Cell-substrate interactions, which are an important issue in tissue engineering, are studied by using focused ion beam (FIB) milling and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) investigations. Sample cross-sections are generated on predefined positions (target preparation), to investigate the interdependency of growing cells with the substrate material. The experiments focus on two ...

Palmitate (PA) is known to induce reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation and apoptosis in liver cells, whereas concurrent treatment of oleate (OA) with PA predominately induces steatosis without ROS in liver cells. We previously reported that PA treatment induces the decoupling of glycolysis and tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA cycle) fluxes, ...

OBJECTIVE AND DESIGN: To clarify the molecular mechanism of polyenylphosphatidylcholine (PPC), we examined the involvement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and NADPH oxidase 4 (Nox4) in human hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). MATERIAL: Using human LX-2 HSC cells, we examined the effects of PPC on expression of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) ...

PURPOSE: Development of improved protocols for differentiating induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells into hepatic cells is an important step toward their use in the field of hepatology. Specifically, the number of different cytokines should be reduced to limit undesired effects and to reduce the cost of the process. In this ...

It is often assumed that mitochondria are the main source of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in mammalian cells, but there is no convincing experimental evidence for this in the literature. What evidence there is suggests mitochondria are a significant source for ROS, which may have physiological and pathological effects. But ...

The aim of this study was to evaluate cucurbitacins (Cucs) liver protective activity in vitro and conduct QSAR studies against lipophilicity and ab initio descriptors. Nine Cucs were isolated from Cucurbitaceae plants and eight prepared by C2-alkylation or C16-acylation. Ten Cucs demonstrated protective activity on human hepatocyte-derived HepG2 cells exposed ...

Although prohibitin 1 (PHB) is known to be associated with tumors, there are few studies regarding the role of PHB in hepatocellular carcinoma. An earlier glycoproteomics study of ours showed that PHB is over-expressed in MHCC97-H cells, a highly metastatic liver cancer cell line, and can be captured by wheat ...

To explore the expression pattern of E2F5 in primary hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) and elucidate the roles of E2F5 in hepatocarcinogenesis. E2F5 expression was analyzed in 120 primary HCCs and 29 normal liver tissues by immunohistochemistry analysis. E2F5-small interfering RNA was transfected into HepG2, an E2F5-overexpressed HCC cell line. After E2F5 ...

Liver tumor cells show several molecular alterations which favor pro-survival signaling. Among those, we have proposed the NADPH oxidase NOX1 as a prosurvival signal for liver tumor cells. On the one side, we have described that FaO rat hepatoma cells show NOX1-dependent partial resistance to apoptosis induced by Transforming Growth ...

Poloxamer 407 (P407) is a non-ionic detergent that is used widely in pharmaceutical formulations and personal care products. In animals, P407 causes hyperlipidaemia. P407 is taken up by the liver and causes loss of fenestrations in liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSEC), which contributes to the pathogenesis of hyperlipidaemia. Here the ...

The pathogenesis of chronic cholangiopathies, in particular primary biliary cirrhosis and primary sclerosing cholangitis, is still obscure. A stimulating hypothesis is proposed by Beuers et al. They reason that, since cholangiocytes are exposed to high concentrations of hydrophobic bile salts that are toxic at μM concentrations, these cells had to ...

Survival following diagnosis of liver metastasis remains poor and improved treatment strategies to combat liver metastases are needed. Synthetic triterpenoids, including 1-[2-cyano-3-,12-dioxooleana-1,9(11)-dien-28-oyl]imidazole (CDDO-Imidazolide or CDDO-Im), have been shown to inhibit primary tumor growth and lung metastasis in experimental models. Oral administration of CDDO-Im results in relatively high liver concentrations, suggesting ...

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: A high-fat diet and obesity are associated with increased risk of liver cancer. Because increased delivery of NEFA to the liver occurs in these conditions, we investigated the involvement of the unsaturated fatty acid oleate in hepatocarcinoma cell proliferation using human-derived hepatocarcinoma cell lines as model systems. METHODS: Western ...

Atrazine is one of the most commonly used herbicides in the United States. While effective on target plants, it has been associated with harmful health effects in non-target organisms such as fish, amphibians and mammals. In this study, growth effects on human liver cells were determined after exposure to increasing ...

Diquat and paraquat are nonspecific defoliants that induce toxicity in many organs including the lung, liver, kidney, and brain. This toxicity is thought to be due to the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). An important pathway leading to ROS production by these compounds is redox cycling. In this study, ...

Many investigations have demonstrated that cell injuries caused by generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a common mechanism of various hepatic disorders. Recently, we have demonstrated that epimorphin, originally cloned as a mesenchymal protein, protects cultured intestinal epithelial cells from ROS. We therefore examine whether epimorphin protects primary cultured ...

Introduction: Hepatic stellate cells (HSC) are key-players in the pathogenesis of liver fibrosis, inducing collagen deposition and abnormal extracellular matrix remodeling. Aim: The purpose of this study was to identify the stellate cells using immunohistochemical techniques and to establish if there is a correlation between the expression of stellate cells ...

