It has long been promulgated that microglial cells serve beneficial roles in the central nervous system (CNS). The beneficial role of microglial cells is considered to be linked with microglial activation and consequent up-regulation of various trophic factors. However, what triggers microglial activation and consequent elevated level of trophic factors, ...

Pax-3 is a paired domain transcription factor that plays many roles during vertebrate development. In the Schwann cell lineage, Pax-3 is expressed at an early stage in Schwann cells precursors of the embryonic nerve, is maintained in the nonmyelinating cells of the adult nerve, and is upregulated in Schwann cells ...

In this study, we explore the production of well-defined macroscopic scaffolds with two-photon polymerization (2PP) and their use as neural tissue engineering scaffolds. We also demonstrate that these 3D scaffolds can be replicated via soft lithography, which increases production efficiency. Photopolymerizable polylactic acid (PLA) was used to produce scaffolds by ...

Renal epithelial cells from donor kidneys are susceptible to hypothermic preservation injury, which is attenuated when they over express the cytoskeletal linker protein ezrin. This study was designed to characterize the mechanisms of this protection. Renal epithelial cell lines were created from LLC-PK1 cells, which expressed mutant forms of ezrin ...

Despite their similarities to bone marrow precursor cells (PC), human umbilical cord blood (HUCB) PCs are more immature and, thus, they exhibit greater plasticity. This plasticity is evident by their ability to proliferate and spontaneously differentiate into almost any cell type, depending on their environment. Moreover, HUCB-PCs yield an accessible ...

To evaluate the roles of apoptotic cells in peripheral blood (PB) on multiple organ injury, five patients with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and one with refractory anemia were examined. The following findings were confirmed. 1) High-dose alkylating agents were administrated as conditioning regimens to all HSCT patients. 2) Many ...

Programmed cell death during anuran tail resorption is primarily brought about by apoptosis. Cathepsin D, a lysosomal aspartyl protease, is involved in the death of tail tissues. Thus, anuran tail resorption presents an ideal model to study cathepsin-mediated cell death during vertebrate development. Present study describes the trend of specific ...

In the last decades, the discovery that glial cells do not only fill in the empty space among neurons or furnish them with trophic support but are rather essential participants to the various activities of the central and peripheral nervous system has fostered the search for the signalling pathways controlling ...

Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are potential for multilineage differentiation and provide a resource for stem cell-based treatment. However, the therapeutic effect of iPS cells on acute kidney injury (AKI) remains uncertain. Given that the oncogene c-Myc may contribute to tumorigenesis by causing genomic instability, herein we evaluated the therapeutic ...

Gelatinases include matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9). The increased expressions of gelatinases are implicated in the pathogenesis of cell injury and cell death. All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) is an import biological agent which can regulate the expressions of gelatinases and take part in cell injury and cell death. ...

The effects of various sanitizers on the viability and cellular injury to structures of Escherichia coli and Listeria innocua were investigated. A food grade organic acidic formulation (pH 2.5) and acidic, neutral, and basic electrolyzed water [AEW (pH 2.7, oxidation reduction potential; ORP: 1100 mV, free available chlorine; FAC: 150 ...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) initiates a complex cascade of secondary neurodegenerative mechanisms contributing to cell dysfunction and necrotic and apoptotic cell death. The injured brain responds by activating endogenous reparative processes to counter the neurodegeneration or remodel the brain to enhance functional recovery. A vast array of genetically altered mice ...

Cell morphology may reflect the mechanical environment of tissues and influence tissue physiology and response to injury. Normal cruciate ligaments (CLs) from disease-free stifle joints were harvested from dog breeds with a high (Labrador retriever) and low (Greyhound) risk of cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) rupture. Antibodies against the cytoskeletal components ...

Patients with severe acute lung injury are frequently administered high concentrations of oxygen (>50%) during mechanical ventilation. Long-term exposure to high levels of oxygen can cause lung injury in the absence of mechanical ventilation, but the combination of the two accelerates and increases injury. Hyperoxia causes injury to cells through ...

The adult kidney contains a population of low-cycling cells that resides in the papilla. These cells retain for long periods S-phase markers given as a short pulse early in life; i.e., they are label-retaining cells (LRC). In previous studies in adult rat and mice, we found that shortly after acute ...

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Panax ginseng (P. ginseng) is one of the most widely used medicinal plants due to its wide spectrum of medicinal effects. Among the currently available Panax ginseng products, Korea red ginseng (KRG) has been shown to exhibit a variety of antioxidative and hepatoprotective action. AIM OF THE STUDY: ...

Although nephrotoxic agents or nephrotoxins are known to induce acute renal cell injury, their cytotoxic action is not fully elucidated. It is thus crucial to explore such a cytotoxic mechanism and the increasing volume of reports indicated a significant involvement of oxidative stress. To test this possibility, we investigated if ...

