects, including anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, antidiabetic and anticancer properties. The present study explores the cytotoxic potential of ferulic acid using Hep-2 cell line by analyzing its effect on cell viability, reactive oxygen species generation, apoptotic induction, nuclear damage, DNA fragmentation and expression of apoptosis related proteins. Materials and Methods: The effect of ferulic acid (2.5, 5, 10, 20 and 40 μg/ml) on Hep-2 cells viability for 24 hr was determined by MTT assay. To substantiate the cytotoxic effect of ferulic acid, the intracellular ROS level was determined using DCFH-DA assay; apoptosis by dual staining; nuclear damage by DAPI staining; DNA fragmentation by using agarose gel electrophoresis; apoptosis related proteins by western blotting. Results: Ferulic acid significantly inhibited the Hep-2 cell growth in a dose dependent manner and ferulic acid treated Hep-2 cells exhibited features of apoptosis and increase in nuclear damage and DNA fragmentation. We also observed excess reactive oxygen species generation in ferulic acid Original Research Article Prabhakar et al.; BJMMR, 5(5): 612-621, 2015; Article no.BJMMR.2015.065 613 treated Hep-2 cells. Apoptosis related proteins (p53, Bcl-2, Bax, Caspase 3 & Caspase 9) were significantly modulated in favour of programmed cell death in ferulic acid treated cells. Conclusion: We thus conclude that the cytotoxic potential of ferulic acid might be due to its role in apoptosis induction, excessive ROS generation and DNA fragmentation in Hep-2 cells.

In the present study, chemical composition and the antibacterial mechanism of ambrette seed oil are investigated. Chemical composition of the oil was analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Thirty-five compounds were identified and the major compounds were found to be farnesol acetate (51.45%) and ambrettolide (12.96%). The antibacterial activity was performed by well diffusion assay and the mechanisms were studied by measuring the alkaline phosphatase (ALP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and protein leakage assays. The antibacterial effect of the ambrette seed oil showed inhibitory effect against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis. The LDH activity was high in all tested bacteria compared with control, whereas the ALP and protein concentrations were also increased in E. faecalis. Molecular docking revealed the ligands farnesol acetate and ambrettolide had satisfactory binding energy towards the beta lactamase TEM-72 and dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) protein. Due to its better antibacterial properties, the ambrette seed oil could be used as a source of antibacterial agents.

Plants are nonmotile and are easily affected by both biotic and abiotic stresses. Plants have evolved themselves at both cellular and molecular level to fight against stress. Transcription factors are important among the stress-responsive genes, and their protein products are known to regulate the expression of other stress-responsive genes via binding to the regulatory elements. Among the plant transcription factors, ethylene response factor (ERF) is one of the largest subfamilies of Apetala2 (AP2)/ERF transcription factor family and is characterized with single AP2 domain. ERFs are a double-edged sword; though most of the ERFs are activators of stress-responsive genes, certain ERF could act as repressor, and this phenomenon of ERF has been well discussed in this review. Further, the expression of ERFs may be ethylene dependent or independent and is regulated by feedback mechanism. Apart from above regulation mechanism, expressions of ERFs are post-transcriptionally regulated by microRNAs (miRNAs), and miRNA expressions are in turn regulated by ERFs. The present review highlights the importance of ERFs in plant stress management and complexity in regulation of ERF expression in response to various stresses.

Coal is the main source widely used for electric generation and industrial applications due to its low cost and abundance of this fuel. Exposure to coal fly ash particulate matter (CFA-PM) is a major health concern in developing countries. The in vitro cytotoxicity, oxidative DNA damage and apoptosis of coal fly ash nanoparticles (CFA-NPs) were determined by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) enzyme, reactive oxygen species (ROS), 4’-6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) and expression of apoptosis associated proteins in cultured Chang liver cell lines. The release of LDH was increased based on dose-dependent and time dependent manner in CFA-NPS treated cells. CFA-NPs induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) with increase in dose concentration. The CFA-NPs treated cells showed severe DNA damage and inhibits the cell viability and leads to apoptosis. The apoptotic proteins showed significant changes, with increase in the level of BAX and decrease in the level of B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2).The studies showed significant amount of toxicity in CFA-NPs treated Chang liver cell lines. Key words: Coal fly ash nanoparticles, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), reactive oxygen species, 4’-6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI), BAX, Bcl-2

