Analysis of cytoprotective effects of ethnopharmaco-botanically important medicinal plants originating from Transylvania using in vitro tissue culture models
Thesis supervisor: Tamás Kőszegi
co-supervisor: Nóra Papp
Location of studies (in Hungarian): PTE ÁOK Szigeti u. 12. Abbreviation of location of studies: ÁOK
Description of the research topic:
Regions in Transylvania without permanently available medical and pharmaceutical services are still rich sources of many new or already known medicinal plant taxons with potentially new medical indications. Our research focuses on the antioxidant or other cytoprotective effects of the active compounds isolated from the recorded plant species. The task of the Ph.D. candidate is to analyze the biological activity of selected taxons and their extracts obtained from the fieldwork done in Transylvanian regions in tissue culture models. Medicinal plant derived carotenoids, flavonoids, polyphenols and many other molecules – primarily antioxidants – exert a significant effect in prevention of chronic degenerative diseases (malignancies, autoimmune processes, cardiovascular diseases, etc). In spite of the large body of evidences obtained from epidemiological studies, from in vitro models and animal experiments the mechanism of cytoprotection is not completely understood. It may be postulated – and experimentally it is already partially verified – that the major cytoprotective factor lies in the antioxidant feature of the studied molecules. On the other hand, the interpretation of the data is often difficult because most authors use only single, purified factors while most probably the favorable effects depend on the synergistic action of a combination of many molecules. The proposed research focuses partly on the already known antioxidants and partly tries to characterize the combined effects of a mixture of protective factors. An in vitro tissue culture model will be established using adherent cell types (e.g. fibroblast, HepG-2, MDCK, etc) and also cells in suspension (e.g. Jurkat, K-562). Cytoprotection will be studied after induction of oxidative stress (e.g. by addition of menadione) by viability testing (ATP/protein ratio), chemiluminescence and fluorescence spectroscopic methods where cells are labeled with oxidant-sensitive dyes. The fluorescence technique will be adapted to flow cytometric analysis. Another part of the experiments is monitoring of the changes in the protein pattern of the treated cells using SDS-PAGE and chemiluminescent Western blotting.
Number of students who can be accepted: 1
Deadline for application: 2018-05-18
2024. IV. 17. ODT ülés Az ODT következő ülésére 2024. június 14-én, pénteken 10.00 órakor kerül sor a Semmelweis Egyetem Szenátusi termében (Bp. Üllői út 26. I. emelet).
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