👤 Karema Abu-Elfotuh

Obesity and diabetes are escalating worldwide health concerns, prompting the use of non-caloric sweeteners such as aspartame and stevia as substitutes for sucrose; however, their long-term physiological and behavioral consequences remain incompletely understood. This work presents a comparative experimental study examining the long-term effects of sucrose, aspartame, and stevia intake on liver, heart, and brain functions in rats, while exploring the capacity of astaxanthin (ASTX) to attenuate the resulting tissue impairments. Seven rat groups-including control, sucrose, aspartame, stevia, and each sweetener combined with ASTX-were treated for 8 weeks to compare the organ-specific toxicity of the sweeteners and assess the protective effects of ASTX. Comprehensive evaluations of liver, heart, and brain were conducted using biochemical, behavioral, and histopathological analyses. All three sweeteners induced hyperglycemia, disrupted lipid metabolism (triglycerides, LDL, HDL), and increased oxidative stress (MDA), suppressing Nrf2/HO-1 antioxidant pathway and activating TLR4/NF-κB-mediated inflammation, leading to apoptosis. Biomarkers revealed liver dysfunction (ALT, AST, ALP), cardiac injury (troponin I, CK-MB, MEF2), and cognitive impairment (amyloid-beta, tau, BDNF), alongside altered monoamine neurotransmitters and Wnt3a/GSK-3β/β-catenin dysregulation. Bax/Bcl-2 ratio indicated enhanced apoptosis, with aspartame exerting the highest toxicity and stevia the least. While ASTX effectively alleviated these biochemical, histological, and functional changes. These findings suggest that aspartame has the strongest negative impact on liver, heart, and brain health, while stevia has the least, and that ASTX may serve as a potential protective agent against these harmful impacts. Show less

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disease characterized by repetitive behaviors and a lack of social communication. The role of probiotics, phytochemicals and their combination phytochemicals as treatment options for ASD is still under study. This study aimed to evaluate the associated molecular pathways and explore the impact of Fifty 3-week-old male albino rat pups were randomly distributed into five groups. The groups included a control group, a PA-induced ASD group, in which PA (250 mg/kg, p.o.) was administered for 3 days, and three other groups that received PA (250 mg/kg, p.o.) for 3 days along with either Compared with the group administered only PA, treatment with Our results suggest that Show less

Oxalis corniculata (O. corniculata) is a member of Oxalidaceae family, widely distributed in Asia, Europe, America, and Africa, used extensively as food and its traditional folkloric uses include management of epilepsy, gastric disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases, together with its use in enhancing health. Numerous pharmacological benefits of O. corniculata are linked to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant abilities. One of the most prevalent neurodegenerative disorders is Alzheimer's disease (AD) in which neuroinflammation and oxidative stress are its main pathogenic processes. Our research aimed to study the neuroprotective effect of the methanolic extract of Oxalis corniculata Linn. (O. corniculata ME), compared to selenium (Se) against AlCl Forty male albino rats were allocated into four groups (Gps). Gp I a control group, the rest of the animals received AlCl The chemical profile of O. corniculata ME was studied using ultraperformance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry, allowing the tentative identification of sixty-six compounds, including organic acids, phenolics and others, cinnamic acid and its derivatives, fatty acids, and flavonoids. AlCl It was noted that O. corniculata ME showed a notable ameliorative effect compared to Se on Nrf2/HO-1, TLR4/NF-κβ/NLRP3, APOE4/LRP1, Wnt 3/β-catenin/GSK-3β and PERK axes. Show less