YARA ALZGHOUL, HALA J. BANI ISSA, AHMAD K. SANAJLEH, TAQWA ALABDUH, FATIMAH RABABAH, MAHA AL-SHDAIFAT, EJLAL ABU-EL-RUB^*, FATIMAH ALMAHASNEH, RAMADA R. KHASAWNEH, AYMAN ALZU’BI, HUTHAIFA MAGABLEH

BIOCELL, Vol.48, No.4, pp. 559-569, 2024, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2024.048056

Abstract Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are ideal candidates for treating many cardiovascular diseases. MSCs can modify the internal cardiac microenvironment to facilitate their immunomodulatory and differentiation abilities, which are essential to restore heart function. MSCs can be easily isolated from different sources, including bone marrow, adipose tissues, umbilical cord, and dental pulp. MSCs from various sources differ in their regenerative and therapeutic abilities for cardiovascular disorders. In this review, we will summarize the therapeutic potential of each MSC source for heart diseases and highlight the possible molecular mechanisms of each source to restore cardiac function. More >

YANG CAO^1,#, YINING LIU^1,#, YANG YU¹, XIAOFEI GUO¹, XIUXIU WANG¹, WENYA MA¹, HANJING LI², ZHONGYU REN², XINLU GAO², SIJIA LI², HAOYU JI², HONGYANG CHEN², HONG YAN², YANAN TIAN², XIN WANG², BENZHI CAI^1,2,*

BIOCELL, Vol.47, No.6, pp. 1407-1416, 2023, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.029080

Abstract Background: Cardiomyocytes derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are regulated by complex and stringent gene networks during differentiation. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) exert critical epigenetic regulatory functions in multiple differentiation processes. However, the involvement of lncRNAs in the differentiation of hESCs into cardiomyocytes has not yet been fully elucidated. Here, we identified the key roles of ZFAS1 (lncRNA zinc finger antisense 1) in the differentiation of cardiomyocytes from hESCs. Methods: A model of cardiomyocyte differentiation from stem cells was established using the monolayer differentiation method, and the number of beating hESCs-derived cardiomyocytes was calculated. Gene expression was analyzed by… More >

MIZUNA YANO¹, KOTA HIROI¹, TETSUYA YUASA¹, KENJI INOUE¹, OSAMU YAMAMOTO¹, TAKAO NAKAMURA², DAISUKE SATO¹, ZHONGGANG FENG^1,*

BIOCELL, Vol.47, No.5, pp. 1095-1106, 2023, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.028186

Abstract Background: Human heart changes its energetic substrates from lactate and glucose to fatty acids during the neonatal period. Noticing the lack of fatty acids in media for the culture of cardiomyocytes derived from human pluripotent stem cells (hiPS-CM), researchers have supplemented mixtures of fatty acids to hiPS-CM and reported the enhancement in the maturation of hiPS-CM. In our previous studies, we separately supplemented two polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) or arachidonic acid (AA), to rat fetal cardiomyocytes and found that the supplementations upregulated the expressions of mRNAs for cardiomyocyte differentiation, fatty acid metabolism, and cellular adhesion. The enhancement… More >

LAURA LAFON-HUGHES^1,2,*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.12, pp. 2531-2535, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.022713

Abstract Poly(ADP-ribose) (PAR) is a highly negatively charged polymer. PAR is synthesized by poly(ADP-ribose)polymerases (PARPs) and is involved in the assembly and stabilization of macromolecular complexes. Here, the presence and putative roles of poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation (PARylation) associated to adherens junctions (AJ) and the actin cytoskeleton in epithelial and Schwann cells, is reviewed. The hypothesis generated by analogy, stating that PAR is associated to AJ in other cell types, is postulated. According to this hypothesis, PAR associated to puncta adherentia in chemical synapses would participate in plasticity, learning and memory. In turn, PAR associated to fascia adherens in cardiomyocytes, would affect heart beating.… More >

XINLU GAO^1,2,#, XIUXIU WANG^1,2,#, WENWEN ZHANG^1,2,#, HANJING LI^1,2, FAN YANG^2,3, WENYA MA², YU LIU^1,*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.12, pp. 2637-2644, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.021033

Abstract Photobiomodulation (PBM) has been shown to delay the pathological process of heart failure, but the exact mechanism of action is not clear. Mitochondria occupy one-third of the volume of mammalian cardiomyocytes (CMs) and are central transport stations for CM energy metabolism. Therefore, in this study, we explored the regulatory effects of 630 nm light-emitting diodes (LED-Red) on the mitochondria of CMs. The results show that LED-Red-based PBM promotes adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthesis by upregulating the expression of glycolipid metabolizing enzymes. Correspondingly, there was an improvement in the activity of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), a key enzyme in the mitochondrial electron transport… More >