A sarcomatoid carcinoma cell line (SAR-HCV) was established from a malignant liver lesion of a patient infected with hepatitis C virus. SAR-HCV cells were successfully xenografted in SCID mice. Vimentin was strongly positive in cultured SAR-HCV cells, the primary tumour lesion and the xenografts. Hepatocyte paraffin 1 protein and certain ...

The nucleolus is a multifunctional nuclear compartment widely known to be involved in several cellular processes, including mRNA maturation and shuttling to cytoplasmic sites, control of the cell cycle, cell proliferation, and apoptosis; thus, it is logical that many viruses, including herpesvirus, target the nucleolus in order to exploit at ...

The main goal of this investigation was to develop and test a new method of treatment for human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We present a method of carbon nanotube-enhanced laser thermal ablation of HepG2 cells (human hepatocellular liver carcinoma cell line) based on a simple multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) carrier system, ...

Liver cancer has become one of the major types of cancer with high mortality and liver cancer is not responsive to the current cytotoxic agents used in chemotherapy. The purpose of this study was to examine the in vitro cytotoxicity of goniothalamin on human hepatoblastoma HepG2 cells and normal liver ...

The liver plays a central role in whole body homeostasis by mediating the metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, drugs and xenobiotic compounds, and bile acid and protein secretion. Hepatocytes together with endothelial cells, Kupffer cells, smooth muscle cells, stellate and oval cells comprise the functioning liver. Many members of the ...

This chapter describes method for evaluation of nanomaterial cytotoxicity by examining effects on porcine kidney (LLC-PK1) and human cancerous liver cells (Hep G2). Several studies indicate that many nanoparticles are cleared from the body through the kidney or liver, making these organs good choices for target organ toxicity evaluation. In ...

This chapter describes a protocol for testing nanoparticle formulations for reactive oxygen species generation in male Sprague-Dawley (SD) primary hepatocytes. The protocol utilizes the fluorescent redox active probe, dichlorofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA). Primary hepatocytes were chosen for this assay since they have greater metabolic activity than hepatocyte cell lines. This method ...

Clinicopathological studies on the effects of combining immunostimulant drugs (levamisole) with anti-cancer drugs (chlorambucil) revealed the enhancement of the latter against Ehrlich ascites carcinoma-bearing mice and resulted in a reduction in the size of tumour. An evaluation of liver and kidney functions showed a significant increase of alanine transaminase (ALT), ...

The unique ability of the liver to regenerate itself has fascinated biologists for years and has made it the prototype for mammalian organ regeneration. Harnessing this process has great potential benefit in the treatment of liver failure and has been the focus of intense research over the past 50 years. ...

Epimorphin/syntaxin 2 is a high conserved and very abundant protein involved in epithelial morphogenesis in various organs. We have shown recently that epimorphin (EPM), a protein exclusively expressed on the surface of hepatic stellate cells and myofibroblasts of the liver, induces bile duct formation of hepatic stem-like cells (WB-F344 cells) ...

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) arises from the lining epithelium and peribiliary glands of the intrahepatic biliary tree and shows variable cholangiocytic differentiation. To date, ICC was largely classified into adenocarcinoma and rare variants. Herein, we propose to subclassify the former, based on recent progress in the study of ICC including the ...

The aim of the present study was to investigate in detail the molecular mechanisms by which free fatty acids induce liver toxicity in liver cells. HepG2 and Huh7 human liver cell lines were exposed to varying concentrations of stearate (18:0), oleate (18:1), or mixtures of the two fatty acids, and ...

Acetaminophen (APAP) overdose is the leading cause of acute liver failure in Western countries. In the last four decades much progress has been made in our understanding of APAP-induced liver injury through rodent studies. However, some differences exist in the time course of injury between rodents and humans. To study ...

Background and Aims: Specific induction of cell death in activated hepatic stellate cells (hscs) is a promising therapeutic strategy for hepatic fibrosis. In this study, we evaluated the cell-killing effect of ursolic acid (UA), a pentacyclic triterpenoid, in activated hscs both in vitro and in vivo. Methods: Culture-activated rat HSCs ...

In addition to primary human hepatocytes, hepatoma cell lines and transfected non-hepatoma hepatic cell lines have been used for pharmacological and toxicological studies. However, a systematic evaluation and a general report of the gene expression spectra of drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters (DMETs) in these in vitro systems are not ...

Fetal cells enter the maternal circulation from the early first trimester of pregnancy, where they persist in tissue decades later. We investigated in mice whether fetal microchimeric cells (FMCs) can be detected in maternal kidney, and whether they play a role in kidney homeostasis. FMCs were identified in vivo in ...

Endoglin is an accessory component of the TGF-β-binding receptor complex that differentially modulates TGF-β and BMP responses. The existence of two splice variants L- and S-endoglin which differ in their cytoplasmic domain has already been shown in human and mice. Endoglin is located on the cell surfaces of cultured hepatic ...