BACKGROUND: Ischemia-reperfusion or hypoxia-reoxygenation (H-R) injury adversely affects hepatic function following transplantation and major resection; the death of human sinusoidal endothelial cells (SECs) by apoptosis may play a central role in this process. Caspase-3 is an important intracellular protease in the intrinsic and extrinsic pathways of apoptosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: ...

In this study, we assess the feasibility of bioluminescence imaging to monitor thesurvival of Schwann cells (SCs) and olfactory ensheathing glia cells (OECs) after implantation in the lesioned spinal cord of adult rats. To this end, purified SCs and OECs were genetically modified with lentiviral vectors encoding Luciferase-2 and GFP ...

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) remains one of the leading causes of death in the developed world, and acute kidney injury (AKI) is now recognized as a major risk factor in its development. Understanding the factors leading to CKD after acute injury are limited by current animal models of AKI, which ...

No effective agents currently exist to treat oral mucositis (OM) in patients receiving chemoradiation for the treatment of head-and-neck cancer. We identified a novel 21-amino acid peptide derived from antrum mucosal protein-18 that is cytoprotective, mitogenic, and motogenic in tissue culture and animal models of gastrointestinal epithelial cell injury. We ...

BACKGROUND: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a critical condition for kidney and other remote organs, including the lung. However, available treatments for AKI are limited. In this study, we explored the effect of adipose-derived mesenchymal cells on a mouse model of AKI. METHODS: Adipose-derived mesenchymal cells were isolated from mouse ...

Within the B-cell follicle of secondary lymphoid organs, germinal center (GC) reactions produce high affinity antibody-secreting plasma cells (PCs) and memory B-cells necessary for the host's defense against invading pathogens. This process of GC formation is reliant on the activation of antigen-specific B-cells by T-cells capable of recognizing epitopes of ...

We identified fresh human leukocytes as an abundant source of the candidate epithelial tumor suppressor gene, Ecrg4, an epigenetically regulated gene, which unlike other tumor suppressor genes, encodes an orphan-secreted, ligand-like protein. In human cell lines, Ecrg4 gene expression was low, Ecrg4 protein undetectable, and Ecrg4 promoter hypermethylation high (45-90%) ...

Vancomycin chloride (VCM), a glycopeptide antibiotic, is widely used for the therapy of infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). However, nephrotoxicity is the major adverse effect in VCM therapy. In the present study, we investigated the cellular mechanisms underlying VCM-induced renal tubular cell injury in cultured LLC-PK1 cells. VCM ...

Regeneration of complex structures after injury requires dramatic changes in cellular behavior. Regenerating tissues initiate a program that includes diverse processes such as wound healing, cell death, dedifferentiation, and stem (or progenitor) cell proliferation; furthermore, newly regenerated tissues must integrate polarity and positional identity cues with preexisting body structures. Gene ...

Hepatic injury induced by oxaliplatin has been reported. Even though agents are available that reduce oxaliplatin-induced hepatocyte toxicity, their mode of action has remained obscure. In the present study, hepatic L02 cells were incubated with different combinations of oxaliplatin and carbocisteine. Significantly increased levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were ...

The purinergic P2X7 receptor (P2X7R) can be activated by ATP and plays significant and complex roles in neuropathology. However, research is limited concerning the role of P2X7R in radial glia following hypoxia-ischemia (HI). In this study, radial glial clone L2.3 cells were cultured and subjected to oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) to ...

Three commonly used isolates of murine prions, 79A, 139A, and RML, were derived from the so-called Chandler isolate, which was obtained by propagating prions from scrapie-infected goat brain in mice. RML is widely believed to be identical with 139A; however, using the extended cell panel assay (ECPA), we here show ...

AIM: This study evaluated the direct effects of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) on pancreatic β cells, including cellular viability, generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and insulin secretion, and also looked for the main source of ROS in INS-1 cells and the possible molecular mechanism(s) of cell injury by AGEs. ...

MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] method is one of the most widely used methods to analyze cell proliferation and viability. It is taken up through endocytosis and is reduced by mitochondrial enzymes as well as endosomal/lysosomal compartments, then is transported to cell surfaces to form needle-like MTT formazans; however the effect of ...

Memory B cells can be produced from the classical germinal center (GC) pathway or a less understood GC-independent route. We used antigen-based cell enrichment to assess the relative contributions of these pathways to the polyclonal memory B cell pool. We identified a CD38(+) GL7(+) B cell precursor population that differentiated ...

In this issue of Neuron, Napoli et al. (2012) demonstrate that elevated ERK/MAPK signaling in Schwann cells is a crucial trigger for Schwann cell dedifferentiation in vivo. Moreover, the authors show that dedifferentiated Schwann cells have the potential to coordinate much of the peripheral nerve response to injury.

