VIVIANE DAL-SOUTO FRESCURA¹, ANDRIELLE WOUTERS KUHN¹, HAYWOOD DAIL LAUGHINGHOUSE IV², JUÇARA TEREZINHA PARANHOS¹, SOLANGE BOSIO TEDESCO¹

BIOCELL, Vol.37, No.2, pp. 23-28, 2013, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2013.37.023

Abstract Species of the genus Psychotria are used for multiple purposes in Brazilian folk medicine, either as water infusions, baths or poultices. This study was aimed to evaluate the genotoxic and antiproliferative effects of infusions of Psychotria brachypoda and P. birotula on the Allium cepa test. Exposure to distilled water was used as a negative control, while exposure to glyphosate was used as a positive control. The interaction of extracts (as a post-treatment) with the effects of glyphosate was also studied. Results showed that glyphosate and the extracts of both P. brachypoda and P. birotula reduced the mitotic index as compared… More >

LUCIA PRONSATO, ANABELA LA COLLA, ANA CAROLINA RONDA, LORENA MILANESI, RICARDO BOLAND, ANDREA VASCONSUELO^*

BIOCELL, Vol.37, No.1, pp. 1-9, 2013, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2013.37.001

Abstract Cell lines with high passage numbers exhibit alterations in cell morphology and functions. In the present work, C2C12 skeletal muscle cells with either low (<20) or high (>60) passage numbers (identified as lC2C12 or h-C2C12, respectively) were used to investigate the apoptotic response to H2 O2 as a function of culture age h-C2C12. We found that older cultures (h-C2C12 group) were depleted of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). When we analyzed the behavior of Bad, Bax, caspase-3 and mitochondrial transmembrane potential, we observed that cells in the h-C2C12 group were resistant to H2 O2 induction of apoptosis. We propose serially cultured C2C12… More >

Yanhong ZHEN¹, Li HAN², Kailai CAI¹, Lijun HUO¹, Hasan RIAZ¹, Canjie WU¹, Aixin LIANG¹ , Lei SANG¹, Liguo YANG^{1 *}

BIOCELL, Vol.38, No.1, pp. 17-24, 2014, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2014.38.017

Abstract Inhibins play important roles in the reproductive system. To evaluate whether inhibin α (1-32) fusion protein plays a role in cervical cancer growth, the plasmid pVAX-inhα was constructed and its effect on proliferation and apoptosis of the human cervical cancer cell line (Hela) was checked by flow cytometry and real-time PCR. The expression and localization of inhibin α protein were detected by RT-PCR and confocal microscopy which showed that inhibin α protein was expressed and localized in the nucleus of Hela cells. Over expression of inhibin α gene significantly induced cell apoptosis and ceased S phase of cell cycle. Furthermore,… More >

Hong YE^1,6,#, WeiWei Wang^2,#, Yu Ding^3,#, XiaoLei Liu^4,#, WenJI Jia¹, WeiLi Luo¹, HuiJuan Fan¹, HongQun Zhou¹, Jin Wang¹, JianLong Ju¹, DongMing Zhou⁷, TianHao Bao^5,1,*, YuHong Zhu^1,*

BIOCELL, Vol.42, No.3, pp. 79-86, 2018, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2018.04615

Abstract Ischemic postconditioning (IP) has been shown to provide protection for ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury, but its efficacy is limited. In this study we hypothesized that spontaneous running wheel (RW) could improve neuroprotection efficacy of IP for IR. We established mouse models of IR and showed that compared to Sham group, IR group had obvious brain infract and neurological dysfunction. In IR+IP group, brain infract and neurological dysfunction improved compared to IR group. However, in IR+IP+RW group brain infract and neurological dysfunction improved much better. TUNEL assay showed that IP but not RW significantly reduced the number of apoptotic cells after IR.… More >

Estela M. MUÑOZ

BIOCELL, Vol.42, No.2, pp. 41-46, 2018, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2018.07011

Abstract Until recently, microglia were mainly known as the resident phagocytes of the brain, i.e. the ‘immunological warriors’ of the brain. However, extensive knowledge is being accumulated about the functions of microglia beyond immunity. Nowadays, it is well accepted that microglial cells are highly dynamic and responsive, and that they intervene in a dual manner in many developmental processes that shape the central nervous system, including neurogenesis, gliogenesis, spatial patterning, synaptic formation and elimination, and neural circuit establishment and maturation. The differentiation and the pool of precursor cells were also shown to be under microglia regulation via bidirectional communication. In this… More >

