Mechanistically unrelated developmental neurotoxicants often produce neural cell loss culminating in similar functional and behavioral outcomes. We compared an organophosphate pesticide (diazinon), an organochlorine pesticide (dieldrin) and a metal (Ni(2+)) for effects on the genes regulating cell cycle and apoptosis in differentiating PC12 cells, an in vitro model of neuronal ...

Xanthatin, a natural bioactive compound of sesquiterpene lactones, was isolated and purified from air-dried aerial part of Xanthium sibiricum Patrin ex Widder. In the present study, we demonstrated the significant antiproliferative and proapoptotic effects of xanthatin on human gastric carcinoma MKN-45 cells. MTS assay showed that xanthatin produced obvious cytotoxicity ...

The present investigation reports embryo-induced modifications in the epithelial cells of the endometrium in a primate species. In vivo, epithelial cell response to the embryonic signals was assessed at the embryo attachment stage in the gestational uterus of bonnet monkeys (Macaca radiata) and in vitro response was investigated by treating ...

The cellular effects of tall fescue grass-associated toxic ergot alkaloids on stallion sperm and colt testicular tissue were evaluated. This was a continuation of an initial experiment where the effects of toxic ergot alkaloids on the stallion spermiogram were investigated. The only spermiogram parameter in exposed stallions that was affected ...

Activity-guided fractionation of a petroleum ether-soluble extract of the roots of Onosma paniculata, which has been shown to affect the cell cycle and to induce apoptosis in melanoma cells, led to the isolation of several shikonin derivatives, namely, β-hydroxyisovalerylshikonin (1), acetylshikonin (2), dimethylacrylshikonin (3), and a mixture of α-methylbutyrylshikonin and ...

ΔNp63α is a p63 isoform that is predominantly expressed in the epidermal stem cells and in cancer. To find the regulatory pathways of ΔNp63α, we assessed whether ΔNp63α is acetylated and determined the functional implications of acetylation. First, the hinge region of p63 was shown to be acetylated by PCAF, ...

During neurogenesis, cell cycle regulators play a pivotal role in ensuring proper proliferation, cell cycle exit, and differentiation of neural precursors. However, the precise role of cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks) in these processes is not well understood. We generated Cdk2 and Cdk4 double knockout (DKO) mice and found a striking ablation ...

New findings reveal that, in Caenorhabditis elegans embryos, the centrosome provides signals that induce cell polarization, independently of its function as the microtubule-organizing center.

Objective: Differentiation of endometrial stromal cells into decidual cells is crucial for optimal endometrial receptivity. Data from our previous microarray study implied that expression of many cell cycle regulators are changed during decidualization and inhibition of DNA methylation in vitro. In this study, we hypothesized that both the classic progestin ...

Resveratrol (trans-3,4',5-trihydroxystilbene; RES), a phytoestrogen, exists in grape skin and red wine. Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) appear to promote the development and progression of estrogen-dependent cancers. In this study, we evaluated the inhibitory effect of RES on the cell proliferation induced by various EDCs in BG-1 ovarian cancer cells. Various ...

Immunoglobulin (Ig) affinity maturation requires the enzyme AID, which converts cytosines (C) in Ig genes into uracils (U). This alone produces C:G to T:A transition mutations. Processing of U:G base pairs via U N-glycosylase 2 (UNG2) or MutSα generates further point mutations, predominantly at G:C or A:T base pairs, respectively, ...

We previously reported the potential of a novel small molecule 3-amino-6-(3-methoxyphenyl)thieno[2.3-b]pyridine-2-carboxamide (YL326) as an anticancer agent. In the present study, we investigated the anticancer effects and possible mechanisms of YL326 in vitro. We found that YL326 treatment significantly inhibited human hepatic carcinoma cell proliferation in vitro, and the HepG2 cell ...

Gaucher disease (GD) is the most common lysosomal disorder and is caused by an inherited autosomal recessive deficiency in β-glucocerebrosidase. This enzyme, like other glycohydrolases involved in glycosphingolipid (GSL) metabolism, is present in both plasma membrane (PM) and intracellular fractions. We analyzed the activities of CBE-sensitive β-glucosidase (GBA1) and AMP-DNM-sensitive ...

C7α-substituted estradiols bind to estrogen receptors in cell nuclei, yet these derivatives remain little used in bioimaging. Here, we describe a fluorescent derivative of estradiol (E2) with a boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) moiety attached to C7α, synthesized by olefin metathesis reaction of 7α-allylestradiol and 9-decenyl-BODIPY. In ovariectomized rats and non-ovariectomized mice, E2-BODIPY ...

An increasing body of evidence highlights an intriguing interaction between microRNAs and transcriptional factors involved in determining cell fate, including the well known "genome guardian" p53. Here we show that miR-205, oncosuppressive microRNA lost in breast cancer, is directly transactivated by oncosuppressor p53. Moreover, evaluating miR-205 expression in a panel ...

In this study, we describe the synthesis of a series of α- and β-lapachone containing hydroxyl or methoxyl groups on the benzene ring, by means of the selective acid promoted cyclization of the appropriate lapachol analog. The evaluation of the antiproliferative activity in human solid tumor cell lines provided 7-hydroxy-β-lapachone ...