In the present study bacterial strains were iso- lated from the rumen fluids of Bos primigenius and inves- tigated their in vitro probiotic properties with potent antibacterial activity and anti-inflammatory effects. 9 g positive bacterial isolates were obtained and three isolates could able to tolerate gastric conditions, high bile salt concentrations and exhibited significant bactericidal effect against the enteric pathogens Vibrio cholera, Enterococcus faecalis, Enterobacter aerogens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi. Moreover it showed above 70 % cell surface hydrophobicity, significant low- invasion ability and potential adherence capacity in Caco-2 cells when compared with the control. The proinflammatory cytokines (TNF-a) was greatly reduced in rumen bacteria treatment and ARBS-1 modulate the immune response by activating the IL-4 secretion in parallel to TNF-a suppres- sion. The 16s rRNA gene sequence of the active isolates were identified as Enterococcus hirae (ARBS-1), Pedio- coccus acidilactici (ARBS-4) and Bacillus licheniformis (ARBS-7). This study revealed the probiotic bactericidal properties of E. hirae obtained from the rumen of B. primigenius with potential antibacterial and anti-inflam- matory effects. Future studies with the strains may yield some novel probiotic product for livestock's.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, noncoding RNAs that play key roles in regulating gene expression in animals, plants, and viruses, which involves in biological processes including development, cancer, immunity, and host-microorganism interactions. In this present study, we have used the computational approach to identify potent miRNAs involved in Anopheles gambiae immune response. Analysis of 217,261 A. gambiae ESTs and further study of RNA folding revealed six new miRNAs. The minimum free energy of the predicted miRNAs ranged from -27.2 to -62.63 kcal/mol with an average of -49.38 kcal/mol. While its A + U % ranges from 50 to 65 % with an average value of 57.37 %. Phylogenetic analysis of the predicted miRNAs revealed that aga-miR-277 was evolutionary highly conserved with more similarity with other mosquito species. Observing further the target identification of the predicted miRNA, it was noticed that the aga-miR-2304 and aga-miR-2390 are involved in modulation of immune response by targeting the gene encoding suppressin and protein prophenoloxidase. Further detailed studies of these miRNAs will help in revealing its function in modulation of A. gambiae immune response with respect to its parasite.

Pinocembrin (5, 7- dihydroxy flavanone) is the most abundant chiral flavonoid found in propolis, exhibiting antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. However, the effect of Pinocembrin on allergic response is unexplored. Thus, current study aimed at investigating the effects of Pinocembrin on IgE-mediated allergic response in vitro. A special emphasis was directed toward histidine decarboxylase (HDC) and other pro-allergic and pro-inflammatory mediators. Preliminary studies, using a microbiological model of Klebsiella pneumoniae, provided first evidences that suggest Pinocembrin as a potential thermal stable inhibitor for HDC. Applying docking analysis revealed possible interaction between Pinocembrin and mammalian HDC. In vitro studies validated the predicted interaction and showed that Pinocembrin inhibits HDC activity and histamine in IgE-sensitized RBL-2H3 in response to dinitrophenol (DNP)-bovine serum albumin (BSA) stimulation. In addition, Pinocembrin mitigated the damage in the mitochondrial membrane, formation of cytoplasmic granules and degranulation as indicated by lower β-hexoseaminidase level. Interestingly, it reduced range of pro-inflammatory mediators in the IgE-mediated allergic response including tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-6, nitric oxide (NO), inducible NO synthase (iNOS), phosphorylation of inhibitory kappa B (IкB)-α, prostaglandin (PGE)-2 and cyclooxygenase (COX)-2. In conclusion, current study suggests Pinocembrin as a potential HDC inhibitor, and provides the first evidences it is in vitro anti-allergic properties, suggesting Pinocembrin as a new candidate for natural anti-allergic drugs.

The advancement in nanoparticulate system has a great impact in many scientific areas. Metallic nanoparticles (NPs) such as silver, gold and copper were found to exhibit antibacterial and other biological activities. The phytochemical constituents (Tannins, flavonoids, terpenoids, saponins and glycosides) present in the plant extracts were used for the green synthesis of NPs of desired size and morphology. Moreover, these active molecules act as reducing and capping agents for the synthe¬sis of NPs, which makes them suitable for biomedical applications. Apart from many approach on synthesis of nanoparticles, green synthesis method becomes more preferable because of its ecofriendly and nontoxic approach. This approach might pave the path for researchers across the globe to explore the potential of different herbs in the synthesis of NPs. This chapter will discuss the synthesis of various metal NPs using plants and their phytochemical constituent's involved during the synthesis. A section devoted to the different applications will be presented.

Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding RNAs known to control a broad range of biological functions such as cellular proliferation, differentiation and programmed cell death. Recent reports showed that miRNAs can act as oncogenes or tumor suppressors, thereby, playing an important role in cancer initiation and progression. Moreover, we know that Expressed sequence tags (ESTs) are random single pass sequence reads, which displays the condition/tissue specific transcripts (coding and non-coding) of an organism. Methods In the present study, we have applied the bioinformatics approach to identify miRNA from prostate cancer using EST resource and its expressions were analyzed by quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR). Results Analysis of transcriptomics resource from the LNCaP cells revealed the presence of an EST encoding hsa-miR-3654. Presence of the premature candidate of miR-3654, demonstrates its expression in LNCaP cells. We further indentified that the expression level (Fold Induction) of miR-3654 in LNCaP was higher than the normal and androgen insensitive prostate cancer cell lines (PNT1A, PC-3). Conclusion we have identified the miR-3654 involved in prostate cancer progression using computational approach and hypothesized that the down regulation of miR-3654 could be responsible for a solid tumor to get cancer stem-like cell phenotype. Further studies are required to investigate the molecular mechanisms behind the STAT3 mediated miR-3654 repression and the associated metastasis.

Coal combustion generates considerable amount of ultrafine particles and exposure to such particulate matter is a major health concern in the developing countries. In this study, we collected nano sized coal fly ash (CFA) and characterized them by scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDX), particle size analyzer (PSA) and transmission electron microscope (TEM), and investigated its toxicity in vitro using different cell lines. The imaging techniques showed that the coal fly ash nanoparticles (CFA-NPs) are predominately spherical shaped. The analyses have revealed that the CFA-NPs are 7-50 nm in diameter and contain several heavy metals associated with CFA particles. The studies showed significant amount of toxicity in all cell lines on treatment with CFA-NPs. The cytotoxicity and oxidative DNA damage caused by CFA-NPs were determined by inhibition of cellular metabolism (MTT), total intracellular glutathione (GSH), reactive oxygen species (ROS) and DNA fragmentation in cultured cell lines (Chang liver, HS294T and LL29). The cellular metabolism was inhibited in a dose-dependent manner in CFA-NPs treated cell lines. The CFA-NPs induced ROS and decreased the total intracellular glutathione with increased dose. Further, the CFA-NPs treated cells showed severe DNA laddering as a result of DNA fragmentation.

Despite promising developments of treatment, the mortality due to gastric cancer remains high and the mechanisms of gastric cancer initiation and the development also remains elusive. It has been reported that patients with positive serologic tests for H. pylori have a higher risk of the development of gastric cancer. microRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding RNA molecules consisting of 21-25 nucleotides (nt) in length. The miRNAs silence their cognate target genes by inhibiting mRNA translation or degrading the mRNA molecules by binding to their 3'-untranslated (UTR) regions and plays a very important role in cancer biology. Recent evidences indicate that miR-21 is overexpressed in tumour tissue, including gastric cancer and plays a vital role in tumour cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion and angiogenesis. Elevated levels of miR-21 is associated with downregulation of tumour suppressor genes, such as programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4), tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 3, phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), tropomyosin 1, ras homolog gene family member B, and maspin. Silencing of miR-21 through the use of a miR-21 inhibitor affected cancer cell viability, induced cell cycle arrest and increased chemosensitivity to anticancer agents indicating that miR-21 functions as an oncogene. Although an increased expression level of miR-21 has been observed in gastric cancer, studies related to the role of miR-21 in gastric cancer progression is very limited. The main thrust of this mini review is to explain the potency of miR-21 as a prognostic and/or diagnostic biomarker and as a new target for clinical therapeutic for interventions of gastric cancer progression.

Computational approach was used in to identify potent macrophage specific miRNAs involved in basic biological process of Salmo salar. Analysis of 1119 ESTs from macrophages of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) infected with Aeromonas salmonicida revealed expression of 3 miRNAs. Phylogenetic analysis of both the pre-miRNA sequence revealed its evolutionarily conserved nature among various species. Identified targets of the predicted miRNAs revealed the role of miRNA in pathogenesis, stress response and allosteric exchange of histones. Further detailed studies of these miRNAs will help in revealing its function in different biological process necessary for the action of macrophages upon pathogen infection.