LONGJU QI^1,2,#, XIAOYING XU^3,#, BIN LI^4,#, BO CHANG⁵, SHENGCUN WANG², CHUN LIU², LIUCHENG WU², XIAODI ZHOU⁴, QINGHUA WANG^2,*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.4, pp. 989-998, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.018014

Abstract Excessive fat ectopically deposited in the non-adipose tissues is considered as one of the leading causes of myopathy. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of Dihydroartemisinin (DHA) in palmitate (PAL)-incubated H9c2 cells (lipotoxicity-induced cell injury model). Cell viability of PAL-treated cells was determined by MTT assay, and apoptotic regulators were examined by qRT-PCR and western blot analysis, in the absence or in the presence of DHA, respectively. Expression levels of miR-133b and Sirt1 were also evaluated by qRT-PCR and western blotting examination. PAL decreased the viability of H9c2 cells and enhanced the expression of apoptotic genes.… More >

MIZUNA YANO¹, YUTA UMEHARA¹, TOMOKAZU KUDO¹, TAKAO NAKAMURA², TADASHI KOSAWADA¹, ATSUYOSHI NISHINA³, MASAKI SAZUKA⁴, DAISUKE SATO^1,*, ZHONGGANG FENG^1,*

BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1213-1229, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.016281

Abstract While fatty acids play essential roles in the physiology of the myocardium, conventional culture media contain little lipid. We previously revealed that rat neonatal myocardium mainly contains docosahexaenoic (DHA), linoleic (LA), and arachidonic (AA) acids as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), and these contents in cultured cardiomyocytes derived from fetal rats were markedly lower than those in the neonatal myocardium. In this study, we first assessed the effects of supplementation of DHA, LA, or AA on the fatty acid contents and the percentage change of contractile area in primarily cultured rat cardiomyocytes. Based on this assessment, we then evaluated the effects… More >

Liying Gong^1,2,3, Hongkun Jiang⁴, Guangrong Qiu¹, Kailai Sun^1,*

Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.16, No.5, pp. 499-512, 2021, DOI:10.32604/CHD.2021.015831

Abstract Background: microRNAs are crucial for cardiovascular development and are associated with congenital heart disease (CHD). Recent studies have shown that microRNAs play a role in heart development and is closely related to CHD. The present study investigated the underlying mechanism of microRNA-208a (miR-208a) in “simple” CHD. Material and Methods: Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) demonstrated miR-208a expression levels in children with CHD (n = 27) compared with normal controls (n = 29), in cardiomyocytes from embryo 10 (E10) to post-birth (P7) and organs in adult rats in healthy rats. Apoptosis of H9c2 cells after transfection with miR-208a detected by TUNEL assay.… More >

YUAN SONG^1,#, CAI WEI^2,#, JINGJING WANG^3,*

BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.3, pp. 733-744, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.013236

Abstract Oxidative stress-mediated cell death in cardiomyocytes contributes to the development of atrial fibrillation. However, the detailed mechanisms are still unclear. In the present study, we established atrial fibrillation models in mice. The cardiomyocytes were isolated from atrial fibrillation mice and normal mice and were cultured in vitro, respectively. The results showed that cell proliferation and viability in cardiomyocytes with atrial fibrillation were significantly lower than the cells from the normal mice. Consistently, atrial fibrillation cardiomyocytes were prone to suffer from apoptotic cell death. Also, the oxidative stress and ferroptosis-associated signatures were significantly increased in atrial fibrillation cardiomyocytes compared to normal… More >

ZHAOHUI HU^1,2, XIANGJUN DING³, YUYAO JI², XIAOHONG LIU^4,*, ZHIWEN DING^2,*

BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.3, pp. 745-749, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.013293

Abstract Apurine/pyrimidine-free endonuclease 1 (APEX1) is a multifunctional enzyme that contributes to oxidizationmediated DNA-cleaved base excision repair and redox activation of transcription factors. However, the role of APEX1 during cardiomyocyte oxidative stress injury is not completely understood. In the present study, whether APEX1 protects oxidative damage-induced cardiomyocytes was investigated. mRNA and protein expression levels of APEX1 were downregulated in the mouse model of cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury. Furthermore, the expression of APEX1 in hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂)-treated neonatal mice cardiomyocytes was also decreased. APEX1 knockdown aggravated H₂O₂-treated cardiomyocyte apoptosis indexes. By contrast, APEX1 overexpression reversed H₂O₂-induced oxidative damage, as demonstrated by decreased caspase… More >