The mitochondria and chloroplasts in plant cells are originated from bacterial endosymbioses, and they still replicate their own genome and divide in a similar manner as their ancestors did. It is thus likely that the organelle transcription is coordinated with its proliferation cycle. However, this possibility has not extensively been ...

The ability of adult vertebrates to repair tissue damage is widespread and impressive; however, the ability to regenerate structurally complex organs such as the limb is limited largely to the salamanders. The fact that most of the tissues of the limb can regenerate has led investigators to question and identify ...

An enlarged right ovary was removed from a 14-year-old lesser galago (Galago senegalensis braccatus). Cytological preparations consisted of a heterogeneous population of neoplastic cells admixed with extracellular hyaline structures and cell-free nuclei. Microscopically, the ovary was replaced with gonadoblastoma and was composed of nests of germinal cells, including large oocyte-like ...

The comet assay or single cell gel electrophoresis has proven to be a versatile and sensitive method of measuring the induction and repair of DNA damage in individual cells. However, one of the drawbacks of the assay is the bias caused by changes in the ability of cells to repair ...

The cosmopolitan coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi is characterized by a strongly differentiated haplodiplontic life cycle consisting of a diploid phase, generally bearing coccoliths (calcified) but that can be also non-calcified, and a non-calcified biflagellated haploid phase. Given most studies have focused on the bloom-producing calcified phase, there is little-to-no information about ...

Cks1 is an activator of the SCF(Skp2) ubiquitin ligase complex that targets the cell cycle inhibitor p27(Kip1) for degradation. The loss of Cks1 results in p27(Kip1) accumulation and decreased proliferation and inhibits tumorigenesis. We identify here a function of Cks1 in mammalian cell cycle regulation that is independent of p27(Kip1). ...

Giant Cell Tumor of Bone (GCT) is an aggressive skeletal tumor characterized by local bone destruction, high recurrence rates and metastatic potential. Previous works in our lab, including functional assays, have shown that neutralization of PTHrP in the cell environment inhibits cell proliferation and induces cell death in GCT stromal ...

Diallyl trisulfide (DATS) is a garlic organosulfide that is toxic to cancer cells, however, little is known about its effect in the initiation phase of carcinogenesis. We sought to determine whether DATS could inhibit the carcinogen, benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), from inducing precancerous activity, in vitro. MCF-10A cells were either pre-treated (PreTx) ...

Biotinylated Pluronic F127/poly(lactic acid) block copolymers (B-F127-PLA) were successfully synthesised previously by our group. In the present study, the release behaviors of paclitaxel-loaded B-F127-PLA nanoparticles and their targeting properties to human ovarian carcinoma cells were investigated. Paclitaxel (pac) loaded in B-F127-PLA nanoparticles shows an initial burst release in the first ...

Neuroblastoma is a pediatric tumor that originates from precursor cells of the sympathetic nervous system with less than 40% long-term survival in children diagnosed with high-risk disease. These clinical observations underscore the need for novel insights in the mechanisms of malignant transformation and progression. Accordingly, it was recently reported that ...

Many cancer cells are unable to maintain a numerically stable chromosome complement. It is well established that aberrant cell division can generate progeny with increased ploidy, but the genetic factors required for maintenance of diploidy are not well understood. Using an isogenic model system derived by gene targeting, we examined ...

Environmental concentration of the platinum group elements is increased in the last years due to their use in automobile catalytic converters. Limited data are available on the effects of such elements at a cellular level and on their toxicity, especially for rhodium and iridium which have been more recently introduced ...

Cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk)7, the catalytic subunit of the Cdk-activating kinase (CAK) complex has been implicated in the control of cell cycle progression and of RNA polymerase II (RNA pol II)-mediated transcription. Genetic inactivation of the Cdk7 locus revealed that whereas Cdk7 is completely dispensable for global transcription, is essential for ...

Withdrawal of nutrients triggers an exit from the cell division cycle, the induction of autophagy, and eventually the activation of cell death pathways. The relation, if any, among these events is not well characterized. We found that starved mouse embryonic fibroblasts lacking the essential autophagy gene product Atg7 failed to ...

Ginkgolide B (GB), the primary active component of Ginkgo biloba extracts, may have antitumor properties. The objective of this study was to determine the effects and possible mechanisms of GB in ovarian cancer cells. In this study, human ovarian cancer cell lines (SKOV3 and CAOV3) were treated with different concentrations ...

Virtually all the cells constituting solid organs in adult animals require anchorage to the extracellular matrix for their proliferation and survival. When deprived of anchorage, those cells arrest in G(1) phase of the cell cycle and die of apoptosis known as anoikis. However, if malignantly transformed, cells no longer require ...

The interaction between ultrasound pulses and microbubbles is known to generate acoustic cavitation that may puncture biological cells. This work presents new experimental findings on the bioeffects of ultrasound-microbubble mediated cavitation in plant cells with emphasis on direct observations of morphological impact and analysis of viability trends in tobacco BY-2 ...