Restoration of the epithelial barrier following acute lung injury is critical for recovery of lung homeostasis. After injury, alveolar type II epithelial (ATII) cells spread and migrate to cover the denuded surface and, eventually, proliferate and differentiate into type I cells. The chemokine CXCL12, also known as stromal cell-derived factor ...

Hepatotoxicity is a major reason for drug non-approvals and withdrawals. The multiparametric analysis of xenobiotic toxicity at the single cells level using flow cytometry and cellular imaging-based approaches, such as high-content screening (HCS) technology, could play a key role in the detection of toxicity and the classification of compounds based ...

Acute pancreatitis is a major health burden for which there are currently no targeted therapies. Premature activation of digestive proenzymes, or zymogens, within the pancreatic acinar cell is an early and critical event in this disease. A high-amplitude, sustained rise in acinar cell Ca(2+) is required for zymogen activation. We ...

The adventitia is increasingly recognized as an important player during the development of intimal hyperplasia. However, the mechanism of adventitial cell recruitment to the subintimal space remains largely undefined. We have shown previously that gene transfer of protein kinase C-delta (PKCδ) increases apoptosis of smooth muscle cells following balloon injury. ...

The protozoan parasite Tritrichomonas foetus displays a pear-shaped form and a pseudocyst stage. However, little is known about the biology of the pseudocyst. The aim of this work was to assess whether pseudocysts exert cytotoxic effects during their interaction with MDCK cells (an epithelial kidney canine cell line) and compare ...

Therapies aimed at the protection and/or regeneration of inner ear hair cells are of great interest given the significant monetary and quality of life impact of balance disorders. Different viral vectors have been shown to transfect various cell types in the inner ear. The past decade has provided tremendous advances ...

BACKGROUND: The effects, and thereby possible benefit, of inhibiting nitric oxide synthases (NOS) after brain injury are not fully understood. Nitric oxide (NO) has both neuroprotective and damaging features, and its effect on the cellular proliferation and differentiation that occurs in response to traumatic brain injury (TBI) is largely unknown. ...

The acute cytotoxicities of six naphthoquinone compounds, including Atovaquone, Buparvaquone, Menadione, 2-acetoxy-1,4-naphthoquinone and 2-ethoxy-1,4-naphthoquinone, to HL-7702 cells were determined. The results showed that the toxicities of these naphthoquinones were characterized by a steep response pattern except for 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone. Meanwhile, the cellular injuries were unrecoverable. Several molecular descriptors, such as the ...

Brain metastasis is a frequent occurrence in lung cancer, especially non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the prognosis for NSCLC with brain metastasis is very poor. Our previous study found high S100B expression in the brain-specific metastatic NSCLC line PC14/B, suggested S100B is closely correlated with brain metastasis in NSCLC. However, ...

β-Cell injury plays an important role in the development of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Most of the β-cell bioassays depend on labeling or endpoint assessments that might not capture the true physiology or pathology of the injury process. In the current study, we dynamically detected a broad range ...

The regional distribution and relative frequency of peptide YY (PYY)-, pancreatic polypeptide (PP)-, and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1)-immunoreactive (IR) cells were determined immunohistochemically in the gastrointestinal tract at seven ontogenetic stages in pre- and postnatal cattle. Different frequencies of PYY-, PP-, and GLP-1-IR cells were found in the intestines at ...

The mucosa of the gastrointestinal tract is a dynamic tissue composed of numerous cell types with complex cellular functions. Study of the vital intestinal mucosa has been hampered by lack of suitable model systems. We here present a novel animal model that enables highly resolved three-dimensional imaging of the vital ...

Adult stem cell niches are often co-inhabited by cycling and quiescent stem cells. In the intestine, lineage tracing has identified Lgr5(+) cells as frequently cycling stem cells, whereas Bmi1(+), mTert(+), Hopx(+) and Lrig1(+) cells appear to be more quiescent. Here, we have applied a non-mutagenic and cell cycle independent approach ...

Areas encoding space in the brain contain both representations of position (place cells and grid cells) and representations of azimuth (head direction cells). Previous studies have already suggested that although grid cells and head direction cells reside in the same brain areas, the calculation of head direction is not dependent ...

Blast-Induced Traumatic Brain Injury (bTBI) describes a spectrum of injuries caused by an explosive force that results in changes in brain function. The mechanism responsible for primary bTBI following a blast shockwave remains unknown. We have developed a pneumatic device that delivers shockwaves, similar to those known to induce bTBI, ...

The transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) is currently under study as a therapeutic approach for spinal cord injury, and the number of transplanted cells that reach the lesioned tissue is one of the critical parameters. In this study, intrathecally transplanted cells labeled with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles were guided ...

Signaling by Bone Morphogenetic Proteins (BMP) has been implicated in early lung development, adult lung homeostasis and tissue-injury repair. However, the precise mechanism of action and the spatio-temporal pattern of BMP-signaling during these processes remains inadequately described. To address this, we have utilized a transgenic line harboring a BMP-responsive eGFP-reporter ...