Background and objectives: Alzheimer's disease (AD) as a neurodegenerative disorder is the most common form of dementia in the elderly. According to the amyloid hypothesis, accumulation of amyloid beta (Aβ) plaques, which are mostly constituted of Aβ peptide aggregates, triggers pathological cascades that lead to neuronal cell death. Thus, modulation of Aβ toxicity is the hopef...

Cryopreservation of vegetative winter buds is an alternative method to preserving plant species in the field. In this method, nodal sections of scionwood are stored in liquid nitrogen vapor. Cryopreservation of the vegetative dormant winter buds involves low maintenance costs and virtually eliminates the risk of germplasm loss. At the NCGRP, this method is routinely used to preserve Malus sp. (...

Background: Infertility is defined as inability to achive pregnancy after one year of unprotected regular intercourse.it has been reported that about 10-15% of young couples suffer from infertility. There is evidence that antioxidants improve the fertility rate. Prunus cerasus contains strong antioxidant activity. The aim of this study is to evaluate Prunus cerasus effects on expression of prog...

The proximate composition of seeds and main physicochemical properties and thermal stability of oil extracted from Lannea microcarpa seeds were evaluated. The percentage composition of the seeds was: ash (3.11%), crude oil (64.90%), protein (21.14%), total carbohydrate (10.85%) and moisture (3.24%). Physicochemical properties of the oil were: refractive index, 1.473; melting point, 22.60°C; sap...

A homology-based cloning strategy yielded two cDNA clones designated Am-cam-1 and Am-cam-2, presumably encoding calmodulin protein from a callus culture derived from the leaf tissues of Aquilaria microcarpa. An appreciable increase in the transcriptional activity of Am-cam-1 was reproducibly observed by exposure of the cell culture to methyl jasmonate, as analyzed by a reverse-transcription pol...

Many plant species combine sexual and clonal reproduction. Clonal propagation has ecological costs mainly related to inbreeding depression and pollen discounting; at the same time, species able to reproduce clonally have ecological and evolutionary advantages being able to persist when conditions are not favorable for sexual reproduction. The presence of clonality has profound consequences on t...

Plants used in traditional medicine in Bukoba Rural district in Tanzania were evaluated for their in vitro antimicrobial activities. Plant materials from eight plant species (Harungana madagascariensis (Lam) Poir., Jatropha curcas L., Lantana trifolia L., Plectranthus barbatus Andr., Pseudospondias microcarpa Engl., Psorospermum febrifugum Spach, Teclea nobilis Del. and Vernonia adoensis [Warp....

The leaf essential oils of six members of the Annonaceae from Monteverde, Costa Rica (Desmopsis bibracteata, Desmopsis microcarpa, Guatteria costaricensis, Guatteria diospyroides, Guatteria oliviformis, and Unonopsis costaricensis) have been obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC-MS in order to compare and contrast the volatile chemical compositions of these species. The essential oil...