Estrogens, acting through estrogen receptor α (ERα), stimulate breast cancer proliferation, making ERα an attractive drug target. Since 384-well format screens for inhibitors of proliferation can be challenging for some cells, inhibition of luciferase-based reporters is often used as a surrogate end point. To identify novel small-molecule inhibitors of 17β-estradiol ...

Improving microbial fuel cell (MFC) performance continues to be the subject of research, yet the role of operating conditions, specifically duty cycling, on MFC performance has been modestly addressed. We present a series of studies in which we use a 15-anode environmental MFC to explore how duty cycling (variations in ...

The brain of the adult teleost fish exhibits intense neurogenic activity and an outstanding capability for brain repair. Remarkably, the brain estrogen-synthesizing enzyme, aromatase, is strongly expressed, particularly in adult fishes, in radial glial cells, which act as progenitors. Using zebrafish, we tested the hypothesis that estrogens affect adult neurogenesis ...

A series of chalcone-amidobenzothiazole conjugates (9a-k and 10a,b) have been synthesized and evaluated for their anticancer activity. All these compounds exhibited potent activity and the IC(50) of two potential compounds (9a and 9f) against different cancer cell lines are in the range of 0.85-3.3μM. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that these ...

Transforming growth factor-β-activated kinase 1 (TAK1) appears to play a role in inhibiting apoptotic death in response to multiple stresses. To assess the role of TAK1 in X-ray induced apoptosis and cell death, we irradiated parental and siRNA-TAK1-knockdown HeLa cells. Changes in gene expression levels with and without TAK1-knockdown were ...

Inhibition of homologous recombination (HR) is believed to be a transactivation-independent function of p53 that protects from genetic instability. Misrepair by HR can lead to genetic alterations such as translocations, duplications, insertions and loss of heterozygosity, which all bear the risk of driving oncogenic transformation. Regulation of HR by wild-type ...

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to study the effects of angiotensin receptor (AT1R) on proliferation, cell cycle progression, and apoptosis of estrogen-induced ishikawa cell by the transfection of AT1R-siRNA. METHODS: Immunofluorescence method was used to detect AT1R in ishikawa cell. Western blot was used to detect the expression of AT1R protein ...

Spina bifida is a complex congenital malformation resulting from failure of fusion in the spinal neural tube during embryogenesis. However, the cellular mechanism underlying spina bifida is not fully understood. Here, we investigated cell apoptosis in whole embryos and proliferation of neural progenitor cells in the spinal neural tube during ...

The epidermis is a self-renewing tissue, the homeostasis of which is dependent upon the tight balance between proliferation and differentiation based on appropriate regulation of the cell cycle. The cell cycle regulation is dependent on the interactions among a number of cell cycle regulatory molecules, including the pituitary tumor-transforming gene ...

An autopolyploid that contains more than two sets of the same chromosomes causes apparent alterations in morphology, development, physiology and gene expression compared to diploid. However, the mechanisms for these changes remain largely unknown. In the present study, cytological observations of mature embryos and growing cotyledons demonstrated that enlarged organ ...

Conventional treatment by surgery, radioiodine, and thyroxin-suppressive therapy often fails to cure anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC). Therefore several attempts have been made to evaluate new therapy options by use of "small molecule inhibitors". ATC was shown to respond to monotherapeutic proteasome and Aurora kinase inhibition in vitro as well as ...

Our research to seek active compounds against human colorectal cancer from the root of Alkanna tinctoria (L.) Tausch led to the isolation of two naphthoquinones, alkannin (1) and angelylalkannin (2). The antiproliferative effects of the two compounds on human colon cancer cells HCT-116 and SW-480 were determined by the 3,4-(5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium ...

Cell proliferation is associated with a high rate of aerobic glycolysis, which has been widely interpreted as a compensatory mechanism for suppressed mitochondrial function, despite reports of high respiration rates. The molecular mechanisms that link cell proliferation with mitochondrial metabolism, dynamics, and biogenesis remain obscure. Here, we show that proliferation is ...

Manganese is an essential trace element, whose intracellular levels need to be carefully regulated. Mn(2+) acts as a cofactor for many enzymes and excess of Mn(2+) is toxic. Alterations in Mn(2+) homeostasis affect metabolic functions and mutations in the human Mn(2+)/Ca(2+) transporter ATP2C1 have been linked to Hailey-Hailey disease. By ...

Apoptosis has been shown to be an important regulator of endometrium function. To clarify the regulation of apoptosis in the cat endometrium during the normal oestrus cycle, the expressions of the apoptosis-related proteins (Bcl-2 and Bax) and their correlation to the inhibitor of apoptosis protein Survivin were analysed using immunohistochemistry. ...

SUMMARYTrypanosoma brucei is the etiological agent of devastating parasitic disease in humans and livestock in sub-saharan Africa. The pathogenicity and growth of the parasite are intimately linked to its shape and form. This is in turn derived from a highly ordered microtubule cytoskeleton that forms a tightly arrayed cage directly ...

Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecological malignancies in women. The primary challenge is the detection of the cancer at an early stage, since this drastically increases the survival rate. In this study we investigated the dielectrophoretic responses of progressive stages of mouse ovarian surface epithelial (MOSE) ...