Background:  Alcoholism increases the risk of cirrhosis and/or hepatocellular carcinoma development. Iron, like ethanol, modulates the cell growth. However, the relationship between alcohol and iron toward hepatocyte proliferation has not been clearly elucidated. The purpose of this study was to evaluate, in the human HepaRG cell line model, the impact ...

The biological roles of sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) and S1P receptors (S1PRs) have been broadly investigated. However, at present pathophysiological roles of S1P/S1PRs axis in liver fibrosis are not well defined. Here, we investigated the functions of S1P/S1PRs axis in human hepatic stellate cells (HSC) line, LX-2 cells. We found that ...

Lipocalin 2 (Lcn2) has been reported to induce cellular proliferation based on its expression in a variety of proliferative cells. Consistent with these findings, the present study demonstrates a significant increase in Lcn2 levels in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues compared with non-tumor liver tissues. However, the role of Lcn2 ...

Sonodynamic therapy with pyropheophorbide-a methyl ester (MPPa) presents a promising aspect in treating liver cancer. The present study aims to investigate the mitochondrial damage of liver cancer cells induced by MPPa-mediated sonodynamic action. Mouse hepatoma cell line H(22) cells were incubated with MPPa (2μM) for 20h and then exposed to ...

MTX (mitoxantrone), an anti-tumour antibiotic, is known to cause cell death by intercalating the DNA bases. But how it interferes with the cellular proliferation is not well known. Hence, in the present study, we have tried to evaluate the interaction of this drug using proliferation dynamics to gain a better ...

Ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis is one of the key mechanisms underlying cell cycle control in all eukaryotes. This is achieved by the action of ubiquitin ligases (E3s), which remove both negative and positive regulators of the cell cycle. Though our current understanding of the plant cell cycle has improved a lot these ...

Eight liver cell types were isolated using the methods of Percoll density gradient centrifugation and immunomagnetic beads to explore effects of histidine catabolites on rat liver regeneration. Rat Genome 230 2.0 Array was used to detect the expression profiles of genes associated with metabolism of histidine and its catabolites for ...

Dysfunction of the UPS (ubiquitin-proteasome system) has been implicated in dopaminergic neuronal death in PD (Parkinson's disease). Recent studies suggest that unregulated cell cycle events play a key role in neuronal death. In this study, the effects of UPS dysfunction on cell cycle events in neuronal differentiated PC12 cells were ...

In this study, the protective effects of N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a precursor of reduced glutathione, were studied by measuring the viability, the levels of antioxidant enzymes, and by analyzing the cell cycle in cadmium (Cd)-treated rat liver cells. The cells were treated with 150 µM CdCl2 alone or co-treated with 150 ...

Brk is a cytoplasmic nonreceptor tyrosine kinase that is overexpressed in breast tumors but undetectable in normal or benign mammary tissues. Brk promotes proliferation of human mammary epithelial cells and tumor growth in a mouse model, but the role of Brk in cell cycle regulation is not known. In this ...

Hepatoblastomas are neoplasms that originate from putative pluripotential stem cells of the liver. A hepatic mass from an 8-year-old Abyssinian cat was composed of cords and sheets of neoplastic cells, with scattered rosettes and small ductal structures. Most neoplastic cells had a pale eosinophilic cytoplasm and a round to ovoid ...

The liver and exocrine pancreas share a common structure, with functioning units (hepatic plates and pancreatic acini) connected to the ductal tree. Here we show that Sox9 is expressed throughout the biliary and pancreatic ductal epithelia, which are connected to the intestinal stem-cell zone. Cre-based lineage tracing showed that adult ...

Intermedilysin (ILY) is a cholesterol-dependent cytolysin produced by Streptococcus intermedius, which is associated with human brain and liver abscesses. Although intrahepatic bile duct cells play a valuable role in the pathogenesis of liver abscess, the molecular mechanism of ILY-treated intrahepatic bile duct cells remains unknown. In this study, we report ...

The Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) productive cycle is initiated by the expression of the viral trans-activator EB1 (also called Zebra, Zta, or BZLF1), which belongs to the basic leucine zipper transcription factor family. We have previously identified the cellular NACos (nuclear and adherent junction complex components) protein ubinuclein (Ubn-1) as a ...

The CHCl(3) fraction of Cnidium monnieri fruits significantly inhibited the proliferation of hepatic stellate cells in an in-vitro assay system employing HSC-T6 hepatic stellate cell lines. Activity-guided fractionation of the CHCl(3) fraction of C. monnieri led to the isolation of ten coumarins: osthol (1), meranzin (2), auraptenol (3), meranzin hydrate ...

Hepatic stem/progenitor cells are one of several cell sources that show promise for restoration of liver mass and function. Although hepatic progenitor cells (HPCs), including oval cells, are induced by administration of certain hepatotoxins in experimental animals, such a strategy would be inappropriate in a clinical setting. Here, we investigated ...