The discovery of microRNAs (miRNAs) is one of the most significant breakthroughs in recent decades. miRNAs are a class of small, endogenous, non-coding RNAs (19–24 nt) that negatively regulate the expression of target genes by binding to their 3′ untranslated region and are involved in various biological processes. Three main approaches that are globally used for the detection of miRNA include direct cloning, forward genetics and computational approaches using bioinformatics.1 The bioinformatic approach uses the available transcriptomic and genomic data for mining miRNAs using a homology search with the existing miRNAs. In the current study, a computational approach was employed to identify potent miRNAs involved in the inflammatory response of the liver. The rat model of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced liver inflammation was used, and the expression of the candidate miRNAs in hepatocytes was quantified by real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Inflammation is the first step toward combating antigens and toward tissue recovery, and in some instances, it proceeds to a chronic state associated with debilitating autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis or even cancer. Chronic inflammation of liver tissues may lead to fibrosis, steatosis and cirrhosis, and may end with cancer. The response of liver tissue to chronic injury is stimulated by pro-inflammatory factors, such as bacterial endotoxin or interleukin-1.2 There is an increasing paradigm that miRNAs regulate different biological processes in various cell types within the liver, including liver pathology and cancer.3 The expression of MiR-517a, miR-892a and miR-106a* in bile was increased in patients with Ischemic type biliary lesions, a biliary complication encountered after liver transplantation.4 Although several miRNAs have been reported, miR-155, miR-146a and miR-125b are considered potent miRNAs involved in inflammation-mediated hepatocyte damage at multiple levels by targeting a pro-inflammatory cytokine production cascade where Toll-like receptor and intracellular signaling pathways determine pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines.5 An increasing body of evidence has clearly shown that a differential expression of miRNAs is associated with liver diseases, such as hepatitis C and hepatitis B, metabolic disorders and drug abuse.6 Different approaches have been used to identify novel miRNAs that are involved in liver disorders. In our study, we used a computational approach that enabled us to identify two inflammatory responsive liver miRNAs from 89 liver EST sequences: rno-miR-24 and rno-miR-466i-5p. In the current study, the MiRBase database was used to identify miRNAs and their conserved homologues from liver ESTs under inflammatory conditions. In brief, the EST sequences (89, February 2013) of hepatic transcripts preferentially expressed during acute inflammation were downloaded from the NCBI database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore) by searching ‘liver inflammation', and the inflammatory-responsive miRNAs were predicted as described by Thirugnanasambantham et al.1 The careful analysis of 89 liver EST sequences revealed 10 non-protein-encoding ESTs homologous to the miRNA sequences. A secondary structural analysis of the pre-miRNA-related sequence from the 10 non-coding ESTs revealed the presence of 2 miRNA encoding transcripts in the liver inflammatory EST sequences (Figure 1a and b). The source of the sequences, length of the precursor sequences and their minimum folding free energies and A+U content for the predicated miRNAs are shown in Figure 1c. Among the predicted miRNAs from the analyzed liver ESTs, rno-miR-24 was observed in the indirect strand and rno-miR-466i-5p was observed in the direct strand. rno-miR-466i-5p and rno-miR-24 had a minimum free energy of −29.74 and −48.1 kcal/mol, respectively, with an average of −38.92 kcal/mol. While considering the A+U percentage in the predicted miRNAs, it was approximately 50% and 47.4% in rno-miR-466i-5p and rno-miR-24, respectively. Figure 1 Inflammatory responsive miRNA identified using a computational approach and its stem-loop RT-PCR expression analysis in rat hepatocytes with LPS induction. (a) Hairpin structure of predicted Rattus norvegicus miRNA rno-miR-24; (b) hairpin structure of ... To further confirm the expression of the identified miRNAs in response to inflammation in liver cells, the hepatocytes were isolated from rat livers by the collagenase perfusion method,7 and inflammation was induced with LPS (1 µg/ml; Sigma-Aldrich, St Louis, MO, USA). Total RNA