Atif Kamil¹, Mubarak Ali Khan¹, Muhammad AAsim², Nadir Zaman Khan², Raham Sher Khan¹, Muhsin Jamal³, Waqar Ahmad⁴, Mir Azam Khan⁴, Fazal Jalil⁴

BIOCELL, Vol.43, No.3, pp. 167-174, 2019, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2019.06729

Abstract Several toxic compounds are known to induce apoptosis in mammalian cell lines. The human neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Y) were exposed to the phosphatase inhibiting toxin okadaic acid (OA) or hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to induce apoptosis as well as generate reactive oxygen species (ROS). Mitoxantrone (MXT) was used as a positive control for apoptosis. The SH-SY5Y cells were transfected with eukaryotic expression plasmid pHyPer-dMito encoding mitochondrial-targeted fluorescent or pHyPer-dCito encoding cytoplasmic-targeted fluorescent sensor for hydrogen peroxide (HyPer). The ERp57, also called GRP58 (Glucose-regulated protein 58), is a stress protein induced in conditions like glucose starvation and viral infection. Recently ERp57 was shown… More >

Ji SHI; Peixin SUN, Ye ZHANG, Bing YAO, Haozhe PIAO

BIOCELL, Vol.43, No.3, pp. 119-128, 2019, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2019.07577

Abstract Glioma is the most common primary malignant brain tumor with a poor survival rate. In recent years, no significant progress has been made in the treatment of gliomas in contrast to the development of improved diagnosis via molecular typing. Newcastle disease virus (NDV), a negative-stranded RNA virus that exhibits oncolytic activity, has been investigated for its capacity to elicit antitumor activity in many types of cancers, including glioma. Therefore, application of oncolytic viruses, such as NDV, as a new treatment strategy to specifically target aberrant signaling in glioblastomas has brought new hope. For many years, NDV has been investigated for… More >

Xiaoning Qin¹, Liqing Yuan², Hongxun Ruan¹, Lin Lin¹

BIOCELL, Vol.43, No.2, pp. 89-98, 2019, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2019.06352

Abstract Interleukin-22 (IL-22) is a member of IL-10 cytokine family which is expressed in activated T cells predominantly and in activated natural killer cells at lower levels. Previous studies have demonstrated the link between elevated levels of IL-22 and disease severity of psoriasis, Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis and interstitial lung diseases. However, the function of IL-22 in the development and progression of colorectal cancer (CRC) remains elusive. In this study, we first evaluated the IL-22/IL-22R1 level in CRC patients, and found that tumor tissues have more active expression of IL-22 and IL-22R1 than normal tissues, presenting correlation with the degree of… More >

Zahra Niki Boroujeni¹, Atefeh Shirkav¹, Seyed Ahmad Aleyasin^1,*

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.15, No.4, pp. 215-227, 2018, DOI:10.32604/mcb.2018.01813

Abstract Down syndrome critical region 1 gene (DSCR1) is an anti-angiogenesis gene that inhibits the growth of tumor cells. In this study, the role of autophagy and apoptosis in DSCR1-induced cytotoxicity were investigated in MDA-MB-468 breast cancer cells. Lentivirus vector harboring DSCR1 (LV-DSCR1⁺) was constructed in HEK 293 cells and the optimal dosage of lentivirus vector for infection was determined by the MTT assay. After infection of cells using LV-DSCR1⁺, acridine orange and ethidium bromide staining was performed to investigation of apoptosis and autophagy. Expression of DSCR1 and marker genes for angiogenesis (VEGF), apoptosis (Bax and Bcl2) and autophagy (LC3 and… More >

Kefeng Liu^{1,2, §}, Zhengyu Zhang^{1,3, §}, Ting Pei¹, Ziqing Li⁴, Jingjing Wang¹, Hong Wang¹, Suning Ping¹, Lie Deng¹, Linli Wang¹, Jintao Huang⁵, Puyi Sheng⁴, Shuying Liu¹, Chaohong Li¹

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.14, No.2, pp. 101-123, 2017, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2017.014.099

Abstract This study was designed to investigate the effects of mechanical (MS) and/or oxidized low-density lipoprotein on proliferation and apoptosis of RAW264.7 macrophages and the underlying mechanisms. The cultured quiescent RAW264.7 macrophages were subject to stimulation with MS and/or in the presence or absence of simvastatin and then harvested for Western blot, and immunoflourecence. Either MS or alone could cause increase in cell proliferation and apoptosis, while their combination led to an additive effect. In terms of mechanisms, MS and/or significantly increased phosphorylation levels of MAPKs (ERKs, JNKs and p38MAPK), promoted the reactive oxygen species (ROS) and up-regulated DNA methylation in… More >