The goal of this study was to investigate, in-vivo, the predominant mechanism of cell death, apoptosis versus necrosis, in the mature mouse brain exposed early to a ubiquitous environmental toxicant trichloroethane (TCE). A subset of male albino mice was injected intraperitoneally twice weekly for three weeks with TCE (100 and 400µg/kg). All animals were followed up for signs of toxicity and mortality. Changes in neural tissues were histpathologically evaluated. Biomarkers of brain cell number were also studied. The results showed that TCE insult triggered significant alterations in the microstructure of the brain tissues compared to controls. Mitotic figures and apoptotic changes such as chromatin condensation and nuclear fragments were also identified. Cell death analysis demonstrates that cell apoptosis with necrosis was evident in the TCE-treated groups. The percent of necrosis was quantified as 20.09 ± 2.57% at 100µg/kg TCE, 30.57 ± 5.18% at 400µg/kg TCE, and 12.67 ± 1.25% in controls. However, the percent of apoptosis was quantified as 29.18 ± 1.51% at 100µg/kg TCE, 20.14 ± 2.12% at 400µg/kg TCE, and 8 ± 1.25% in controls. There was also a significant reduction in the brain DNA content in the TCE-treated groups. Agarose gel electrophoresis is also provided further biochemical evidence of apoptosis by showing internucleosomal DNA fragmentation. These results correlated with neurobehavioral impairment. These findings indicate that TCE induces degeneration and apoptotic cell death in mouse brain, suggesting a crucial role played by apoptosis in TCE neurotoxicity.
Mohamed A. Al-Griw, Abdul Hakim Elnfati, Naser M. Salama, Massaud S. Maamar, Soad A. Treesh, Taher Shaibi(10-2015)

Cellular elements of maturing brain are vulnerable to insults, which lead to neurodevelopmental defects. There are no established treatments at present. Here we examined the efficacy of selective adenosine A2A receptor inhibitor SCH58261 to combat brain injury, particularly oligodendrocyte (OL) lineage cells, in young rats. Wistar rats (n = 24, 6.5 days old) were randomly divided into equal groups of four. The sham (SHAM) group received no treatment, the vehicle (VEHICLE) group received 0.1% dimethylsufoxide, the injury (INJ) group was exposed to oxygen-glucose deprivation insult, and the injury+SCH58261 (INJ+SCH58261) group was exposed to the insult and received 1 μM SCH58261. Immunocytochemical experiments revealed that there was a significant reduction in the populations of mature OL (MBP+ OLs) and immature OL precursors (NG2+ OPCs) in the INJ group compared to SHAM group. Furthermore, there was also a significant increase in the percent of apoptotic MBP+ OL and NG2+ OPC populations as evidenced by TUNEL assay. In addition, there was a significant reduction in the proliferation rate among NG2+ OPCs, which was confirmed by BrdU immunostaining. On the other hand, treatment with SCH58261 significantly enhanced survival, evidenced by the reduction in apoptotic indices for both cell types, and it is preserved the NG2+ OPC proliferation. Activation of adenosine A2A receptors may contribute to OL lineage cell loss in association with decreased mitotic behavior of OPCs in neonatal brains upon injury. Future investigations assessing ability of SCH58261 to regenerate myelin will provide insights into its wider clinical relevance.
Mohamed A. Al-Griw, Rabia O. Alghazeer, Nuri Awayn, Ghalia Shamlan, Areej A. Eskandrani, Afnan M. Alnajeebi, Nouf A. Babteen, Wafa S. Alansari(1-2020)

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common, chronic, relapsing, itchy, skin condition occurring in patients with a personal or family history of atopy, and there is clinical association among different allergic disease in a way that treating one of them will improve the other. Many studies worldwide showed presence of AD in asthmatic children with different prevalence among countries and showed clinical improvement in asthma control on treatment of atopic dermatitis. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the prevalence of atopic dermatitis among Libyan asthmatic children. Methods: This is an observational cohort study on asthmatic Libyan children who were treated and followed up at Tripoli children hospital in Tripoli, Libya. It carried out on 300 children suffering from asthma admitted from pediatric outpatient department as well as from emergency department and asthma clinic over a period of 24 months; from December 2017 to December 2019. The parents were asked to complete a questionnaire to collect the needed information after their consent being taken. To assure the accuracy and consistency of the methodology (sampling procedure, measurements, and a collection of the data), a standardized protocol was prepared. Data were entered in SPSS statistical package and consequently were analyzed and presented as descriptive statistics. Results: The prevalence of atopic dermatitis among asthmatic Libyan children was 16.7% in our study. The results showed significant relationship between address and prevalence of atopic dermatitis. Conclusion. Further studies are required to address the ethnicity, environmental factors, skin type and others attributed to this problem and we recommend all pediatricians to look for AD in asthmatic children and treat it accordingly arabic 7 English 56
Hisham Alrabty, Munera Addala(5-2020)