was extracted for the quantitative determination of COX-2, iNOS and the housekeeping gene GAPDH using real-time PCR analysis from stimulated and unstimulated cells at 4, 8, 12, 24, 36 and 48 h after LPS challenge. The forward and reverse primers used for inflammatory marker gene expressions were as follows: iNOS forward: 5′-ACAACAGGAACCTACCAGCTCA-3′, reverse: 5′-GATGTTGTAGCGCTGTGTGTCA-3; COX-2 forward: 5′-TGTATGCTACCATCTGGCTTCGG-3′, reverse: 5′-GTTTGGAAC AGTCGCTCGTCATC-3′, and GAPDH forward: 5′- GTATTGG GCGCCTGGTCACC-3′, reverse: 5′-CGCTCCTGGAAGATGGTGATGG-3′). The cycling condition was 35 cycles of 94 °C for 30 s, 60 °C for 45 s and 72 °C for 1 min followed by a final extension step at 72 °C for 7 min. Reverse transcription and quantitative expression analyses of rno-miR-24, rno-miR-466i-5p, and the endogenous control U6 were performed using real-time PCR as described previously.8 The primer sequences used for stem-loop RT-PCR were as follow: rno-miR-24 stem loop RT primer 5′-GTCGTATCCAGTGCAGGGTCCGAGGTATTCGCACTGGATACGACCTTCTG-3′ forward primer 5′-GCGGCGGTGGCTCAGTACAGC-3′ rno-miR-466i-5p stem loop RT primer 5′-GTCGTATCCAGTGCAGGGTCCGAGGTATTCGCACTGGATACGACCACACA-3′ forward primer 5′-GCGGCGGTGTGTGTGTGTGTG-3′ Universal reverse primer 5′-GTGCAGGGTCCGAGGT-3′ U6 RT primer 5′-AACGCTTCACGAATTTGCGTG-3′ U6 forward primer 5′-GCTCGCTTCGGCAGCACA-3′ U6 reverse primer 5′-GAGGTATTCGCACCAGAGGA-3′. The relative expression of target genes was stated as a fold ratio using the (ΔΔCT check) 2−ΔΔCT method. The expression patterns of the genes encoding inflammatory markers (Figure 1d) and identified miRNAs (Figure 1e) were analyzed in control and LPS-stimulated hepatocytes using real-time PCR. The expression of mRNA encoding COX-2 and iNOS were upregulated in proportion with LPS stimulation up to 24 h. We observed that the inflammatory markers COX-2 and iNOS reached the maximum level at 24 h (6.33- and 5.09-fold, respectively) and started to decline from 36 h (4.14- and 4.94-expression fold, respectively) after LPS treatment. However, the expression of both miRNAs was detected from 12 h after LPS treatment, in parallel with inflammation progression, as denoted by the expression of inflammatory markers. The maximum expression of both miR-24 and miR-466i-5p was reached 72 h (5.38 and 4.48 expression fold, respectively) after LPS treatment. In in vitro studies, increases in mRNA expression of COX-2 and iNOS levels upon LPS stimulation of hepatocytes were observed in this study. A similar expression pattern of iNOS was noticed from earlier studies in liver slices, where the expression was observed after 5 h of incubation with LPS and increased until 24 h.9 We found that the expression levels of both miRNAs were upregulated with LPS treatment. A similar result was observed with miR-155, a regulator of inflammation.5 Simultaneously, as denoted by the expression of inflammatory markers (COX-2 and iNOS), the inflammation was suppressed with the increase in expression of rno-miR-24 and rno-miR-466i-5p. Song et al.10 reported the upregulation of miR-466i in SST-treated chronic liver disease. In conclusion, our data identify two new miRNAs, miR-24 and miR-466i, which are upregulated in hepatocytes in response to inflammatory stimuli. This upregulation was reciprocally related with the inflammatory markers COX-2 and iNOS, suggesting that they are target genes in liver inflammation. The anti-inflammatory miRNAs identified with a computational approach are known to be involved in the regulation of inflammatory reactions. Furthermore, the analysis of inflammatory markers revealed that the level of inflammation was reduced with an increase in the expression level of the identified miRNA. Therefore, data from this study may open intriguing possibilities for the therapeutic value of the identified miRNAs as anti-inflammatory factors for liver injury.

The significant role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in stem cell development has been expansively discussed in recent publications and they are noticed to be involved in post transcriptional regulation of gene expression by its affinity towards the 3′UTR of target mRNA. Since the expression of miR-21 was high in cells that were derived from MSCs, recent evidence indicates that miR-21 plays a vital role in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) differentiation. Despite the fact that miR-21 can be considered as a powerful biomarker for MSCs differentiation, the number of studies related to the above scenario is very limited. This review highlights the recent publications related to the importance of miR-21 specifically in differentiation of MSCs.